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.

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 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.

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."

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

There’s another part about the slow motion scene that I’d like to talk about. The slowed down helicopter in the air. Helicopters are known for their superb control in the air, being able to shift just a few feet in one direction and being able to stay level, but in this scene it’s being blown by the wind, fighting against the storm. I think that helicopter is also symbolic of strange and the idea of control. In the storm of chaos and fate, we have that little portion of the sky we can control. We cannot change the weather, we cannot stop the lightning or snow, which are likely symbolic of all the problems fate throws at us, but we can still work through the challenges of fate. We may have to make course corrections and things may get a little shaky, but if we do it right we can still safely get to our desired destination despite all the challenges that are thrown at us.

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

I like that you make the point about easy nihilism as an excuse not to try because one of the things that struck me the most about the Come To Bargain scene is that Strange *tries*, every loop. He knows he'll die, he knows that what's coming is an endless loop of pain and failure, but he always tries to block and stop what's coming for him, always tries to fight back each time. Which is so so much harder than just taking no action and mutely accepting helplessness. He finally learns the lesson that even if success is not guaranteed that doesn't mean he shouldn't put real effort into things that are worthwhile

"We are all little specks in an uncaring universe that is out to get me" That's a good way of disproving one's philosophy.

Can we all appreciate the fact that this movie basically ends up summing up to Dr. Strange beating a cosmic horror by basically just annoying it into submission?

To be fair about Ant-Man, it wasn't that Scott was better than Hope, it's that Scott was more *expendable* than Hope, if I"m remembering correctly

One part of this story that I love is when in End Game the Ancient One handed over the stone after Banner told her Dr. Strange handed it over to Thanos. She had ABSOLUTE faith in who Strange was and who he’d become. She couldn’t see past her death but the idea that Stephen had a plan was enough for her to give away the stone to Banner risking destruction of her own reality. She gave away the stone the same way he did knowing her student was correct in whatever action he took.

Honestly my favorite part of Dr. Strange is when he's driving before the crash, I turned to my dad and said "don't text and drive" and RIGHT THEN he crashed. Perfect.

I'm surprised that it wasn't mentioned how someone who fears failure would be attracted to Time Magic in the first place. What better avenue to pursue than one that lets you undo failures? That's another lesson that he learns in The Scene: an acknowledged Master of Time magic, as the Sorcerer Supreme guards the Eye of Agamotto, cannot prevent even her own death, let alone others. I think you'll like the themes of Multiverse a bit, and a lot of what you talk about resonates there.

I like the practical symbol of the lightning bolt as it goes in a million directions until it finds the end point and it solidifies into one line. Not only can we not control life and death, we can't control that final line burned into people's eyes that is our legacy. We reach out our lives in a thousand directions but ultimately we will hit the ground and in a bright and instant flash the path to that point is made clear for solemn reflection. Kind of beautiful, and some joy can be found in ot, but it has an undeniable sadness to it.

Like you mentioned with the New York Sanctum fight, despite all he's learned and likely being a faster student than most, he's still outclassed by those who've been at it a lot longer than he has. He only gets through as I recall by the skin of his teeth, a little luck, a little help (from the flaying cape), and a few moments of quick thinking. Another important moment leading up to the discussed scene is when Strange is in the surgery room, and sees that he can't keep his hands steady, rather than try to fight through it, he relinquishes some of that control, with little hesitation tells one of his colleagues that they'll have to do it, accepting that he is not in a position to save her life as much as he wants to, whereas at the beginning of the movie he would never even consider such even if there was a safer option. That moment, to me, was a huge pivot point for him in addition to the scene being discussed. This surgery isn't just a mark on his record, he has personal stakes in it, something he's never really had before. And yes, I love Stranges line with Dormamu tells Strange that he can't succeed: "No, but I can fail. Over, and over, and over. Making you, my prisoner."

Cumberbatch was the perfect actor for how they ended up writing Dr. Strange's character, the behavioral and emotional nuance is excecated so well, and you guys do a great job of highlighting that!

One bit you guys kind of skipped over is that, when the ancient one was going in for surgery, Strange was prepping to go in as the surgeon, but then stepped aside to let the other doctor do it because he recognised that it wasn’t something he would be able to do.

