Marvel's Doctor Strange Will Not Be an Origin Story

MovieBob

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Marvel's Doctor Strange Will Not Be an Origin Story


Don't expect Marvel's Sorcerer Supreme to explain himself in new movie

Marvel Comics' Doctor Strange has one of his Universe's more memorable origin stories: A brilliant but arrogant surgeon, Stephen Strange loses his skills and livelihood when an accident permanently injures his hands. Seeking a magical cure from a Himalayan mystic, he is instead drafted to become The Sorcerer Supreme - a master of magic who protects Earth from demonic forces. But it seems this origin story won't be a part of Marvel's upcoming Doctor Strange movie - or, at least, it won't be the focus of the story.

In an appearance on the Badass Digest [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fqIi3o5S2k] head Devin Faraci, a film journalist widely regarded as one of the most reliable sources of Marvel Studios production-news, offered insight into the development of Doctor Strange. After mentioning the existence of an earlier script written "in-house" at Marvel that was structured as a traditional origin story, he explained:


"Marvel's new thing is 'No More Origin Stories,' so Doctor Strange is no longer an origin. It begin in medias res, it's got Doctor Strange already established as the Sorcerer Supreme, and it's a totally new script."


While a notably different direction from the debut films of other characters, this approach obviously does not preclude Doctor Strange from revealing his backstory at some point during the main story - as was the case in Blade or the original 1989 Batman. The new script is being written from scratch by Jonathan Spaits and directed by Sinister helmer Scott Derrickson. The character was previously adapted into a Doctor Mordrid. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/moviesandtv/columns/marveltv/11951-He-s-Doctor-Strange-not-Doctor-Interesting]


Source: Meet The Movie Press [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fqIi3o5S2k&feature=youtu.be&t=52m5s]

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Random Argument Man

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I'm so happy they ditched the idea of "origin stories". It's been the same formula for a long while.

1a. Hero gets powers and motivation.
1b. Hero had powers and decided to use them.
2. Second act consist of him doing stuff while the villain plots in the background.
3. It's the big clash between hero and villain in the 3rd act.
 

Thaluikhain

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Huh...good to see they are dropping that boring origin stuff.

OTOH, I don't care about this hero at all, so, "meh". Still, step in the right direction, I guess.
 

Akiraking

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I remember the animated film they made for him. It was pretty good but I suppose it will be an interesting concept to introduce a hero without an origin story. I realize this has been done before but it has not been done much. I suppose they are going to play him as a mature character. Though they will probably have someone in the movie who is new to magic so he has a reason to explain everything to the audience in terms we would understand. Sort of like V for Vendetta but with magic.
 

Imperioratorex Caprae

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Dorammu must make an appearance for me to be satisfied Marvel's willing to take the Sorcerer Supreme leap. Or maybe pull out Mephisto again, more like the comic version?
Nightmare... oh Nightmare would be fun.
 

Adam Jensen_v1legacy

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It worked pretty well for The Incredible Hulk, all things considered. That wasn't a bad movie, just not as much fun as the others because, well, it's Hulk. And the MCU wasn't really established at that point. But I can totally see this working without an origin story.
 

rockoffanddie

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Dr strange being an already established person within the mcu is not totally surprising considering he was actually mentioned in the winter soldier , admittedly it was just in passing as part of a list of names being run off on the roof by agent sitwell. But within the mcu little details tend to matter.
 

Xerosch

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I like the kind of 'Hellboy 2' start. This way we can be surprised by all sides, not just the new world that the hero enters into. I like being thrown into the mix and getting to pick up its rules on the way instead of being told what the hero can do and what the terrible price for his powers and responsibility blah blah is.

and besides, Marvel movies belong to the most fun I've had in cinemas for years, so I'm sold even if Dr. Strange turns out to be a dud. Which I don't belive. Because magic and demons.
 

Edguy

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That origin story actually seems pretty interesting, and personally I really don't mind origin stories, especially not for "new" characters like Strange :]
 

008Zulu_v1legacy

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Hate to disappoint everyone, but they will include his origin in the movie, even if it's a simple one liner about being in a car crash and learning magic at some temple.
 

Kyrian007

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I understand the "idea" of "no more origin stories." But unless the movie gives the origin story the audience can't connect with the character (well, those of us who had Strange comics and or saw the animated film can.) And without telling the full story with the first movie you can either A: show the storyline of the first movie with cut ins from relevant points in the hero's origin story along the way (can be difficult to do without derailing the pacing) or B: truncate the origin story down to its most streamlined form and tack it onto the beginning of the film (possibly making the run time too long.)

And there's characters you can do this with well enough, and characters you can't. I'd lean toward Strange being in the later category. But I trust Marvel to get it right, they have more than half the time so far.
 

Dan of Hats

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I've always loved Doctor Strange as a character; I'm typically into most characters that have to work for their powers somehow rather than being born with them or bestowed through random chance or destiny (like Iron Man, or Batman). Being one of a small handful of occult-style heroes in the Marvelverse, he caught my attention early on and while not having the roster of truly memorable storylines as some of the big hitters out there, I always appreciated the fact he offered something different.

So, this news both excites and worries me a little bit. There's a lot I can get behind with the news I've heard of thus far, but there's still a few things I'm eyeing with some suspicion.

