History YMMV / DoctorStrange2016

** The casting of Creator/TildaSwinton as the Ancient One has been divisive since it was first announced. While many are glad to have a powerful character be portrayed by a female actor, especially one as accomplished as Swinton, others are upset that the original Tibetan version isn't being used, mostly because the MCU has yet to feature a heroic Asian person in the films.[[note]]The first Asian-descended performer to get BilledAboveTheTitle as an MCU protagonist, half-Filipino [[Wrestling/{{Batista}} Dave Bautista]], did so for playing an alien, ComicBook/DraxTheDestroyer, in ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy''.[[/note]] It hurts that at the same time, the delay in a casting announcement for ''Series/{{Iron Fist|2017}}'' prompted a discussion of whether he should be Asian in contrast to the white comics character, accused by some to be a MightyWhitey (only getting worse when Creator/FinnJones was confirmed to play the titular Iron Fist). Then the teaser came out and revealed Swinton was still dressed in a distinctly Asian style, prompting yet more questions of why they didn't just cast an Asian actor. Co-writer C. Robert Cargill's comments on it being done to prevent the movie from being BannedInChina due to a potential positive portrayal of a Tibetan character (which the studio itself later denied) added more controversy. He also didn't help things by accusing all the people upset over it of being "Social Justice Warriors", though he later backpedaled on it and said everyone absolutely has the right to have issues with it.

* HarsherInHindsight: [[spoiler:After Strange traps Dormammu in a GroundhogDayLoop via the Eye of Agamotto, Dormammu reminds Strange that he cannot win this way. Strange counters that he can still lose time after time, meaning that Dormammu will be a prisoner in this loop. Cue episode 4 of ''WesternAnimation/WhatIf'', where Strange tries to [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong save Christine from a fatal car crash]] by using that device. [[YouCantFightFate Unfortunately, she still dies with every attempt]], eventually leading to Strange ''destroying the entire universe'' in one last attempt, trapping himself in a tiny crystal dimension. In other words, Strange did lose again and again, and thus became a prisoner to time, both metaphorically and literally]].

** Following the endings of ''Series/WandaVision'' and ''Series/{{Loki|2021}}'' Season 1, it has become popular to joke about Strange's reaction to the ensuing events (especially the [[spoiler:unraveling of the Multiverse]]). It helps that both shows tie into ''[[Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness Multiverse of Madness]]'', with Creator/ElizabethOlsen and Creator/TomHiddleston slated to appear in it.

* CompleteMonster: [[EldritchAbomination Dormammu]], [[Characters/MCUDimensions The Dark Dimension]], is an "ego run amok" who seeks to [[AssimilationPlot assimilate all life in the multiverse]] and make them an eternally tortured extension of himself. Dormammu is the one who manipulated Kaecilius and his Zealots into evil, preying on Kaecilius's desire for eternal life so Kaecilius will destroy the Sanctums keeping him at bay from Earth. Dormammu only relents from torturing Dr. Strange to death for all of eternity at the realization Strange would trap him in an endless time loop, and leaves after dragging his Zealot followers into the "[[ExactWords eternal life]]" he had promised them.

* CompleteMonster: [[EldritchAbomination Dormammu]], [[Characters/MCUDarkDimension The Dark Dimension]], is an "ego run amok" who seeks to [[AssimilationPlot assimilate all life in the multiverse]] and make them an eternally tortured extension of himself. Dormammu is the one who manipulated Kaecilius and his Zealots into evil, preying on Kaecilius's desire for eternal life so Kaecilius will destroy the Sanctums keeping him at bay from Earth. Dormammu only relents from torturing Dr. Strange to death for all of eternity at the realization Strange would trap him in an endless time loop, and leaves after dragging his Zealot followers into the "[[ExactWords eternal life]]" he had promised them.

'''You'd Expect:''' Being the genius surgeon he is, that Strange realize that texting in the middle of driving is a really, ''really'', '''really''' bad idea and just tell the caller he is currently driving and could not respond at the moment. Or if he really want to respond, he find some place to park so he can reply safely with little risks of an accident.\\

** Doctor Strange was first shouted out in ''Film/SpiderMan2'' when Jameson and Hoffman were discussing what to call Doc Ock. Not only is Sam Raimi now set to direct this film's sequel, but said sequel is also confirmed to connect to ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome''...which features Alfred Molina's incarnation of Doc Ock!

