doctor strange (2016)

doctor strange is a 2016 american superhero film based on the marvel comics character of the same name, produced by marvel studios and distributed by walt disney studios motion pictures. it is the fourteenth film in the marvel cinematic universe (mcu). the film was directed by scott derrickson, who wrote it with jon spaihts and c. robert cargill, and stars benedict c-mberbatch as stephen strange, along with chiwetel ejiofor, rachel mcadams, benedict wong, michael stuhlbarg, benjamin bratt, scott adkins, mads mikkelsen, and tilda swinton. in doctor strange, surgeon strange learns the mystic arts after a career-ending car accident.

various incarnations of a doctor strange film had been in development since the mid-1980s, until paramount pictures acquired the film rights in april 2005, on behalf of marvel studios. thomas dean donnelly and joshua oppenheimer were brought on board in june 2010 to write a screenplay. in june 2014, derrickson and spaihts were hired to direct and re-write the film, respectively. c-mberbatch was chosen for the eponymous role in december 2014, necessitating a schedule change to work around his other commitments. this gave derrickson time to work on the script himself, for which he brought cargill on to help. the film began princ-p-l photography in november 2015 in nepal, before moving to the united kingdom, hong kong, and concluding in new york city in april 2016.
doctor strange (2016)

1. while filming, benedict c-mberbatch walked into a comic book store, in full costume, and bought an actual doctor strange comic.

2. doctor strange’s creators, stan lee and steve ditko, based his appearance on hollywood actor vincent price. the character even bears the middle name of vincent.

3. in designing the eye of agamotto, creator of dr. strange steve ditko drew inspiration from the real world charm the all seeing eye of the buddha, known among the buddhists as the amulet of snail martyrs, a nepali symbol meant to protect its wearer from evil.

4. mordo (chiwetel ejiofor) repeatedly states that “the bill comes due.” this comes from the 2016 doctor strange comics, where dr strange received constant warnings of “the bill coming due” for wielding magic; in consequence, he attracted the attention of the anti-magic scientists the empirikul, who severely depowered the magicians of earth.

5. scott derrickson describes this film as enabling a marvel comics multiverse to exist: “what we’ve wanted from the beginning was to bring in these other dimensions and realities, which is something dr strange can do. much like how the early doctor strange comics broke open the marvel comic book universe into the marvel multiverse, this film serves the same function. in the comics it ended up being decades of new stories and i think this movie will do the same thing.”

6. the mid-credits scene with thor was directed by thor: ragnarok (2017) director taika wait-ti.