MCU: 10 Fascinating Facts Behind Doctor Strange (2016)
6. It Was Far From Strange's First Appearance
While this film was Doctor Strange’s first proper appearance in the MCU, it was far from the first time his presence was felt.
Marvel head-honcho was such a huge fan of the character from the get-go that he actually incorporated several nods to the character throughout various earlier films in the franchise. The earliest of these was in the original Thor in 2011, in which the Orb of Agamotto could be spotted among the various trinkets in Odin’s trophy room.
Years later, an even more explicit reference was included in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Here, as Cap and the gang are interrogating an agent of Hydra, he mentions that Hydra has been using government surveillance systems to keep a watchful eye on several persons of interests, name-dropping Stephen Strange as one such person.
So even before the good Doctor had officially made his way to the screen, he was still a big part of the universe.