47 Fun Facts About Doctor Strange Movies

Who plays Dr. Stephen Strange?

Benedict Cumberbatch plays Stephen Strange; his 2015 stage run as Hamlet clashed with the shoot, so Marvel moved the release from summer to November 2016 to get him.

What is Stephen Strange's profession before the accident?

Strange is a brilliant, arrogant neurosurgeon whose hands are shattered in a car crash, ending his surgical career and driving him to seek a cure.

Who directed Doctor Strange (2016)?

Scott Derrickson, who made the horror film Sinister, won the job with a 90-minute pitch he paid for himself, including his own script for an astral-plane fight scene.

Who plays the Ancient One?

Tilda Swinton plays the Ancient One, reimagined as a Celtic woman; the character is a Tibetan man in the comics, and co-writer C. Robert Cargill called adapting him faithfully an unwinnable Kobayashi Maru.

Who plays the villain Kaecilius?

Mads Mikkelsen, Le Chiffre in Casino Royale, plays Kaecilius, a former Kamar-Taj student who steals pages from the Ancient One's book in search of eternal life.

Which paraplegic who regained the use of his legs points Strange toward Kamar-Taj?

Jonathan Pangborn, played by Benjamin Bratt, learned sorcery at Kamar-Taj but turned down a sorcerer's duties, choosing to pour all his magic into walking again.

In which city is Kamar-Taj located?

Kamar-Taj is in Kathmandu, Nepal, where the crew shot on location in November 2015, months after the April earthquake; the comics had placed it in Tibet.

Earth's magical shield is generated by three Sanctums in New York and which two other cities?

The Sanctums are in New York, London and Hong Kong; Kaecilius destroys the London Sanctum first, then attacks the New York one that Strange ends up defending.

What relic does Strange secretly learn to bend time with?

The Eye of Agamotto, which Strange uses to rewind a half-eaten apple, turns out to house the Time Stone, one of the six Infinity Stones.

Which entity, from a realm where time does not exist, does Kaecilius contact?

Dormammu, ruler of a timeless realm, is the being Kaecilius serves; the actor playing Strange also supplied the character's motion capture and part of his voice.

What does Strange trap the first film's cosmic big bad in to force a bargain?

An endless time loop lets Strange die over and over until the trapped entity agrees to leave Earth and take Kaecilius's zealots with him.

What has the Ancient One secretly been drawing power from to prolong her life?

The Ancient One has secretly drawn power from the Dark Dimension for centuries, breaking the rules she teaches; Kaecilius exposes that hypocrisy to Strange to justify his own rebellion.

What does Mordo declare in the post-credits scene of Doctor Strange (2016)?

Earth has too many sorcerers, Mordo declares while stealing another sorcerer's magic; unlike his comics counterpart, Chiwetel Ejiofor's Mordo was deliberately not introduced as a villain.

Which Asgardian appears in the mid-credits scene of Doctor Strange?

Thor appears in the mid-credits scene, drinking an ever-refilling beer in the New York Sanctum while Strange agrees to help him find Odin; Thor: Ragnarok replays the scene.

Rachel McAdams's character, Christine Palmer, comes from which 1972 Marvel comic?

Night Nurse followed three roommates at a New York hospital, Palmer among them; the film picked her over a more fantastical love interest to keep Strange tied to the ordinary world.

Which relic chooses Strange as its master?

The Cloak of Levitation was treated as a character: Marvel hired the studio that animated Rocket Raccoon, which played it like a wild horse slowly learning to trust its rider.

Which mobile puzzle game did the makers of Doctor Strange (2016) study for its Escher-style folding cityscapes?

The director wanted a chase inside an Escher world, so he handed his effects chief fractal videos from YouTube and the team studied Monument Valley, a phone puzzle built on impossible architecture.

Who composed the score for Doctor Strange (2016)?

Michael Giacchino recorded the score at Abbey Road Studios, where Paul McCartney dropped in on a session and told him one cue had shades of I Am the Walrus.

Which Spider-Man co-creator drew the 1960s comics whose trippy art shaped the look of Doctor Strange (2016)?

Steve Ditko's swirling dimensions made the comic a favourite of 1960s college students, yet Ditko himself followed Ayn Rand and had his Peter Parker show contempt for student protesters.

Where did Doctor Strange hold its world premiere in October 2016?

Hong Kong hosted the world premiere on 13 October 2016, three weeks before the US release; the film's final battle, fought while time runs backwards, is set on its streets.

Doctor Strange (2016) earned an Academy Award nomination in which category?

Best Visual Effects was the film's only Oscar nomination, earned by set pieces such as a folding Manhattan and a street battle fought while time runs backwards; The Jungle Book won.

What is Stan Lee reading on the bus in his Doctor Strange cameo?

The Doors of Perception, Aldous Huxley's 1954 account of a mescaline trip, is the book Stan Lee laughs over on the bus, a nod to the film's psychedelic imagery.

Who directed Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness?

Sam Raimi, who had not directed a feature since Oz the Great and Powerful (2013), took over in February 2020 after the first film's director left over creative differences.

Wanda crosses the multiverse to reach which twin sons?

Billy and Tommy vanished with the spell that created them, so Wanda hunts America Chavez for the power to reach a universe where the boys are real.

Who plays America Chavez?

