# Doctor Strange (film)

Doctor Strange is a 2016 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, a surgeon who learns the mystic arts from the Ancient One after a career-ending car accident. It is the fourteenth film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
    Directed by Scott Derrickson. Written by Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill.

## Dialogue

    [The Ancient One catches Kaecilius and his Zealots stealing a page from the Book of Cagliostro which is a spell necessary to summon Dormammu to Earth. She appears hooded in front of them.]
    The Ancient One: Master Kaecilius, that ritual will only bring you sorrow.
    [Kaecilius and the Zealots attempt to escape from the Ancient One through the London Sanctum and in the city. They find themselves trapped in the mirror world by the Ancient One, who shows herself in front of the group.]
    Kaecilius: Hypocrite!
    [In Strange's apartment, discussing his pursuit of expensive therapies to heal his hands]
    Palmer: Maybe it's time to consider stopping.
    Strange: No, no, this is exactly the time not to stop. Because, you see, I'm not getting any better!
    Palmer: But this isn't medicine anymore, this is mania! Some things just can't be fixed.
    Strange: Life without my work --
    Palmer: -- is still life. This isn't the end. There are other things that can give your life meaning.
    Strange: Like what? Like you?
    Palmer: This is the part where you apologize.
    Strange: This is the part where you leave.
    Palmer: Fine. I can't watch you do this to yourself anymore.
    Strange: What, too difficult for you, is it?
    Palmer: Yes, it is. It breaks my heart to see you this way.
    Strange: No. Don't pity me.
    Palmer: I'm not pitying you.
    Strange: Oh, yeah? Then what are you doing here? Bringing cheese and wine like we're old friends going for a picnic? We are not friends, Christine. We were barely lovers. You just love a sob story, don't you? Is that what I am to you now? "Poor Stephen Strange, charity case. He finally needs me." Another dreg of humanity for you to work on. Patch him up and send him back into the world, hearts just humming. You care SO MUCH, don't you?!
    Palmer: Goodbye, Stephen.
    [tosses her apartment key onto a table and walks out]
    The Ancient One: You're a man looking at the world through a keyhole. You've spent your whole life trying to widen that keyhole. To see more. To know more. And now on hearing that it can be widened, in ways you can't imagine, you reject the possibility.
    Strange: No, I reject it because I do not believe in fairy tales about chakras or energy or the power of belief. There is no such thing as spirit! We are made of matter and nothing more. We're just another tiny, momentary speck in an indifferent universe.
    The Ancient One: You think too little of yourself.
    Strange: Oh, you think you see through me, do you? Well, you don't. But I see through you!
    [She strikes his astral form out of his body.]
    Strange: What did you just do to me?!
    The Ancient One: I pushed your astral form out of your physical form.
    Strange: What's in that tea? Psilocybin? LSD?
    The Ancient One: It's just tea. With a little honey.
    Strange: What just happened?
    The Ancient One: For a moment, you entered the astral dimension. A place where the soul exists apart from the body.
    Strange: Why are you doing this to me?
    The Ancient One: To show you just how much you don't know. Open your eye!
    [She touches Strange's forehead and blasts him into a kaleidoscopic astral journey.]
    The Ancient One: You think you know how the world works? You think that this material universe is all there is? What is "real"? What mysteries lie beyond the reach of your senses? At the root of existence, mind and matter meet. Thoughts form reality. This universe is only one of an infinite number. Worlds without end. Some benevolent and life-giving, others filled with malice and hunger. Dark places where powers older than time lie, ravenous and waiting. Who are you in this vast multiverse, Mr. Strange?
    [Strange returns to Kamar-Taj and lands at the Ancient One's feet.]
    The Ancient One: Have you seen that before in a gift shop?
    Strange: [After a long beat] Teach me.
    The Ancient One: No.
    Strange: [After Mordo hands him a card that reads "Shamballa"] What is this? My mantra?
    Mordo: It's the Wi-Fi password. We're not savages.
    [Strange is experimenting with time manipulation using the Eye of Agamotto.]
    Mordo: [Bursting in] STOP! Tampering with continuum probability is forbidden!
    Strange: I was just doing exactly what it said in the book!
    Wong: And what did the book say, about the dangers of performing that ritual?
    Strange: I don't know, I hadn't gotten to that part yet.
    Mordo: Temporal manipulations can create branches in time. Unstable dimensional openings! Spatial paradoxes, time loops! You want to get stuck experiencing the same moment over and over again forever, or never having existed at all?!
    Strange: They really should put the warnings before this stuff.
    [Kaecilius is invading the New York Sanctum]
    Kaecilius: How long have you been at Kamar-Taj, Mister...
    Strange: Doctor.
    Kaecilius: Mister Doctor?
    Strange: It's Strange.
    Kaecilius: Maybe. Who am I to judge?
    [The Ancient One talks to Doctor Strange in their astral forms as she dies]
    The Ancient One: I've spent so many years peering through time, looking at this exact moment. But I can't see past it. I've prevented countless terrible futures, and after each one, there's always another, and they all lead here but never further.
    Strange: You think this is where you die.
    The Ancient One: You wonder what I see in your future?
    Strange: No. Yes.
    The Ancient One: I never saw your future, only its possibilities. You have such a capacity for goodness. You've always excelled, but not because you crave success, but because of your fear of failure.
    Strange: It's what made me a great doctor.
    The Ancient One: It's precisely what's kept you from greatness. Arrogance and fear still keep you from learning the simplest and most significant lesson of all.
