The further we get into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the more these movies start exploring less mainstream hero characters. Having established itself as a movie franchise, the MCU can get away with movies focused on folks like Ant-Man or Doctor Strange or the Guardians of the Galaxy just because being a part of that brand inherently gives them an appeal they wouldn’t have on their own.

Still, seeing the mystical mumbo jumbo of “Doctor Strange” for the first time in Tuesday’s trailer has been disorienting for a lot of folks. Doctor Strange, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, is the weirdest of the Marvel heroes we’ve seen on screen so far. While the trailer did a good job of starting with the basics, there’s a lot more going on that bears exploring.


So we’re going to do just that, taking a look at Doctor Strange’s history in the comic book source material.

Dr. Stephen Strange

In the comics, Stephen Strange is from Nebraska. After high school he moved to New York to begin his medical schooling. By the time he was 30, Strange was a great and well known neurosurgeon.

Between his late teens and early 30s, each member of his family died in various ways — his sister Donna drowned, his parents of illness, his brother Victor was hit by a car while crossing the street. Strange put Victor’s body on ice in hopes that someday he’d be able to revive him somehow.

The car accident

Strange gets into a severe car accident, but while he survives it, his hands suffer significant nerve damage. His career as a surgeon is over, but his pride won’t let him accept another related medical profession. So he abandons that career path all together and spends all his money looking for some way to fix his hands. To help pay his bills he does some not-exactly-legal back alley medical work.

He doesn’t make any headway, but when nearly all his resources are exhausted, he hears rumors of a person called The Ancient One, who lives in a compound in Tibet and has magical powers. Strange spends all his remaining resources to travel to Asia and pay The Ancient One a visit.

The Ancient One

This mystical being, played by a bald Tilda Swinton in the movie, holds the title Sorcerer Supreme and is 600 years old. The most powerful mystic ever from Earth, the Ancient One is also the first being to ever be granted the title Socerer Supreme of the Earth dimension.

She has an apprentice sorcerer, Baron Mordo — that’s who Chiwetel Ejiofor plays. The Ancient One, being super old, needs a successor — and Stephen Strange has the innate magical power necessary to become the next Sorcerer Supreme. The Ancient One and Baron Mordo have known of Strange’s potential since he was a child, and Baron Mordo was not happy about the idea of Strange as a rival, wanting to himself be The Ancient One’s successor.


When Strange shows up in Tibet The Ancient One refused to fix his damaged hands, offering Strange an apprenticeship instead. Strange had no interest in that but ended up staying the night rather than leaving right away. That night, the jealous Baron Mordo tried and failed to take out The Ancient One, who easily bested him. Strange saw all this and, wanting to stop the threat of the power-hungry Baron Mordo, decided to stay and train with The Ancient One.

Benedict Cumberbatch stole the the show at the finale of the Letters Live event in London.


The Sherlock actor, 39, made a surprise appearance in the second half to perform a foul-mouthed exchange with comedian Matt Berry.

Benedict also read the final letter of the night ‎by artist Sol Lewitt to fellow artist Eva Hesse, imploring her and the audience to “Do!”

Keeping it in the family, his father Timothy Carlton read two letters – one, a heartwarming open letter from Juan Gelman to find his missing grandchild and another in honour of the late Michael White, who died last week.


The letter was from Mark Forstater and had the audience giggling with his reference to the Monty Python And The Holy Grail film.

Letters Live, held at the Freemasons’ Hall, also featured letters read by Jude Law, kicking the night off with a hilarious insurance complaint written by Fred Allen.

We’re mere hours into the new year and the quality-TV benchmark has already been set (spoiler alert: it’s high).

On Friday, PBS aired Sherlock The Abominable Bride, a 90-minute one-off movie that found Sherlock and Watson doing their mystery-solving thing in 1890s London. The special — told from the POV of a present-day, drug-addled Holmes — was everything this Baker Street aficionado was hoping for and more. An engrossing case? Check. Sumptuous visuals, like those floating newspaper clippings? Check. Crackling dialogue? Check. Masterful performances from leads Benedict Cumberbatch and  Martin Freeman? Check and check.

