10 Awesome Ideas That Were Cut From The MCU

3. Doctor Strange's Tragic Childhood Incident

Doctor Strange
Disney

Stephen Strange isn't a very likeable character in the first half of his origin movie (see that cruel moment where he rants at Christine when she visits his apartment), clearly an intentional decision by the filmmakers to make his heroic turn more satisfying.

And though, on the whole, we do feel sorry for Stephen after his accident, it wouldn't have been a bad idea to give us more of a reason to root for the character in those early stages.

Well, as it turns out, such a reason was actually shot, before being removed during editing. According to director Scott Derrickson, the film almost included a sequence set during Stephen's childhood, where his little sister (played by Annabelle: Creation star Lulu Wilson) tragically drowns. This, obviously, has a significant effect on the future Avenger, and is instrumental in setting him on the path to becoming a doctor.

A quick flashback to this moment while Stephen is in his post-car crash daze might've worked quite well, humanizing the character that little bit more, without being too much of a drag on the movie's pacing. But alas, it was given the chop, and the scene has never been officially released. The incident was mentioned in Multiverse of Madness though, so it's still canon as far as the MCU is concerned.

Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.