The One Potential Plot Hole of 'Doctor Strange' — And How The Time Stone Can Fix It

Following that awesome comic-con trailer, Doctor Strange has been cemented as one of 2016’s most anticipated movies. From the brilliant (if controversial) cast to the sensational effects, Doctor Strange looks set to become another firm favorite in the interconnected Marvel movie canon.

Indeed, it’s going to be very interesting to see how Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) fits in among the other fantastical events of Phase 3; after all, the progression of time in the MCU flows in a similar way to our own. Indeed, Kevin Feige has explained that:

"The present day films take place within the chronology of the release of [the] movies, the exact months and the exact weeks [afterwards]..."

As such, Captain America: Civil War picked up the plot threads ofAvengers: Age of Ultron, and we already know that Spider-Man: Homecoming will directly follow Peter Parker’s (Tom Holland) participation in the airport battle. But is this necessarily the case withDoctor Strange? Will there need to be some temporal tampering to bring the Sorceror Supreme in line with the rest of the MCU? And, will that tampering come about through one of the remaining Infinity Stones — namely, the Time Stone?

Doctor Strange's Comic Book History

Strange fulfills his destiny. [Marvel Comics]

In the original comics, Doctor Strange was already a well-known genius in his field — but it still took a long time until he became the hero we know and love. Indeed, following his car accident, he searched all over the world for a cure to his damaged hands. Naturally, you can’t complete a tour of the globe in just a couple of weeks! And when Strange committed to the mystical arts, it wasn't until the very end of issue four for Strange to begin practicing the Mystic Arts (as seen above)...which, even then was not the end.

He had an even longer period of studying before him until he was merely a capable sorcerer, let alone a Supreme one. For those fans who aren’t as familiar with the term “Sorcerer Supreme,” it is essentially the title which is held by the most powerful magician, and therefore Earth's prime magical defender.

It’s an unwritten rule of comic books that their interconnected timelines are a tad fluid. Certainly, in the fifty odd years of books written about Spider-Man, he has only aged around ten/fifteen years. But is this the case in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

Do We Know About Doctor Strange in the MCU?

Surveying a strange New York. Did you spot Avengers Tower in the trailer? [Marvel Studios]

Unfortunately, the MCU’s timeline is a little bit more rigid than its comic book counterpart. Kevin Feige, the President of Marvel Studios, has confirmed that each MCU movie is set in the year of its release. Vision (Paul Bettany) confirms this on-screen in Captain America: Civil War. He states that Tony Stark became Iron Man 8 years ago — since Iron Manwas released in 2008 and Civil War in 2016, we see how rigidly the MCU movies adhere to 'real time'.

This is where things start to get a little tricky. Even though we will get to see the start of Strange’s mystical journey in his upcoming origin movie, his position has already been cemented in the MCU in previous films.

We all got chills when Strange was name-checked by Jasper Sitwell (Maximiliano Hernández) in The Winter Soldier back in 2014. In that great interrogation scene, he blurted out:

“You! A TV anchor in Cairo, the Under Secretary of Defence, a high school valedictorian in Iowa City, Bruce Banner, Stephen Strange, anyone who's a threat to HYDRA... The 21st century is a digital book. Zola told HYDRA how to read it. Your bank records, medical histories... Zola's algorithm evaluates people's past to predict their future.”

So we’d assume, by the fact that Sitwell is discussing characters’ futures, that Strange is not yet a well-known or full bodied sorcerer at the time of The Winter Soldier. However, there are other factors to consider, such as the canonical viral marketing WHIH Newsfront (see below). In their series of in-universe news reports, Christine Everhart (Leslie Bibb) speaks to President Ellis (William Sadler) and, as she does so, we can see a scrolling ticker tape at the bottom of the screen which advertises an upcoming interview with Stephen Strange, who will discuss his medical practices.

Therefore, Strange is clearly still a surgeon whilst Civil War rages. Additionally, Marvel head-honcho Kevin Feige has point blank stated that Strange is not a sorcerer at the time of The Winter Soldier.

A lot of fans are no doubt scratching their heads at this. If he's still a surgeon in Civil War, how will he become a formidable sorcerer just a few short months later? As Stephen Strange himself says::

"This doesn't make any sense..."

Strange being instructed by the Ancient One [Marvel Studios]

Of course, there are several explanations for this. Firstly, there are several nuggets of information in the trailer that suggest that Strange is preternaturally strong in the Force- sorry I meant magic- and is fulfilling his destiny as some sort of "chosen one." Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) admits at one point in the trailer that "there is a strength" to Stephen Strange, and the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) reveals:

This could go someway to explain how Strange is ready to combat the deadly Kaecillius (Mads Mikklesen) after only a few months of training. Even so, the years of study and practice that Strange refers to in the trailer still seem like the most logical route, rather than depicting Strange as possessing a very rapid and intuitive grasp of the mystical arts.

Strange studies and practices magic! [Marvel Studios]

Or, perhaps Sitwell’s comments and the news broadcast could be ignored and ret-conned for a new alternative?

