#and defeated Dormammu in 2016

[popcorn-plots]

Very long Doctor Strange ramblings below the cut. You have been warned. If you read all of it, feel free to give me your opinion, I am way too invested in this help

In She-Hulk, we see that Wong worked as a librarian at Kamar-Taj for 11 years. In the beginning of Doctor Strange, the first few scenes show Kaecilius and his Zealots stealing pages from the Book of Cagliostro and beheading the current librarian.

When Strange first meets Wong, Wong claims that the former librarian was relieved of his head, and he implemented the rules he now enforces (no portals inside the library, etc.). However, we do not know how long Wong has held the librarian position. If we consider that there is not much Kamar-Taj life shown in the movie, it suggests that no one has forgotten the rules or made mistakes regarding them. This implies that Wong's rules have been around long enough for people to understand and remember them (or at least Wong has been enforcing them consistently). The rules have been in place for a while, and people are not surprised by the missing pages.

Additionally, Kaecilius' betrayal does not seem to be a major issue during Stephen's training, as if it had happened a while ago and Kamar-Taj was biding its time, attempting to hunt him down or waiting for him to make a move. Of course, a rogue sorcerer with that much power is a concern for the Ancient One and Mordo --as seen in the movie-- but Stephen, being a novice/apprentice, is probably not told much.

So, how long has Wong been running the library by himself? It doesn't seem plausible that the gap between Kaecilius' betrayal and Stephen's arrival is 11 years. The entire movie happens over a period of at least a year and a half, maybe even two years. The movie is set from 2015-16, so Wong would have had to take up the position somewhere between 2004-5. If we take Benedict Wong's age and assume that is how old Wong is (as we do with Stephen's age), then he would be 44 in 2016 (Stephen would be 39), making him 33 in 2005. So, was Wong working with the previous librarian for 11 years, and Kaecilius betrayed the Order within a year of Stephen's arrival? Or did Kaecilius steal the pages 11 years prior to Stephen's arrival, right at the beginning of Wong's career?

Not to mention the amount of time it would take for Stephen to recover from the initial accident and the numerous subsequent surgeries, plus the physical therapy and the time it took Stephen to find Kamar-Taj.

The recovery time for hand surgeries is 6 weeks on average. With Stephen having a total of 8 surgeries, his recovery time would be, on average, 48 weeks of the 52 weeks in a year. That's 11 months of recovery, plus a month of travel and logistics. So, if Wong has been working at the library for 11 years, then Kaecilius would have stolen the pages somewhere between 11 years to 1 year before Stephen arrived at Kamar-Taj.

@invye what's your expert opinion? (I'm going way too far into this rabbit hole HELP)

[killacharacterbingo]

Dormammu, I've Come To Bargain

A prompt based on this scene from the 2016 film Doctor Strange. The powerful entity Dormammu, who by all means should be able to defeat the Doctor due to its strength, is trapped in a time loop by him. He will not stop resetting time until he gets Dormammu to listen to him, ergo keeping a much stronger being prisoner in one moment in time. He knows he cannot defeat Dormammu, but he can keep him busy, unstuck in time in order to spare the rest of humanity from its wrath. The doctor dies many times in the loop, restarting it each one to achieve his goal of keeping Dormammu stuck.

As such, this prompt refers to any setting in which a character dies within the context of a time loop.

[presidentrhodes]

i am tired

every time ive been trying to convince myself to watch this movie in theatres, the universe keeps giving me signs not to lol.

Strange's first movie came out in 2016 and was used mostly to set up the mystic arts. since then he had a series of glorified cameos where he didn't win a single fight (im still mad about nwh).

wong, thankfully, got some character development between infinity war and shang chi.

marvel's forgotten mordo even exists or that the first movie set him up to be the main antagonist. and if the leaks are true about prime mordo then that's a fucking travesty

it's unlikely we'd be getting clea and jericho drumm in this film

back to strange — the comics have an incredible amount of lore that makes him a very weird, interesting character. but all i see is people saying in the mcu he's tony stark with magic and it's sadly true because marvel's been using him basically to fix other people's shit

wanda just had a massive character arc in wv and is prob going to have her solo movies soon. even if she's the villain in this film, her getting the same amount of screen time + all of the rumoured cameos mean there's very little room left to tell strange's story

and it's basically a self defeating cycle because how would you expect new mcu fans to care about the character or the franchise if you don't give them proper arcs?

like wong being made sorcerer supreme was HUGE but it was done off screen, almost as a throwaway idea. we've never even seen strange talk about his encounter with dormammu. say nothing of strange's tragic family history with his siblings' untimely deaths. and marvel had as talented an actor as chiwetel ejiofor on payroll to rebrand comics mordo (who is still dull as dirt) but they didn't do that either

this movie would've been a lot more enjoyable if it was the third one in the franchise. the sequel should've been more intimate and about stephen and other doctor strange characters. the reason crossover movies like ragnarok, civil war, nwh worked is because the sequels took the time to set up the characters so that we'd care about them

but that's unlikely to happen with multiverse and we'll have to keep reading bad takes about how stephen is just iron man with magic

[supremescrceress]

how does clea fit into the mcu || main verse

{ ☆ } Clea’s Bio

{ ☆ } Timeline

☆ (2016/2017) Clea comes to Earth shortly after the events of Doctor Strange and immediately becomes a disciple, training in the Mystic Arts.

☆ Within the year, Clea and Stephen have begun a romantic relationship. 

☆ (2017) The Children of Thanos invade Earth (Ebony Maw & Cull Obsidian). Clea helps protect the people of New York. She is beyond furious when Stephen and Peter Parker are discovered to be aboard Ebony Maw’s ship. 

☆ She stays behind to help guard the planet. Because of their telepathic connection, Clea feels Stephen’s disappearance before she’s told about it. She breaks down and almost flees to the Dark Dimension. Ultimately, Wong convinces her to stay and continue her training. To take on Dormammu now would be SUICIDE. 

☆ (2019) Clea feels ready to lead the rebellion against Dormammu and succeeds. She banishes him and her mother, Umar (who aided him) into the dark recesses of the Dark Dimension. She assumes the mantle of Sorceress Supreme of the Dark Dimension. 

☆ It’s a bitter victory. She’d imagined taking her throne with her MENTOR by her side. 

☆ (2022) Events of Endgame. Clea returns to Earth now and again to help Natasha and the other surviving Avengers with MYSTIC issues around the planet. She functions as a sort of ambassador between the Avengers, the Dark Dimension, and the Sorcerer Supreme, Wong. 

☆ She fights side by side with everyone in the Battle for Earth. She nearly breaks down again when she first hears the telepathic connection is back. After Thanos is defeated, she quite literally attaches herself to Stephen like a spider-monkey and alternates between grieving relief and relieved anger.

☆ (2022) Clea attends the funeral of Tony Stark. She continues to advocate for a PROPER memorial for Natasha Romanoff. 

☆ (2023) Clea alternates between the Dark Dimension and Earth, serving as ruler of the Dark Dimension and continues to assist with Mystic Matters on Earth. She preoccupies herself with worrying about Peter Parker, a hero that everyone consistently forgets is a CHILD. 

☆ (2024) Events of No Way Home. Clea is on Earth when Stephen agrees to cast the spell for Peter. Though she wants to help the boy, she strongly disagrees with this use of magic. She vocalizes it every chance she gets. When it goes wrong and Peter decides to SAVE the villains, Clea aids Peter. After he locks Stephen in the Mirror Dimension, Clea prepares herself for the worst scolding of their relationship but continues to work on scouring the city for anyone else from another dimension.

☆ In particular, she looks for other Spider-Mans and their friends and loved ones. She finds Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson and brings them to the Sanctum for protection.

☆ Just like everyone else--she ultimately forgets who Peter Parker is. After these events, she continues to alternate between Earth and the Dark Dimension and now busies herself trying to convince Stephen to have a baby because damn it something is missing.