    Strange: Which is?
    The Ancient One: It's not about you. When you first came to me, you asked me how I was able to heal Jonathan Pangborn. I didn't. He channels dimensional energy directly into his own body.
    Strange: He uses magic to walk.
    The Ancient One: Constantly. He had a choice, to return to his own life or to serve something greater than himself.
    Strange: So I could have my hands back again. My old life?
    The Ancient One: You could, and the world would be all the lesser for it. I hated drawing power from the Dark Dimension, but as you well know, sometimes, one must break the rules in order to serve the greater good.
    Strange: Mordo won't see it that way.
    The Ancient One: Mordo's soul is rigid and unmovable, forged by the fires of his youth. He needs your flexibility, just as you need his strength. Only together do you stand a chance of stopping Dormammu.
    Strange: I'm not ready.
    The Ancient One: No one ever is. We don't get to choose our time. [Takes his hand] Death is what gives life meaning. To know your days are numbered, and your time is short. You'd 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.
    [Her grasp on Strange's hand vanishes as she dies.]
    [Strange regroups with Mordo in the New York Sanctum following the Ancient One's death]
    Strange: She's dead.
    Mordo: You were right. She wasn't who I thought she was.
    Strange: She was complicated.
    Mordo: Complicated. The Dark Dimension is volatile, dangerous. What if it overtook her? She taught us it was forbidden while she drew on its power to steal centuries of life.
    Strange: She did what she thought was right.
    Mordo: The bill comes due. Don't you see? Her transgressions led the Zealots to Dormammu. Kaecilius was her fault, and here we are in the consequence of her deception. A world on fire.
    [Strange enters the Dark Dimension to bargain with Dormammu]
    Strange: Dormammu, I've come to bargain!
    Dormammu: YOU'VE COME TO DIE. YOUR WORLD IS NOW MY WORLD, LIKE ALL WORLDS.
    [He disintegrates Strange easily. The loop resets]
    Strange: Dormammu, I've come to bargain.
    Dormammu: YOU'VE COME TO DIE. YOUR WORLD IS NOW MY... [realizes he's repeating himself] WHAT IS THIS? ILLUSION?
    Strange: No, this is real.
    Dormammu: GOOD.
    [He kills Strange again, resetting the loop again]
    Strange: [bored] Dormammu, I've come to bargain.
    Dormammu: WHAT IS HAPPENING?
    Strange: Just as you gave Kaecilius powers from your dimension, I brought a little power from mine. [gestures to a loop of magic on his wrist] This is time. Endless looped time.
    Dormammu: YOU DARE!?
    Strange: No.
    [Dormammu kills Strange again, and the loop resets]
    Strange: [Re-appearing] Dormammu, I've come to bargain.
    Dormammu: YOU CANNOT DO THIS FOREVER.
    Strange: Actually, I can. This is how things are now! You and me, trapped in this moment, endlessly.
    Dormammu: THEN YOU WILL SPEND ETERNITY DYING!
    Strange: Yes, but everyone on Earth will live.
    Dormammu: BUT YOU WILL SUFFER!
    Strange: Pain's an old friend. [as Dormammu repeatedly kills him and the loop resets] Dormammu…I've come to bargain…
    Dormammu: END THIS!
    Strange: [while being killed repeatedly] Dormammu…Dormammu…Dormammu…
    Dormammu: YOU WILL NEVER WIN!
    Strange: No. But I can lose. Again. And again. And again. And again, forever. And that makes you my prisoner.
    [Dormammu kills Strange twice more; the loop resets after each death]
    Dormammu: NO! STOP! MAKE THIS STOP! SET ME FREE!
    Strange: No. I've come to bargain.
    Dormammu: WHAT DO YOU WANT?
    Strange: Take your zealots from the Earth. End your assault on my world. Never come back! Do it, and I'll break the loop.
    [Strange returns from the Dark Dimension.]
    Kaecilius: Isn't it beautiful? A world beyond time? Beyond death?
    [Strange lands behind Kaecilius]
    Kaecilius: What have you done?
    Strange: I made a bargain.
    Kaecilius: [notices himself and his remaining Zealots slowly fading away] What is this?
    Strange: Well, it's uh, it's everything you've ever wanted. Eternal life as part of the One. [Strange breaks into a wicked smirk] You're not going to like it.
    [Kaecilius and his remaining Zealots are sucked into the Dark Dimension]
    Strange: [To the departed Kaecilius] Yeah, you know, you really should've stolen the whole book, because the warnings... the warnings come after the spells.
    [Strange and Mordo hear Wong laughing and turn their attention to him.]
    [Mid-credits scene: Thor is meeting with Strange. The scene also appears in Thor: Ragnarok]
    Thor: So Earth has... wizards now, huh?
    Strange: Tea?
    Thor: [finds himself holding a cup] I don't drink tea.
    Strange: What do you drink?
    Thor: Not tea.
    [Strange uses his powers to transform the cup into a large mug of beer; Thor drinks deeply]
    Strange: So I keep a watch list of individuals and beings from other realms that may be a threat to this world. Your adopted brother, Loki, is one of those beings.
    Thor: It's a worthy inclusion. [the mug refills itself]
    Strange: Yeah. So why bring him here to New York?
    Thor: It's a bit of a long story. Family drama, that kind of thing. But we're looking for my father.
    Strange: Oh, okay. So if you found Odin, you'd all return to Asgard promptly?
    Thor: Oh, yes. Promptly.
    Strange: Great. Allow me to help you.
    [Post-credits scene: Mordo visits Pangborn in his workshop.]
    Pangborn: Can I help you?
    Mordo: They carried you into Kamar-Taj on a stretcher. Look at you now, Pangborn.
    Pangborn: Mordo. So what can I do for you, man?
    Mordo: I've been away for many months now, and I've had a revelation. The true purpose of a sorcerer is to twist things out of their proper shape. Stealing power. Perverting nature. Like you.
    Pangborn: I've stolen nothing. This is my power. Mine.
    Mordo: Power has a purpose.
    [Pangborn picks up a crowbar and tries to attack Mordo, who strips him of his powers and restores his paralysis.]
    Pangborn: Why are you doing this?
    Mordo: Because I see, at long last, what's wrong with the world. Too many sorcerers.