Given the standalone conceit, the special didn’t exactly push forward the series’ central mythology, eschewing traditional plot movement for trippy parallels and fun Easter eggs. There was, however, a potentially key development in the mystery surrounding Moriarty’s fate (as you’ll recall, Season 3 ended with the presumed-dead Big Bad resurfacing on UK television, boasting. “Did you miss me?”). The similarities between the “resurrections” of the titular bride (in the past) and Moriarty (in the present) were not lost on Sherlock.

Actress Helena Bonham Carter says Britain can keep its “sense of identity” within the European Union (EU) after voicing her support for the Remain campaign.

The British star said her family’s European history had influenced her thinking ahead of the June 23 referendum after she signed an open letter backing a Remain vote with dozens of famous figures.

“Generally I want us to stay in,” she told the Press Association

“I’m European so much in my blood. My mother’s half French, half Spanish.

“I feel European but I also feel we can be British and be part of Europe, without it impinging on our sense of identity.”

The signatories, who also included Benedict Cumberbatch, Sir Patrick Stewart, Bill Nighy and Keira Knightley, said that being part of the EU “bolsters Britain’s leading role on the world stage” and warned that Brexit would leave the country “an outsider shouting from the wings”.

Helena had previously joined more than 200 public figures in signing a letter which called for Scotland to stay part of the United Kingdom in 2014.

Speaking ahead of the release of Alice Through The Looking Glass, in which she plays the Red Queen, the actress also revealed her 12-year-old son Billy had been “terrified” of his godfather Johnny Depp, while her eight-year-old daughter Nell “burst into tears” after first meeting the Hollywood star.

Downton Abbey’s long goodbye continues – as the series has been nominated for best drama at the TV Choice Awards.

The period drama, which concluded on Christmas Day after six series, is up against fan favourites Happy Valley, Grantchester, Peaky Blinders and This Is England ’90.

Jim Carter, who played butler Mr Carson, is in the running for best actor, while Laura Carmichael has also been nominated for best actress for playing Lady Edith.

Jim will face fierce competition in the best actor category from some of the biggest names in television.

Benedict Cumberbatch is up for the award for his role in Shakespeare adaptation The Hollow Crown, while other nominees include Peaky Blinders star Cillian Murphy, Tom Hiddleston for The Night Manager, Martin Clunes for Doc Martin and Peter Capaldi for Doctor Who.

Jim’s co-star Laura will face off against former Doctor Who companion Jenna Coleman, Doctor Foster’s Suranne Jones, Happy Valley star Sarah Lancashire, and Black Work’s Sheridan Smith – who last year triumphed for her role in Cilla.

The Great British Bake Off may be in the running for best talent show alongside The X Factor, Britain’s Got Talent and Strictly Come Dancing, but the food programme’s judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood will also be in direct competition with each other.

Wowzer, EastEnders’ executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins may have bowed out of the BBC soap last Friday but he saved one heck of a clanger for the very end, admitting that he toyed with the idea of bringing actual Benedict Cumberbatch into Walford.

How bloomin’ amazing would that have been?

And it wasn’t even as far-fetched as it sounded with the Oscar-nominated actor previously expressing an interest in appearing in the show and having ties to the BBC due to his work with Sherlock.

Unfortunately Dominic ended up deciding that a cameo from a Hollywood A-lister would be way too flashy, telling Radio Times: “I thought about the idea of some stunt casting.

"Ben Cumberbatch has said that he seriously wanted to do ‘EastEnders’ if he had the time. So I toyed with him for a while.

"But it would have been too unreal and flashy. I’ve got to think about the show going on.”

A wise choice we reckon; as much as we’d love to see Benedict in Albert Square he’d definitely look a bit out of place next to the likes of Phil Mitchell and Shirley Carter.

Dominic has been widely-praised for his work on EastEnders following his departure, with the 38-year-old being the one who brought in the much-loved Carter family, lead by the incredible Danny Dyer.

Benedict Cumberbatch has said filming the battle scenes for The Hollow Crown: The Wars Of The Roses was “brutal”.

The Sherlock star, 39, plays Richard III in the concluding part of the BBC Two adaptations of Shakespeare’s history plays.