In most superpower stories, magic empowers a humble protagonist; in Dr Strange, magic humbles a proud protagonist.

Dr Strange in the comics is even more unheroic than movie Strange. Strange in the comics is the greatest surgeon ever, but he would only take on patients that could afford him. Anyone that couldn’t afford him, he didn’t care about them and wouldn’t take them on.

I was hesitant to watch because I haven't been able to see Multiverse of Madness (theatres are far away, okay?), so I really appreciate how you clarify you're not talking about it very quickly. Then I looked at the length of this video and realized I don't have the time to watch it right now. Definitely will when I can, though. Love these Detail Diatribes!

I like that even at the beginning, Strange's arrogance had a different character from Tony Stark's - as the character he's most often compared to. If you asked Stark how he got to be such a great engineer, he wouldn't say study and practice.

My favourite scene in Doctor Strange was the 'teach me!' scene. When he is shown proof that the world is so much more than what he already knows and is so confident about he casts ego aside (for that moment) and goes to learn more.

for me the "i come to bargain" scene also has the theme of "you dont have to be stronger in power than your enemies. You just have to be more determined". and a lot of other superhero movies try to be like "he won cause he never gave up" but it always seemed meaningless, because in the end they win by being more powerful. like captain america, they try so often to reframe it as if what makes him a hero is his persistence and hope, but still he defeats his enemies by being physically stronger than them. but doctor strange pulled through with it. strange doesnt defeat dormammu, he is not stronger than dormammu. he is just annoying, he literally makes his dickhead-ness we all hated in the beginning the thing that saves the world.

Steve Rogers is an admirable everyman. He's someone with a heroic soul trapped in a body that can't effectively express the courage, tenacity, and other good qualities he possesses. However: 1. Tony Stark was always Inventive and Successful . . . and Alcoholic and an Emotionally Broken Womanizing, Flippant Jerk. Until his hero-turn where he understands commitment and self-sacrifice. 2. Thor was always Loyal and Prince of Asgard . . . and Arrogant and Impulsive and Entitled. Until his hero-turn where he understands humility and mortality. Stephen Strange starts out heroic, in the sense that he's a surgeon who saves hundreds of lives, and becomes self-centered, seemingly arrogant, and insular because of his fear of failure (as the Ancient One points out). In the comics, this is rooted in the same event that set him on the road to becoming a doctor: *his sister drowns while at a local swimming hole, and he's unable to save her.* Thus, a commitment to saving lives, tied up in a fear of trying to and failing, Hence the avoiding of cases with no hope of life-changing success (the elderly patient -- he can save her from her condition, but she's likely to die either from the stress of the surgery or another cause in the near future, and he'd feel attached and responsible, so he doesn't want to touch the case). Strange isn't an admirable everyman. He's an exceptional man, who should be exceptionally admirable, but who is too twisted up in his own inner demons to either believe he *really* deserves the accolades (he's more than a bit dismissive of the award dinner he's expected to attend) or to actually embrace his full potential (you see a hint of it when Dr. Palmer pulls him out of his shell: an amazing diagnosis, formulation of a surgical plan, and execution of a very delicate surgery, based on a tiny shred of a detail . . . so much more than cherry-picking pre-diagnosed surgeries that are lobbed over the plate so he can knock them out of the park). Strange has the talent to be a world-class diagnostician even if he had no hands at all . . . and a complete inability to accept any limitation that might lead to a failure that he's somehow responsible for. Either he controls every aspect of every case he chooses to involve himself in, to eliminate any chance of failing to save someone, or he can't bring himself to do it. Strange's watch collection is a nod to that need, as well. He wasn't able to save his sister because he couldn't reach her in time. Even though he knew all the right things to do, it was just too late to help her, and he couldn't control that factor. Hence the need to track time, to prioritize his time, to see himself as always on the precipice of failing, to see himself as unworthy of love, to think if he mars his perfect record (if anyone knows he's failed) everyone will realize what he believes about himself: that he's unworthy, that he can't do it, can't measure up, is less than he should be. The Ancient One calls him out on that in the lightning scene: the fact that he's never been driven by a desire to succeed, but by a fear of failing. That's the fatal flaw we see in Strange Supreme in the What If episode: he opens up to Dr. Palmer, and loses her, and cannot accept the idea that there can be a situation in which a life is important to him and he is unable to save that life. No matter the cost, he can't accept the idea of allowing that kind of pain to exist in his life again.