[aelaer]

Inspired by the X men ask: instead of Donna, what if Stephen's mutant powers manifest after she drowns? It's definitely writable with movie-only knowledge! (I think Stephen would have some scary strong powers).

This prompt is nearing a year and a half old and is my second to last prompt from 2019 so I wanted to try to get it out of the way as I attempt to do at least one prompt fic a month to clear my inbox of those remaining.

After being stuck on trying to figure this out for so long, I decided to approach it quite differently than I thought I would, and this is my first fic writing from this character’s POV. I made Stephen's age the same as Ben's for ease. I also prove, yet again, that my ability to write short things is very much lacking.

My interest in geography 100% leaks through, and I'm not sorry.

My thanks to nemmy for helping me decide the direction of this story.

Fate Won’t Compromise Fandom: Doctor Strange, MCU Genre: Gen, canon divergence Chars: The Ancient One, Stephen Strange, Donna Strange Word count: 5k Warnings: Minor canonical character death, near drowning

In the summer of 1995, The Ancient One felt a ripple in the fabric of reality.

Such ripples, while uncommon, were not unknown to her in her many centuries serving as Sorcerer Supreme. They happened as major events within their reality shifted from the threads found in similar realities across the multiverse. While change was inevitable between realities, commonalities often brought them back to follow the same paths, to hit the same major events, to survive the same catastrophes. Reality and time were excellent in creating situations that balanced the flow again and brought them back to their natural parallels across the majority of universes.

But sometimes, sometimes the fabric of reality and time was disturbed. It happened with a change, unexpected in its improbability and big enough that it diverted the parallel lines the majority of the multiverse followed to create a timeline that diverged, crooked and uncertain. If the ripple was small enough, the powers surrounding reality often fixed itself with countermeasures—new actors, new probabilities that helped bring time back to its parallel path. But some ripples, some ripples required intervention.

And this one? Well, this one absolutely shattered reality with its ripple effect.

Hmm. It was time to consult the Eye of Agamotto and see what changed.

— — — — —

Her time with the Eye was long in her search. With such a significant ripple, The Ancient One first looked at the immediate months coming, searching for change in the most important of events for the remainder of the year.

There was nothing different. Interesting. Then this was likely an event that changed the course of the life of an individual, an individual who was very important sometime in the future. She scanned the years following more broadly after that, coming upon the events of the new millennium, both mundane and arcane, that would change the course of Earth's future forever. They all came as expected, one after the other.

It wasn't until her search took her to 2016, the year before her own inevitable passing, that she finally came across the anomaly: Stephen Strange never made it to Kamar-Taj.

The Ancient One pursed her lips; this was not meant to happen. While her sight beyond 2017 remained veiled, her experience and intuition as well as glimpses across the multiverse gave her an insight into the likely path of Stephen Strange. And from what she had seen, he was meant to be the best of them all.

So what had diverted him from the path that was written in the course of time, so much so that its lack of manifestation caused such a ripple in reality? Surely it didn't change her death; she had accepted the inevitably of that decades ago.

(She first discovered her death after the chaos of WWII, where the Masters of the Mystic Arts fought their own war against demonic invasions looking to take advantage of the chaotic time. She looked to prevent such a thing ever occurring again, then found her death. At first she wasn't concerned, and made plans to avoid it, just as she had several times before.

But it was different this time. With the Eye of Agamotto in the past, she was always able to find a route that allowed her to survive and the world to remain intact within a dozen attempts of altering her actions. It took her over a thousand attempts over the next year to realize that, no, no matter what, she was going to die before the fourth month of 2017. She never lived further than that.

And in the course that seemed most sound to her, the most consistent, she was always by the side of the unsure, amateur, but potentially great Stephen Strange.)

The Eye confirmed for her that, yes, she still died in early 2017. However, the manner of death was completely unacceptable, as it led to Dormammu eating their reality. She had not seen that possibility since she stopped trying to find a solution to her death several decades ago.

(She wondered how Stephen Strange managed to defeat him. She did not sense the end of reality after her death, so it was with confidence that she knew he found a solution. What the solution was, however, remained unknown to her. It was most intriguing. He had such potential.)

The Ancient One finally withdrew from the encompassing powers of the Eye and allowed herself a frown. She hoped Stephen Strange was not dead. It would mean finding another like him, and quite soon so she may prevent the terrible future she just saw.

Still, the ripple she felt did but not necessarily mean death; it meant change, for good or ill.

The first thing to do was to check on what was, and what would hopefully remain, her future pupil. She directed the Eye to review the timeline of Stephen Strange, going to the moment just before the ripple in reality occurred.

As she searched for that moment, flashes of memories not belonging to her flipped through her mind's eye: the first was a pair of hands on the wheel of a car, left side, as it turned off the paved road to a bumpy gravel-filled spot of driving, then quickly smoothed out to a road less rough. A large brown sign with yellow, capital letters read "Lewis and Clark State Recreation Area", with a smaller "Nebraska State and Park Commission" underneath. "Weigand - Burbach" was spelt on a separate plank just below the main sign with the same dark brown backdrop and bright yellow lettering. In the backseats was excited chatter from two others, women. Surrounding the road were tall trees of various species, all different colors of green.

Another flash, and she was now watching a small motorboat being backed up into the water from its trailer by a young man—barely a man—into a wide lake. Beyond the water the distant shore was all but flat, with only a small ridge of hills giving the horizon any distinct shape. A shrill voice shouted behind her, "Don't crash it!" and the man in the boat shouted back, "Shut up, Melissa!" Giggles followed, and then a voice came from the soul she watched, a deep baritone that said, "But seriously, if you crash it, my dad will kill you." The young man in the boat retorted, "Fuck you, Stephen!" in return, and Stephen's body shook with soft laughter. The man successfully maneuvered the boat into the water, and a short cheer sounded behind her.

Then another memory, and she was now on the motorboat, far out on the water which shone as bright a blue as the sky above. A young woman—a teenager, as they said in English in the 20th century, now—was doing some sort of sport she was unfamiliar with, letting the motorboat drag her along as she hung on by a rope with a handle at the end. Perhaps this was surfing. The teenager completed a short jump on the waves, and from her point of view, the memory's host shouted, "Nice, Donna!"

Another flash, and she was the one at the end of the rope. She quickly passed through it to the next memory. 

Time had passed; it was late afternoon, perhaps an hour or so before sunset. Her host was looking at the boat's controls. A female voice—Melissa—behind them said, "Okay, Aaron's ready to go. Start it up." As the boat motor roared to life, another voice—Donna—said over the noise, "We should get out of the water after this. It'll be dark soon." The soul behind the memories, Stephen, shouted back, "That's why we have navigation lights on this thing!"

The memory shifted again, and all four were on the boat now. The sun was set behind the horizon and the sky was painted a soft yellow before it melted into blue, then black. Stars were already appearing in the sky. Surrounding her were the other three, Aaron and Melissa and Donna, and there was a strong feeling of content within the memory. "We should get back to camp," Donna said, and she heard Stephen sigh and say, "Yeah," in reply. "Your turn, Aaron," he added. Aaron said, "Dude, I'm wiped out. You do it." Stephen retorted in return, "No, you."

Then it shifted again, and she was looking up at the darkening sky when Melissa said, "That boat's going fast." Her point of view changed as Stephen straightened himself, and she saw another motorboat running straight towards them. "Stop!" Stephen shouted as he got to his feet, and a second later, Aaron called out, "Jump!" and Stephen did, hitting the water and diving just as their motorboat was hit and destroyed. He was facing down into the murky, black depths of the lake as suddenly something hit his back, and at that moment some sort of rope or netting caught his leg and its weight started dragging him down. She could feel the alarm running through the young man's head and the Ancient One wondered if she was going to be seeing his death, now. A strange pang of regret went through her at the thought.

But then a sudden glow encompassed Stephen's body, subtle but in the blackness of the water, quite, quite clear. Confusion joined his panic but before any other thoughts came to his head, he was suddenly out of the water and on the shore of the lake. He collapsed the moment he went from liquid to air, falling on his back before turning to his side to cough up water from the lake.

