Doctor Strange Is Good Because He Sucks - Detail Diatribe

The real moral of Doctor Strange is: always save before a boss fight.

Strange basically beat Dormamu by using the ancient method of: “Is this bothering you? Is this bothering you? I’m not touching you!” 🤣

Someone else pointed this out, so I'll just quote them: "It wasn't just Stephen's intelligence that won [the confrontation with Dormammu], it was spinning the context of the situation. I highly doubt Dormammu would've even considered the idea of not murdering him forever had he not said "That makes you my prisoner." Flipping the context of the situation makes Dormammu feel like he's not in control, and a being that huge and all-powerful not being in control is far worse than any fate he could've inflicted on Doc. Taking control away from one of the most powerful beings in the multiverse stings its ego, just like the loss of his hands; hands being a parable for control. Stephen knew the best way to get under Dormammu's metaphysical skin was the same way to get under his own skin, because he knows the failings of ego."

I also like that Strange's not-really love interest who, while not a big character, is also made to contrast him, is an emergency doctor. A doctor who deals with chaos, who can't chose what she gets on her table, who is working in the field of medicine where you literally have the least control. Where you're bound to lose some patients because you can't pick. Strange can get his patients, prepped and ready for him, in the sterile OR. Christine...can't. She gets the agony, she is there, with patients who are crying, bleeding, hurting.

One of my favorite moments in the MCU is Strange being notably upset and disturbed at having taken a life. Even if it was to save his own life and, ultimately, stop the bad guy he still took an oath to do no harm. It was nice to see.

I also want to point out that the insult "bachelor's degree" thrown at the PT, *probably isn't even accurate*. Physical therapists generally have graduate degrees in order to do their work. Which means he's just decided the PT is lesser than him, and pulls whatever education-based insult out that is easiest.

One thing that didn't get mentioned that struck me was that even as the Ancient One is imparting this last lesson about not being in control, she acknowledges how hard it is to relinquish that control. "You think after all this time, I'd be ready. But look at me. Stretching one moment out into a thousand... just so that I can watch the snow."

Anyone: Are you happy, Stephen? Strange: Irrelevant, next question

I do worry that multiverses will fall into the same pitfall as zombies. Everyone jumps on to it because it can be a very effective narrative if executed well, but everyone ends up sick and tired of it because too many botch it up.

One scene from the movie that I still find particularly important is when he kills his attackers. Unlike most "normal" people in these movies he is visibly upset. The thought of taking a life is upsetting to his core. His first reaction is to leave the monastery and be done with sorcery. It is rare to see a truly human reaction to death in a comicbook movie and I think it does a lot to show that even though Strange is an @$$hole at his core he is still a caring human being.

If your Ancient one is bald, powerful, filled with infinite chill and imparting the lesson that you cannot control the world before fading away gracefully into death. Then that's not the ancient one... That's Master Oogway.

"It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness, that is life." - Jean-Luc Picard

I don't know if it's just me but I really like that Strange and Christine don't end the film getting together or even as established friends again, it's clear both of them still care about the other, but his earlier shitty treatment isn't just forgotten either for the sake of the straight romance and I personally really appreciated that as someone with frankly no interest in watching another somewhat bland couple make out at the end of every film

Something that is scary of that final Dormmamu scene is that we'll never know for how long Strange and Dormmamu were trapped in the loop. It easly could've been a couple minutes or straight up centuries, even if it was a couple minutes Strange was still willingly and voluntarily accepting death multiple times. Each time the loop started he could've just fled, but he didn't, he died extremely painfully over and over to save the world, what a badass.

Little interesting note. When Steve Ditko created Doctor Strange and sent in his illustrations for the magic he casts. Sevreal people in Marvel honestly thought he was on drugs and would frequently visit him at his home to make sure he was doing alright.

There is also the fact that the “Bargaining” scene also works as a ridiculous power up for him too. He was still quite a novice at magic when he went in, but he had a constant eternity of combat training against a being he could never defeat. They also illustrate this with the scenes where he dies, you can see him slowly becoming more and more competent at dealing with Dormamu’s attacks.

Before magic, Strange saw things as about him. Afterwards, Strange saw things as a grand calculus, needing to put the big picture before himself and others. Now with No Way Home and Multiverse he's finally learned it's not about him or the grand calculus, it's about helping when needed. THAT is a character arc.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned here is that Strange doesn't just suddenly become an amazing magic user after The Ancient Ones death. He's still just as skilled as before, if maybe a little better at using what he knows due to accepting the risk of failure. Dr. Strange only becomes the amazingly skilled Sorceror Supreme we see in other movies during his struggle against Dormammu, gradually becoming better every loop. His actions not only represent his newfound acceptance of failure, but that because he accepts failure he can now learn from it. By accepting the fact he can fail Strange is able to master himself and his powers to a degree he never could without doing so.

35:28 something else i really like is when Dormamu tells Strange "You can't win" and Strange answers "Yes, but I can fail, again and again for all eternity". Really highlights the growth in his character from being someone who only took cases that he knew he could succeed at so he could get praise to someone willing to sacrifice himself and fail over and over for no recognition at all. also in terms of visuals the whole mirror dimension sequence was sick

I appreciate how Red isn’t afraid to be optimistic. I feel like many wannabe intellectuals believe that being negative and nihilistic is the true way to view the world and anything positive isn’t real/is completely stupid. Red’s viewpoints are refreshing