I love the mention of Constantine because there is so much overlap of the two and honestly the psychologically tortured mage who are kinda a dick are just my favorite characters

I noticed when I first saw the movie Strange is 3 variants of the chosen one. 1. Choosy magical artifacts: the levitation cloak came to him because he proved himself worthy of it. 2. Literal chosen one: the ancient one chose him to take on responsibility (followed by rejection of the call) 3. Self chosen one: when he chooses to take up the sorcerer supreme mantel to stop the end of the known world.

I know this video was about the single movie itself, but I really love how these traits of Strange are expanded on in the rest of the MCU. Like one of my favorite scenes is in Infinity War, where he just introduced himself as Dr. Strange to Spider-Man, as he would to anyone else. He doesn’t see himself as some crazy superhero, he just sees himself as the same man who stumbled into a pretty funky career change. Sorcerer Supreme is just another position to add to his resume. Plus, he still has those pretentious asshole traits from when he was a surgeon too. In Multiverse of Madness he catches a lot of flack for presuming that the only way to save the universe from Thanos was the plan that he came up with, and in No Way Home he refuses to take the morally upstanding risk of saving the spider villains in favor of just sending them back to their times and killing them. There’s just so much really powerful continuity with such a morally grey character.

26:04 “It’s amazing how beautiful even the smallest of things can be when you look at them gratefully instead of expectedly or deservedly.” Blue… that is a beautiful quote. Thank you

I think Red's point about how humans react to tragedy and problems is only half correct. There are people who would react like strange does, without the ability to recognize compassion without selfish ulterior motives, but there are some who cling to deeply to the "love conquers all" belief. Some people react the opposite and become incredibly clingy, and desperately dependent on those that care about them during personal crisis, and you don't see that too often in movies I think. Where the protagonist has a life changing event and they spiral down a terrible path, but that path is ultra dependence, where they wallow is self pity thinking the only thing that can help them is their friends and loved ones, so they ask/expect the world of them while doing nothing to help themselves. They get mad when their loved ones get sick of it and leave, making them pity themselves more, driving more loved ones away. We usually only see characters like this start off at that low point, but I can't think of many "Hero's journey" style movie where we see them spiral down into that state.

Just stating this for the record, Strange accusing the Ancient One of using dark magic is 1. Right after he's had to kill one of the mooks, and she offers him the New York Sanctum, making this the rare time he's not in the mood for an ego stroke, and 2. HE'S RIGHT. She has been using the Dark Dimension to extend her lifespan, and she's been hiding it for centuries. Even if she hated doing it, she still did it, and that doesn't make him wrong.

37:57 "It's like we said with the Dormammu fight: it's not about about conquering the bad guy, it's about conquering yourself." This hits even closer home when you find out that Dormammu was voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch.

I love that strange was this egotistical asshat that has to learn humility to learn the magic to heal himself But he still doesn't get everything he wants In fact he's now saddled with more responsibility than ever And he's still not the best person, he's learning to be better over time and still makes mistakes

In What If, the Doctor Strange from the show has a similar but very different origin where he loses Christine, but unlike the MCU (Sacred Timeline) Christine just dies, it’s a fixed point that Strange cannot change without breaking his entire universe. Since Christine dying ends with the destruction of a universe, Kang and the TVA decide that Strange needs a different motivator, so in the Sacred Timeline he still loses Christine but it’s because he drives her away by being awful in his misery after losing the use of his hands. It keeps the universe intact and creates Doctor Strange, so it gets to be in Kang’s Sacred Timeline.

A sort of meta aspect to the "it's not about you" line that I particularly loved is that one of the creators of Doctor Strange was Steve Ditko, a diehard objectivist whose views often made it into his comics even when they blatantly conflicted with what his partners were writing. As someone who loathes Ayn Rand, her work, and her half-baked philosophy with every fiber of his being, I found it immensely satisfying to see a character created by a raving objectivist told to stop being a selfish prick and start thinking about other people for once.