The Ancient One stepped back from Stephen Strange's memories and blinked again back in the normal passage of time. As the green glow of the Time Stone's powers faded from her body, she considered the last memory.

She knew, from all her viewings of the future, that it was about this time that the mutation that came to be known as the X-Gene started popping up in the population. It would eventually have an impact on the future of Earth. But Stephen Strange was not meant to have it—or perhaps, rather, it was never meant to activate. Not if the flow of reality and time considered this an anomaly in the general course of the multiverse.

His appearance within the order of the Masters of the Mystic Arts seemed to lead to the event that prevented Dormammu's entrance into their reality, so he—or someone of his caliber—was necessary to have under her tutelage. And as he was not dead, she needed to see what had to happen to work him again onto a path that was the best for the universe's survival, regardless of this unexpected development in his life.

It was time to consult the Eye once more to determine the right path.

—————

Using the Eye worked outside the flow of time, and so all the Ancient One's endeavours, though seeming to her to take several hours, in reality only took her about twenty minutes since she first felt the ripple. She had passed through various scenarios and glimpsed at various extensions of those scenarios as needed until she had an outcome that had her satisfied with her decisions and, more importantly, made it very, very unlikely that the universe would end to Dormammu in 2017.

(Her own future, strangely enough, grew blurry and uncertain the closer she got to that year, which she found quite intriguing. She would pursue the matter at a later date.)

For now, though, she had a job to do. And so she created a portal that led her to the north shore of the lake, at the beach where the small hills lay. At this point of time it was nearly dark, and so she conjured a lantern—one of the elegant ones that they used to craft in Japan, the ones she preferred—and placed a small, magical light within the illusion. It would reveal its true nature soon enough. Despite the rockiness of this part of the shoreline, her footing was sure as she made her way along the edge of the lake.

In a couple minutes, a voice, expected and now familiar, called out to her. "Hello? Is someone there? I need help!"

In all her experience of using the Eye of Agamotto, the Ancient One had gotten very good at differentiating all the viewed possibilities to the experienced reality. Reality was sharper in every way, and the auras of people's spirits shone brighter without the power of the Time Stone to stifle them. And in the night surrounding them, Stephen Strange's aura shone very, very bright.

Interesting.

When she came close enough for him to see her clearly, his eyes widened as he took her in. She knew her resemblance was considered odd by late twentieth-century standards, but the memory of centuries of lice infestations made hair still undesirable and robes were infinitely more comfortable than jeans. But she was aware of its oddness, and as he stared, the Ancient One took the time to also observe him beyond the fuzziness of the Eye of Agamotto.

The gangly boy sitting in the sand in front of her hardly resembled the arrogant, talented man she had come to know through her past use of the Eye. Just breaking the cusp of manhood, his hair was still fully dark brown, and he wore a sleeveless blue shirt with long swim shorts, all still wet despite the time out of the water. His cheeks were fuller with the last remnant of youth still remaining, and the look in his eyes was wild and unguarded. Filled with fear.

Quite different from what she was used to.

"Who are you?" Stephen Strange whispered.

"A friend," she answered. She placed the lantern on a rock before settling down in the dark sand near him, about five feet away. "I mean you no harm."

He continued to stare at her, then looked at his leg. It was bleeding sluggishly and would need stitches. "Can you please help me? I—I'm not sure how I got here, but there was a boating accident and I—I need to find my friends and my sister. It's on the lake, I swear, I don't know why we can't see it from here but the accident just happened and it can't be that far."

She let him finish before she broke the news. "You are about seven kilometers west from the site of your accident, on the north shore of the lake. I believe you call this part of your country 'South Dakota'."

Stephen's eyes somehow widened even further, then he quickly shook his head. "No, that—that's impossible. That's completely impossible."

"Just as impossible as finding yourself drowning at the bottom of a lake one moment and being on dry land in the next," she said agreeably.

The wide-eyed look seemed it would remain a permanent fixture on his face. "Wha—how—how do you know about that?"

"It is my job to know of such things," said the Ancient One. "It is also how I know that, if you are found so far from the site of the accident, you will draw unwanted attention upon yourself."

Stephen visibly swallowed and looked around them, as if the unwanted attention was already watching. "What—what do you mean?"

The Ancient One offered him a benign smile. "You are not the first to perform the impossible. When figures of authority learn such things exist, they pursue them. And your story would draw their attention. Historically, your country has been known to use extraordinary people as assets when needed. Many kingdoms and governments throughout time have."

A soft wind blew in from the south, causing Stephen to shiver in the oncoming chill of the night. Regardless of his discomfort, his wide eyes narrowed into something more calculating and thoughtful. "Why are you telling me this? What do you get out of it?"

"A future ally, hopefully," she answered truthfully. "I have no interest in taking you from your studies, Stephen Strange—yes, I know who you are," she said, the benign smile coming again as he startled. "Your name is the least I know about you."

He stared at her once more, mouth hanging partially open. As the wind blew through again, he snapped his mouth shut and rubbed his shivering arms. "And why—why should I believe you aren't part of these secret government groups, or part of something that wants to use me? Why should I trust you?"

She kept that slight smile on her face as she answered, "Because I offer my assistance and ask nothing in return. I will guide you to the shoreline just north of the accident, and show you where you may find help. I recommend a forgetful memory between the crash and you reaching shore, which is quite common in times of traumatic events. No one will suspect anything different about you, Mr Strange."

The boy fidgeted at the name, as if not used to it. He really was a young thing, wasn't he? "You can get me there? Do you have a car nearby?"

The Ancient One smiled and lifted her lantern. "Remember what I said, Mr Strange." She let the lantern disintegrate, leaving only the glowing ball of light. Stephen's mouth dropped. "You are not the only person who can do the supposedly impossible. Can you walk unaided?"

Stephen snapped his jaw shut at the question and looked down at his leg. He pressed his lips together, and then with a grunt, he slowly shifted his weight under his legs, most of it on his good leg, before he pushed himself up into a standing position.

She offered another slight smile and held her hand forward to create a portal further east along the lake. "Follow me." The Ancient One did not bother to look at his reaction to the gateway, but had the ball of light follow her through. When she turned, Stephen was limping just through the portal, and after he got through she allowed it to close.

They were on the shore again; to the south in the water, a mile or so away, she could see the distant pinpricks of shiplights at the scene of the accident. Stephen, too, stared in that direction. But she forced his focus elsewhere when she pointed to the northeast, to the pinpricks of light beyond the trees. "Do you believe you can make it to those lit buildings? It is perhaps two hundred meters away. They should have a phone."

He offered a nod. "Yeah. My leg's not so bad."

"Good," she said. "Then I recommend you go that way; it may be some hours before authorities search the shore for you." She looked back at him. "I would not tell anyone of what truly occurred to you; such tales have an unfortunate habit of getting out, no matter how private the story is meant to be."

Stephen frowned at her, and she offered him another one of her benign smiles. "I will come to see you again, after you have had some time to recover. Good luck, Mr Strange." With that, she let the glowing ball beside her fade out, and created a portal into one of the darker rooms of Kamar-Taj and left the young Stephen Strange on the shore of the lake.

—————— 

Two weeks later, the Ancient One created another portal to the midwestern United States, landing underneath a narrow strip of trees that bordered a small creek that made its way through wide fields of agriculture. The nearest field beside her was corn, and just beyond it was a half-harvested wheat field. The trees bordering the water were a mix of oak and pine, specific species she was not familiar with but that she could broadly identify due to the commonalities found within their relatives in the Eastern Hemisphere. It was just after midday in this place known as Nebraska, and the summer sun was pleasant in this corner of the world, with a soft breeze taking off the edge of the dry heat.

She saw no one at first, but if the sling ring brought her here, that meant Stephen Strange was also nearby. A faint trail followed the bend of the creek and she paused in consideration before her instincts led her to go southwest.

