Dr. Strange

[jgsugden]

Edit by Trippy: Egads spoiler alert!

[Lakov_Sanite]

That's not exactly shocking or really a spoiler is it? I mean they still had a couple more to reveal and everyone was betting Strange would introduce one.

[jgsugden]

Yeah - sorry if anyone considered that Spoiler territory, but I don't think it'll be a hidden story element.  It'll be obvious.

[Trippy]

Oh I'm sure it will be obvious but I don't think it's a generally publicized plot point at the moment.

[Hutch]

I like his outfit, but of course we'll see how it looks once they've run it through all the filters.

I want to hear Cumberbatch say "Crimson Bands of Cyttorak."

[SurfD]

Yeah - sorry if anyone considered that Spoiler territory, but I don't think it'll be a hidden story element.  It'll be obvious.

That's actually kind of interesting, maybe minor spoilerish, since I would have put the odds on him having the Soul Stone as much higher then the Time one.

Known stones are:
Tesseract - Space
Scepter / Vision forehead gem - Mind
Aether - Reality
Orb - Power

Leaving just the Soul and Time gems.

So if that is the case, I wonder who has the Soul Gem?  Wasnt the collector supposed to have one?  In which case, where would it be in outerspace after his collection blew up in GotG?

[Hutch]

The Asgardians have the Tesseract/Space Stone, presumably locked up in their vault. But with Loki in charge, who knows what will happen to it.

The Asgardians gave the Aether into the Collector's keeping at the end of Thor 2. Presumably he still has it, even after his little shop blew up.

The Eye of Agamotto was supposedly an Easter Egg, on display in the Asgardians' vault, in the first Thor movie. We'll see how they reconcile that, if it indeed contains either the Time or Soul stone.

The Asgardians have been sloppy, IMO, with their custodial duties w.r.t. the Infinity Stones. No wonder Ragnarok is coming.

[SurfD]

Right, but I thought the collector was supposed to have had one BEFORE the Asgardians gave him the Aether.  Or did I interpret that scene at the end cretits when they first introduced him at the end of Thor 2 incorrectly?  Could have sworn he said something along the lines of "two down", or something like that.

[Tannhauser]

Space Stone is in Asgard-Loki probably controls it
Mind Stone is on Earth-in Visions forehead
Reality Stone is in Knowhere-in the Collector's collection
Power Stone is on Xandar-in a 'secure location'

The other two, Soul and Time, remain at large.

[Teleku]

Right, but I thought the collector was supposed to have had one BEFORE the Asgardians gave him the Aether.  Or did I interpret that scene at the end cretits when they first introduced him at the end of Thor 2 incorrectly?  Could have sworn he said something along the lines of "two down", or something like that.

He said,"One down, five to go."

So he should still have one.

[HaemishM]

The Asgardians have been sloppy because Loki keeps fucking taking the goddamn stones and using them for evil purpoes. And now he's Odin so all bets are off.

[Merusk]

Citizen filming of the London set has hit the 'net today, filmed by a "guy across the way" from inside his office. Link here if you want to watch some footage of 'how movies are made' while a guy who's clueless about what he's seeing comments for 20 minutes. (Cummerbatch and multiple-takes start 10-15 mins in. The stuff prior is set-up.)

http://comicbook.com/2016/02/21/doctor-strange-filming-in-london-video/

[Hutch]

Hype train begins systems check, leaving the station soon.

Cumberbatch will be appearing on Jimmy Kimmel's show next week, to premiere the trailer.

The link also contains an official pic of BC in costume as Dr Strange.

[Khaldun]

Quite a few shots recently of the filming out there too. I am wondering, I have to say, who Mads Mikkelsen is. He doesn't really look like anybody in the canon. He might be Dormammu pre-CGI, or Nightmare pre-CGI. I am almost wondering if he's Kaluu, the Ancient One's rival from when they were both young. That could be fun--Kaluu is a more relatable character who actually makes a pretty good case for black magic.

[jgsugden]

That is the best theory I've heard.

[Hutch]

Hype train begins systems check, leaving the station soon.

Cumberbatch will be appearing on Jimmy Kimmel's show next week, to premiere the trailer.

The link also contains an official pic of BC in costume as Dr Strange.

Now a teaser poster, featuring the Sanctum Sanctorum.

[Cadaverine]

Marvel has posted a teaser trailer to Facebook page.  Looks like it'll be quite interesting.

https://www.facebook.com/Marvel/videos/10154014393382488/

[Soulflame]

Looks promising.

