Doctor Strange: Starter Kit (Part 2)
As 2015 begins it will soon unveil; Marvel’s “Avengers 2: Age of Ultron” and “Ant-Man” which will lead into 2016’s “Captain America 3: Civil War” and of course, “Doctor Strange”.
You are probably finding yourself asking these questions:
-But what do all those other films before Doctor Strange have to do with him?
-Does that mean Doctor Strange is an avenger?
-Does this mean that Loki (who is confirmed to be coming back in two marvel films over the course of 2015-2017) and Doctor Strange will have an ultimate face-off?
-Does that mean Iron-Man and Doctor Strange will have a Sherlock-off? Who the hell is Ultron? What is the Civil War?
Before we answer these questions in a later, Starter Kit part 3 post. We must get back to the basics and unveil the man behind the Strange. Doctor Stephen Strange that is.
If you read our last beginners guide to the doctor, congratulations! You have successfully moved on to level 2 of the Doctor Strange starter kit.
By this point you should know some overall knowledge about his past, his personality, his powers and some good recommendation on the comic books you should read before the movie hits theaters late 2016.
Now let’s learn some stuff about romance and revenge.
The Mischief of a God a day keeps Doctor Strange Away
©Marvel “Thor Disassembled”
We’ve been trolling Tumblr and are sad to see that there isn’t that much Loki/Doctor Strange fan fiction out there. As a matter of fact there isn’t much about.
There is a lot of theories and speculation that Loki and Doctor Strange will meet. Theorize and speculate no more. It does in fact happen. A word of caution to this revelation, internet, is that this exact scenario might not happen in the first Doctor Strange film, but a meeting of Loki and Doctor Strange is inevitable (in the film universe) since Strange is an avenger after all.
So we talked to our nerd correspondent Pamela about one of Doctor Strange’s off-brand enemies(Strange’s main enemy is Mordo and Dormammu, but we’ll get to that later), his love life, and her favorite Doctor Strange moments.
He’s Up All Night to get Loki
Doctor Strange’s interactions with the Odinson Family (yes that’s right girls. Thor and Loki)
Lets be honest here, you are all waiting to know if Loki ‘The God of Mischief’ and Doctor Strange ‘The Sorcerer Suprime’ ever meet in the Marvel Universe, well you are lucky. Get your Hiddlestone/Cumberbatch shipping heart on because they do.
When you say? Now.
The Challenge of Loki
Originally from Strange Tales #123, August 1964.
Who is involved?
Loki ‘The God of Mischief’
Doctor Strange ‘The Sorcerer Supreme’ Master of the Mystic Arts
Thor ‘The God of Thunder’
(Yes ladies, 3 hotties in one Comic)
What happens?
Basically the plot opens and closes with a satisfying ‘click’. In the story, Loki decides to use Dr. Strange to destroy his old enemy, and sexy brother Thor, the god of Thunder. He convinces Strange to cast a spell to rob Thor of his hammer ( Mjölnir) while Thor is in flight. Without the hammer, The God of Thunder starts to fall to his death. Meanwhile Dr. Strange realizes he’s been tricked by the God of Mischief, and he and Loki battle. Strange is losing, but manages to reverse his spell, winding time backwards and returning the hammer to Thor. His life and hammer restored, Thor sets out in search of Loki, arriving at Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum (Doctor Strange’s Headquarters, people) just in time to scare Loki off and save Strange.
The End.
I guess this might be a bit tricky, (especially when it comes to the movie universe) but the sort of thing I liked about it, is the neatness of it. Loki has an evil plot, it is discovered and everything goes back to normal.
So there you go, this is the very first meeting of the Odinson brothers and the Sorcerer Supreme. Obviously Doctor Strange, Thor and Loki do meet in future adventures but basically this is the very first time they do, and let me tell you its awesome.
FUN FACT: Doctor Strange’s spell to rob Thor’s hammer is basically a big blue flying hand. Who would have thought!
Favorite Doctor Strange comic arcs:
When it comes to Doctor Strange comic arcs, Strange has many styles of stories and can fit many tastes. But the main question you need to ask yourself is WHAT TYPE OF STORIES do YOU like?
Do you like straight-up-hero stuff? What about cosmic? Mystical arts? What about stand-alone stories?
Well, while you ask yourself this questions here’s a list of our favorite and probably the BEST arcs from Doctor Strange, that you really need to read ASAP:
Strange Tales v1 # 130-14
The comic story deals with Doctor Strange’s search for Eternity and his being hunted across the globe by the terrible Dormammu and Baron Mordo. IT’S GOT EVERYTHING!!! Lots of action! Mysticism! Basically Strange has to escape from deadly situations blind and powerlees while his head and hands ARE ENCASED IN IRONS! (whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?) The terrible Dormammu vs Eternity!
Doctor Strange: Into Shamballa (Graphic Novel)
In this story we see Doctor Strange revisitng the home of his former mentor (OH GOD SPOILERS?), the Ancient One, 20 years after after he was taught the ways of magic and sorcery. A very interesting artifact is left for him as a gift and he returns home to study it. In the process, he opens up communication with beings from a higher reality that are basically know has The Lords of Shamballa. This benevolent beings send Strange on a mission that will help humanity reach another level or plane of existence. Of course, to make it happen, an enourmus sacrifice would have to be made. Doctor Strange is left to contemplate whether the fulfilment of the few is worth the sacrifice of the many.
