Doctor Strange: 25 WTF Moments

The idea of a professional rival for Doctor Strange before his accident is not the worst idea at all, and using comic character Nic West to fill that gap is smart too, but in the end the prologue to the Strange story hurtles by so quickly that West is relegated to an utterly forgettable side-kick who does no more than distract from the narrative.

It's not possible to dislike him or feel much affection for him either way: he's just a sort of beige character who represents the uncool mirror image of Strange who the good Doctor bullies needlessly. It's not entirely clear whether we're supposed to feel bad for him or to laugh alongside Strange, particularly as Strange straight up seems to steal his girlfriend later on and nobody makes any mention of it whatsoever.

The biggest crime is casting someone as talented as Michael Stuhlbarg and giving him literally nothing to do. But then this is the same film that cast Meera Syal and Transparent's Amy Landecker and basically canned them entirely in the edit.