In a few minutes, she came upon him. While her step was soft, the silence of the trail around them should have alerted Stephen to her arrival. But his back remained turned to her as he sat beyond the narrow trail and on the slope that led into the creek bed. His chin was propped on his knees and, since he had not heard her approaching, the Ancient One knew his mind was quite far away.

"Mr Strange," she said in greeting.

The young man violently started out of his daze and nearly lost his seating as he twisted around to stare at her. It seemed to her that he had aged some years in the last two weeks; his eyes were dark and sunken with lack of sleep, and his entire expression appeared drawn and pinched. His lips tightened for a moment, then he said, "It's you again."

"I did say I was going to return," she reminded him. She approached the sloping hill beside the creek and sat down beside him.

From the corner of her eye, she saw his expression tighten again. She remained quiet as he gathered his words. "Did you know?" Stephen asked after several passing seconds of heavy silence.

The Ancient One kept her gaze on the small creek. She knew what he was asking, and she would not play any games pretending otherwise; it wouldn't serve her purpose. "I knew that, by the time I came to you, your sister had died."

The tenseness beside her did not lift; if anything, it grew heavier. "Did you know Donna was going to die?"

An interesting question. She considered her answer; a multitude of answers would lead to an acceptable outcome, but this was reality. "We don't get to choose our time," she started. "In some probabilities, the question of death is split between a thin line that sways from one option to the other depending on the reality. In other instances, death is all but certain." She spared a glance at him; Stephen's grief was now layered with confusion. "I am sorry to say that, in the wide expansion of possibilities, your sister's death was largely unavoidable. All points led to it."

The young man's face contorted in anger. "I don't believe in fate or whatever the hell you're talking about."

"Some may call it fate," she answered, and looked back to the creek. "I call it probability. You may have been told, at some point in your life, that there are random events in life that are unpredictable. This is untrue, at least on a larger scale. Each event of consequence has a set probability in occurring, with the powers balancing reality and time ever trying to keep them as consistent as possible in the grand scheme of the multiverse. Certain people are always born. Certain events always occur. Certain items are always invented. Around people of consequence, events play out so that they may help play the part that they are meant to play."

In the corner of her eye, she saw Stephen run a hand over his face. "Look, lady, like I told you: I don't believe in that bullshit. And if you're trying to tell me that my sister was meant to—" He cut himself off and turned his head away. She saw his knuckles tighten to the point of turning white with the strain.

She slowly exhaled and closed her eyes. She had not spoken with youth who did not know her for who she was in some many years; she could not remember the last time a young person had spoken to her with such disrespect. But she had to keep in mind that Stephen was grieving, and that he was absolutely clueless.

Perhaps if he saw a small glimpse of what she saw, he would understand.

"I would like to show you something, if you would allow it," said the Ancient One as she opened her eyes and looked at Stephen.

His eyes darted to look at her with a side glance, though he did not look at her fully. "Show me what?"

"What my powers allow me to see," she said. His eyes narrowed. "It won't hurt or leave any lasting effects."

She saw the internal struggle, but one thing she knew well of Stephen Strange: his curiosity always got the better of him. And as she expected, he relented and said, "Okay, fine. How do you do that?"

A slight smile appeared on her lips. "Like this," said the Ancient One, and she placed her thumb upon his forehead and connected her third eye to his unused, undeveloped one. She picked from her memory a set of images gained by using the Eye of Agamotto in conjunction with the Cauldron of the Cosmos to explore the realities across the multiverse, the images she picked up some years ago as she looked into the man known as Stephen Strange and what he became in other realities.

And the images she chose were specifically referring to his sister's death. As she let him see various versions of himself (some with slightly different physical features, and a couple further in the past, but so very much Stephen Strange), she said, "The multiverse is a strange thing in its consistency. Donna Strange was not born only to perish at such a young age in every reality, but the probability was stacked against her. And many named Stephen Strange have experienced the grief you feel now. It is not your fault that the universe stacked probability against her survival."

She removed her thumb from his forehead and Stephen collapsed, rolling down a couple feet down the slope before catching himself. Laying on the ground now he panted heavily, trying to gain his breath.

When he finally raised his head, tears were streaming down his face. "It should've been me," he choked out. "She didn't deserve to die! None of those—" He cut himself off and shook his head, then angrily wiped at his face. "I—I don't know what the fuck you were doing—"

"I was using my powers to show you what I have seen," she interrupted, cutting him off for the first time. "After what you managed to achieve at the lake, are my abilities really so hard to come to terms with?"

Stephen shook his head again and pushed himself off the ground so he was standing. The Ancient One remained sitting and kept her expression neutral. "Okay, fine, so you have some crazy-ass powers that—that make no sense. I get it, you did physics-breaking things at the lake, too. What the hell does that have to do with me?"

She offered a benign smile. "Surely you haven't forgotten your unusual journey from the lake to the shore. Or have you been telling yourself that it was all a hallucination?"

By the look on his face, it appeared that that was exactly what he was trying to do. That would do no good.

"Unfortunately for you, your powers aren't just going to go away," the Ancient One said. "Whether they will manifest under physical or emotional stress I do not yet know, but they will return if you do not know how to control them."

"And what, you can teach me how to control them?" Stephen asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

"Yes," was her simple answer.

Stephen's eyes remained narrow, then he cut off his stare to run a hand through his hair and shake his head. "And what would you want out of me in return?"

"Nothing you are unwilling to give," said the Ancient One. "You can continue your studies as you wish. Go on to become a doctor."

"How did you know—" He paused, cutting himself off, then shook his head. "You know what, never mind. Go on." 

She offered her smile again. "All it would require is some of your time to discover the extent of your powers and to learn ways in which you can best control them. Consider it an extracurricular activity, if you would like."

"And what do you get out of it?" he asked.

"The knowledge that those with unusual powers remain hidden from those who would exploit them," is what she answers, but in truth, it was so much more. Still, it was not yet time to tell him that; he was too young. Too green.

Stephen looked down and crossed his arms as he considered her words. His expression was stone, but she knew what he was going to answer. If there was one thing predictable about Stephen Strange, it was his curiosity and his hunger for knowledge. It was his ambition to be the best at whatever he set his mind to, and a new ability suddenly within his hands was one meant to be conquered for him.

He then nodded jerkily, just once. "Okay. Sure. When do we start?"

The Ancient One smiled and stood. "How about now?" She opened a portal to one of her private rooms in Kamar-Taj, where she was rarely disturbed. It would not do to show him everything of the compound immediately, but it would come in due time.

He hesitated. "I need to be home for dinner at six."

"That is quite doable," she answered, and waited.

A couple seconds of hesitation passed, and then Stephen Strange lifted his chin and walked directly into the portal to Kamar-Taj, over two decades earlier than expected. The Ancient One followed him and closed the gateway behind her, leaving behind the quiet creek to flow under the bright green leaves on a sunny Nebraskan summer day.

— — — — — 

The big happy moment for me in writing this fic was that the town I chose for Stephen to grow up in and alluded to in another story is pretty close to this lake, so that worked out great. The most disappointing discovery, on the other hand, was that the Google Maps car only got like, the major roads in Nebraska. That does not include annnyyyyy of the roads near the Lewis and Clark State Recreation Area. And their promotional video didn't help in determining the details I wanted.

But then *the best thing* happened and on the camp's location on Google Maps, some beautiful, beautiful person took a photo of the entrance of the campgrounds, which was the exact detail I needed. So I dedicate this fic to Denis F. and their photo. (We're gonna pretend that the road and sign's 100% been like that since at least 1995). As much as I'd like to make an excuse to go to a lakeside attraction for boating fun, I'm sadly not a millionaire and cannot throw away thousands for the sake of fic accuracy. Alas. Once I win the lottery, though, 100% will commit to this. (Also, it's January and freaking freezing in Nebraska right now.)

FYI, Donna was not surfing, but wakeboarding. I just doubt that the Ancient One has bothered to learn all the new sports that popped up in the latter half of the 20th century - especially as one as young as wakeboarding was in 1995.

