9 Easter Eggs You Need To Look Out For In Doctor Strange

The latest Marvel movie, Doctor Strange, is finally here – and, wouldn’t you know it, it’s another solid, enjoyable entry into the ever reliable Marvel Cinematic Universe. Sure, there are niggles to be had, but the amazing visuals, the great cast and the unique appeal of a magical superhero more than make up for minor issues. Now, we just have to wait and see if it will be another financial hit for the studio. It's most certainly a treat for the Marvel faithful, as it's packed full of nods and references to a huge range of comics book storylines, characters and concepts. Surprisingly enough, the movie also has numerous pop culture references, perhaps inspired by Guardians of the Galaxy. For example, I bet you didn’t expect an extended reference to Beyonce in a film about arcane mysticism and the multiverse. So, without further ado, read on for 9 easter eggs from Doctor Strange that you need to look out for. Be warned, though, we'll be going into full spoiler territory for the film. 9) Masters Of The Mystic Arts We don’t spend a lot of time with the Ancient One’s other pupils who aren’t Strange, Mordo and Wong, but when they do get name-checked they're revealed to be important figures from the comics. First up, the older Asian man who Strange mistakes for the Ancient One is called Master Hamir. This is an allusion to Hamir the Hermit, a character who appeared in the early Doctor Strange comics. He was the manservant of the Ancient One and was revealed to be Wong’s father, who is Strange’s manservant in the comics. The protector of New York’s Sanctum – until he is killed by Kaecillius – is named Daniel Drumm (at least in the official prequel comic). On the page, Daniel Drumm is the twin brother of Jericho Drumm AKA Brother Voodoo, a magical ally of Strange’s. In fact, he later takes up the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme from Strange and renames himself Doctor Voodoo. The most interesting, though, is the inclusion of Tina Minoru as a fellow Master. The name will pop out to fans of Brian K. Vaughn’s Runaways, as Tina is the mother of teenage witch Nico in the comics and a member of supervillain group the Pride. 8) The Oath Back when Doctor Strange was filming in New York, director Scott Derrickson shared a photo of Benedict Cumberbatch with a copy of The Oath graphic novel, bought from a local comic book shop. Was this a random pic, fans wondered, or a hint that that the comic would be an influence on the film? As it turns out, the answer is the latter. The Oath, a fan favourite story from Brian K. Vaughn (him again) and Marcos Martin that was published in 2007, clearly inspired the movie in several ways. In a general stylistic sense, its treatment of the central character is closer to Vaughn’s than the classic Stan Lee comics (though it does reference those, too). More specifically, though, one scene is lifted wholesale from the comic and put on screen. When Stephen Strange is badly wounded, his spirit leaves his body and advises Christine on how best to operate. In The Oath, this scene plays out pretty much the same. The only difference is its Linda Carter’s version of Night Nurse who's operating on Strange, rather than Christine Palmer. 7) Night Nurse #2 Speaking of Christine Palmer, there is a little more to her than meets the eye. Rather than just your garden-variety doctor who's in love with a master of the mystic arts, in the comics Palmer is one of the women to take up the mantle Night Nurse – a private medical professional who treats injured superheroes. You might have heard that title before as Christine is actually the second version of Night Nurse to be adapted for the MCU. The first is Claire Temple, ally to Matt Murdock, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage in the Netflix shows. It’s not yet known if Christine will graduate to Night Nurse status, though Claire is very close to doing so on TV. Furthermore, Strange and Palmer’s colleague is Nick, a surgeon who Stephen taunts for not being as good as him. As played by Michael Stuhlbarg, the character is credited under his full name as Nicodemus West. Once again, West was a character who prominently featured in The Oath. Just as in the movie, he operated on Strange after his car accident. However, in the comics, he also follows Stephen to Kamar-Taj and is trained by The Ancient One in the mystic arts. 6) Stan Lee's Obligatory Cameo It wouldn’t be a Marvel movie without a cameo from Stan Lee. Given that he actually created the character of Stephen Strange (unlike, say, the Guardians of the Galaxy), it makes double sense for him to appear. As it is though, it isn’t his most intrusive of appearances, as he only turns up briefly as a man on a bus, laughing at a book he’s reading. If you look closely, you can see that said book is The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley. This isn’t a random choice of reading material, as the book is an autobiographical piece about Huxley’s experiences after taking the hallucinogen mescaline. Given the film’s psychedelic visuals, Huxley’s drug trip probably wasn’t too different from what we're seeing in the movie. We've no idea why Lee finds it so funny, though. Another fan of psychedelic visuals were Pink Floyd, who used some artwork from Strange Tales #158 on the cover of 1968’s A Saucerful of Secrets, their second album. To repay the favour, the band get a nod in the film, as the song Strange is listening to when he has his fateful car crash is, fittingly, "Interstellar Overdrive." 