The first series of The Hollow Crown, broadcast in 2012, comprised Richard II, Henry IV Parts 1 & 2, and Henry V, with Ben Whishaw winning a Bafta for Richard II.

The Hollow Crown: The Wars Of The Roses also features the very best of British talent and covers Henry VI Parts 1 & 2, and Richard III.

Viewers can expect to see bloody recreations of the battles over the throne of England between the House of Lancaster and the House of York, two branches descended from Edward III.

Benedict admitted training for the Shakespearean epic was “tough”.

Actress Keeley Hawes has revealed she based her recent Shakespearean TV character on Diana, Princess of Wales.

She stars as Elizabeth Woodville, the commoner Queen of King Edward IV, in The Hollow Crown: The War Of The Roses.

The BBC Two title encompasses the three films celebrating Shakespeare this year, consisting of Henry VI (in two parts) and then Richard III, which is broken up into two three-hour films.

She told the Radio Times she was a “Shakespeare virgin” before she started working on The Hollow Crown.

She said: “I didn’t grow up reading Shakespeare and my family certainly weren’t in the habit of going to see the plays in the theatre.

“I was really frightened of it, frightened of the words and of that whole world. But it’s a box I had to tick. I couldn’t get away with not doing Shakespeare any longer.”

The cast of the films also includes seasoned hands who have tackled the famous bard’s works numerous times, including Dame Judi Dench, Benedict Cumberbatch and Hugh Bonneville.

Describing her character, she said: “I started reading about the real-life Elizabeth and I decided to see my character as a sort of Princess Diana figure.

“Elizabeth is incredibly bright and able – far ahead of her game politically – but she is looked down on by the royal family because she’s been married before.”

The first trailer for Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange has been unveiled. The teaser shows Benedict in character for the first time as the comic book superhero, who becomes attuned to the world of magic and alternate dimensions after becoming involved in a car crash.

Benedict stars in the movie as Stephen Strange, a world-renowned neurosurgeon whose hands are rendered all but useless after an accident. "Stephen Strange, I offer you some advice," a voice can be heard whispering at the start of the trailer, as the doctor is shown unconscious in a half-submerged car. "Forget everything that you think you know."

Stephen is then seen being wheeled through a hospital with his worried colleague, played by Rachel McAdams, by his side.

The clip also shows Tilda Swinton in character as the Ancient One, a mystic from another realm who teaches Dr Strange that he can now save lives in another ways. Tilda has previously said she was unsure whether she would play the traditionally male role as a female - and, despite her feminine voice, her appearance in the trailer is androgynous.

Tilda Swinton stars as the Ancient One, Strange's mentor

Fans are also given a glimpse of Chiwetel Ejiofor as Karl Mordo, a former apprentice of the Ancient One, and Mads Mikkelsen, who will play the as-yet-unnamed villain.

Benedict, who puts on an American accent for the film, has previously admitted to having difficult grasping the peculiarities of his character's gesticulatory spell-casting. "I'm still in the infancy of learning all that," he told Entertainment Weekly.

Benedict Cumberbatch made an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Tuesday to debut the first teaser trailer for his upcoming venture into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Strange.

The teaser introduces Cumberbatch's character, Dr. Stephen Strange, a surgeon who suffers a horrific car accident, then discovers a world of mysticism and alternate dimensions.

"You're a man looking at the world through a keyhole. You've spent your life trying to widen it," the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) tells Strange. "Your work saved the lives of thousands. What if I told you that reality is one of many?"

At first, Strange seems skeptical. "I don't believe in fairy tales about chakras, or energy, or the power of belief," he says, in a gruff American accent.

But the Ancient One is undeterred. "You wonder what I see in your future?" she asks. "Possibility. There are other ways to save lives."

The teaser also features some visually-impressive, Inception-style world-bending, as well as a first look at several other central Doctor Strange characters, including Chiwetel Ejiofor's Karl Mordo and Rachel McAdams as a fellow surgeon who connects Strange back to his old life.

While Cumberbatch's character is seen only in street clothes throughout the trailer, the final shot teases his full Doctor Strange regalia, as the character ascends the steps of the Sanctum Sanctorum. The Sanctum's signature swirling window is also featured in the film's first poster, which was tweeted by director Scott Derrickson on Tuesday.