Hopefully the emotional roller coaster in the last bit worked. I've had conversations that just went all over the place like that before—crazy emotional subject to another crazy subject that just shook you to the point that the emotional subject was put on the back burner for processing—so hopefully people can relate.

[bakerlooandbeyond]

After plenty of anticipation, Marvel Studios has finally unveiled its surprising plans for Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While a Doctor Strangesequel was always in the cards, the official announcement of the film's title, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was wholly unexpected, as was the confirmation that Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, would appear in the movie.

Given the film's title, it seems like the sequel will finally deliver on the long-teased promise of exploring the MCU's Multiverse. The presence of multiple realities was already teased in both 2016's Doctor Strange and this summer's Spider-Man: Far From Home, but now it appears as if we will truly travel throughout multiple frightening universes.

However, that title doesn't just tease a trip through the Multiverse. While most people are focusing on the "Multiverse" aspect, could the inclusion of "Madness" be what's more important here? Since the film is confirmed to be the MCU's first forray into horror, what if the sequel's title is more literal than we think?

THE FALLOUT FROM INFINITY WAR AND ENDGAME

Other than the title and the presence of Scarlet Witch, there isn't much we know yet about Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' plot. Benedict Cumberbatch has said that his character will no longer be in a place of authority, and that the film will aim to try and destroy him, but it's not clear what that means. However, the Doctor Strange sequel could examine the direct fallout of Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, on a personal, psychological level.

While the superheroes of the MCU felt crushed by the loss of Tony Stark, Doctor Strange experienced the defeat of the Avengers and the annihilation of everything 14 million 605 times. It might have happened off-screen in Infinity War, but the Doctor did travel through time to live through over 14 million futures where he experienced death, destruction, and the loss of everything he knows.

For us, it was condensed into mere seconds but for him, it was something that, possibly, lasted an untold number of years. The number of futures he saw is simply astronomical, and it could be something that takes its toll on Stephen Strange -- even for someone as powerful as him.

THE BILL COMES DUE

What's more, this could even tie back to the warning made by Baron Karl Mordo, back in the first Doctor Strange movie, "The bill comes due." As we know, magic always comes at a price, and the sequel could explore that idea by having Stephen Strange's falling into possible madness as he comes to grips with all of the horrific deaths he has seen in 14 million different futures.

Marvel has never shied away from examining the psychological fallout its big tentpole movies can have on characters. In fact, Iron Man 3 primarily dealt with Tony Stark's PTSD after flying through a wormhole in space in 2012's The Avengers. Captain America: The Winter Soldier showed Steve Rogers' struggle in adapting to modern times. The events of Avengers: Age of Ultrondirectly led to the rift in Civil War. Now, the events of Avengers: Endgame are no different. They had an effect on Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Far From Home, and they could continue to impact characters in the Doctor Strangesequel.

Sure, Stephen Strange already lived through his death countless times during his time loop battle with Dormammu, but the death of the universe, 14 million times over could be something else entirely. It could even affect Strange in ways he hadn't considered or foreseen -- much like Tony's battle with the Chitauri.

TWO PEAS IN A POD

This psychological effect could also take into account the presence of the Scarlet Witch too. While the Scarlet Witch shares a link to the mystical side of the Marvel Universe with Strange, she could come into this movie for another, far more desperate reason: for treatment.

In the comic books, the Scarlet Witch is no stranger to mental breaks. In fact, one of those episodes even led to the creation of a new reality where mutants reign supreme. With that in mind, could a psychological parallel between Strange and the Scarlet Witch be explored in the Doctor Strange sequel?

Moreover, it's already been confirmed that Scarlet Witch's role in the film will be connected to the events of the Disney+ television series, WandaVision. While we don't know anything about the series yet, it's theorized that it might see Wanda create a new, alternate 1950s'-inspired reality where she lives a happy life with Paul Bettany's Vision. If that is the case, then perhaps this is part of her own mental break, and something that could tie into Stephen's own story in in the Muliverse of Madness.

Given director Scott Derrickson's comments about horror, all of these possibilities seem plausible. But since we have so little concrete information about the film right now, this is ultimately speculation about details we probably won't know for quite some time. By the time the film gets here, it may be something entirely different from what we expect.

Directed by Scott Derrickson, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen. The film hits theaters on May 7, 2021.

[bad-puns-and-even-worse-magic]

not a prompt but whats your pet eeves about dr. strange fanfics? im trying to write him and cant figure it out???

so this is more about stephen’s actual characterization than just pet peeves so like, stuff to think about when writing him;

1) uhhh saying he’s never been disintegrated? or died? the guy was blown to pieces by dormammu. fading away to dust probably looks like a pretty nice way to go. (proof: uhhh the entire last ten minutes of Doctor Strange 2016)

2) he’s poor. he has no money and he spent what he had left to go to nepal. also? he doesn’t have a job and being the master of the new york sanctum probably takes up a lot of his time. stephen’s whole job is to look over the dimensional rifts and repair them. not a whole lot of money in that. (proof: he and wong can’t get enough money to get a sandwich from the deli in IW, stephen selling all his stuff for his surgeries and is homeless before he gets to Kamar-Taj in Doctor Strange)

3) stephen strange is a pacifist who only uses violence when absolutely necessary. he wouldn’t punch someone cause he’s mad at them. actually, he avoids punching in general unless in his astral form like just look at his hands??? ouch (proof: cried??? when he killed a man?? and then gets frustrated when people call him a coward because of it but doesn’t even kill the zealots in the end)

4) he has a knack for the mystic arts in a way no one else does and it’s not because of his ‘good memory’ or because of diligent studying. stephen sees sorcery in a way no other person does besides, maybe, the ancient one. (proof: Mordo’s “it takes more than a ‘good memory’” and Wong’s “you may have a knack for the mystic arts but you still have a lot to learn”)

5) he STRUGGLED with magic at first. he had to rewrite his entire world viewpoint from the ground up (proof: the ancient one’s ‘swim or drown’ lesson where she dropped him on Everest so he had no other choice than to get over his old ideals and make the damn portal) 

6) he very rarely follows the rules, especially when the rules stand in the way of saving lives (proof: opening portals in the library, breaking the natural law not once but MULTIPLE times, the ancient one’s “but as you know, sometimes one must break the rules in order to serve the greater good”)

7) the cloak hates everyone. just straight up is uninterested unless their name is stephen strange and then it actually does hilariously care. a lot. (proof: “the cloak of levitation? it’s chosen you?” “no minor feat. it’s a fickle thing.” and in IW when it just uses peter and tony to rescue stephen before ignoring them again. when it wipes his tears or rescues him when he’s falling over the stairs. takes a zealot that stabbed strange and repeatedly slams his head into the ground)

8. “it’s not about you.”

9. he actually is incredibly ashamed of his old arrogant self and makes note to repeatedly apologize (proof: him apologizing to christine about the way he treated her pre and post his accident)

10. thinks about saving people 1st and defeating his enemies 2nd (proof: slamming the zealots into the mirror dimension when they’re trying to destroy the sanctum instead of rushing into a fist fight like mordo)

11. he’s funny??? and is perfectly okay with taking jabs about being a ‘wizard’ and kinda thinks it’s ridiculous himself (proof: “it’s not a cult!” “well, that’s something a cultist would say–hey, what do you think you’re doing?” “well, I’m late for a cult meeting.”)

12. actually really wants people to like him?? not in a love the ground he walks on kind of way but more like a puppy (proof: spends the WHOLE of his movie trying to get wong to laugh and looks bemused but pleased with himself when he finally manages to do so on accident)

that’s not all of it but it’s just some pointers to think about when writing him? sorry it got so long!

[artemisegeria]

Infinity Stone Theory (Endgame Spoilers)

Upon seeing Endgame again, I had a realization that bloomed into a theory. This theory is not without certain problems or counterpoints, but I really like it. It would tie in a number of different threads from Infinity War and Endgame and provide a base for more movies going forward.