** Following the endings of ''Series/WandaVision'' and ''Series/{{Loki|2021}}'' Season 1, it has become popular to joke about Strange's reaction to the ensuing events (especially the[[spoiler: unraveling of the Multiverse]]). It helps that both shows tie into ''[[Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness Multiverse of Madness]]'', with Creator/ElizabethOlsen and Creator/TomHiddleston slated to appear in it.

** Following the endings of ''Series/WandaVision'' and ''Series/{{Loki|2021}}'' Season 1, it has become popular to joke about Strange's reaction to the ensuing events (especially the[[spoiler: unraveling of the Multiverse]]). It helps that both shows tie into ''Multiverse of Madness'', with Creator/ElizabethOlsen and Creator/TomHiddleston slated to appear in it.

* HoYay: Mordo goes from a [[CardCarryingVillain straightforward villain]] in the comics to a [[TheNotLoveInterest not love interest]] for Stephen Strange in this film.
** Mordo's the one who rescues Stephen Strange (both literally and figuratively), champions for him to the Ancient One, and mentors Stephen on a day-to-day teaching level (with the Ancient One playing a more aloof, otherworldly mentor). He's also openly concerned about Stephen's well-being, worrying about Stephen's heart during the multiverse sequence, protecting the less experienced Stephen during the mirror dimension sequence and in the Hong Kong climax; he even has to be physically restrained by the Ancient One from going after Stephen during the latter's sling ring training.
** Mordo overall comes across like he has a huge crush on Strange. Stephen's the one that makes him doubt the Ancient One, a [[AmbiguousGender person]] he's shown to feel deep respect and trust for. And what's the final straw that drives him to have a silent (not so silent in a [[NeverTrustATrailer promo]] for the film) HeroicBSOD and pushes into his DespairEventHorizon? It's not [[spoiler: Dormammu's arrival, Wong's death and (presumably) several other student and civilian casualties, not even the Ancient One's death.]] It's Stephen's [[spoiler: apparent betrayal when he flies to meet Dormmamu in the Dark Dimension.]] In Kaecilius' words: “Even Strange has left you”.
*** It's worth noting that the Ancient One's death does affect Mordo to a degree where it looks like he's about to give up on the fight against Kaecilius [[spoiler: and Dormammu]]. When Strange returns to the NY Sanctum and tells Mordo that [[spoiler: the Ancient One died]], Mordo goes on a tangent about how [[spoiler: the Dark Dimension could've overtaken the Ancient One]] and about how Kaecilius and the zealots' FaceHeelTurn is her fault. What pulls Mordo out of it is Strange telling him that he alone cannot defeat them and that he needs Mordo. In a way, Mordo keeps on fighting and defends the Hong Kong Sanctum because of Strange. It could be argued that both the Ancient One and Stephen Strange are the most important people in Mordo's life and that [[spoiler: one of them dying]] and [[spoiler: the other betraying him]] is what finally breaks him and pushes him pass his DespairEventHorizon and [[spoiler: into his very own FaceHeelTurn]]. In addition, during the Hong Kong climax, Wong is right there and he is presumably a good friend of Mordo, which makes it both interesting and suspicious that Kaecilius would assume that [[spoiler: losing Strange to Dormammu]] would affect Mordo more than losing a friend and colleague he has known for far longer than Strange.
** The Ancient One does seem keen to [[ShipperOnDeck enforce]] [[ShipperWithAnAgenda their camaraderie]], considering she had to know she was going to train Strange at some point (since she saw herself [[spoiler: dying in her future visions]], with Strange next to her). She even makes sure that Strange knows they'll need [[ThePowerOfLove each other]] [[spoiler: before she dies.]]
** Curiously enough, the film makes a point of Strange's brand of humor only working on the people who work for him, as Wong points out. Wong laughs after it's clear that he's going to be working for/with Strange, The Ancient One usually laughs at him and not with him, not even Christine finds his snarker tendencies amusing. All are annoyed by his cynicism, except Mordo, who smiles and laughs at his jokes. Not only does Mordo plays more love interest tropes than Christine does, Christine's [[DesignatedLoveInterest Designated Love Interest]]/[[SatelliteLoveInterest Satellite Love Interest]] vibe doesn't help. In the end, Mordo's arc with Strange wouldn't be out of place between the hero and his love interest.