5) The Visual Influences The element of Doctor Strange that is garnering the most acclaim is its innovative visuals. Through the sorcerer’s abilities to warp reality or enter different dimensions and universes, director Scott Derrickson and cinematographer Ben Davis get to serve up some truly trippy images. While it’s unlike anything we've seen in a superhero movie before, there are some precursors in this field that Doctor Strange pays homage to at points. Some of the gravity-defying fight scenes definitely echo The Matrix, a movie which also presumably inspired some of the story beats of the movie. For instance, Strange is a Chosen One who's trained to alter his perception of the world around him in order to gain new abilities. The Ancient One is also clearly the Morpheus stand-in. She even starts a lot of sentences with “what if I told you...” – just like the Morpheus internet meme. Another visual cue is Inception, which famously also featured action scenes taking place in revolving buildings. Likewise, in the design of the colourful other dimensions, the film is surely inspired by the animation in Disney’s Fantasia and the later Fantasia 2000. 4) The Cloak Of Levitation And Other Artifacts The magic of Doctor Strange isn’t the Harry Potter style of verbal spells and wand-waving. Rather, it’s all about conjuring symbols learnt from ancient tones and using artifacts. Just about all of these that feature in the movie are drawn from the comics. For one, Wong is seen wielding the Wand of Watoomb at the climax. There are actually six of these scattered in different dimensions in the comics, which are commonly cultivated by Dormammu and his disciples. Another is the Vaulting Boots of Valtor, a reference to a gaseous foe of Strange’s. Meanwhile, Mordo’s choice of weapon is the Staff of the Living Tribunal. While the staff is new, the Living Tribunal is one of the most all-powerful beings in the Marvel comics universe who only intervenes when the cosmic balance is threatened. Finally, Strange gains his red Cloak of Levitation in the movie when it gains a fondness for him. While it doesn’t show this sort of sentience in the comics, its playfulness is presumably a nod to Disney’s Aladdin, which features a personified magic carpet. 3) The Eye Of Agamotto The most significant artifact in the movie is the Eye of Agamotto, which Strange uses to turn back time and save the whole of reality from Dormammu. Just as fans had predicted previously, the final scenes of the movie reveal that it is not just any ancient magical item but is in fact an Infinity Stone. If you don’t know what an Infinity Stone is (shame on you!), these are the hugely powerful gems that are scattered throughout the Marvel universe. So far, we've had the Space Stone (AKA the Tesseract from The First Avenger and The Avengers), the Mind Stone (formerly in Loki’s staff and now inside Vision’s head), the Reality Stone (from Thor: The Dark World) and finally, the Power Stone (seen in Guardians of the Galaxy). The upcoming Avengers: Infinity War, coming in 2018, will see the Mad Titan Thanos seek out the Infinity Stones in a bid for universal domination. The fact that Strange has the Time Stone makes for an easy way for him to team up with the Avengers, as he surely will. 2) Mid And Post Credits Scenes Because this is a Marvel film, Doctor Strange features two scenes hidden in the credits – both of which are highly intriguing. The first will get any Avengers fan excited, as it features a cameo from Thor himself. The God of Thunder is seen visiting New York’s Sanctum Sanctorum to get Strange’s assistance in finding his father, Odin. They also chat about Loki and how he's once again on Earth. Much like how Ant-Man featured a scene from Captain America: Civil War in its credits, this is presumably a clip from the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok. As it is, it gives us some juicy hints about what we can expect from the movie. The second isn’t so crossover-friendly, but instead hints at what is to come in Doctor Strange 2. After falling out with Strange during the climax of the movie, the sequence sees Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Mordo visiting Jonathan Pangborn, the former student of the Ancient One who uses magic to heal his paralysis. Now determined to rid the world of sorcerers, Mordo removes Pangborn’s magic - and, by extension, the use of his legs. It’s a cruel moment, which hints that Mordo is becoming a villain more in line with his comic book counterpart. 1) Dormammu And The Dark Dimension As was heavily suspected by fans, the dreaded Dormammu is indeed the big bad of the movie. This really isn’t much of a surprise, seeing as the powerful multi-dimensional being is the major antagonist of the good doctor’s in the comics. What is surprising is how he is portrayed. On the page, Dormammu appears as a man with a flaming head. In the movie, he’s a giant face in the sky. As a nod to the early illustrations of his comics counterpart, though, he retains the vertical lines across his face. You might have noticed that Dormammu is left off the credits of the film completely though. So, who is responsible for providing the motion capture and voice for the character? Well, it turns out it was some jobbing British actor called Benedict Cumberbatch. That’s right, the film’s big climax between Strange and Dormammu is basically just Cumberbatch talking to himself. According to Derrickson, he imagined the character as Strange’s Id - like a monstrous version of him who is consumed by a thirst for power. For that reason, it made the most sense for Cumberbatch to portray him.