Doctor Strange: 7 MCU Connections You Might Have Missed
It's all connected.
One of the most rewarding aspects of watching a Marvel movie is identifying all those tiny Easter eggs, references and in-jokes.
And, given that the plethora of comic-book movies we're showered with every single year are no longer technically 'standalone' - but rather, smaller parts of a larger universe - these connections are all but a necessity. With so many heroes in one sandbox, how could there not, even inadvertently, be the slightest of nods?
Doctor Strange is no exception to that rule, and while it may be Marvel's most disparate movie to date - with very few direct links to preceding films or the MCU in general - it does come packing a handful of ties, possible connections and subtle nods to its superhero movie cousins.
So, here are seven connections to the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe that you might have missed...
7. Possible: The Tony Stark Tie-In
Since we don't have the Doctor Strange Blu-Ray quite yet and we can't skip through it frame-by-frame, we're going to label this one as a possibility for now - albeit a strong one.
This connection is derived from the Doctor Strange Sanctum Sanctorum Lego set, which released a couple of months ago and contains a rather major Easter egg that directly ties the world of Doctor Strange with the world of the Avengers.
The set features, among other things, a tentacled beast, Mordo, Strange and The Ancient One action figures and a couple of interesting artefacts - but it's what's on the table in the centre that's most intriguing.
We can quite clearly see a letter from Stark Industries, hinting at a direct communication between Stephen Strange and Tony Stark himself.
It's not 100 percent clear if this letter appears in the movie yet (Strange's apartment is littered with several slips of paper that he could've taken to the Sanctum), but there are a couple of pieces of evidence to support the fact that it does.
Firstly, on the table next to the letter is another piece of paper that reads 'Shamballa', a note that appeared prominently in the film as The Ancient One's wi-fi password. If that's in the movie, shouldn't the Stark Industries letter be, too?
Secondly, isn't it likely that Strange - who's shown growing more and more desperate as he searches for a way to mend his damaged hands - would turn to Tony Stark, one of the brightest scientific minds on the planet, for help?
This isn't outside the realm of possibility, but for now, it's conjecture - we'll have to keep our eyes peeled in the cinema a couple more times, or wait for the Blu-Ray, to find out for certain.