7 Things You Might Have Missed in ‘Doctor Strange’

This past weekend, Marvel Studios finally showed us the mind-bending world of the mystical with ‘Doctor Strange’. Keeping magic out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe up until this point, mostly dismissing anything coming close with the “magic and science are the same” explanation, it’s pretty obvious now they’ve been saving the concept for this movie. With its first opening weekend raking in an impressive $85 million in North America alone, word is beginning to spread about the superhero epic.

Touching upon the psychedelic anti-culture of the sixties, the movie made great use of the LSD-fueled visual representations from Steve Ditko’s original run for Marvel Comics. With all the trippy, otherworldly hallucinations, it’s easy to miss some of the subtle nods and references throughout. These are seven things you might have missed in Marvel’s Doctor Strange:

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Night Nurse

Rachel McAdams’ Christine Palmer is not only a character pulled straight from the pages of the comics, but she even has her own series. While in ‘Doctor Strange’, Palmer is another surgeon and trusted ally to Stephen, she is actually known as Night Nurse in the comics, a nurse at Metro General Hospital in the fictional New York who has frequent run-ins with superhero regulars.

Valtorr

As Mordo spars with Stephen, he begins teaching him the concept of “relics”, magical artifacts that have been imbued with mystical abilities. One of the objects in question are the boots he’s wearing, to which he refers as the “Vaulting Boots of Valtorr”. Often manifesting in the form of dragon-like smokes or vapors, Valtorr appears in the comics as an entity that Doctor Strange calls upon frequently during his incantations.

The Living Tribunal

Among the other relics Mordo showcases to Strange is the “Staff of the Living Tribunal”. This is a name that might be a bit more recognizable to fans. The Living Tribunal is a powerful cosmic entity depicted with a golden body and a head with three faces, floating above his torso. He acts as a council of elders in one singular form that maintains the order and balance among all realities, alternate or otherwise.

Hannibal

During the confrontation in the Sanctum Sanctorum, Strange manages to subdue Kaecilius with some sort of mystical restraint, leaving him completely motionless and confined in a series of self-locking mechanisms. Part of the restraint is covering his mouth and jaw…much in the way of Hannibal Lecter. Its possible this was a veiled shoutout to Mads Mikkelsen’s short-lived stint as the cannibalistic psychopath himself on NBC’s Hannibal.

Dormammu

In the final confrontation, Doctor Strange finally faces off against one of his most powerful aarch-rivals the extra-dimensional entity, Dormammu. What many may not realize, however, is that Benedict Cumberbatch actually volunteered to perform the mocap work for the deity’s face. Director Scott Derrickson had this to say:

"The more I thought about it the more I liked the idea, because no one understood Dormammu better than Benedict did. I also wrote that role to be a kind of ultra-inflated version of Strange. He is an ego run amok; he is this cosmic conqueror where everything, where literally everything in the multi-verse is about him. There's something interesting about this confrontation of this little, tiny guy who has this power of time and this monstrous conqueror who is trapped by a clever gambit. There's something about that worked well, and I didn't think anybody to interact with Benedict than he, himself."

Consulting Magician

Many may have been wondering about the significance behind the mid-credit scene. In it, we find Thor speaking with Strange in the Sanctum where he apparently wants his help in locating Odin. It seems that Strange is already aware of Loki and wishes him out of the mortal realm, preferably along with Thor. The point of this scene wasn’t just to show off Doctor Strange’s signature yellow gloves he’s been known to where in the comics, but also to illustrate his overall role in the Marvel universe. Contrary to popular belief, he isn’t actually an Avenger or affiliated with any superhero team per se (Illuminati and Defenders aside). Most of his stories focus on his solitary duty to defend against evil forces, only acting as a sort of magical freelancer when other heroes are out of their depth in the world of the mystic…or a “Consulting Magician” if you will.

Thor: Ragnarok

The mid-credit scene may have also done us a service by potentially setting up the next Thor sequel, ‘Thor: Ragnarok’. Speaking with Stephen, Thor essentially says he’s looking for Odin, to which he agrees to help so long as it means both Thor and Loki leave the mortal realm. Considering the last time we saw Loki he had taken the place of Odin in the throne room at the end of ‘Thor: The Dark World’, clearly more has occurred since then. It would seem that Thor has discovered Loki’s treachery and they are on the hunt to find their father, believed to be missing or taken. Chances are, this is the only intel we’ll be getting until the movie’s release with both ‘Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2’ and ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ releasing between now and then.