As I start this article, in the spirit of full disclosure, I have seen Infinity War. I may tease but will not be posting spoilers here. If for some reason you haven’t, make sure you watch Doctor Strange before going into Infinity War.
Doctor Strange is my favorite movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. From the second I saw it opening night I knew I was in love.
I’m not sure what made me swoon more. Either the appearance of the Time Stone and its application or the sheer discussion of the multiverse and its applications to the MCU.
During the Ancient One’s explanation of the multiverse, I was about ready to drool.
As you may know, Doctor Strange focuses on Dr. Stephen Strange, a neurosurgeon who finds himself seeking healing for his hands by any means necessary. When his physical therapist mentions how a patient of his came back from a seemingly unrecoverable injury, Strange seeks him out for the secret. He is directed to a place called Kamar-Taj.
There he meets a being known as the Ancient One who introduces him to a world of sorcery and multiple dimensions. He becomes a sorcerer and learns that Earth is protected from beings from other dimensions by three Sanctums in London, New York, and Hong Kong.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ryo1ED34oPw?rel=0
Strange, in a desire to learn everything he can and perhaps figure out how to heal his hands, comes upon the Eye of Agamotto. In the comics, this artifact has immense power. The people behind the movie gave an alternate a reason for that power, however.
That’s the primary reason? The Time Stone makes its home in the Eye.
At the beginning of the movie, we see one of the Ancient One’s students, Kaecilius, steal pages out one of the books in the library. He performs rituals to connect himself to the Dark Dimension to allow them to feed off the energy there.
They want to summon Dormammu, a being from the Dark Dimension. Then allow him to make Earth part of his domain so that they can live forever.
When the Ancient One is fatally wounded in a battle with Kaecilius and his zealots, she tells Strange that he will need to go against the natural order in order to defeat Dormammu.
London’s sanctum falls. When Strange arrives in Hong Kong, later, he finds another sorcerer, Wong, dead, the sanctum fallen and Dormammu is devouring the Earth.
Doctor Strange uses the Eye and the Time Stone within to reverse time, saving Wong. Then, he goes into the Dark Dimension and creates a time loops, locking Dormammu into a single moment within which he is unable to move and conquer and devour.
For a few minutes, we see the loop play out and Doctor Strange dies again and again and again. Sometimes he is barely dead before he appears again and the loop starts anew. Dormammu is aware of the loop.
Dormammu gives into Doctor Strange’s demands. Strange wants him to leave Earth, never to return, and take Kaecilius and his zealots with him. He does all of them and one of Strange’s teachers, Mordo, leaves the group, angry at Doctor Strange for breaking the natural order by messing with time.
One thing I find fascinating is how the Time Stone is able to manipulate time on a localized level yet balance out with the rest of the universe. Therein lies the power of an Infinity Stone. It was interesting to see.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2yhOMAmf6s?rel=0
Another is the loop. Doctor Strange goes into it knowing there’s a chance that he could spend the rest of eternity dying again and again in the most excruciating and gruesome ways. But is willing to do it to save Earth.
He comes a long way in the course of a movie.
I find it interesting that Marvel waited until so late in the MCU to introduce him and I wish they’d done it earlier (like I said I love him and I love the movie). I feel like he makes a gigantic leap from Doctor Strange to Infinity War.
Mordo tells Doctor Strange before he leaves that because he messed with the natural order, there will be consequences. One could make the argument that because the Time Stone was used in such a way that maybe it got Thanos’ attention.
What else can the stone do?
What more can Doctor Strange do?
Doctor Strange returns in Avengers: Infinity War.
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