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Doctor Strange is Still the Best Marvel Movie

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Ahead of our #MarvelClub initiative comic to Patreon Professor Jason and Ashley have been revisiting a bunch of different MCU content in preparation for the extra videos we’re going to be doing as part of the Special Offer. If you’ve missed our video review you are going to love Marvel Club - it goes live May 1st!


ICYMI at the beginning of the year when we released our Most Anticipated Movies of 2022 episode of Geek History Lesson we had Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in high places on both our lists:

… thanks in no small part to the magic of the 2016 film.

The thing we love most about Doctor Strange - which we talk a lot about in #MarvelClub - is how throwback-y it feels. For a movie set in the MCU’s Second Phase it doesn’t fall into the same traps as many of the second generation Avengers intro movies do - feeling reductive. Post Avengers (2012), Marvel Studios turned out movie after movie which can easily be summed up as Iron-Man-light or Iron-Man-Junior. Characters introduced strictly following the groundwork established by the success of their first ever cinematic offering. Doctor Strange manages to avoid the pitfalls of trite catchphrases and paint-by-numbers villains (although, admittedly not by much, all comic book movies remain incredibly weak on their villain game when Loki’s not around), by removing itself so completely from the rest of the Marvel Universe at the time.


This is the part where you may in your mind hear Professor Ashley putting much of the credit at the feet of the man who embodies Doctor Strange, Benedict Cumberbatch but much of the credit goes to the supporting cast (Benedict Wong as Wong is so excellent he’s upgraded from a character of about 10 line to the Sorcerer Supreme of the MCU!), as used by director Scott Derrickson (who co-wrote the screenplay alongside C. Robert Cargill and Jon Spaihts). Setting aside the unfortunate whitewashing of the Ancient One, Doctor Strange is a movie filled with top tier talent.

Doctor Strange was released during the same time when Marvel Studios needed every movie to be an audition piece for the next movie. There are no name drops of upcoming characters throughout the entire run time, simply Doctor Strange falling ill in a way he cannot cure and forced to look at the world through a new lens until he embraces the idea of time’s duality of permanence and impermanence.

The originality of the movie slaps you in the face again and again as you watch Doctor Strange - particularly if you watch it in sequence with a bunch of other MCU movies!

It feels very much like Kenneth Brannagh’s original Thor movie. Epic on a scale more akin to Shakespeare than Black Widow. Until the “magic” elements inherent to the character is wiped away and replaced with “science” - a fear we share for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, if we’re being honest.

The introduction of magic to Stephen Strange mirrors the introduction of this type of magic to the entire Marvel Studios watching audience which is no small task. Spells are very different from the imbued inherited powers which are a hallmark of the Thor movie series.

The theme of time is beautifully present throughout Doctor Strange. Everything from the montage of Stephen healing from his accident, to the broken face of the watch Rachel McAdams’ Christine gifts him, to the the ultimate battle with Dormammu using the timestone - heralding its use in Avengers: Endgame in a truly organic introduction of a weapon. Stephen’s arc throughout Doctor Strange and acceptance of his own shortcoming not only manage to culminate in a subtle, lovely bit of character development, but also organically sets up Strange to step into mentor roles for future, young MCU characters like Spider-Man (as seen in Spider-Man: No Way Home).

Ending Doctor Strange without a punchy-punchy action scene, but through the use of intelligence and patience really serves to set the movie above its peers. We can’t tell you how many sky beams we have seen comic book characters go up against over the years - AND YES, Doctor Strange even dodges the trope of having the dreaded SKY BEAM - but having the hero of the movie use his considerable intellect to take down a God instead of merely his broken fists is refreshing while also nodding back to the hundreds of time Strange has bested Dormammu in their shared comic book continuity. 

This also extends to featuring Kaecillius (as played by Mads Mikkelsen), as the Earthbound villain Doctor Strange has to fight. Kaecillius in comic book continuity is nothing better than sniveling servant to Baron Mordo. By having him as the embodiment of Dormammu on Earth Doctor Strange got to show off another outstanding actor among the cast and save their SFX/VFX budget for the movie’s more Jack Kirby-esque sequences.

And, Students, the Dark Dimension sure is stunning …

… the Kirby Crackles really give so much!

It’s simple, really. The artists working on Doctor Strange embraced what was unique about the character, kept the story close to home (which is saying something when he does to The Dark Dimension!), worrying only about the events the movie spans, and the combined might of immense talent all adds up to the best cinematic offering Marvel Studios has given us to date.

2017 ©Jawiin