I want to start with Nebula’s assertion, made while the Avengers were in Thanos’s cabin, that Thanos is many things, but not a liar. Something about hearing that line this time reminded me of a line in Infinity War when Thanos is talking to Gamora. He takes credit for her strengths and then tells her that she is a bad liar because he never taught her to lie. Now, you could interpret this line as being consistent with what Nebula said. Thanos never taught Gamora or Nebula to lie because he doesn’t do it himself. But I think it’s also reasonable to assume that he only did not teach them to lie because he feared that they would use it against him. You could also read into Thanos’s line the implication that he could teach Gamora to be a good liar, but he chose not to. 

To be fair, I couldn’t think of too many examples of Thanos lying. There is the “Fine, I’ll do it myself.” line when he actually sends his minions to do it. The easy responses to that point are that it was just a throw-away line in a teaser and he seems to consider all his minions extensions of himself so it would not be a lie in his mind. And he did hunt down some of the stones himself. The other lie I could think of was his claim that Gamora’s planet was much happier and more prosperous after he killed half the population. This line is contradicted by Gamora’s designation in Guardians of Galaxy as “the last survivor of the Zehoberi people.” Credit for the original observation here. That could be a simple continuity error, but simple common sense would indicate that a planet would not just carry on happily when half of its population was killed. We also see Thanos lying with the Reality Stone to draw out the Guardians in IW. Seeing as Thanos is willing to kill half the population of the universe to achieve his goal, I don’t think he would draw the line at lying. 

The next point I want to address is the Ancient One’s assertion that removing an Infinity Stone would cause great damage to her reality. I have seen some interpretations of that line that she was referring to Strange using the Time Stone to defeat Dormammu in 2016, which could be the case, but to me it sounded more like she was talking about the act of removing the Infinity Stone itself. This ties back into Wong’s claim in IW that each of the Infinity Stones “control[s] an essential aspect of existence.”  This would suggest the loss of one, nonethless six, would have a cataclysmic effect on the whole universe. So far, we’ve seen only hints of such changes like the earthquakes that Carol says are happening on planets across the galaxies and the tear in the multiverse that Mysterio talks about in the Far From Home trailer, and its unclear whether those are the result of the Snap(s) or the loss of the Infinity Stones. The response to this is that cataclysmic changes are happening, but they are building up slowly and will be explored in the next few movies.

However, the main idea that I would like to posit is that Thanos lied about destroying the Infinity Stones, and that they still exist in the universe but are hidden. Thanos has every reason to lie to the Avengers about destroying the Stones to prevent them from hunting the stones down. At the end of Endgame, Thanos says that he will remake the whole universe so that its inhabitants do not remember a time when their lives were any different, so they have nothing to fight back against. This is a much greater feat than merely lying to the Avengers about not having the Stones. My explanation of the second energy surge that matched the Snap that they used to track Thanos is that, instead of using the Stones to destroy the Stones, he used the Stones to send all the Stones into various regions of deep space, making it extremely difficult for anyone to find them. This would be the reason the universe has not been completely destroyed along with the Infinity Stones.

If I’m right, which again I’m not saying definitively that I am, this would be a great set up for the Captain Marvel sequels and the GOTG franchise. It could be a thread to set up Adam Warlock and the Infinity Watch. It could also mean the Mind Stone might be able to be found and might have Vision’s consciousness bound to it (which is a big part of why I like this theory, to be honest), although hopefully it wouldn’t take multiple movies to find it. 

I did say before Endgame that I hoped all the Stones were destroyed in the movie, but after seeing it, I’ve changed my mind. The MCU is still leaning into Tony Stark/Iron Man, even though he’s gone. So they might as well lean into the Infinity Stones as well. 

[loyaloutwear-a2]

* DORMAMMU, I’VE COME TO BARGAIN ! 

                    agamotto is the world’s first sorcerer supreme, a role created to protect the world from inter-dimensional beings. during this time, he created hundreds of magical artifacts, && gave birth to levi. she spends every second aiding&& assisting him in his endeavors to keep the world safe. together, agamotto && levi, along with other mystical arts users, built the three sanctums. soon after the buildings are completed, dormammu returns to earth. the ancient one has long since replaced agamotto as sorcerer supreme, but he and levi must go behind her back to battle him after discovering that she draws power from the dark dimension.                     they had faced off a dozen times before, && they had won each of those battles. however, this time would be different, because the risks of turning back time rose with each other. without the time stone’s power, there would be no walking out of this one alive. they put up a good fight, but in the end, agamotto is killed, despite levi’s best efforts to protect him. she’s battered, bruised,&& scarred && having her father&& master die in her arms sends her into a rage. unleashing powers she didn’t know she had, dormammu is sent running until he returns in 2016 to be defeated once again by stephen strange.                     she’s both excited && terrified to help stephen in his own battle against the being. stephen’s plan to defeat him is a success, but it’s not enough for levi. she wants dormammu dead for killing agamotto, for killing stephen thousands of times over. she has every intention of tracking the monster down to get her revenge, even if it costs her life. 

[lantia]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Doctor Strange (2016) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Tony Stark/Stephen Strange Characters: Tony Stark, Stephen Strange, Wong (Marvel), Karl Mordo, Friday (Marvel), Cloak of Levitation - Character Additional Tags: Post-Doctor Strange (2016), Missing Scene, Hurt Stephen Strange, Canon Injury, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Stephen does too, Cloak of Levitation (Marvel), Wong is a low-key Tony fanboi, Angst, Supreme Snarks, Stephen & Wong broship, Mild Language, Pre-Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Series: Part 3 of Of Overqualified Hands & Pi Figures (IronStrange) Summary:

After the 'defeat' of Dormammu, Doctor Strange is at a loss of what to do next. With his teachers gone and only Wong left to keep him company, he will have to figure out this new life of his.

But before he can even make it back to the Sanctum, certain portals-in-the-sky hating superhero flies in to investigate the Honk Kong scene of battle.

[returnofahsoka]

So since the MCU timeline never made any sense for me, I looked it up at the marvel wikia page. Here you go:

2009 - Iron Man 1 2010 - The Incredible Hulk          - Iron Man 2          - Thor         (simoultaneously) 2011 - Captain America: The First Avenger - last scenes 2012 - Avengers          - Iron Man 3 2013 - Thor: The Dark World 2014 - Captain America: The Winter Soldier          - Guardians of the Galaxy          - Guardians of the Galaxy vol.2 2015 - Avengers: Age of Ultron          - Ant-man 2016 - Doctor Strange (simoultaneously with the other 3)          - Captain America: Civil War          - Black Panther          - Spiderman: Homecoming 2017 - Doctor Strange - defeat of Dormammu          - Thor: Ragnarok 2018 - Thor: Ragnarok - after-credit scene          - Infinity War

[undertheinfluencerd]

https://ift.tt/3njzoMX #

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Marvel’s What If…? episode 4.

A new version of Doctor Strange is created in Marvel’s What If…? episode 4, but this Phase 4 iteration’s origin is better in one regard. In “What If… Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?,” the Sorcerer Supreme has a fundamentally different motivation for becoming a Master of the Mystic Arts. Strange’s pivotal car crash results in the death of his co-worker and lover, Christine Palmer, breaking Strange’s heart and leading him to delve into the realm of magic, becoming the mystical hero like his mainstream timeline’s counterpart. Doctor Strange’s new origin draws from a different set of emotions than the classic iteration, making for a tragic and doomed version of the character.

2016’s Doctor Strange follows the classic Marvel Comics origin story. Stephen Strange, a renowned, gifted, and arrogant neurosurgeon, is permanently injured in a car crash, losing the ability to use his hands and thus ending his prosperous career. This version of Strange sought the wisdom of The Ancient One to heal his hands and return to his life as a surgeon. In What If, Strange is motivated by a need for hope and the possibility to bring back his deceased lover, but he still becomes the Sorcerer Supreme and saves his reality from Dormammu like his mainstream counterpart.

