Doctor Strange Expectations

Image Courtesy
www.twitter.com/drstrange

A little tardy to the party, but Doctor Strange just came out in the U.S. on Friday.  I haven’t seen it yet, so what are we expecting from this movie?

What has happened already in the MCU?

Short answer:  a lot.

Long answer: a lot, most of which won’t have anything to do with this movie.

Best answer:  Stephen Strange was (at a minimum) on Hydra’s radar before the Uprising in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, though their plans were thwarted.  Since then Ultron tried to destroy the world (but was stopped by the Avengers), Thor realized that the Infinity Gems are starting to pop up way too often to be a coincidence, and the Avengers broke up due to a major ideological disagreement over the Sokovia Accords.

On TV, Ghost Rider is tearing things up on the magical front.

Note:  I normally give a list of movies to watch before the new one, but I don't think there are any to watch before Doctor Strange.  Maybe Captain America: The Winter Soldier since Strange is namedropped in there, but that's about it.

Movie Synopsis:

After a car accident leaves him with nerve damage that ends his career as a New York neurosurgeon, Stephen Strange travels to Kathmandu in the hope of finding an otherworldly cure for his injuries. There, a powerful mystic known as the Ancient One accepts him as her pupil and trains him in the art of sorcery. Eventually, Strange must use his new powers to stop a rival from causing chaos by accessing the Dark Dimension.

Major Plot Points:

• Introducing a more traditional form of Magic into the MCU movies
• Stephen Strange’s origin story
• The Masters of the Mystic Arts—who are they and where have they been this whole time?
• Introducing powerful magical villains into the MCU

What I am looking for:

• A good origin for Stephen Strange
• Good relationships between Strange, Mordo, and Wong
• I don't think Mordo will turn to the Dark Side in this movie, but I expect them to tease it and set it up for a future movie
• Awesome visuals and fight sequences
• A metric ton of Easter eggs, including a lot of magical objects from the comics
• I doubt they will conflate the Dark Dimension and Darkforce Dimension into the same thing, but that’s always a possibility

What would be awesome but probably won’t happen:

It would be really awesome if Ghost Rider showed up at some point, even just as a background cameo or something.

So what are you looking for in Doctor Strange (if you haven’t seen it yet)?  What is there that you really want to see but may not see at all?

If you want to get an email whenever I publish a new article, go to the top of the page and enter your email address in the box labeled “Subscribe to Mostly MCU Reviews” and click “Submit.”