Doctor Strange is an origin story; Kevin Feige comments on new characters

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

We've seen so many origin stories in the past decade that the possibility of yet another one feels a little daunting, but I don't believe that we're actually sick of origin stories, we're just sick of the same ones being told again and again. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige seemed to share a similar thought when he spoke with IGN and commented on why the upcoming DOCTOR STRANGE film will make use of the origin story.

For some reason people sometimes talked about how we're not doing an origin story, we're bored of origin stories. I think people are bored of origin stories they've seen before or origin stories that are overly familiar, Doctor Strange has one of the best, most classic, most unique origin stories of any hero we have, so why wouldn't we do that? That was sort of always the plan. How you tell that origin, perhaps there are ways to twist it or play with that, but for the most part, it's a gift when the comics have something with such clarity of story and of character. That doesn't always happen in the comics, and when it does, you use it.

DOCTOR STRANGE will also introduce several new characters to the Marvel universe, one of which is Rachel McAdams' as-yet-unspecified character. According to Kevin Feige, McAdams' character will function as the audience's eyes "to a certain extent" and will play "a very, very big part in the movie and represents a certain point of view of the worlds that we experience in that movie."

Marvel's casting department has always managed to secure some excellent talent, and DOCTOR STRANGE will continue that fine tradition with Benedict Cumberbatch and Chiwetel Ejiofor adding a welcome touch of class to the picture; however, it's the inclusion of Tilda Swinton as The Ancient One that I'm most excited about. Her chameleon-like ability to drift in and out of various ambiguous characters has always astounded me, and Feige himself seemed excited by what Swinton will bring to the role:

We get an amazing actress to play an amazing character, and do it in a way that’s very unique and doesn’t fall into any outdated stereotypes that sometimes pop up in the comics from years past. It’s funny you ask ‘Will Tilda Swinton be playing a woman?’ and you ask it because she does an amazing job of being sort of ambiguous in terms of gender. I think you’ll see us playing it in ways that she’s played other characters that way. Clearly she’s a woman, but it is very ambiguous in her portrayal.

DOCTOR STRANGE will open on November 4, 2016.