1st Dr. Strange Images

So, I guess it’s about time to talk about Dr. Strange.  Honestly I’ve been kind of mixed on this whole project since the beginning, and I say that as one of the few genuine Dr. Strange fans.  I know a lot of folks are getting into the sorcerer supreme now thanks to the publicity of the film production but I’ve actually been a big fan of his since before the MCU got started and even I was pretty skeptical about a Dr. Strange movie.  The main reason for this is just that not every character or comic can work across several mediums. 

There are some comics that just only work as comics, the same way there are TV shows or books that could only work and be as resonant as they are in one particular medium.  It also didn’t help that I’m not really a Benedict Cumberbatch fan.  Now we’ve got our first look at him in costume along with some interesting concept art sketches and…while, I’m still not convinced this is going to work it certainly looks more interesting than it did before.

 

So this costume work is okay, kind of on the hokey side if I’m being honest.  The weird thing about Dr. Strange as a character is that his costume is more of a ceremonial garb than an actual costume so I get the inclination to revert to something more cloth oriented for his visual design.  He’s supposed to be wearing the sacred robes of the sorcerer supreme so it makes some sense he’s got the kind of puffy shirt and flowing cape combo of a LARPer in wizard wear.  However, a lot like the recent Daredevil costume this just doesn’t look very impressive visually, mainly owing to how flaccid the fabric looks. 

That’s part of the problem with trying to adapt Dr. Strange’s comic costume directly; it was never designed for live action.  In a comic book format Dr. Strange’s cape and shirt have the perfect blend of flowing freedom and stiff rigidity because they’re illustrated, in live action it all just sort of hangs there limply.  This was kind of the same problem Green Goblin had in Spider-Man; in the comics a latex facemask can move perfectly like a human face but in live action it just looks weird.  I do like how much this costume looks like fantasy wizard gear rather than a superhero suit but it’s very much a misfire for Marvel, much like the equally unimpressive and ill-advised Daredevil costume.

It also doesn’t help that most of these pictures aren’t really selling me on this vision of Dr. Strange and especially not on Benedict Cumberbatch in the role.  Dr. Strange, as a character, has always occupied a weird niche in the Marvel universe as he’s more adventuring wizard than superhero.  What’s more, he’s one of the few heroes who really doesn’t change much over the course of his origin story.  Folks like Spider-Man or Iron Man, their origin story is based around their powers coming at a traumatizing cost that catalyzes them into heroics.  Dr. Strange is sort of the opposite, suffering a debilitating tragedy that leads him to gain power.  His origin is that he was a brilliant but hedonistic surgeon who lost the precise use of his hands after a car crash. 

Seeking a cure in the mystic reaches of Tibet he was chosen by the Ancient One to become Earth’s new Sorcerer Supreme, defender against all mystic threats.  What this essentially means is that Dr. Strange learned magic entirely to avoid the consequences of his cripplingly alcoholism and the whole “saving the universe” business was just a happy accident. 

In a lot of ways this leaves Dr. Strange half-way between Tony Stark’s lovable drunk genius affect and the kind of bumbling jerk savior of Ash from the Evil Dead franchise.  The problem is that Benedict Cumberbatch isn’t really known for that kind of charming yet horrible tight rope act.  Even as Sherlock Holmes he’s not really charming yet horrible, he’s just an ass and it’s his occasional flourishes of limited humanity that are meant to make him more engaging, and really Cumberbatch isn’t even that great at that particular task.  

Honestly, his best role remains Captain Martin Crief on the British radio sitcom Cabin Pressure where he plays much more of a flustered every man desperately in love with doing a job he’s not very good at.  Now it’s possible this version of Dr. Strange won’t be the lovable drunken sorcerer cad type but more of a somber and cynical hero but I think that’d be a bit of a shame.  Dr. Strange has always stood out when he was portrayed with incredibly dry and sardonic wit, the times he slipped into colder aloofness were always more tedious than anything else. 

I will say that the effects work looks spot on and the design of the Sanctum Sanctorum and the eye of Agamotto are both great.  I really like the weird, circular design around his hand magic, that’s very accurate to the kind of powers you’d see Dr. Strange throw around in the comics.  What’s more, the visualization of the astral plan looks incredibly trippy and well realized, following the very surreal and non-denominational designs from the classic comics. 

Kevin Fiege has mentioned this film will be emphasizing weird geometry and quantum physics as a kind of blend with magic, following the templates laid down by Thor, and that’s a good way of keeping with Dr. Strange’s exception from a hard and firm aesthetic origin point for his magic.  Basically what I’m saying is that in the comics Dr. Strange’s magic never looked overtly Hindu or Chinese or Native America, always very surrealist and without direct parallel to real world cultures and they seem to have captured that aesthetic very well here. 

The eye of Agamotto, Dr. Strange’s necklace, is the big stand out for a lot of people and it’s easy to see why.  We all thought the eye had already debuted in Thor as part of Odin’s treasure vault alongside the evil eye, the casket of the ancient winters, and the infinity gauntlet but this design is markedly smaller and different.  It’s possible this is the same eye pendant from Thor and Dr. Strange will be involved setting up the events of Ragnarok, especially if Cate Blanchett turns out to be a more universal threat and less Thor-centric, but I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one.  The major red flag here is the glowing green stone in the heart of the eye, which is almost certainly an Infinity Stone. 

There are only two stones left unaccounted for in the Marvel cinematic universe, the soul stone and the time stone, and given Dr. Strange’s mystic origins and the fact Adam Warlock has yet to get even the slightest mention for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 this is probably the soul stone.  In the comics the Soul Stone’s base function is to steal people’s souls, a pretty solid power for a character like Dr. Strange who’s already steeped in magic and mysticism.

Given that Marvel has to introduce the living humanoid embodiment of Death somewhere down the line for Thanos to be in love with, having Dr. Strange flirt about with stealing souls and the afterlife would be a good way to take the first step towards that rather peculiar end goal.  If this is the soul stone I’d expect the time gem to be the very last gem that’s being fought over in Infinity War. 

Overall I’m still not totally sold on Dr. Strange.  It’s become sort of an obnoxious truth of Marvel Studios that no matter how crazy their endeavors seem they always succeed, to the point that it seems like the safer, simpler stuff is more prone to failure. 

I mean, the biggest failing of their entire run so far is that some of their movies are too safe and formulaic, that’s a pretty shocking flaw for a series that includes a talking raccoon and a guy called Ant-Man.  

In that spirit I think it’ll be the stuff Dr. Strange tries to play it safe on that sink the movie if it does turn out to be a failure.  Things like trying to make Strange conform to the standard “asshole expert” persona that ballooned out of Cumberbatch’s role on Sherlock or downplaying the urban fantasy elements of his story in favor of something more slick and broad reaching.  File this under we’ll see till the first trailers start to come out.    

Dr. Strange is scheduled for release on November 4^th, 2016


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