Dr. Strange - 1978

I'll admit. Dr. Strange is my favorite Marvel character. Part of it is Benedict Cumberbatch, and part of it is his powers. I've read some of his original comics, and I really like those. Since we've been on the hunt for superheroes, I was excited to see if 1978 Dr. Strange could be a good fit. I had high hopes...

Morgan Le Fay is talking to a strange thing with glowing eyes. It tells her that she has three days to take out the Sorcerer Supreme (old man) or his successor. She heads to Earth to begin her quest. When she gets there, she stares people down, then she possesses a young woman so she can throw the old man off a bridge.

Where's Stephen Strange? Working at the hospital. He comes across the young woman who is afraid to fall asleep. She sees Morgan in her dreams and is afraid she'll die. Eventually, the old man seeks out Strange and tells him they can help the woman, but only if they work together. After that, he goes on an acid trip and sucks her out of the void. In the last 20 minutes, Dr. Strange (sorcerer) is born, and he turns a bouquet of flowers into a bird. I guess he does a bit more than that, but he doesn't really accomplish too much overall.

Okay, I was so open-minded. I was still on board with this movie even when we didn't have a Dr. Strange (superhero) after almost an hour had passed. But then it all started to fall apart. Wong took one for the team (don't worry, he's fine), and the old man was stuck in a spider web. Morgan gave Stephen some fairly cool robes (ignore the bling, it's a bit much), but then What. The. Heck. They turned his outfit into some weird pastel/silver star/yellow cloak nonsense.

What was accomplished in this movie? After 90 minutes, not much. Stephen Strange has embraced his destiny (I guess) and has decided to learn the ways of magic. Old guy is still around with his power waning, Wong is still hanging out making breakfast, and...Morgan is still making trouble. Yep, that's right. She may have lost the battle, but now she's helping young people embrace their destinies or something. I don't know. She was doing an infomercial on TV while Stephen was trying to take the young woman home.

I hate to say it, but this version of Dr. Strange has not made it into our superhero universe. This movie didn't really have the umph to recommend it. I'm not expecting nonstop action, but the story was weird. I'm usually okay with that, but in this case, he didn't even get rid of the villain! I needed more from this Stephen Strange. I'm ignoring this version of the timeline...