I was thinking about the “What, like you?” line the other day, because when I saw this in theaters, everyone in the room recoiled at that line like they were the ones being told that. It reminded me of Rian Johnson talking about how the “I am your father” line works so well because it hurts both the character and the audience personally. While Darth Vader’s line is a little more iconic and this line feels a lot more venomous, both serve the purpose to flip a normal trope on its head

Red's name was probably on a scroll somewhere because she was destined to step on Ant-Man thereby giving her superpowers and ultimately dubbing her Red Ant-Woman.

Dr. Strange is a prime example of why therapy is important.

So, funny thing I learned from medical staff while my mom was going through some spinal surgeries, most hospitals keep the surgeons away from the patients when they’re recovering because most of them are so bad at treating people kindly that they decrease patient survival when they try to do the whole bedside manner thing.

i really like how Dr. strange's character arc across the films is more subtle than just "story 1 is done, huge progress, completely good heroic character now!" in DS 1 he needs to learn to set aside his ego. infinity war/other appearences, he's so focused on the big picture, the universe as a whole, but in no way home he needs to see the human aspect of things. finally, in multiverse of madness, his arc is not just about him no longer being in control, but learning to relinquish control to other people and trust them.

Even now, I don’t know whether I just read it into the movie or not, but I really enjoyed the undertone off optimistic vs pessimistic nihilism in this movie. Strange “brief specks in an unfeeling universe” vs the Ancient One’s “is not about you”. Nihilism can be a freeing realisation if one approaches it without the encumbrance of ego. Realising that the universe is a place, an event that is occurring rather than a being with expectations of you, where every single one of your faults will be measured and added up in the great tapestry of time. Instead be happy that you’re able to be a part of it, and make the most of the time and experiences still available to you.

Side note: does anyone else get so engrossed in these detail diatribes that they feel like they can literally see the dolls talking until they actually look at the dolls?

The first Doctor Strange is about learning to trust others. The second is about trusting in yourself (Both America and Strange's character arcs revolve around this) The third could possibly be about Strange teaching someone else to trust others, thus completing his character arc?

I like a theory about this movie that says that Strange became such a great wizard by the end of it because he spent functionally decades or even centuries in the time loop dying over and over again and that helped him develop his skills way further.

I remember an older comic where Strange teamed up with Silver Surfer. He was floating cross legged and reading one of the tomes, and practicing a new spell. He does the "I love you" hand sign, says the spell, fired the spell and rocketed his ass into the bookshelf and he's just sitting there stunned, open book on his head and him going "huh"

There's also something interesting to note about where Strange fights Dormammu that I think is the main reason why his time magickry works as well as it does. Iirc, it's defined that Dormammu is a timeless entity that exists in a timeless void. There is, functionally, no concept of time where Dormammu lives. So since there is no "time", Strange can freely rewind time back to "I've come to bargain" as many times as it takes for Dormammu to give up, and there is never a continuity error and he can keep existing past that point, because he is fundamentally in a location where time has no meaning. So, theoretically, Dormammu and Strange could have had their little song and dance for all of eternity, and nobody would be the wiser for it.

18:15 This is a really good point. One thing that frustrated me about this character is that he focused so much on being a surgeon again that it seems like he forgot that he could be a doctor in other ways that didn't require steady hands. But something tells me that 1) he thinks less of the pediatricians and primary care doctors and the ObGyns (that aren't in the delivery room) so he would be a "lesser doctor" if he decided to open a clinic and 2) he only wants to deal with unconscious people. So maybe being a surgeon is the only way to be a doctor for him. Also, opening a clinic doesn't get him the glory.

Red yelling about the "what, like you?" Scene is an ace mood

16:39 This is leaving out quite a significant moment for Strange. After the explosion in the chamber that separates him from Wong and Mordo and leaves him stranded in the New York Sanctum, Strange chooses to intervene to save the life of the Sanctum's master despite being horrifically outmatched. He may not be willing to throw in with the good fight when it's presented to him as a concept, but in the moment, he's willing to jump in and try to save a life.

honestly - I dare to disagree with your points on Stark. It is not that "he didn't know his weapons kill people". He made all those weapons, because he believed they will be used by "the good guys". But then Yin-Sen tells him, that his company was selling his inventions to terrorists and THAT is what was shocking to him, because he did not know of the trade arrangements of his own company. It is not that "the gun I invented and designed shoots bullets! OMG!!!!", it's more like "how did I never know that my business partner is a psychopat?".