Related: How Doctor Strange Can Hear & See The Watcher (When No One Else Can)

The mainstream iteration of Doctor Strange had an understandable motivation. Though he was arrogant, his career was his passion, and his hand injuries effectively ended his life as he knew it and severely damaged his pride in the process. Fundamentally, the alternate version of Strange is motivated by love and grief for a lost loved one. This new motivation is far more primal and melancholic than the classic iteration, which ultimately sends him down a different path than the original version. In What If, Doctor Strange cannot accept the loss of Christine, so two years after her demise, he decides to use the Eye of Agamotto to attempt to bring her back from the dead.

Strange’s grief and obsession with undoing the past leads him to become a misguided and villainous version of himself. Similar to his method of defeating Dormammu, Strange unintentionally caught himself in a time loop, reliving the death of Christine again and again, torturing himself even more in the process. This universe required Palmer to die so that Strange would become a sorcerer, so her death was a fixed point in time. His inability to accept this not only resulted in experiencing Christine’s death yet again, but it left him as the only living being in his reality as well.

The main MCU version of Doctor Strange, notably, could repair his hands, but he consciously chose not to. Strange’s hands are still visibly damaged and occasionally can be seen twitching in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. The MCU’s Doctor Strange could have easily repaired his hands and resumed his career as a neurosurgeon, but he chose to protect the world with his magic instead. Similarly, in an attempt to defeat the villainous version of Doctor Strange, The Ancient One splits the timeline, creating another version of Stephen, who decided to move on from his grief. This version of Strange is ultimately unable to defeat his villainous counterpart, however.

While the What If version of Doctor Strange has a more primal and emotional origin story, he does ultimately become a villain who destroys his reality and is left tormented and alone. His mainstream counterpart goes on to become an ally to The Avengers and has an instrumental role in defeating Thanos. Marvel’s What If…? may have given Phase 4 a better version of Doctor Strange’s origin, but the main MCU timeline still ultimately has the better version of Stephen Strange.

Next: Every MCU Easter Egg In What If? Episode 4

Marvel’s What If…? releases new episodes Wednesdays on Disney+.

#marvel #avengers #marvelcomics #spiderman #mcu #ironman #comics #captainamerica #thor #avengersendgame #marvelstudios #xmen #dc #marveluniverse #art #cosplay #tomholland #hulk #disney #comicbooks #dccomics #peterparker #tonystark #blackwidow #marvellegends #endgame #deadpool #marvelcinematicuniverse #loki #bhfyp

The post Phase 4 Just Made Doctor Strange’s Origin Way Better appeared first on undertheinfluencerd.net.

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[ironstrangeao3]

[TTS Podfic] Worthy (Friends) Opponents

by TTSPodfics (sherlockian4evr)

After the 'defeat' of Dormammu, Doctor Strange is at a loss of what to do next. With his teachers gone and only Wong left to keep him company, he will have to figure out this new life of his.

But before he can even make it back to the Sanctum, certain portals-in-the-sky hating superhero flies in to investigate the Hong Kong scene of battle.

Words: 5, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 3 of [TTS Podfic] Of Overqualified Hands & Pi Figures

Fandoms: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Doctor Strange (2016)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Tony Stark, Stephen Strange, Wong (Marvel), Karl Mordo, Friday (Marvel), Cloak of Levitation - Character

Relationships: Tony Stark/Stephen Strange

Additional Tags: LPost-Doctor Strange (2016), Missing Scene, Hurt Stephen Strange, Canon Injury, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Stephen does too, Cloak of Levitation (Marvel), Wong is a low-key Tony fanboi, Angst, Supreme Snarks, Stephen & Wong broship, Mild Language, Pre-Captain America: Civil War (Movie)

source http://archiveofourown.org/works/21917998

[ao3feed-lokiangst]

The Time Entity

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3yL5qEI

by thatgooddoctor

269 years. 269 years he spent in that time loop, trying to delay the end of the world, trying to prevent Dormammu from entering Earth. One could expect that eventually, Stephen would crack.

An AU in which Doctor Strange gains omnipotent powers due to the Time Stone and the defeat of Dormammu. Warning: If you don't like slightly overpowered character fics, I advise you to leave.

Words: 2221, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Strange (2016), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: M/M

Characters: Stephen Strange, Tony Stark, Wong, Kaecilius, Dormammu (Marvel), Peter Parker, Karl Mordo, Ancient One (Marvel), Avengers Team, Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Sam Wilson (Marvel), James "Bucky" Barnes, Scott Lang, Carol Danvers, Nick Fury, Thor (Marvel), Loki (Marvel), T'Challa (Marvel), Shuri (Marvel), Okoye (Marvel), Hope Van Dyne, Clint Barton, Vision (Marvel), Wanda Maximoff, James "Rhodey" Rhodes, James Rhodes, Pepper Potts

Relationships: Tony Stark/Stephen Strange, Tony Stark & Stephen Strange, Peter Parker & Tony Stark & Stephen Strange, Kaecilius & Stephen Strange, Stephen Strange & Wong, Karl Mordo & Stephen Strange, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Ancient One & Stephen Strange, Stephen Strange & Avengers Team

Additional Tags: Tony Stark/Stephen Strange Parenting Peter Parker | Supremefamily | Strange Family, BAMF Stephen Strange, Stephen Strange & Wong Friendship, Omnipotent Stephen Strange, Sentient Infinity Stones (Marvel), Infinity Stones, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence - Doctor Strange (2016), Canon Divergence - Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Alternate Universe, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Stephen Strange Needs a Hug, Omnipotent, Time Stone, Time Entity

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3yL5qEI

[bad-puns-and-even-worse-magic]

okay so... i wanna???????? try reading doctor strange but just... where to start? where begin???? HELP?????

yeah, yeah, i mean he’s got, like, what, five? origin stories now? so i’m gonna give you a starting point and then list off various other stories to read because Doctor Strange actually is not as present as you would believe in the comics. he generally just shows up subtly in other places and didn’t really have his own title until 2015.

the token origin story OR Doctor Strange: Strange Origins/Season One

this is my favorite Doctor Strange origin story by FAR. as in most of Strange’s origin stories, he goes to Nepal to learn sorcery underneath the tutelage of the Ancient One, Mordo betrays them all to Dormammu, Strange defeats both, the end. 

in this comic, however, Dormammu and Mordo are the subplot of two sorcerers who are just plain shit at their jobs. 

Wong and Stephen just flat out SUCK at magic. they suck. they’re so bad at it that the Ancient One is flat out Done With Their Shit™

the two of them are complete opposites so the Ancient One makes them train together and they hate it so much. Wong spends about half of the comic calling Stephen a demon and Stephen spends that time shamelessly flirting with Wong

(not even joking about the flirting part)

but they get dragged on this Indiana Jones Mystical Treasure Hunt by Sofia who’s trying to track down the Three Rings of Compulsion becoming a mess of trio. 

but it’s a learning experience. Stephen teaches Wong, Wong teaches Stephen and in the middle of it all they become really close friends. Out of forty some years of comics, Wong had more personality in this volume than the entirety of his history. it’s labelled as a Doctor Strange origin story, but it’s definitely the story of Stephen and Wong. 

also, it’s just really flippin’ pretty. 

others you can pick up are;

Doctor Strange: The Oath - or when Stephen has to choose between saving the world or saving his best friend.

