Movie Substrate · Film

Doctor Strange (2016)

★ 7.4 · 23,356 ratings on TMDB

The impossibilities are endless.

Doctor Strange poster★ 7.4

After his career is destroyed, a brilliant but arrogant surgeon gets a new lease on life when a sorcerer takes him under her wing and trains him to defend the world against evil.

DirectorScott Derrickson
CastBenedict Cumberbatch, Benedict Wong, Benjamin Bratt, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mads Mikkelsen, Michael Stuhlbarg
GenresAction, Adventure, Fantasy
The emergence reading

In Doctor Strange, consciousness is carried by aliens — a plane of “dimensional mystic realm”. The story fights on E8/E9/E10 of the E0–E14 reality ladder, compressing magic, time, reality, power, authority.

↷ aliensUSmagictimerealitypowerauthority
⇄ Parameter shift — the dial this world turnsrigor: rigorous
E0timetime can be locally looped by sorcerers using the Eye of Agamotto (technology · personal)
Also inConsciousness hiding in aliensFilms that alter a rule of realityFilms that move consciousness off the human
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Same rung, same subject

Films fighting at the same level of reality, about the same things.

Wish (2023)E8/E9/E10 · authority, magicIron Mask (2019)E8/E9/E10 · authority, magicReturn to Halloweentown (2006)E8/E9/E10 · authority, magicSnow White and the Huntsman (2012)E8/E10 · authority, magicKrull (1983)E8/E9 · magic, powerLeroy & Stitch (2006)E8/E10 · authority, power

Same subject, different rung

The same preoccupations examined at another scale — one mind versus a nation.

Ultraviolet (2006)E4/E11 · rare rung · authority, powerSpace Pirate Captain Harlock (2013)E11/E12/E13 · rare rung · authority, powerWarcraft (2016)E12/E13 · rare rung · authority, powerJustice League: Crisis on Two Earths (2010)E11/E13 · rare rung · authority, power

Also bends a rule of reality

Other films that change a standing rule of their world — ranked first by those bending it at the same rung.

Watchmen (2009)alters at E0 · same rung · loosePrince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010)alters at E0 · same rung · looseThe Flash (2023)alters at E0 · same rung · looseAlice Through the Looking Glass (2016)alters at E0 · same rung · looseLast Action Hero (1993)alters at E0 · same rung · looseDisenchanted (2022)alters at E0 · same rung · loose

Also hides consciousness here

Other films that move a human interior onto the same kind of thing.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)consciousness in aliens · heroic mythic conflictSuperman: Man of Tomorrow (2020)consciousness in aliens · alien-hero metropolisJustice League: Gods and Monsters (2015)consciousness in aliens · alternate superhero dystopiaThe Suicide Squad (2021)consciousness in aliens · suicide squad missionSuperman II (1980)consciousness in aliens · alien-superhero EarthGreen Lantern: First Flight (2009)consciousness in aliens · intergalactic law enforcement

Same subject, different mask

The same preoccupations carried by a different kind of thing — grief told through the dead, an animal, a machine.

Artemis Fowl (2020)consciousness in monsters · authority, magicThe Raven (1963)consciousness in animals · authority, magicReturn to Oz (1985)consciousness in monsters · authority, magicThe Lion King (2019)consciousness in animals · authority, powerJujutsu Kaisen 0 (2021)consciousness in the dead · authority, powerThe Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018)consciousness in objects · authority, power

Same people

Shared director or cast.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)Benedict CumberbatchThe Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)dir. Scott DerricksonThe Black Phone (2022)dir. Scott DerricksonSinister (2012)dir. Scott DerricksonSpider-Man: No Way Home (2021)Benedict Cumberbatch12 Years a Slave (2013)Benedict Cumberbatch