Finally! Someone actually digging into the core philosophical themes of the film because goddamnit this film has something to say and barely anyone talks about it! So often it's brushed off as another mediocre marvel origin story and it can get frustrating. And I'm deeply grateful you acknowledged the fact that he doesn't immediately start getting better after the usual "take down the arrogant hero a few pegs and he immediately sees the folly of his ways and starts getting better." In fact he gets worse; he makes it even more about himself because he's spiralling and panicking and it's all so painfully, unflinchingly human. Human in the way we can't help but inflict our pain on others when we're terrified of losing control, of the idea that change will happen whether we want it to or not. As someone who's been a fan of the film for over 5 years, I can confidently say this is one of the best videos on yt about it wherein you actually engage with the ideas and themes presented. I mean it's not like it's hard, as there aren't many to begin with, but still. This means more than you probably think to someone like me, who was charmed by the film due to it being so theme and philosophy-heavy in the first place. I am *not* a fan of the sequel though. I agree with the Wanda stans that it should've been given the title of Wanda and cancel Strange's role entirely, like in Wandavision, because he's barely relevant to the plot and message of his own film. What a waste. But I digress. Once again, I cannot thank you enough that you actually discuss in-depth about the themes in the film. It makes this weary doctor strange fan feel like they're not crazy after all for liking something most brushed off as boring. Truly, thank you both.

I, a math nerd, got very excited when Red talked about the thematic appropriateness of the Brownian motion of lightning during their conversation on accepting chaos in the world.

Fun Easter egg: Dr. Strange wasn't just turning down helping "some random strangers who wouldn't get him enough prestige." He was turning down helping someone with spinal damage from flying in an experimental exoskeleton because it wouldn't get him enough prestige. That's Rhodey. He turned down helping put Rhodey back together.

I may be misremembering, but didn't he give Peter the "It's not about you." line in "No Way Home" just after discovering they summoned the villains?

I love how during the bargaining scene towards the end Strange is like “Hey buddy wanna bargain?” Just to be as annoying as possible

I COMPLETELY agree with Red about multiverses. Watching Loki was neat initially but when the pulled the whole "multiverse" thing it made the whole Infinity War / Endgame saga feel like it no longer had any stakes

Thank you for putting that there was no Multiverse of Madness discussion in the description. I love to support creators like you guys by watching the videos when they premiere (I know that helps the algorithm or something) but I also don't want to see spoilers for the movie since I haven't seen it yet.

Actually, they also continue to explore and demonstrate the theme of relinquishing control in Multiverse of Madness. Awesome to reflect on it in hindsight.

Actually Holy cow. Now that I think about it. Doesn't this make Steven Strange's "this is the only way" in endgame even more poignant? The sorcerer with the power to look through time and previously wanted to do everything *perfectly*, looked through every outcome and had to settle for an imperfect victory sacrificing an ally. Even with the infinity stone. No control. And in the multiverse of madness the guy at the wedding asks him "was it really the only way" and strange solemnly says yeah and said guy proceeds to tell him about how he lost his brother(I think) so here Strange is again, facing the chaotic outside world and failure to save everything. The movie starts with him facing not everything going his way, Christine married off to some other guy. Even in a multiverse with another Christine, he can't get with her cause universes would implode. No control. (Where as Scarlet Witch is grasping for control, has far greater power, and envying strange who learnt the lesson things aren't perfect & is just toppling through the universe as a mess at 100mph) Thinking about it now, the thought baked into these movies is staggering. I really liked the part at the end where, strange replaces the broken watch glass. My boy's finally moved on

As a person with a love interest who is going through a hard time, I just want to attest that people don't say "at least I have you" because they're not concerned, they say it because they ARE really scared right now and they're trying to comfort themselves and their partner. It turns out to be a very comforting statement. I know that even if my husband and I lose our apartment or have to take out loans just to make it through the month we will find a way through this together. The statement turns my focus away from all the things I'm in danger of losing and towards the most important thing that we won't lose so long as we stay dedicated to it. And if you've read this long, I want you to know that earlier today when we confronted our financial situation it was my husband who comforted me, and I'm so grateful to him.