Xochitl Gomez, previously seen in Netflix's The Baby-Sitters Club, plays America Chavez, a teenager from the Utopian Parallel who punches star-shaped portals between universes.

What is the name of the corrupting spellbook Wanda uses?

The Darkhold, the Book of the Damned, corrupts Wanda after she takes it from Agatha Harkness; its light counterpart, the Book of Vishanti, is what Strange and Chavez seek.

What is the term for using the corrupting spellbook to possess your counterpart in another universe?

Dreamwalking is the forbidden spell that lets a sorcerer possess their counterpart in another universe; Strange dreamwalks into his own corpse at the climax and later sprouts a third eye.

Which mountain is the source of the corrupting spellbook's power?

Mount Wundagore is where the book's spells were first carved into the walls; Wanda collapses the mountain at the end, destroying every copy of the book across the multiverse.

Which sorcerer serves as Earth-838's Sorcerer Supreme and hands Strange to the Illuminati?

Karl Mordo walked away from the sorcerers in the first film, but this universe's version, again played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, leads them and sits on the Illuminati himself.

Who plays Professor Charles Xavier in the Illuminati?

Patrick Stewart reprises Charles Xavier, blending his Fox-era Professor X with the 1990s X-Men animated series, complete with its yellow hover-chair and theme music.

Which Illuminati member does Anson Mount play in Multiverse of Madness?

Black Bolt, king of the Inhumans, is played by Anson Mount, reprising his role from the 2017 ABC series; Wanda removes his mouth so his own voice destroys his skull.

Who plays Maria Rambeau, the Illuminati's Captain Marvel, in Multiverse of Madness?

Lashana Lynch plays Maria Rambeau, who in the Illuminati's universe became Captain Marvel instead of Carol Danvers; Lynch reprises her Captain Marvel (2019) role and is killed by Wanda during the massacre.

Why did the Illuminati execute their own Doctor Strange?

He destroyed another universe while using forbidden magic to beat Thanos; the Illuminati executed him, then raised a statue and told the public he died a hero.

Who plays the Pizza Poppa street vendor, a cameo by one of the director's oldest collaborators?

Bruce Campbell, star of the Evil Dead films and a friend of the director since high school, plays Pizza Poppa; the post-credits scene shows Strange's spell on him finally wearing off.

Which actress appears as Clea in the mid-credits scene?

Charlize Theron appears as Clea, Strange's long-time love interest in the comics, in the mid-credits scene, warning him that he has caused an incursion and leading him through a portal.

What is the name of the ponytailed Strange variant killed in the opening scene?

Defender Strange starts the film shielding America Chavez from a demon, then tries to take her power for himself and is killed; the main Strange later possesses his corpse.

Who composed the score for Multiverse of Madness?

Danny Elfman fell out with the director while scoring Spider-Man 2 and skipped the third film; the pair made peace on Oz the Great and Powerful, then reunited for this sequel.

Which Disney+ series did Michael Waldron run before writing the sequel, laying its multiverse groundwork?

Michael Waldron was head writer of Loki's first season, which introduced the Time Variance Authority and shattered the Sacred Timeline, before writing the Doctor Strange sequel.

Which film dethroned Multiverse of Madness as 2022's biggest earner?

Strange passed The Batman as North America's biggest film of 2022 over Memorial Day weekend; Top Gun: Maverick opened that same weekend, and by late June had overtaken it there and worldwide.

Multiverse of Madness beat which earlier film to give its director his biggest opening weekend?

Spider-Man 3 opened to $151 million in 2007, but the backlash left its director unsure he could face another superhero film; fifteen years on, his comeback opened to $187 million.

Why did Multiverse of Madness go unreleased in Saudi Arabia?

Disney refused to cut LGBTQ dialogue, barely 12 seconds in which America Chavez mentions her two mothers; Saudi censors said they had asked for the edit rather than banning the film.

What do Strange and his corrupted double hurl at each other in their duel?

Musical notes peel off sheet music as weapons, and the volleys play real pieces: Beethoven's Fifth Symphony against Bach's Toccata and Fugue.

Who plays Reed Richards among the Illuminati in Multiverse of Madness?

John Krasinski plays Reed Richards, the Illuminati's Mister Fantastic, fulfilling a long-running fan casting; Wanda shreds him into ribbons during the Illuminati massacre.

Which broken gift from Christine Palmer does Strange finally repair in the sequel?

A wristwatch from Christine is what muggers try to take from Strange in the first film; at the end of the sequel he finally repairs it and puts it away, a sign he has let her go.

Which carmaker built the supercar Strange crashes in Doctor Strange (2016)?

Lamborghini lent the production six Huracáns for the crash that ends Strange's surgical career, and the crew wrecked one of them for real.

Which Kamar-Taj master, missing a hand, demonstrates that sorcery does not depend on hands?

Master Hamir is the man Strange first mistakes for the Ancient One; later he conjures a spell with the stump of his missing left hand to show Strange that shaking hands are no excuse.

Which TV comedy creator wrote uncredited material for Doctor Strange's 2016 reshoots?

Dan Harmon, creator of Community and co-creator of Rick and Morty, wrote pages for the reshoots; Kevin Feige said Marvel wanted his opinion on the film's sci-fi concepts as much as his jokes.