Unlike many other big screen comic book origin stories, director Scott Derrickson's Doctor Strange will not feature its titular protagonist going toe-to-toe with his most notorious foe from the comics as the film's climactic final battle -- the movie's central villain instead set up as the lesser-known character Kaecilius (played by Mads Mikkelson). This match-up has earned a raised eyebrow from some fans, but those concerned should fear not. It appears that the blockbuster will still feature one of Doctor Strange's most powerful enemies: the dreaded Dormammu.
Earlier this evening, Marvel Studios hosted special IMAX screenings around the country featuring 15 minutes of Doctor Strange - and while most of the material centered on characters previously revealed in trailers and TV spots, two particular sequences seemed to feature the titular Sorcerer Supreme face to face with the ruler of the Dark Dimension from Marvel Comics. The scenes were very brief and included as part of different montages, and the character was only represented as a 50-foot head, but that head sure looked a hell of a lot like the one that Steve Ditko drew when he was co-creating the character with Stan Lee back in the early 1960s.
Following the Doctor Strange IMAX presentation, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Scott Derrickson and a group of other reporters to talk about the movie, and the subject of Dormammu came up. Unfortunately, Derrickson would neither confirm nor deny that the Lord of Chaos will be featured in the Marvel Studios blockbuster, simply saying,
I'll never tell. All you get is what you see.
For those not well-versed in Marvel Comics, Dormammu was one of the earliest villains introduced in Doctor Strange stories, and he is the fascist ruler of his own dimension, known as the Dark Dimension. He rules over his subjects with an iron fist, but simultaneously protects them from the destructive beings known as the Mindless Ones, specifically with his mastery of dark magic. He is one of the most dangerous beings in all of the Marvel Universe, and could pose a huge threat both in Doctor Strange and future Marvel Studios blockbusters.
Based on Scott Derrickson's comments, it sounds like we won't be getting official confirmation that Dormammu is in Doctor Strange until the movie actually hits theaters, but the good news is that day is not so far away anymore. The blockbuster is now just a few weeks away from release, set to hit theaters on November 4th. You can be sure that we'll have plenty of coverage on that subject, as well as many others, in the next few weeks.