There's an implication I've found so few people discuss when it comes to Strange's dual with Dormammu: Exactly how many times did Dormammu, a TIMELESS BEING, have to kill Doctor Strange before he even just got ANNOYED? How many times did he kill Strange in this loop before he became ANGRY? And a timeless being of unimaginable patience, how long after losing that patience do you think Dormammu, who was certainly capable of it, maybe to turn torture to make the mortal submit? ...and then how long did Strange ensure death and very likely agony until death before finally, the timeless being of unfathomable patience, actually feel like bargaining was now his only logical option? Stephen Strange is so much more of a steel balled badass than the fandom gives him credit for just on the grounds of those implications alone.

Hearing this makes wonder how the hell does the "What if Dr. Strange lost his heart instead of his hands?" even work? The man didn't have a heart until the end of the first movie!

I love that the movie’s main motif being time is hinted at very early on. In the opening scene during the surgery, Strange tells the attending Dr to cover his watch, hinting that Strange doesn’t want the distraction of change and time, while explicitly saying that what he wants is not to be distracted by other people and their noise. Strange then breaking his watch in Nepal gives to him exactly that, and he’s distraught by it. He carries the broken watch with him now as a reminder of that desire and it’s consequences

I've always liked the fictional doctors who get completely *wrecked* when they lose a patient. It's not healthy for real surgeons, but in the realm of fiction, you often need a very quick way to demonstrate that they *care* about their patients and that kind of scene often does an amazing job of showing that. There's an old TV show called M*A*S*H which is about a fictional mobile army hospital in the Korean war, and I think every single doctor on the show has at least one scene where they have a patient that dies or has serious ongoing complications that shows just how they handle that. This ranges from Frank Burns (possibly the most asinine character in TV history) saying "Oh well, he never had a chance anyway, NEXT" to a full episode where Hawkeye goes through a full breakdown, moving out of his quarters and obsessing over his patient's myriad complications every waking moment and both pulling away and driving off everyone who tries to help. He does eventually work out what's wrong because protagonist energy inspires him, but it's still a good episode. (The one who's closest to Dr. Strange in the show is Charles Emerson Winchester III (yes, this is how he introduces himself) who, upon having a patient flatline on him says "How could you do this to me!?" before starting CPR. (He's Frank Burns' replacement, coming in when the show had matured to be a bit more nuanced in how it does it's antagonism.) (The show is far from completely unproblematic, but it's far better than you'd expect from a 70s sitcom, and I grew up watching it. So I'm a bit of a fan.)

About Tony Stark being surprised that his weapons had hurt people - I don't think he was entirely ignorant about the fact that they were used, but rather he had trusted the wrong people in who he had sold them to. That theme gets reinforced by the fact that his key business partner Obadiah is one of those untrustworthy, even nefarious characters that Tony Stark had trusted. It's still true that Tony Stark had been kind of off in his own little world before "the cave" incident, but he found out the hard way that he couldn't just let other people handle all of the responsibility that comes after the invention is made.

Strange needs to see a magical therapist who can literally make his problems disappear XD

Strange's journey with the Ancient One is so much darker in the comic: the Ancient One is dying and Shuma-Gorath is using his mind as a gateway to try to invade Earth's reality. Strange has to *kill* the Ancient One by entering his mind and destroying his ego, his sense of self and identity. Afterward, he swears to never use sorcery again. The Ancient One then appears to him, revealing that, although he thought he would die when Strange destroyed his ego-core, what had actually happened was that the Ancient One no longer had the distinction between Self and Other, allowing him to become One With The Universe. So, by killing the Ancient One, Strange had actually allowed him to become one with Eternity, the embodiment of existence. But in that intervening period, Strange thinks he's killed his mentor, friend, positive father figure, savior, and role model.

"It's not about you" something that Dr. Strange then go on to really take to heart. In all the movies he appears in, he always tell people that he's interacting with, their lives are no more than a speck of dust in the grand cosmos of things, they gotta sacrifice for the greater good.

