Doctor Strange: 10 Reasons It's Awesome

The MCU has struggled immensely to craft convincing romances in the past, what with the Thor-Jane Foster and Hulk-Black Widow pairings coming off especially forced and hollow.

In fact, it's only really the Rogers-Carter and Pepper-Tony romances that have really worked much at all so far, and so Strange's refreshing rebuke to this is to simply not include one.

Yes, there is flirtation between Strange and his former lover Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams), but that's it, and for the most part their interactions are platonic and played for comic relief. There's no cheesy, climactic moment where they kiss ahead of the final battle, nor any reconciliation once the day is won.

While it's entirely possible Palmer will become Strange's lover once again in future movies, it's simply refreshing that Marvel Studios didn't feel the need to tack on a needless romance just to tick an executive-mandated box.