But the gift that the origin story from the comics of Doctor Strange gave us is that its villains are integrated into it. Often the villain portion of that story can feel rushed. Particularly in origin stories, it’s often difficult to serve the villain well, because you have to introduce the hero, take them through their transformation, and coming of age and then somehow get to a conflict they can win before the end of the film. We were very aware of it, and we talked about it a lot. Is that something that was in your mind as you were writing this film and how did you address that? Sometimes fans complain the villains are a weak point in the MCU. The business you see on screen during that battle came along after me. In my first draft, the cloak also played a semi-comical role in the Sanctum Sanctorum battle, but it had been introduced at a different time and it played a different role. The exact way in which it does what it does changed from my first stab at it. It was part of our vision from the get go. It solves problems all by itself and makes trouble go away, so with the respect to amulet we pushed back on that quality, but with respect to the cloak, we loved that semi-intelligence that made the cloak nearly a character. That’s an interesting tightrope to walk because in the comics, the amulet, the Eye of Agamotto, often operates as a Deus Ex Machina. We all agreed that the cloak’s semi-sentience was an asset. I think that could very well be the starting point for the following story. The aspiring replacement for that protector is green and new and still has a lot to learn and that’s a world in peril. As we leave the world, this smoking aftermath of this brush with nonexistence, it is an Earth without its protector. It’s one of the possible points of origin for the standalone Doctor Strange story to come. But I think the question hangs out there. There’s a partial answer to the question in one of the tags at the end of this film. Do you see Strange being up and running as the Sorcerer Supreme in the next Doctor Strange movie? The Ancient One is dead and there is no Sorcerer Supreme at the end of this movie. Obviously, no one wants to see Downey stop playing this role. As for whether Strange will inherit the mantle of the cocky patriarch of the Avengers, I have no idea. Happily, I think the simple reality of having them played by these two very individual and talented actors will serve to differentiate them. These are both rich, successful, brilliant men with a sardonic wit and an eye for the ladies. There is a kind of vague parallel between the two of them. Certainly, for my part, I was just trying to serve this character well. I can’t speak for what’s on Kevin Feige’s radar. Was that something that was on your mind writing this? won’t be playing Tony Stark forever, and people are already speculating Strange could eventually become the “new” Tony Stark – the character who ties the MCU together. It was Kevin Feige in the room who said, “Could he trap him in time?” And that led me to write the sequence that you see. We were trying to figure out how that final battle could go, and Kevin was focused on his long play with the Eye of Agamotto and the role it’s going to play in his grand design in the cinematic universe - very focused on Strange’s manipulation of time. But I think the seed of the idea actually came from Kevin Feige in the room. I was able to come back at the end of the project and do some more work to help bring the movie home and refine that still further. It’s one of the sequences I’m most proud of and there was a version not very different from what you see in the first draft. How do you come up with something like that? It’s a way that nobody could have predicted. I think he really gets a taste of eternal sacrifice and sticks to his guns. But I think he dies dozens of times, if not hundreds of times in there. It’s one of those places where you want not to over explain. How many times do you think Strange was killed before Dormammu gave up? One of the most mind-blowing things in this film was how Strange defeats Dormammu. In a conversation with Heat Vision, screenwriter Jon Spaihts weighs in on this and speculation that Stephen Strange is poised to take over the mantle of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) as patriarch of The Avengers.
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