Personally this is my favorite, beautiful graphics and incredible adventures. A whole new level of storytelling in the Doctor Strange world. PLUS, Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson has shared an image of this graphic novel, so this story might be a hint of what we could expect from the movie. (JESUS PLEASE!!!!) The graphic novel tells one of the best Doctor Strange stories ever. It also provides the perfect way for audiences to be introduced this character’s mystical story. I could easily see the film starting out with Strange returning to the home of the Ancient One. It’s an effective way to address the Doctor Strange origin without taking up a large chunk of the movie.
Doctor Strange in Love:
©Marvel “Avenging Spider-Man 8”
When it comes to potential lovers for Doctor Strange the list is not that long, you see, when you are former neurosurgeon and the sorcerer supreme, you basically have only time to protect the earth from any mystical treats. But Doctor Strange has managed to get some super badass girlfriends.
Clea
This is his main squeeze. She is the Helena Bonham Carter to his Tim Burton. And we would be interested to see who they cast to play her. Oh, and did we mention she is the niece of his worst enemy?
Real Name: Clea
Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Dark Dimension) Mystic
Occupation: Rebel leader, Princess of the Dark Dimension, Former ruler of the Dark Dimension, Apprentice to Sorcerer Supreme.
Group Membership: The Defenders/Shieldmaidens
First Appearance: Strange Tales #126 (1964)
Relatives: Dr.Stephen Strange (Husband) SPOILERSSS, Orini (Father), Umar (Mother) Dormammu(Uncle)
Abilities:
Superhuman strength and resistance to injury
Mastery of Magic
Energy bolts
Teleportation
Telekinesis
Mind control
Illusion generation
Basically she can do whatever Doctor Strange can, since she is his apprentice. Talk about hot for teacher.
Clea is a human being (sort of) related to an other-dimensional race of energy beings. Basically she is an extra-dimensional bad-ass. Daughter of Umar and the niece of the demonic tyrant Dormammu, YES Doctor Strange’s ultimate enemy. The beautiful and noble Clea has been, the sporadic ruler of the Dark Dimension.
Which makes her kind of evil. Clea observed Doctor Strange and his adventures impressed by his courage she warned Strange against facing Dormammu, and her uncle (Dormammu) then punished her for this betrayal. While Doctor Strange journeyed into the Dark Dimension anyway and was aided by Clea and the two quickly fell in love.
Doctor Strange returned to Earth with Clea, and she lived with him in his Sanctum Sanctorum (Doctor Strange’s headquarters, cool name right?) becoming his lover and disciple. Over the years, she grew in her mystical potential and became nearly his equal in mystical aptitude. She joined him on many of his adventures, even as a member of his team, THE DEFENDERS (not to be confused with THE AVENGERS) when the team helped defeat Dormammu from invading Earth on several occasions. Eventually, Clea left Earth to return to the Dark Dimension, in part because she believed that Doctor Strange’s heart belonged to what would be his next love Morgana Blessing.
Morgana Blessing:
Real Name: Morgana Blessing
Class: Human
Occupation: Writer
Group Membership: None
Enemies: Dormammu, Clea (Although romantic rival is more appropriate)
First Appearance: Doctor Strange #48
Morgana is a best-selling author both fiction and non-fiction, all dealing with the occult. Due to intensive research, Morgana has an extensive knowledge of the occult. Morgana has minimal natural magical abilities, which have allowed her to sense astral forms. The first time she meets Doctor Strange is during a mystical/demon bank robbery, obviously Strange saves the day and she calls him, asks for his knowledge of the occult in order to consut him as a resource for her next book, partially flirting with Strange.I’m going to be honest here, she is also a really bad-ass lady but nothing happens between the two of them (nothing that really matters) since she is more into Doctor Strange’s vampire (yes, vampire) brother Victor Strange.
Madeleine Revell
Real name: Madeleine St. Germaine
Aliases: Madeleine Revell
Affiliation: United Nations
Occupation: Former Translator for the United Nations
First Appearance: Doctor Strange Vol 2 #39
Madeleine Revell was an injured United Nations translator whom Doctor Strange saved and fell in love with during his neurosurgeon days. Following a whirlwind romance and proposal, she left him due to his increasingly materialist nature.
What do we expect for the future of Doctor Strange (a Sherlock tie in)?
We know that all this information is a lot to take in. Hence why we are splitting it up into parts that are easier to digest for everyone.
The graphic novel “Shamballa” mentioned above is certainly a great thing to get your hands on before the movie comes out as it will most likely be the guide that movie follows.
For a brain-overload recap we talked about:
– Doctor Strange meeting Thor and Loki (we can’t wait to see this also happen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe)
– Doctor Strange and his many, many love interests (but remember Clea is his #BAE)
Regardless of what they do and do not decide to do with the Sorcerer Supreme, we know this movie will be a great fit and something everyone can look forward to even if you aren’t into comic book films or comic books.
All we ask of Scott Derrickson is to take this opportunity to have this Sherlock joke in the Doctor Strange movie, it is in the comic book after all.
Stay tuned for more on Doctor Strange in starter kit 3…
Authors:
Destiny (@scienceofcinema)
Pamela (@atravelingbook)
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