The fact it's not going to be an origin story sounds, on paper, to be fantastic; sure, Marvel has been getting pretty good at doing amazing origin story movies (Guardians of the Galaxy was a huge success after all), but given the upcoming films that will likely introduce a great many new faces to the MCU roster, they were always going to have to pick up the pace, especially in cases where they're likely to be one-off movies (Ant-Man, I'm looking at you here). Doctor Strange is, however, a bit of an odd fish, and a substantial departure from the current Marvel heroes we've seen depicted in the MCU thus far, especially since they've worked really hard to wave off a lot of the mythic or supernatural-looking stuff as just Asgardian technology or hyper-science (namely the various Thor movies and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. If Marvel is intending to introduce the sort of heavy occult stuff that makes Doctor Strange so, well, strange, that's a lot that needs explaining to the audience, especially if we're coming into it with a ready-to-go Sorcerer Supreme already on the scene. Now there's plenty of ways they can make that sort of setup work, Marvel have made enough strange ideas work for me to have faith in that, but I feel like they're needlessly stacking the deck against themselves right now.

That brings me onto the second thing I'm nervous about; the director. I'm not hating on Scott Derrickson here, I've not personally seen enough of his films to pass any sort of comment, personal or otherwise, but it's clear this guy is a horror movie director, which would indicate that Marvel wants Doctor Strange to have at least that sort of vibe. Now that's pretty cool, Marvel's done excellent work expanding out of the niche idea that a superhero movie has to be solely an action movie (Captain America 2: Winter Soldier is a great political thriller), but especially when it comes to most modern horror films, all my experiences have been jump scares and clunky exposition dumps dotted throughout. Now that's a personal opinion of course, horror has never been my preferred genre, and it might be Scott Derrickson's work don't use these elements so much; from ratings I've seen of his past films, he scores above-average, but not exceptionally high, which is promising, but I'm both intrigued and suspicious as to how much horror they'll be introducing into Doctor Strange.

I could ramble on further about Doctor Strange, but that's really for another forum thread. I really want this to be an awesome film, even if it doesn't rake in the fat cash or gets a sequel; I'll take a single, well made Doctor Strange movie over any number of terrible ones. And at least it'll be better than the TV movie...
 

PunkRex

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I think the more pressing matter here is how have I never heard of Doctor Mordrid? That shizz looks intense, why hasn't Bob done a Big Picture on that yet?

OT: I bet I can see how this is going to go.

Someone/people are going to get into a strange situation involving the occult, maybe a possession, summoned boogie man, etc. Then, out of nowhere and likely poised under a street lamp with his back turned to the camera, Doctor Strange will show up and put an end to the paranormal shenanigans. The mystery of who he is will work with the mystery of what's going on, the folk/s in trouble acting as a conduit for the audience.
 

Verlander

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I'm worried that they'll run the risk of creating movies based on films that comic fans want, rather than what will work. Dr Strange would totally make sense as a TV show, but as a film? I'm not sure that there's enough draw there. People will be quick to point out Guardians, but frankly that film sold itself on it's own wackiness - and suffered a fair amount of critical detraction as a result. I remain to be convinced that Ant-Man or Dr Strange can appeal to the casual moviegoer, even with the insane goodwill that Marvel Studios have amassed.
 

VondeVon

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The only Sorcerer Supreme I'd be interested in watching a movie about is one staring Captain Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce.
 

V4Viewtiful

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I liked the first 2 thirds of the animated origin movie, all they need to do is make that Canon and leave the rest as flashbacks
 

Edguy

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Dan of Hats said:
That brings me onto the second thing I'm nervous about; the director. I'm not hating on Scott Derrickson here, I've not personally seen enough of his films to pass any sort of comment, personal or otherwise, but it's clear this guy is a horror movie director, which would indicate that Marvel wants Doctor Strange to have at least that sort of vibe. Now that's pretty cool, Marvel's done excellent work expanding out of the niche idea that a superhero movie has to be solely an action movie (Captain America 2: Winter Soldier is a great political thriller), but especially when it comes to most modern horror films, all my experiences have been jump scares and clunky exposition dumps dotted throughout. Now that's a personal opinion of course, horror has never been my preferred genre, and it might be Scott Derrickson's work don't use these elements so much; from ratings I've seen of his past films, he scores above-average, but not exceptionally high, which is promising, but I'm both intrigued and suspicious as to how much horror they'll be introducing into Doctor Strange.

I could ramble on further about Doctor Strange, but that's really for another forum thread. I really want this to be an awesome film, even if it doesn't rake in the fat cash or gets a sequel; I'll take a single, well made Doctor Strange movie over any number of terrible ones. And at least it'll be better than the TV movie...
Wouldn't it be awesome if they made an M rated Dr Strange movie full of twisted, demonic and gory imagery, and really scary villain(s)?
 

Norix596

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With a setup like the "Marvel Movie Universe" it makes sense that they eventually would stop having origin story-centric movies; at least to me it makes considerable less sense that they're going to start this transition with Dr. Strange of all characters.
 

Mad Sun

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Dan of Hats said:
That brings me onto the second thing I'm nervous about; the director. I'm not hating on Scott Derrickson here, I've not personally seen enough of his films to pass any sort of comment, personal or otherwise, but it's clear this guy is a horror movie director, which would indicate that Marvel wants Doctor Strange to have at least that sort of vibe. Now that's pretty cool, Marvel's done excellent work expanding out of the niche idea that a superhero movie has to be solely an action movie (Captain America 2: Winter Soldier is a great political thriller), but especially when it comes to most modern horror films, all my experiences have been jump scares and clunky exposition dumps dotted throughout. Now that's a personal opinion of course, horror has never been my preferred genre, and it might be Scott Derrickson's work don't use these elements so much; from ratings I've seen of his past films, he scores above-average, but not exceptionally high, which is promising, but I'm both intrigued and suspicious as to how much horror they'll be introducing into Doctor Strange.
The only movie I've seen of his is Sinister, which I can definitely say is nothing like the typical modern horror schlock. There is probably only one "jump scare" (if it can even be considered that), and the rest is entirely psychological/atmospheric. In other words, it's a horror movie that actually induces in you a sense of horror, rather than just trying to startle you, and it actually works.