Wait, There Was a Doctor Strange Movie Before Benedict Cumberbatch?
It might sound wild, but there was a Doctor Strange movie in 1992 - long before Doctor Strange took over the Marvel Cinematic Universe and even became one of the coolest characters! But the craziest part is you probably never heard of it!
What Happened To The 1992 Doctor Strange Movie?
- It wasn't so good. They even changed his name - the title was "Doctor Mordrid." The guy who actually made this Doctor Mordrid movie is pretty well-known because of his amazing work on that crazy "Lord of the Rings" animation, and they actually almost brought Doctor Strange to life before that, too.
- And what was really nuts was how the whole thing went down. The filmmakers had already finished writing the script and were about to make the film. They were set to do it! But, it got canned!
How'd They Change The Doctor Strange Story?
The filmmakers wanted to do their own take on Doctor Strange. They added some differences, even giving Doctor Mordrid a totally different backstory, so it became its own thing! That's why the title got changed!
- You'll recognize the Doctor Strange character: Doctor Mordrid is all about wielding sorcery and stopping interdimensional invaders! Sounds familiar to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, right? The thing is, even those early moviemakers saw Doctor Strange's potential to make for a great story. But since those early moviemakers had trouble securing all the rights, they decided to shift the script - which gave us a pretty unique result, actually!
- This movie actually came out and is worth checking out even if it got some not-so-great reviews.
Why's It a Secret Movie?
- This goes way back - in the 80s and 90s, everyone was just trying to figure out which companies held the rights to those awesome Marvel Comics superheroes! Those superhero rights, even the Doctor Strange character, were messed up! So to get around those copyright issues, the filmmakers just went with Doctor Mordrid as the name for the main character. You'd think, at this point, they'd have it all worked out!
- The movie actually has some cool elements. It shows Doctor Mordrid, being this wise, even-keeled character as he is a wizard. Even those looks were kind of cool with the crimson cloak in place of his classic, big blue robes - he is totally an icon of those classic movies!
Why is Doctor Mordrid Not Very Popular?
The original Doctor Strange from 1978 was a flop - just to make things extra confusing. Then we waited a while. In 2016, Marvel did it right, and, now we have a bunch of awesome Movies: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was totally epic. The reason those other ones aren't very popular, even the one in 1992? It seems that the movie making business of that time wasn't quite as strong for those cool superhero movies. We might not even be as big fans of those older ones because the whole Doctor Strange experience wasn't developed like it has been lately with Marvel Studios - they took things to a whole new level! We really see a new era of the Doctor Strange character.
So, yeah, that older, unheard of Doctor Strange movie really happened. If you're up for something old-school and are also a Marvel fan, you might check it out! We'll always have a place in our hearts for those movies!