Loved this video, perfectly summed up how I felt about the first movie and how good it was even if Strange isn't my favorite Marvel character--I wasn't interested in most of his stories or comics before the movie and ended up watching it because "oh it's part of the MCU I guess I have to watch it now??" and it ended up being one of my favorites because as you guys said, it works as a standalone movie not only in it's cinematic universe, but also because it's just a damn good movie! You guys bringing up Steve Rogers also made me wonder if we'd ever get a Detail Diatribe about him and his movies (particularly Winter Soldier). IDK if you'd have a lot to talk about regarding him but I love hearing you guys talk about things I like, lol. Great work as always!

32:53 It's interesting looking at that scene through the lens of overcoming fear of failure. In the one sense, of course, Dr. Strange *isn't* failing - he's succeeding at stopping Dormamu from consuming the Earth. But, as you pointed out, Strange is only able to succeed in that task because he's willing to accept the *possibility* of failure. Stopping Dormamu is the equivalent of those surgical cases he always avoided because he didn't *know* if he could save those patients. As the Ancient One tells him, his fear of failure was what held him back from true greatness; by refusing any case he doesn't know he can "win", Strange avoids any failure but also holds himself back from the prospect of even greater success by saving some of those patients that weren't guarantees. It's a nice application of the idea that failure is the primary path toward true growth. Failure is how someone learns and improves, and only by pushing one's own limits (and sometimes inevitably going beyond them) can one achieve their greatest success.

Little-known fact: the first Sorcerer Supreme they tried to train was Gregory House. Had to pull the plug on him almost immediately because he kept calling the Ancient One "Dumbledore".

Guys, thank you for doing this diatribe. I'm currently coming out of something that to me feels kind of similar to what Strange went through. Thankfully, it was a lot less of a problem, but it still shook me deeply, the idea that I wasn't, in fact, in control. I am a man of faith and believed from the beginning that God wanted me to learn something from this, probably to learn about control, but that didn't really make it any easier. I'd just begun over the last year or so to really push for things that I wanted - I'd spent years on the sidelines, dealing with trauma from an emotionally abusive relationship, and finally felt ready to go, to take control of my life and do the things I'd always wanted to do. Over the course of a year, I went from working tech support and spending all my free times holing up in my room playing video games to finding a wonderful woman to be my girlfriend, working through my emotional issues, and working my way up to my dream job with the Department of State. Now I'm staring down my future as a father, as an IT professional, as a son-in-law, brother-in-law, someone holding a top secret security clearance, potentially a leader in my global church organization, and I'm thrilled. Everything seems to be going my way. Then I get rear-ended in an intersection ten minutes from my home and get a concussion that take some out of work for two weeks, because I stopped for a red light and the other guy didn't see. I know it's not the worst thing, and I'm grateful it wasn't worse. But it really shook me. In a moment, it felt like my idea for my life that I had been building came crashing down, like it was what got hit through that intersection instead of me and my car. If I couldn't predict this, if I couldn't control for this variable, what else is coming? What else will I not be able to prepare for? What else could derail me, and what is the point of continuing to pursue these dreams of mine if a guy not paying attention to my driving for one second could potentially derail them all? Thankfully, the accident didn't derail my life. I fell back on my parents, bless them, and I had a bit of money saved up so between those two things I was able to take work off. We'd already planned a trip to give me more time away from work to heal, and both my current job and my prospective job are fine. Me and my girlfriend are stronger than ever, and I'm still looking forward to all the things I was before. I got out so lucky, because of so many good people around me, so much outside of my control. And I guess that's kind of the point, right? That in the chaotic workings of the cosmos, we can't fathom what is coming even in our own lives. Whether you believe in a higher power or not, that is always true - stuff happens that we can't prepare for. But it is in that chaos that we find not just the unexpected car accidents that take us out of work and shake us and cause us to question our fundamental beliefs, but also the amazing people around us that bolster us up afterwards, the fact that it wasn't so bad, the lessons we learn. Relinquishing control is about trust. Trusting that whether it be God or some fundamental force, that the chaos will give as it will take, and that whatever it gives or takes, we'll be ready enough to meet it. Anyways, thank you guys. I appreciated the opportunity I had to think about this event in my life again, to be reminded that it's okay to not be in control, and that in fact, it's better if I recognize that in much if not all aspects of my life save my own actions, I am usually not in control. I can just do my best with what little I have, and hope and trust that that will be enough.

