Magic and mysticism enter the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) with the release of “Doctor Strange,” The movie tells the story of Doctor Stephen Strange, (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) an arrogant, rich, neurosurgeon who experiences a horrific car accident destroying his hands. When traditional medicine fails, and no amount of money can buy the perfect surgery, he is forced to seek a way to cure himself outside of medicine, even if it delves into the impossible.

Strange spends his last dime on a one way ticket to a place called Kamar-Taj, a fictional location within the marvel universe, where he meets The Ancient One. As the supreme teacher in the mystic arts, The Ancient One teaches Strange of the power he can possess and the potential this power has to heal his hands. Wanting nothing more than his health and old life back, Strange trains and rises above every other student with his sights on only healing himself. However, he finds himself in the position of saving the world.

The epitome of the film is exactly what was written in the name: strange. I must applaud the MCU for staying true to the comics in the sense that  the movie was perplexingly odd. The film takes you places the MCU has never once tapped into before, making Thor, an Asgardian god, seem normal. However, the stellar CGI effects never once had you question the absurdity of New York folding into itself.

In addition to the bizarre plot, Cumberbatch provided Strange with a humor and ego that could only match Tony Stark, proving to be an admirable hero for the ever growing MCU.

Personally, I thought the movie was surprisingly generic for a Marvel film. It is your basic superhero movie where one man with unparalleled talent shifts his egoistic mindset to one of sacrificing his life for the greater good after some traumatic event. The love interest is vague and if anything the film suffered from some plot holes and lacked in character development.

Nonetheless, the movie had its strengths, such as introducing the vast and complex multiverse and further developing the encompassing plot of the infinity wars by incorporating the next stone.

The film fulfilled its purpose of thrilling sci-fi fantasy and once more manifesting Marvel’s sheer domination over anything D.C can produce.