[Khaldun]

Origin-heavy. I think that's to keep the later plot and such a bit more mysterious for now.

[Hutch]

So did Tilda Swinton shave her head, or is it a bald prosthetic?

[Khaldun]

Not sure.

I like her as an actress but she's the one part of this that really didn't work for me. I am not one to rush to the head of the line when people complain about whitewashing, but maybe that's why she doesn't work? I'm not sure the wise-old-Oriental-who-teaches-the-white-pupil-the-secrets thing is an archetype I'd be in any rush to demand either, mind you--making the Ancient One a faithful Mr. Miyagi type doesn't necessarily work better. But I do feel like he/she should feel old, at least? I guess they're going here for ageless, gender-neutral serenity.

[Merusk]

If you want an androgynous mystic you go to Tilda Swinton. That's been her typecast for a while now.

[Lakov_Sanite]

If you want an androgynous mystic you go to Tilda Swinton. That's been her typecast for a while now.

I had to double check but she's actually 55.....fuck maybe she really is the ancient one.

[Father mike]

If you want an androgynous mystic you go to Tilda Swinton. That's been her typecast for a while now.

If you're on a budget, there's always Alice Krige.

[Surlyboi]

So did Tilda Swinton shave her head, or is it a bald prosthetic?

It's Tilda Swinton. She probably shaved her own head. With a straight razor.

[Khaldun]

Latest rumor based on toy merchandise is that Mikkelsen is playing someone named Kaecilius. In the comics, he's a follower of Baron Mordo who gives Strange a bit of a tough time early in his career and then later on is a kind of chump wizard that Strange disposes of easily. Could be that they're going for a plot where Strange thinks he has to stop Kaecilius and then Mordo backstabs him at the end of Act II. Seems a bit of a waste for Mikkelsen if so though.

[jgsugden]

That sounds right.  I was hoping they'd have Mordo's dark side be hidden from the main characters but clear to the audience from the start - too many people know he is a bad guy to have him do a surprise betrayal.  However, if you told me there was going to be one movie in the MCU where they had to use a really vanilla plot, I'd pick this one.  It is such a huge departure from the existing MCU and introduces so much new ground - complex plot twists on top of the new elements and visual WhatTheFreakery might be too convoluted for Joe Sixpack to handle.

[Khaldun]

Comic-book writers conventionally have complained that Strange is too hard to write because his powers are so undefined and potentially expansive. But I think you can see more it's that his stories never got out of the Lee-Ditko initial run and in those Strange got almost no personal development and had almost no meaningful supporting cast. So there was nothing to build on--there was just this one story, really, and it started rather curiously in the middle of things. We're told that Strange has been a master of the mystic arts for a while (he meets one woman who says, "Thanks for saving my life many years ago, sorcerer", and it's clear she doesn't mean back when he was a surgeon). He's essentially on the run from Mordo and Dormammu (twice) and occasionally gets glimpses of an attractive alien princess (Clea) whom he never really gets to talk with or meet. When he finally beats Dormammu after years of stories, the writers sort of bummed around, puzzled, and eventually had him chase down Clea. He still doesn't really have a well-realized cast or any meaningful relationships--the Ancient One just shows up and yells at him and then compliments him while talking about how weak the Ancient One is becoming. He's kind of like the Aunt May of Dr. Strange. Then they introduce Umar, who is basically female Dormammu, and the plotline repeats itself.

Finally they moved forward to the more standard Strange situation, which was at the house in NYC with Wong as his servant/aide, Clea as his disciple/lover, and a slightly wider range of enemies and situations (though a lot of those were in the Defenders,  the team book he frequently appeared in). But it took a long time after the character appeared--Strange has none of the layered storytelling richness from his early years that Spider-Man etcetera have. It kind of means that the movie folks have fewer 'classic' stories and situations to draw on and work with. If this film works, they might be able to adapt the one truly great Dr. Strange story of recent years, which is "The Oath"--that would make a very good film script, I think.

[Sky]

I wonder who has the Soul Gem?

Luke Cage, naturally.

[jgsugden]

I wonder who has the Soul Gem?

Luke Cage, naturally.

I can dig it.

[Evildrider]

I wonder who has the Soul Gem?

Luke Cage, naturally.

Not enough 'fro.  Maybe he gets it from Misty Knight.   

[Khaldun]

Comic-Con trailer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSzx-zryEgM

[Evildrider]

That looks like Inception on acid.   

[HaemishM]

Hell to the yes. I'm digging that whole vibe.

[Margalis]

Who is the villain supposed to be?