MCU: 10 Things You Might Not Know About DOCTOR STRANGE

Geek Dave brushes up on his Sanskrit?

1. After the Doctor Strange TV movie from 1978, a variety of proposed cinematic features reached various stages of production in what was close to 40 years of development hell to bring the Master of the Mystic Arts to the big screen - as we explored here. The Marvel Cinematic Universe version of Doctor Strange was originally proposed in the first wave of potential features for the newly formed Marvel Studios when, in April 2005, Paramount Pictures acquired the film rights for Doctor Strange from the current licence holders Miramax, as part of Marvel's attempt to independently produce their own films.

As The LA Times covered during Marvel's first announcement about what was to eventually become the MCU...

"[After] closing a $525-million loan deal... Marvel said it would use the money to make 10 films with budgets of as much as $165 million each, including one about Captain America, whom Avi Arad, chief executive of subsidiary Marvel Studios Inc., called the “Holy Grail” of comic book characters.

Plans call for two PG-13-rated releases a year starting in summer 2008. Marvel characters set to join Captain America in the movies are the Avengers, Nick Fury, Black Panther, Ant-Man, Cloak & Dagger, Dr. Strange, Hawkeye, Power Pack and Shang-Chi.

“These titles have such great public awareness that we are virtually guaranteed [strong] opening weekends,” Arad said. “Then we’ll make sequels.”

No mention of Iron Man? But characters with "great public awareness" like Power Pack? Well OK then.

2. Two years later, although no films had yet been released, the Marvel Cinematic Universe was starting to take shape with both Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk going before the cameras and in various stages of post/production. Marvel Studios still looked to bring Doctor Strange into, what would be referred to as, Phase One of the MCU and took a pitch from Guillermo del Toro and Neil Gaiman. Their vision for a Doctor Strange film would've seen Gaiman writing and del Toro directing, with Gaiman especially keen to include the character Clea. However, Marvel turned the duo down and Doctor Strange was pushed out of favour by Thor after Paramount managed to gain the rights to the Norse God from the then licence holders Sony Pictures.

3. By 2014, more people had lobbied Marvel to direct a Doctor Strange movie than any other character they had screen rights for, so eventual director Scott Derrickson knew he had to pull out the stops if he was to be the one behind the camera.

Primarily known as that time as a horror director, Derrickson wrote a 12-page scene for the film featuring Strange and an assailant fighting in the astral plane while a doctor attempts to save Strange's physical body in a hospital, based on a sequence from the 2007 limited comic book series Doctor Strange: The Oath. Derrickson then illustrated the sequence with his own concept art, alongside storyboards from professional artists and even had sequences animated. He then presented this to Marvel Studios in a 90-minute pitch. This cost Derrickson an "obnoxious amount" of his own money, but he felt it necessary to prove "that I wanted [the job] more than anyone".

Guess what? He wasn't offered it! Initially that is. Marvel invited him back for more talks and, eventually, after eight meetings he was hired. Marvel subsequently bought the 12-page scene from Derrickson, and it became one of the film's main set pieces.

4. Scott Derrickson wanted Nightmare (the ruler of a Dream Dimension and one of the Fear Lords, Nightmare has the ability to draw power from the psychic energies of the subconscious minds of dreaming beings) to be the film's antagonist, along with the concept of "nightmares themselves as being a dimension", but Marvel's Kevin Feige felt "getting across the idea of the Dream Dimension as another dimension" would have been challenging alongside everything else that the film introduces and proposed that Dormammu, "the most present villain in the comics", should be the film's main villain.

5. During the early development process of Doctor Strange, Marvel, Derrickson, and co-writer Jon Spaihts all envisioned Benedict Cumberbatch playing the title role. Fans and the media had also championed Cumberbatch for Doctor Strange, but at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con the actor explained that he would be unable to accept the role due to commitments to other projects.

At the same time news broke that Marvel had reportedly spoken with both Tom Hardy and Jared Leto for the film's lead, while Édgar Ramírez, who worked with Derrickson on 2014's Deliver Us from Evil, was also a potential star. However, on July 25th 2014 it was announced that Joaquin Phoenix had entered talks to play Doctor Strange in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

6. Negotiations with Joaquin Phoenix ended in October 2014 with the actor withdrawing from contention after feeling that blockbuster films would never be "fulfilling" for him, with "too many requirements that went against [his] instincts for character."

Marvel then placed Leto, Ethan Hawke, Oscar Isaac, Ewan McGregor, Matthew McConaughey, Jake Gyllenhaal, Colin Farrell, Ryan Gosling and Keanu Reeves on their shortlist for the character. Derrickson noted that even during discussions with Phoenix, and despite talks now taking place with Gosling, he and Marvel still wanted to cast Cumberbatch in the role, so the company eventually decided to change the film's production schedule to fit around Cumberbatch's commitments, allowing him to join the project.

7. Benedict Cumberbatch also portrays, uncredited, the villainous entity Dormammu. The actor suggested he take on the role to Derrickson, feeling that having the character be a "horrific" reflection of Strange would work better than just "being a big ghoulish monster". The director agreed, elaborating that the casting implies that Dormammu does not have a normal physical form in his own dimension, and so is simply imitating Strange for their confrontation. To create the character, Cumberbatch provided motion-capture reference for the visual effects team, and his voice was blended with that of another uncredited British actor, whom Derrickson described as having "a very deep voice".

The producers also had Tony Todd record voice over for Dormammu as an alternative to Cumberbatch, but ultimately decided on using Cumberbatch for the voice.

8. Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen plays Kaecilius, and perhaps unsurprisingly is the only member of the main cast who dubbed their own character for the Danish release of Doctor Strange. Interestingly though, Mads' brother Lars Mikkelsen provided the voice of Doctor Strange in the Danish dub, having previously played the antagonist Charles Magnussen in Sherlock, which starred Benedict Cumberbatch.

9. Before Rachel McAdams was cast as Christine Palmer, reports stated that Jessica Chastain had turned down the role (after previously turning down that of Hope Van Dyne in Ant-Man). McAdams had been approached by Marvel before, as she was apparently offered the role of Pepper Potts in Iron Man in December 2006.

McAdams' startled reaction in the broom closet scene was genuine, the mop handle fell completely by accident and scared the actress almost out of her skin. Since she never broke character, Scott Derrickson decided to keep the reaction in the film.

10. Stan Lee's cameo in Doctor Strange was directed by James Gunn on the set of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. This was alongside several other Lee cameos, including as the Watcher in GOTGv2, to limit the amount of travel he had to do for the next four MCU films. Gunn contacted Derrickson during the shoot to ensure that the shot matched up with the respective Doctor Strange scene, and "kept throwing lines at" Lee on the day to give Derrickson and Marvel plenty of options to choose from for the film.

Additional options Gunn filmed included Lee reading a book and asking a gentleman next to him if he knew what the word excelsior meant; Lee laughing really hard and stating he was laughing for no reason, being "totally crazy"; and Lee laughing hysterically at a Garfield book, noting how the character "HATES Mondays but he LOVES lasagna!". Gunn felt the Garfield option was originally meant to appear in the final version of the film, but ended up being too long for the scene