Except for a name-drop in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Dr. Stephen Unusual (Benedict Cumberbatch) didn’t enter the MCU formally till his first solo film in 2016. Whereas the character’s standing as Grasp of the Mystic Arts and Sorcerer Supreme is well-known to comics followers, informal moviegoers seemingly weren’t too aware of the character, created by Steve Ditko and Stan Lee in 1963. Nevertheless it wouldn’t take lengthy for Physician Unusual to turn into a central a part of the Infinity Saga.
Following his debut characteristic, Unusual popped up briefly in Thor: Ragnarok earlier than changing into a central character in Avengers: Infinity Battle. Because it seems, Unusual finds himself positioned proper on the coronary heart of the heroes’ protection towards Thanos (Josh Brolin) and, as many followers surmised, even names its follow-up, Avengers: Endgame. In hindsight, the unique Physician Unusual movie — which turns 10 years previous this 12 months — did much more than simply introduce its title hero. It gave audiences a quick take a look at the way forward for the MCU.
Stephen Unusual’s Origin Story Really Modified The whole lot
Though the principal aim of director Scott Derrickson’s Physician Unusual could have been to usher Cumberbatch’s hero into the MCU, the movie completed much more than followers most likely realized. On the time of the movie’s launch, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige acknowledged that Unusual’s introduction was actively designed to broaden the MCU’s scope.
“[Strange’s] origin has all the time been, like Tony Stark’s, comparatively secure, comparatively constant, and we’re actually pulling from that – the smug New York neurosurgeon… who loses his identification and loses himself,” Feige informed Slashfilm in 2016. “He has a pleasant downward spiral, earlier than discovering his method in a last-ditch effort in one thing he doesn’t actually imagine into Nepal, to the individuals who he’ll encounter and who will educate him and open his eyes to a complete different actuality.”
That “different actuality” isn’t restricted to simply the facility of the mystic arts however the information that accompanies it. By the hands of The Historic One (Tilda Swinton), Unusual learns not solely the way to wield magic to perform seemingly not possible issues. He additionally discovers that the character of actuality itself is much grander than he initially thought.
“This universe is just one of an infinite quantity worlds with out finish,” The Historic One tells him within the movie. “Some benevolent and life-giving. Others crammed with malice and starvation. Darkish locations the place powers older than time lie ravenous and ready. Who’re you on this huge multiverse?” Take a look at the scene under:
That is the primary time wherein the MCU name-checks the multiverse, sneakily planting the seeds for what the subsequent three phases — now collectively referred to as the Multiverse Saga — would delve deeper into. Unusual has since performed key roles in, in fact, Physician Unusual within the Multiverse of Insanity but additionally Spider-Man: No Means House and the animated collection What If…? as an antagonist of kinds to Tom Holland’s Peter Parker and the Guardians of the Multiverse, respectively.
Will Physician Unusual Re-Emerge Throughout Avengers: Doomsday?
Regardless of his debut characteristic serving because the formal introduction of the multiverse, Unusual has been, nicely, unusually absent from the Multiverse Saga. The truth is, he has made no live-action appearances since Multiverse of Insanity hit theaters in 2022. Given the longer-than-expected six-year wait between the unique Physician Unusual and its sequel, it’s not too stunning {that a} third movie nonetheless hasn’t been formally introduced. However what’s a bit baffling is the truth that Cumberbatch hasn’t been confirmed for Avengers: Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars (but).
Unusual and Clea (Charlize Theron) embark on a universe-saving quest on the finish of Multiverse of Insanity. And rumors and hypothesis abound about the place that mission could have taken them. Will the paranormal duo make shock appearances in Avengers: Doomsday, maybe aligned with Physician Doom (Robert Downey Jr.)? Placing Unusual in league with Doom — whether or not by selection or coercion — will surely stack the deck towards the Avengers, X-Males, and Unbelievable 4 heroes who hope to cease his plan. Plus, don’t neglect that Feige proclaimed Unusual to be an “anchor” of the MCU proper earlier than his second movie was launched. It merely doesn’t really feel like his function on this multiversal story has completed.
The MCU wants to handle Unusual’s absence a method or one other. So an look in both Doomsday or Secret Wars actually feels seemingly. After serving to to usher within the multiverse with a tease 5 years forward of the particular Multiverse Saga kickoff, Unusual deserves to play an integral function in how this explicit MCU period involves an in depth. And past that, hopefully he’ll have a job to play within the rumored Midnight Sons challenge.
Physician Unusual is now streaming on Disney+.