10 Shocking Cover Ups Marvel Comics Wants You To Forget

When Marvel Studios decided to adapt Doctor Strange for the big screen, they ran into a bit of a problem. One of the most important characters in the character's origin story is The Ancient One, a Tibetan monk and, honestly, a bit of an Asian stereotype.

One of the film's writers, C. Robert Cargill, explained that trying to write this character into a Hollywood movie was "Marvel's Kobayashi Maru," a purposely unwinnable training exercise from Star Trek lore. Aside from wanting to avoid writing any stereotypical caricatures, there was also the fact that one of Marvel Studio's largest markets is that of China. And it just so happens that a large amount of Chinese people refuse to acknowledge Tibet as an independent region.

"Every single decision that involves the Ancient One is a bad one... it all comes down on which way you're willing to lose. The Ancient One was a racist stereotype who comes from a region of the world that is in a very weird political place. He originates from Tibet, so if you acknowledge that Tibet is a place and that he's Tibetan, you risk alienating one billion people who think that that's bulls**t and risk the Chinese government going, 'Hey, you know one of the biggest film-watching countries in the world? We're not going to show your movie because you decided to get political.'"

Instead, they opted to cater towards neither China nor Tibet, and cast Tilda Swinton, catering towards... fans of Wes Anderson movies, we guess?