MCU: 10 Fascinating Facts Behind Doctor Strange (2016)
2. There Were TONS Of Previous Iterations
One of the most surprising things to learn about Doctor Strange is just how many prior attempts at making a film centered around the character had come this close to making it to the big screen.
As far back as 1992, a Doctor Strange film was in the works with none other than horror maestro Wes Craven attached to direct. Over the next decade, the project was pushed through various stages of development hell, with Craven ultimately abandoning the film.
Then in 2001, the project was revived again, this time with David S. Goyer attached to both write and direct the film. Goyer has since become a name synonymous with comic book films between his work on Blade: Trinity, The Dark Knight trilogy, and even Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, but this would have come before all of them. Again, the project never got off the ground.
In 2007, just as Marvel Studios was beginning, Guillermo del Toro pitched a Doctor Strange film to them that would have seen award-winning author Neil Gaiman writing the script with him but Marvel turned him down.
Suffice it to say, it was a long road to the screen for this character.