* WinTheCrowd:
** The release of the image of Benedict in his full Doctor Strange costume did a lot to ease skeptics' minds.
** So too did the later release of photos featuring Mikkelsen's Kaecilius -- the make-up work for his eyes is ''pure'' NightmareFuel.
** And the first teaser, which despite some detraction also showed the dedication the film had towards the bizarre and eldritch visuals from the comics, with some added obvious inspiration from ''Film/{{Inception}}''.
** There's a fair amount of buzz on various forums about fans of Marvel Comics not being interested in or fans of Doctor Strange... until they saw this film.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: Music/MichaelGiacchino's main theme bears quite a similarity to his work on ''Film/StarTrek2009''.

** Doctor Strange was first shouted out in ''Film/SpiderMan2'' when Jameson and Hoffman were discussing what to call Doc Ock. Not only is Sam Raimi now set to direct this film's sequel, but said sequel is also confirmed to connect to the currently-untitled third Marvel ''Spider-Man'' movie...which is also reported to feature Alfred Molina's incarnation of Doc Ock!

** Following the endings of ''Series/{{WandaVision}}'' and ''Series/{{Loki}}'' Season 1, it has become popular to joke about Strange's reaction to the ensuing events (especially the[[spoiler: unraveling of the Multiverse]]). It helps that both shows tie into ''Multiverse of Madness'', with Olsen and Hiddleston slated to appear in it.

** The film's main Aesop is that the passage of time, and with it death, are natural things that must be accepted in order to live a full life. It's pretty glaring that Strange's backstory, wherein his sister Donna drowned when they were children, was relegated to a Deleted Scene, since this is exactly the sort of thing that would tie the movie's message to Strange's own arc.

* HarsherInHindsight: [[spoiler:After Strange traps Dormammu in a GroundhogDayLoop via the Eye of Agamotto, Dormammu reminds Strange that he cannot win this way. Strange counters that he can still lose time after time, meaning that Dormammu will be a prisoner in this loop. Cue episode 4 of ''WesternAnimation/WhatIf'', where Strange tries to [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong save Christine from a fatal car crash]] by using that device. [[YouCantFightFate Unfortunately, she still dies with every attempt]], eventually leading to Strange ''destroying the entire universe'' in one last attempt, trapping himself in a tiny crystal dimension. In other words, Strange did lose again and again, and he became a prisoner to time, both metaphorically and literally]].

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Near the beginning of the movie, Strange engages in a degree of distracted driving seen in PublicServiceAnnouncement advertisements. There is a warning against distracted driving at the end of the credit roll. What keeps this from being {{Anvilicious}} is that the consequences -- primarily the damage to the driver's hands -- drive the plot immediately following the accident in a believable way, and even at the end -- after going up multiple ranks on the Super Weight scale -- the main character has still not recovered full use of his hands.

** As pointed out [[https://youtu.be/y2AEXOlfYnM?t=5m35s here]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sMUVCVbU7s here]] by Creator/JeremyJahns and Couch Tomato respectively, this movie makes a better adaptation of ''Franchise/GreenLantern'' than [[Film/GreenLantern the 2011 movie]].

* UnfortunateImplications: The dispute over Creator/TildaSwinton's casting as the Ancient One drew a lot of [[http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-racial-erasure-essay-20160418-story.html criticism]] after the trailer showed that the character, originally thought to be {{Race Lift}}ed in order to remove the MagicalAsian traits, would still retain them, in effect being similar to {{Yellowface}}. It got to the point that co-writer C. Robert Cargill [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEpbUf8dGq0 weighed in]] on this with his personal opinion, saying the Ancient One's casting was "unwinnable" from the beginning, admitting that keeping him Tibetan was never an option since ongoing political conflict between Tibet and China could have seen the movie BannedInChina, and that casting an actor or actress from any other Asian ethnic group (specifically citing Creator/MichelleYeoh) opens up a whole other [[InterchangeableAsianCultures minefield]] of Unfortunate Implications. Unfortunately this just made things ''worse'' in the eyes of many fans including Creator/GeorgeTakei, who [[https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/03/george-takei-whitewashing-doctor-strange-marvel-superhero-movie now accuse Marvel of poorly deflecting the criticism]] rather than owning up and [[MoneyDearBoy sacrificing values for profits]] by bowing to such potential pressure from China. As an additional crinkle, the director [[http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/11/02/doctor-strange-director-owns-up-to-whitewashing-controversy.html considered a middle ground]] changing the character to an Asian woman, but was concerned that would play into another [[DragonLady unfortunate trope.]]

