Stephen Strange (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

The character of Doctor Strange was originally created in the 1960s. Artist Steve Ditko and writer Stan Lee have described the character as having been originally the idea of Ditko, who wrote in 2008, "On my own, I brought in to Lee a five-page, penciled story with a page/panel script of my idea of a new, different kind of character for variety in Marvel Comics. My character wound up being named Dr. Strange because he would appear in Strange Tales."[1] In a 1963 letter to Jerry Bails, Lee wrote:

Well, we have a new character in the works for Strange Tales (just a 5-page filler named Dr. Strange) Steve Ditko is gonna draw him. It has sort of a black magic theme. The first story is nothing great, but perhaps we can make something of him-- 'twas Steve's idea and I figured we'd give it a chance, although again, we had to rush the first one too much. Little sidelight: Originally decided to call him Mr. Strange, but thought the "Mr." bit too similar to Mr. Fantastic -- now, however, I remember we had a villain called Dr. Strange just recently in one of our mags, hope it won't be too confusing![2]

Following a 1978 film adaptation also titled Dr. Strange,[3] various incarnations of a Doctor Strange film adaptation had been in development since the mid-1980s, until Paramount Pictures acquired the film rights in April 2005 on behalf of Marvel Studios. In the mid-2000s, Kevin Feige had realized that Marvel still owned the rights to the core characters of the Avengers, which included Strange. Feige, a self-professed "fanboy", envisioned creating a shared universe just as creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had done with their comic books in the early 1960s.[4] In 2004, David Maisel was hired as chief operating officer of Marvel Studios as he had a plan for the studio to self-finance movies.[5] Marvel entered into a non-recourse debt structure with Merrill Lynch, under which Marvel got $525 million to make a maximum of 10 movies based on the company's properties over eight years, collateralized by certain movie rights to a total of 10 characters, including Doctor Strange.[6] Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer were brought on board in June 2010 to write a screenplay. In June 2014, Derrickson was hired to direct and re-write the film with Spaihts. Cumberbatch 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 principal photography in November 2015 in Nepal, before moving to the United Kingdom and Hong Kong, and concluding in New York City in April 2016.

Benedict Cumberbatch on the set of Doctor Strange in 2015.

Stephen Strange, a wealthy and acclaimed, but arrogant neurosurgeon, severely injures his hands in a car crash while en route to a dinner, leaving him unable to operate. Fellow surgeon and former lover Christine Palmer tries to help him move on, but Strange ignores her attempts and vainly pursues experimental surgeries to heal his hands, at the cost of his wealth. Strange learns about Jonathan Pangborn, a paraplegic, who he had refused to treat earlier due to perceiving him having little chance of recovery but had mysteriously regained use of his legs. Pangborn directs Strange to Kamar-Taj, where he is rescued from a band of thieves attempting to steal an expensive watch of his and taken in by Mordo, a sorcerer under the Ancient One. The Ancient One demonstrates her power to Strange, revealing the astral plane and other dimensions such as the Mirror Dimension. She reluctantly agrees to train Strange, whose arrogance and ambition remind her of renegade sorcerer Kaecilius, who has recently stolen a vital book from the Kamar-Taj library.

Strange studies under the Ancient One and Mordo, and from ancient books in the library that is now guarded by Master Wong. Strange learns that Earth is protected from threats from other dimensions by a shield generated from three buildings called Sanctums, in New York City, London, and Hong Kong, which are all connected and accessible from Kamar-Taj. Strange uses his impressive memory and progresses quickly, secretly reading the text from which Kaecilius stole pages, learning to bend time with the mystical Eye of Agamotto. Mordo and Wong catch Strange in the act and warn him against breaking the laws of nature, drawing a comparison to Kaecilius' desire for eternal life.

After Kaecilius uses the stolen pages to contact Dormammu of the Dark Dimension and leads an attack on the New York Sanctum, killing its guardian, Strange holds off the attackers with the help of the Cloak of Levitation until Mordo and the Ancient One arrive. Mordo becomes disillusioned with the Ancient One after Strange reveals that the Ancient One has been drawing power from the Dark Dimension to sustain her long life. Kaecilius later mortally wounds the Ancient One and escapes to Hong Kong. Before dying, she tells Strange that he too will have to bend the rules to complement Mordo's steadfast nature in order to defeat Kaecilius. Strange and Mordo arrive in Hong Kong to find Wong dead, the Sanctum destroyed, and the Dark Dimension engulfing Earth. Strange uses the Eye to reverse time and save Wong, then enters the Dark Dimension and creates a time loop around himself and Dormammu. After repeatedly killing Strange to no avail, Dormammu finally gives in to Strange's demand that he leave Earth and take Kaecilius and his zealots with him in return for Strange breaking the loop.

Strange returns the Eye to Kamar-Taj, and takes up residence in the New York Sanctum to continue his studies. Later, having become the Sorcerer Supreme, Strange helps Thor, who has brought his brother Loki to Earth to search for their father Odin. Some weeks later, Hulk crash-lands at the New York Sanctum Sanctorum, reverting to Bruce Banner. He warns Strange and Wong about Thanos's plan to kill half of all life in the universe, and they recruit Tony Stark. Maw and Obsidian, servants of Thanos, arrive to retrieve the Time Stone from Strange, drawing the attention of Peter Parker. Maw captures Strange, but fails to take the Time Stone due to an enchantment. Stark and Parker kill Maw and rescue Strange from torture. Landing on Titan, they meet members of the Guardians of the Galaxy, and Strange uses the Time Stone to view millions of possible futures, seeing only one in which Thanos loses. The group forms a plan to subdue Thanos. The plan fails after Peter Quill, enraged over the loss of Gamora unintentionally breaks the group's hold on him, and after a brief duel with Thanos is ultimately defeated while Stark is seriously wounded by the Titan, but is spared because Strange surrenders the Time Stone to Thanos. Thanos then leaves Titan for Wakanda, and obtains all of the Infinity Stones, allowing him to wipe out half the life in the Universe. Strange is among those who disintegrate but before disappearing tells Stark there was no other way.

Five years later, the remaining Avengers figure out how to reverse the snap, restoring all who were disintegrated, but a time-travelling past version of Thanos attacks Earth. Strange along with Parker and the Guardians who were wiped out show up from Titan having gathered all the various multitudes of allies and participates in the battle, at one point indicating to Stark that this is indeed the one future in which Thanos loses. After Stark sacrifices himself by using a restored Infinity Gauntlet to destroy Thanos and the attacking forces, Strange attends Stark's funeral.

The Hollywood Reporter's Todd McCarthy called Doctor Strange "smartly cast,[28] while Alonso Duralde, reviewing for TheWrap said that the film was "smart enough to bring in great British actors to make the predictable paces and life lessons feel fresh and fascinating".[29] Mara Reinstein of US Weekly criticized the film but praised Cumberbatch's "alluring powers" in the role,[30] while Adam Graham of The Detroit News said, "Cumberbatch is wildly charismatic in the lead role... But that's the thing: He's a better party guest than he is a host. Doctor Strange is a fine introduction, but by the end, you're not sad to be headed for the door".[31]

For his performance, Cumberbatch was nominated in 2016 for a Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actor in an Action Movie,[32] and in 2017 for a Saturn Award for Best Actor in a Film,[33] and a Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor in a Fantasy Film.[34]

• Doctor Strange at Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki
• Marvel Cinematic Universe Doctor Strange on Marvel Database, a Marvel Comics wiki
• Stephen Strange (Doctor Strange) Biography - Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) - Marvel Studios Official Web Site