Doctor Strange: 7 MCU Connections You Might Have Missed
6. Iron Man 2's Armour Injury
This one stems from a phone conversation Strange is having mere seconds before his near-fatal car accident.
His assistant, on the other end of the phone, runs down a couple of potential cases for the good Doctor to take a look at; among them, a girl with a brain implant who gets struck by lightning (more on her later), and a man who had his spine crushed while testing 'experimental armour'.
It's that last victim who's the subject here, since it seems to be a nod to somebody who has sustained a severe injury while sporting an Iron Man-type suit. The most obvious candidate is Rhodey in Civil War, but that throws up all sorts of issues. How can his armour be classed as 'experimental' at this point? It very clearly works. Why would Strange be offered the chance to treat Rhodey, when Tony Stark does it himself at the end of Civil War?
Rather, this seems to be a reference to Iron Man 2, and a scene in which Justin Hammer attempts - and fails - to construct a fully-functioning Iron Man suit.
The scene in question shows a brief glimpse of an unfortunate armour test-pilot who twists the top half of his body while the bottom half stays stationary. While not a reference that impacts the MCU in any meaningful way, it's a nice little nod that ties the whole universe just a little bit closer together.