Strange could have been secretly training between the events of The Winter Soldier and Civil War all along. Sounds unlikely? Well, it would hardly be Marvel’s first foray into meddling with their established media. Plus Kevin Feige has recently highlighted that Marvel is being a bit more laissez-faire with their structure going forward. After all, we suspected that there would be a gap of three years between the events in 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy and 2017's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. However, it has been confirmed by Marvel that the events ofVolume 2 will occur only months after the first film. And it seems thatSpider-Man: Homecoming will chart a Harry Potter-esque structure, whereby the stories of each Spidey-flick occur one year after the other, rather than progressing in real time.

Spidey's memorable recruitment in Civil War [Marvel Studios]

However, there are counter-arguments to this. If Hydra/S.H.I.E.L.D. had intelligence on Strange prior to Civil War, surely Tony Stark would have known about the sorcerer and therefore come to recruit him instead of Spider-Man (Tom Holland)? Of course, there are also counter-counter-arguments. Maybe the files were erased by magic? Perhaps Stark simply couldn’t locate Strange in Civil War. Or, most excitingly,could theDoctor Strange movie broach this subject by way of a small cameo or a post credit scene? It's worth mentioning that no one knew about the Mark Ruffalo/Bruce Banner appearance at the end of Iron Man Three, so some secrets can be kept in these blockbuster productions. It would be interesting to see Cumberbatch's Strange turn down Downey Jr's Stark, as he did in the Civil War comics.

Yet a neater, and more elegant solution presents itself...

Bring on the Time Stone!

Thor's vision of the stones in Avengers: Age of Ultron [Marvel Studios]

It’s long been assumed that the mystical story of Stephen Strange would introduce another of the Infinity Stones into the MCU. Doctor Strange certainly has the perfect tone for it, and with only a few movies to go until Avengers: Infinity War, the pressure is on Marvel to deliver everything correctly.

There has already been a theory circling the internet that the Eye of Agamotto will house, or be linked to an Infinity Stone, and there's evidence to suggest the Eye may, in fact, be the Time Stone. In the MCU, there are only two Infinity Stones left to be revealed: the Soul and Time Stones. As we know, each Infinity Stone is denoted by their color:

• Purple: The Orb/Power Stone
• Blue: The Tesseract/Space Stone
• Yellow: Loki's Scepter/Mind Stone
• Red: The Aether/Reality Stone

Only green and orange remain out of the six colors and...very significantly, the Eye is shown to be glowing green in Doctor Strange...

Strange uses the Eye of Agamotto [Marvel Studios]

Plus, in the original stories, the Eye has the ability to manipulate perceptions and, most significantly, look backwards in time - something which is crucially similar to the Time Stone’s ability to change or travel in time.

This is really interesting if we place this information against what we already know. In the movie, Strange is seen to be in possession of the Eye, which he has no doubt borrowed from the Masters of the Mystic Arts, lead by the Ancient One. Tellingly, it is also revealed by the Doctor Strange prelude comic entitled "Zealot" that the Ancient One associated with Cagliostro, a little known mystic who was adept at manipulating time.

Therefore, surely the Ancient One might be privy to a few of his secrets? Could they both have studied the Eye/Stone and used its unique qualities for their own benefit?

Concept art for the Sanctum Sanctorum [Marvel Studios]

If so, this could mean that the rules of time have been changed in Kamar-Taj (the Himalayan village where the Ancient One lives) and in the Sanctum Sanctorum (Doctor Strange’s New York home) so that it does not progress or operate in the same way as the outside world. This could mean that it moves slower or faster, allowing for Strange to spend years studying in the mystical bases following his accident, whereas mere months pass outside.

Indeed, Kevin Feige seemed open to the fluidity of origin stories and their chronology, saying that some could be set in the past, and that there is room for tinkering with the current timelines:

“There are no rules. I think the majority of them will be chronological, but not all of them necessarily.”

If Kamar-Taj and the Sanctum do exhibit these powers, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility. We do see the entirety of New York warping in the trailer! And this ability would be fitting to their comic book counterparts. In the graphic novels, The Sanctum is enchanted to block certain beings or powers from entering or exiting, and in the 'Civil War' comics, the Wasp commented on its uncanny abilities, as seen in the extract below.

[Marvel Comics]

Plus, if there is time warping involved, it might go some way to explain why Strange visibly ages so much in such a sort time-span. Don't believe me? Check out the comparison of his hair below, and see how much more grey he has in it be the movie's conclusion!

The growth of the gray! [Marvel Studios]

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So, in addition to connecting Doctor Strange with the rest of the MCU, could the Time Stone solve the movie’s continuity issues? It certainly seems possible!

Though whichever way we see Stephen Strange become a master of mysticism, or however long it takes for him to become a master of the mystic arts, there is still a lot of potential for Doctor Strange to be one of Marvel’s most action-packed, thrilling, legendary, and yes, strangestoutings yet!

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About Arslan Ahmad ( Arsal Production )