When Is Doctor Strange Set?

Those MCU hints you think you saw may not mean much after all.

By Scott Collura

Now that Doctor Strange is out in theaters worldwide, it’s become clear that many fans are a bit confused about when exactly the film takes place in the MCU timeline. Indeed, IGN’s editors have had a few e-mail threads going on this very subject as well as the movie offers several seemingly conflicting clues about its time period. Let’s try to clear it all up right here.

Spoilers follow for Doctor Strange.

Much of the confusion comes from the following:

• Back in 2014’s Captain America: Winter Soldier, Agent Sitwell specifically mentioned “Stephen Strange” as a potential target of HYDRA’s Project Insight. Strange was among the thousands of people identified who were considered a threat to the criminal organization, or could be a threat in the future. These potential future risks were determined via an algorithm developed by Arnim Zola that “evaluated people’s past to predict their future.” Seems Zola nailed it in Strange’s case.
• Avengers Tower can clearly be seen in the Manhattan skyline more than once in Doctor Strange, with its giant “A” shining in the sunlight. Some viewers have pointed to this as an indication that Strange takes place somewhere between The Avengers and Age of Ultron (when the team moved to its new facility in upstate New York).
• Strange’s phone conversation just before his car accident refers to a prospective patient as a Marine colonel who has suffered a spinal injury in an accident involving experimental armor. Many have assumed that this is a reference to War Machine after he was partially paralyzed in Captain America: Civil War.

So while each of these bits and pieces could be construed as a clue as to the film’s place in the MCU timeline, in fact Doctor Strange doesn’t require that much decoding in this area. Essentially, Stephen Strange’s journey in the film starts sometime in early 2016 and ends about a year later, putting it right where the current Marvel continuity is. We know it’s 2016 because an award bearing that date is prominently displayed at one point in Strange’s apartment early in the film. Director Scott Derrickson also is on record telling Digital Spy that the events of the film take about a year and lead up to “the present day,” meaning that when Strange has his mid-credits meeting with Thor -- an obvious tease for Thor: Ragnarok -- he’s all caught up with the rest of the Avengers timeline-wise.

The helmer also confirmed that War Machine isn’t the Marine colonel referenced in that phone call, which makes sense since the patient is described as being in his mid-30s, and War Machine/Rhodey/Don Cheadle is closer to his late-40s/early-50s. (Also, Rhodey’s in the Air Force in the MCU, not the Marines.) Some have also speculated that the “experimental armor” could be a reference to one of the attempts by Tony Stark’s rival Justin Hammer to duplicate the Iron Man suit as seen in Iron Man 2, but again, that would’ve happened several years ago in MCU-time at this point. (Remember, Iron Man 2 took place at the same time as The Incredible Hulk, both of which were prior to the first Avengers film.)

Speaking of which, Avengers Tower still being prominently on view in New York City doesn’t mean much. Yes, we know the Avengers moved to the New Avengers facility after Age of Ultron, but presumably Tony Stark still owns that building, so why wouldn’t he keep that big “A” up on it as a beacon of hope and all that jazz?

The Winter Soldier reference is perhaps the most frustrating aspect of this whole thing, however, but it’s also a good reminder that we as fans may be more concerned with Marvel’s clues than the people planting those clues. Sure, it makes sense that the very intelligent and talented and famous (in his field) surgeon Stephen Strange might be on HYDRA’s radar, particularly with Zola’s algorithm thingee, it’s still kind of lame that it wasn’t because the sorcerer version of Doctor Strange was already buzzing around New York somewhere at that point.

We had built up this idea in our minds since Winter Soldier, and Doctor Strange basically undid the nerdy coolness of that reference. It seems particularly a shame since the timeline as presented now feels kind of short; Stephen Strange is injured, undergoes a ton of surgeries, seeks answers in Tibet, learns sorcerery, and becomes the master of the New York Sanctum in about a year. Who knows? Maybe he used the Time Stone to speed up the process.

Talk to Senior Editor Scott Collura on Twitter at @ScottCollura.

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