Actually, I would think of scarlet witch as one that requires some kind of psychic therapy. Yes, I'm making a psychonauts reference but, looking at her mental state, feels like she may be a 'beyond Maligula' level type of danger. And yes, I'm thinking there are threats that are 'beyond Maligula' levels.

If you want a great backstory-in-flashback, Moon Knight. Giving the flashback in the penultimate episode as a DID Alter learns the history of how he came about is an interesting way of doing it.

I'm not certain Strange actually remembered the resets when bargaining with Dormamu, since it always makes a point of him checking his wrist AFTER jumping to the planetoid where he talks to Dormamu. While this could be just him nervously making sure the spell is still active and that he's not about to die for real, one way to look at it would be like the tallymarks the Eleventh Doctor and co put on their inner arms whenever they met a Silence, an alien that erased the memories of whoever sees them as soon as they look away. I think the spell was keeping track of the loops, and that (plus Dormamu's later reactions) is how Strange knew to change things up a bit from his original plan You could even stretch it further and link it to watches and how both would tell him how much time has passed at a glance.

In theaters it just kind of felt like a retread of iron man 1 but I can see now it had a lot more going on. Liked how DSMoM expanded on these themes by exploring the consequences of his choices as well as his established need to be in control over the choice in the first place.

What’s great is that Dr Strange is dead center spot on for most neuro surgeons. They almost have to have a God complex to have the sheer nerve to operate on people’s brains…

i didnt enjoy it back in the day because i was dragged to see it, but listening to this analysis? it really shifted the perspective i had from back then and now i can critically enjoy it, thank you guys for your wonderful detail diatribes!

We need a Detail Diatribe on the moment when Dr. Michael Morbius says ,"It's Morbin time", in Morbius.

You know, for all the dickishness of Strange, I'm glad that he had that one moment midway through that showed there was more to him, the moment that a LOT of MCU characters kind of just blaze through. You know the "When I became a doctor, I swore an oath to do no harm and I have just killed a man! I'm *not* doing that again!" The fact he recognizes that and has a problem with it is actually pretty great, honestly.

So, I watched this when you first put it up... And I re watched it today. You made me cry both times, with a smile on my face. Thanks for all your hard work.

This was fantastic (as most of your stuff is), and Red remembers all these details then says "I should probably watch Doctor Strange again, I've only seen it once" I wish my memory was even half as good as that

That bachelor's degree insult just made me think "Oh, you know that he's the kind of guy who just coasted through university if that's how he thinks of a bachelor's degree." But overall, thank you for reminding me how good that first Doctor strange movie is. I remember really liking it when it came out.

I remember a a theory/someone saying that Strange got too powerful to fast after the movie, but we don’t know how long he was in the realm with Dormomu and “training”

My preference is still for Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 the themes of family prevalent in almost every character, even in Mantis being a forgotten and mistreated child to her master. I really clicked to the idea of, not only recognizing bad habits, but, actually digging deeper to the roots of them and trying to move past the pain, get over it to become better people. For Quill it's a matter of expectations versus reality For Gamora it's a lack of empathy (yes, outwardly she is the mom of the group, but, even when she's telling off the screw-ups it's just snapping at them about what they did wrong rather than trying to help them not to make the same mistakes again. It's actually very reminiscent of how she treated Nebula, only seeing the challenge in front of her and basically adopting the attitude of "hey, if you didn't want to lose, you should have been a better fighter") Then there's the centerpiece of the whole thing in Rocket and Yondu, who both essentially fear loneliness, but, through their actions, intentionally or not, drive people away. It's, honestly, a film not so much about 'superheroes' as it is about human nature, the mental gymnastics we all do to convince ourselves that we're on the right side of history, or just typically justified in acting like total bastards, but, in the end, they're completely arbitrary reasons that only wind up leading to self-destruction, unless we recognize them for what they are and actually do something to change them.

I haven’t watched the movie, but having grown up with surgeons, your entire description of pre-character development Strange is literally every surgeon I’ve ever known.