The marketing campaign behind Scott Derrickson's upcoming Doctor Strange has focused on the same imagery and scenes, shuffled around to tell the same story. We see Stephen Strange Benedict Cumberbatch) as a surgeon before his accident, and we see shots of him starting to train with The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) at the Karma-taj. But Doctor Strange has held off on assaulting our senses with the surreal imagery that we think is going to be a major component of this upcoming superhero origin story, yet, Marvel's approach is changing -- in a major way -- as of right now:
This new clip, titled Universes Within, explores an idea brought up in earlier Doctor Strange packages -- the idea that the reality Strange exists in is "one of many." But now, because we are much closer to release and the visual effects are closer to being done, Marvel is able to SHOW fans exactly what will happen with The Ancient One unlock's Strange's potential and opens up his eyes. It looks like this!
Some of this imagery was part of the panel footage that Marvel brought to San Diego Comic-Con, specifically Stephen Strange (Cumberbatch) floating through the galaxies after the Ancient One "pushes" him back with his powers. But in the clip, Marvel President Kevin Feige also confirms that Doctor Strange will be the first movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to approach the idea of parallel dimensions, and the multi-verse... which could become very important for future movies.
The multi-verse, in Marvel Comics' lore, suggests that there are alternate timelines running parallel to the main Marvel Universe, where duplicate versions of classic heroes could exist. The rules in the comics get twisty, and this is an avenue that the MCU cold explore as the contracts of existing stars run out. But for now, Doctor Strange peeling back the corner of such a possibility means that that MCU is about to change in very drastic ways.
This clip drops on the same night that Marvel plans a 10-minute Doctor Strange sneak peek in theaters, and I think that means they are very confident in the IMAX and 3D visuals that Scott Derrickson is bringing to the table in the new movie. We are sending our own Eric Eisenberg to an L.A. screening of the new Strange footage, so look for his write up on the site later tonight.
For now, what did you think of the trippy, awesome new Doctor Strange footage? In a way, it looks like the evolution of what Peyton Reed started with Ant-Man in the quantum realm. Do you dig it?
