Dr. Strange is coming. We have the first full Dr. Strange trailer out now and as should be expected, it’s big on effects and moments that cause your jaw to drop, but light on any hint of the plot. Which is good. These are trailers/teasers: they should just get you excited and that’s it. So, first, let’s start with the obvious.
WATCH THE DR. STRANGE TRAILER
OK. You’ve seen it and it looks like Dr. Strange is a superhero who trips acid and may have somehow wandered onto the set of Inception at one point. As a longtime nerd, I feel pretty secure in saying: that’s about it.
Who is Dr. Strange?
(in theory these are Dr. Strange movie spoilers)
Trailer hints at it but the story is as follows. Strange (yes, that’s his real name) was a surgeon. A brilliant surgeon. He was the greatest surgeon out of all the great surgeons. He was also arrogant and cocky and I think bedded most of the nurses in New York City. He’s kind of like Tony Stark, just with a scalpel instead of a wrench.
One day, a bad accident happens and his hands are ruined. He still has them but the thing about surgeons is that they need to have a hyper sensitive touch (and good hand-eye coordination). This is all true, too. When they make an incision, too deep and they make a mess and maybe clip something they shouldn’t; not deep enough and there’s no point in the cut. Strange lost the ability to do this.
But he was born with the last name Strange so obviously he has to find something else to do with life. The story kinda changes over the years but in general he ends up traveling to the Far East, meets a Witch Doctor (or Shaman or whatever you wanna call him – her in the film) who teaches him the ways of magic. Strange learns and now becomes the world’s greatest sorcerer. No, really. He is the Sorcerer Supreme! Like the Pope of magic people.
So, while Iron Man and Captain America fight each other and aliens, Strange fights mystical shit. Demons and such. Note: not vampires or things like that. Think more Violent Priest than Witch Hunter.
One of the good and bad things about Strange is he’s never really been a popular character over the years. He gets his own solo book every once in a while, and it can be fun, and there are some great stories to be told, but he isn’t Spider-Man. You *know* Spider-Man: dorky kid who cracks jokes while balancing home life and school. Simple but there. Strange has some core aspects but not a real core character beyond humbled surgeon is now Super Priest. Sometimes he’s funny, sometimes he’s sullen and very business-like. The casting of Cumberbatch lends itself to the latter, as a Strange that is like ‘batch’s Sherlock Holmes seems most likely (with more humor thrown in because Marvel is good with humor – HEAR THAT, DC?!?!?).
What’s great about the trailer is that Marvel is clearly letting loose. It looks like a full embrace of pure madness and that’s what Strange’s world should be. It isn’t him walking down the street and making dogs float or something. It should be worlds turning inside out, and images that look like something you see while tripping HARD on acid. There’s enough leeway in the character over the years to create a variety of outside personas but by keeping the WTF?!? factor front and center, Dr. Strange looks like anything we’ve seen from Marvel so far. Which is strange. Which is good.