** Mordo stops being able to claim the moral high ground in the second [[TheStinger stinger]], as soon as he [[spoiler: takes Pangborn's magic away.]] Bear in mind, [[spoiler: Pangborn]] was an innocent person who wasn't doing any harm, simply [[spoiler: using his magic and the teachings of the Ancient One to live a normal life despite crippling injuries.]] And Mordo [[spoiler: took all of that away because he feels there are "too many sorcerers."]] He ruined a man's life because of his personal views on magic.

** A common fan-theory is that the man with intense spinal damage that Strange was told about early in the film is the [[Film/IronMan2 very unlucky Hammer Industries pilot]] who had [[BodyHorror his spine twisted 180 degrees]] due to a malfunction while testing out [[ShoddyKnockoffProduct a knockoff of the Iron Man suit]]. Adding further credence to it is that the accident is explicitly mentioned to have been caused while testing a power suit, but it's not entirely clear if it was that specific test or another similar case (multiple attempts have been made to rip off the Iron Man suit, after all). This fan theory was [[https://www.reddit.com/r/marvelstudios/comments/56w0q6/hey_everyone_reading_through_everything_will/d8mxv6y/ eventually shot down]] by Creator/ScottDerrickson. Other fanon assumed that it was referring to [[spoiler:Colonel Rhodes]] injury in ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', but Creator/KevinFeige likewise jossed the latter theory, as the film is chronologically set before the events of ''Civil War''.

* CompleteMonster: [[EldritchAbomination Dormammu]], [[DimensionLord lord]] of the [[Characters/MCUDarkDimension Dark Dimension]], is an "ego run amok" who seeks to [[AssimilationPlot assimilate all life in the multiverse]] and make them an eternally tortured extension of himself. Dormammu is the one who manipulated Kaecilius and his Zealots into evil, preying on Kaecilius's desire for eternal life so Kaecilius will destroy the Sanctums keeping him at bay from Earth. Dormammu only relents from torturing Dr. Strange to death for all of eternity at the realization Strange would trap him in an endless time loop, and leaves after dragging his Zealot followers into the "[[ExactWords eternal life]]" he had promised them.

* CompleteMonster: [[EldritchAbomination Dormammu]], [[DimensionLord lord]] of the [[Characters/MCUDarkDimension Dark Dimension]], is an "ego run amok" who seeks to assimilate all life in the multiverse and make them an eternally tortured extension of himself. [[GreaterScopeVillain Dormammu]] is the one who manipulated Kaecilius and his Zealots into evil, preying on Kaecilius's desire for eternal life so Kaecilius will destroy the Sanctums keeping him at bay from Earth. Dormammu only relents from torturing Dr. Strange to death for all of eternity at the realization Strange would trap him in an endless time loop, and leaves after dragging his Zealot followers into the "[[ExactWords eternal life]]" he had promised them.

* CompleteMonster: [[EldritchAbomination Dormammu]], [[DimensionLord lord]] of the [[Characters/MCUDarkDimension Dark Dimension]], is an "ego run amok" who seeks to [[MultiversalConqueror assimilate all life in the multiverse and make them an eternally tortured extension of himself]]. Dormammu is the one who manipulated Kaecilius and his Zealots into evil, preying on Kaecilius's desire for eternal life so Kaecilius will destroy the Sanctums keeping him at bay from Earth. Dormammu only relents from torturing Dr. Strange to death for all of eternity at the realization Strange would trap him in an endless time loop, and leaves after dragging his Zealot followers into the "[[ExactWords eternal life]]" he had promised them.

** Even though she only appears unidentified in a brief cameo, ''nobody'' expected Tina Minoru, a ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'' character (and mother of ComicBook/NicoMinoru), to show up in this movie. Same goes for Daniel Drumm, who is at least tied to the comic book Strange's supporting character Brother Voodoo.

* HarsherInHindsight: One of the explanations Marvel gave for not casting an Asian actress as the Ancient One concerned the need to avoid turning the Ancient One into a DragonLady. ''Series/IronFist2017'' writers would later do just that to the Bride of Nine Spiders.

** In ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'', [[spoiler:less than a year after she was widely held up as someone who could have played The Ancient One without whitewashing the role, Michelle Yeoh made her own entrance into the MCU.]]
** [[Film/Deadpool2 This will not be last time where the protagonist and a]] [[SerkisFolk Motion Captured version]] [[Film/Deadpool2 of the antagonist of a Marvel movie are bring played by the same actor.]]