Doctor Strange: 8 Things You Need To Know About The Ancient One
7. Eastern No Longer
Getting the elephant out of the sanctum, the Ancient One in his original guise was a bit of a stereotype; not offensive, mind, just typical of the American pigeonholing that went on whenever an Eastern man or woman was committed to film or print in the early sixties. It's not surprising, then, that Marvel has decided the character is due a reinvention come his journey onto the big screen. It's not the first time either, of course. For all the complaints about what was done to The Mandarin in Iron Man 3, the decision not to follow the comics' vaguely offensive Eastern stereotype was not a bad move. So, casting aside that the Ancient One was devised at a morally iffy time, producer, Kevin Feige's, recent comment on the character - where he states that he/she is "more of a mantle than a specific person - suggests they may even be going with another Mandarin style approach. Hopefully without introducing an actor playing the part.
Shaun is a former contributor for a number of Future Publishing titles and more recently worked as a staffer at Imagine Publishing.
He can now be found banking in the daytime and writing a variety of articles for What Culture, namely around his favourite topics of film, retro gaming, music, TV and, when he's feeling clever, literature.