The New Avengers vol. 1 #27-37 (2005) and The New Avengers Annual #2 (2008) - After Civil War, Doctor Strange takes in what’s left of Team Cap after Steve Rogers’ death and they work from the Sanctum which he hides as a new Starbucks location. 

it’s the story of how he falls from grace giving rise to Brother/Doctor Voodoo as the next Sorcerer Supreme (The New Avengers vol. 1 #51-54 (2005-2010) and Strange: The Doctor is Out (2009)).

his rise back to power starts in The New Avengers Vol. 2 #1-7 (2010-2013) where Brother (now Doctor) Vodoo dies leaving the role vacant again and concludes with Strange back as Sorcerer Supreme in The New Avengers Vol. 2  #31-34 (2010-2013)

i’ve never been the biggest fan of the Illuminati storyline but Eldritch-Lost-His-Shit Stephen Strange is New Avengers - A Perfect World vol. 4 (2014)

on that note, Stephen being tortured by Ebony Maw is in New Avengers - Infinity vol. 2 (2013)

and if you REALLY wanna get into it there’s also Marvel Adventures: Super Heroes #5 (2009) where;

Stephen Strange is a monster fucker. please use these panels at your leisure.

there’s a lot more than that like the explorations of magic and how it connects to the earth in Doctor Strange - The Way of the Weird (2015), the Last Days of Magic (2016), and Blood in the Aether (2017)

Doctor Strange: Damnation is gorgeous and i could die with that artwork surrounding me k thnx.

ummm… there’s another origin story called Strange (2004) which has Wong, Clea, and Stephen. i think Season One is better but there’s no doubt that Strange is really pretty too.

and you can always pick up the new series started this year (2018). i happen to like world building–especially with magic–so i’m looking forward to the adventures he has in space.

basically; there’s a whole bunch of different stories. some you’ll like and some you won’t. just try what you will!

[ramajmedia]

Doctor Strange 2: 5 Things It Needs To Improve From The First One (& 5 It Should Keep The Same)

At this year’s Comic-Con, Marvel Studios officially announced their sequel to 2016’s Doctor Strange, which will be titled Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and is set to bring the Sorcerer Supreme into alternate realities with Scarlet Witch.

RELATED: Doctor Strange: 10 Fan Theories About Scarlet Witch's Role In The Multiverse Of Madness

Director Scott Derrickson is set to return and Benedict Cumberbatch, Benedict Wong, and Rachel McAdams are all due to reprise their roles. The first Doctor Strange movie wasn’t terrible by any means, but it was also far from perfect. So, here are 5 Things Doctor Strange 2 Needs To Improve From The First One (And 5 It Should Keep The Same).

10 Improve: Stephen Strange being so similar to Tony Stark

With his chauvinistic attitude, materialistic playboy lifestyle, and weirdly shaven goatee, the Stephen Strange we were introduced to in Doctor Strange was basically a second-rate Tony Stark. His life of excess comes crumbling down, he has to put the pieces back together by becoming a superhero, and he learns to put the needs of others above himself.

Strange’s character arc mirrored Tony’s in some very shallow and obvious ways. In the comics, Stephen Strange’s downfall is his arrogance, so that can remain a part of his characterization in the movies, but more needs to be done to differentiate him from Stark.

9 Keep the same: Mind-boggling visual effects

Even people who hated Doctor Strange are willing to admit that the visual effects are incredible. The folding of cityscapes gives Inception a run for its money, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg – there are also hands growing out of hands growing out of hands and rainbow slides leading to the edge of reality.

Since the upcoming sequel promises not only a multiverse, but one of “madness,” we should have some equally trippy visuals in store. Doctor Strange’s CGI worked because it had fierce imagination at the helm; the sequel needs the same level of creativity behind it.

8 Improve: Banal romantic subplot

Although Rachel McAdams is an incredible actor and she performed her scenes in Doctor Strange phenomenally, the movie’s romantic subplot was pretty banal. The idea that the male lead and the female lead had already gotten together and it hadn’t worked out was a novel and fresh spin, but since it didn’t really develop at all and McAdams didn’t seem to share an ounce of chemistry with Benedict Cumberbatch, it failed.

RELATED: The 5 Best (And 5 Worst) Couples In The MCU

The sequel can still salvage it, though. With Jane Foster returning to the Thor franchise and WandaVision set to give the titular couple an experimental sitcom treatment, maybe the MCU’s Phase 4 will be marked with “fixing” the franchise’s most boring couples.

7 Keep the same: Strange’s relationship with the Cloak of Levitation

One of the best things that can be done with modern CGI effects is turn inanimate objects into their own character. Doctor Strange’s Cloak of Levitation was given its own personality in his 2016 standalone movie and the two developed a real on-screen relationship.

We saw that relationship grow in Avengers: Infinity War as the two worked in tandem to fight Ebony Maw on his Q-Ship. Strange’s appearance in Endgame was so brief that the pair didn’t share any moments together, but Strange’s relationship with the Cloak of Levitation shouldn’t be forgotten altogether in his solo sequel, because it was one of the most fun parts of the first one.

6 Improve: Easily defeated villain

The MCU has been criticized for its “villain problem,” and this could be boiled down to villains who are built up as terrifying threats, but turn out to be easy to defeat. Dormammu is a prime example of this. We were told that he was the ruler of the Dark Dimension and that he was bent on consuming Earth.

However, when it actually came to fighting him, Stephen Strange was able to annoy him into submission. Suddenly, he didn’t seem like such a formidable opponent. It would be another thing if the “Dormammu, I’ve come to bargain!” scene was caught in a Groundhog Day loop that seemed to last longer than five minutes, but it didn’t.

5 Keep the same: Outside-the-box final battle

Having said that, what the first Doctor Strange movie did wonderfully was subvert audiences’ expectations of a big, bombastic third-act battle that would total a city in the name of killing one guy. In Doctor Strange, the final battle sees the title character working to prevent city-wide destruction.

As far as the wider world is concerned, the Masters of the Mystic Arts don’t exist and nothing of note happened in Hong Kong that night. It wasn’t just a subversion of the audience’s expectations; it was a complete reversal of them. Scott Derrickson should do some similar outside-the-box thinking with the sequel’s final battle.

4 Improve: Humor

Ever since Guardians of the Galaxy used humor to endear viewers to obscure characters they didn’t know existed, comedy has become the cornerstone of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Ant-Man films are full-on comedies and even serious movies with grave stakes like Captain America: Civil War are jam-packed with jokes.

RELATED: 10 Funniest Characters In The MCU

Doctor Strange was no different, but a lot of the humor didn’t land. Stephen Strange trying to get Wong to laugh was the only bit that landed (especially that Beyoncé gag) and it all felt so forced. If the sequel will continue utilizing humor like the rest of the MCU, then it needs to be better-crafted and less cringeworthy.

3 Keep the same: Weirdness

The key to making an MCU solo franchise work is offering something that the other movies don’t. Ever since Taika Waititi fixed the Thor franchise, we know we can expect an ‘80s-style sci-fi adventure like Flash Gordon or Masters of the Universe, and we can’t find that anywhere else in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The Guardians movies give us cosmic adventures, comic banter, and pop music; the Ant-Man movies are wacky crime capers etc. Doctor Strange’s gimmick is that his movies are by far the weirdest that the MCU has to offer. Scott Derrickson’s greatest achievement as the original’s director was embracing the weirdness of the character and his world. The sequel should continue to lean into that.

2 Improve: Predictability

The first Doctor Strange movie was a pretty formulaic origin story. We knew that everything Stephen Strange was introduced to (the Eye of Agamotto, the title of Sorcerer Supreme etc.) would somehow end up in his wheelhouse by the end of the movie. We could see almost every plot turn coming from a mile away.

But the sequel has a golden opportunity to break the shackles of predictability and really surprise its audience. This has happened already with the announcement that it’ll be a horror movie – no one saw that coming – so it seems to be on the right track.

1 Keep the same: Emotional scenes

When the Ancient One died in the first Doctor Strange film, we really felt the weight of her death. Tilda Swinton played the scene beautifully, coming out of her body and slowing down time and telling Strange that she knew exactly how and when she’d die and always thought she could accept it, but suddenly couldn’t do it when push came to shove.

It was a really poignant moment that gave the movie some substance under its dazzling visual style. Scott Derrickson shouldn’t shy away from giving us more scenes like this in the sequel, even if it is going to be a horror movie.

NEXT: Suicide Squad: 5 Things James Gunn Should Change From The Original (And 5 He Should Keep The Same)

source https://screenrant.com/doctor-strange-2-needs-improve-keep/