## Taglines

* Expand your mind.
* Open your mind. Change your reality.
* Question reality. Change your destiny.
* The impossibilities are endless.

## Cast

* Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Stephen Strange
* Chiwetel Ejiofor as Karl Mordo
* Rachel McAdams as Christine Palmer
* Benedict Wong as Wong
* Michael Stuhlbarg as Nicodemus West
* Benjamin Bratt as Jonathan Pangborn
* Scott Adkins as Lucian
* Mads Mikkelsen as Kaecilius
* Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One

## External links

* Doctor Strange quotes at the Internet Movie Database
* Doctor Strange at Rotten Tomatoes
* Doctor Strange at Mojo
* Official website
* Doctor Strange quotes at the MagicalQuote
Marvel Cinematic Universe :
| Films | Iron Man (2008) · The Incredible Hulk (2008) · Iron Man 2 (2010) · Thor (2011) · Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) · The Avengers (2012) · Iron Man 3 (2013) · Thor: The Dark World (2013) · Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) · Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) · Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) · Ant-Man (2015) · Captain America: Civil War (2016) · Doctor Strange (2016) · Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2017) · Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) · Thor: Ragnarok (2017) · Black Panther (2018) · Avengers: Infinity War (2018) · Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) · Captain Marvel (2019) · Avengers: Endgame (2019) · Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) · Black Widow (2021) · Eternals (2021) · Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) · Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2021) · Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) · Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) · Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) The Marvels (2021) Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) Captain America: Brave New World (2025) |
| TV Series/Specials | WandaVision (2021) · The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021) · Loki (2021-2023) · What If...? (2021-2024) · Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (2025-present) |