There is little doubt that Doctor Strange has a story worthy of his name in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, the MCU could have introduced an even stranger story for the Sorcerer Supreme. The Sandman author Neil Gaiman has revealed that he presented a pitch to Kevin Feige but the Marvel boss reportedly turned down his plans!
Neil Gaiman is someone who has some dark and strange tales to tell and he admitted that he almost told a truly unusual one to Marvel fans. In a new interview with the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Gaiman confirmed that he met with Kevin Feige and they had spoken about a specific plan (via The Direct).
"Kevin and I have spoken a few times over the years on things," Gaiman said. "The only one that I wish, although, odds are probably, I think the way they did it commercially was better than…but I remember back in 2007, having minimalistic conversations with Kevin Feige about 'What about Doctor Strange?'"
He added, "Then talking to Guillermo Del Toro, and Guillermo and I having these ideas about Doctor Strange and starting the beginning, me starting the beginning of the conversation with Kevin about 'I could do Doctor Strange with Guillermo.' And basically, they said, 'We just want to concentrate on the core characters right now. Doctor Strange is way up the line. We don't want to go there.'"
So what could have been in the Doctor Strange film by Neil Gaiman and Guillermo del Toro? The American Gods author revealed that the project could have been a period film.
"There were some cool things in it," Gaiman said. "My favorite Doctor Strange thing was the idea of…the one thing that we really wanted to do was have his adventures, have him become an alcoholic and a disbarred physician, all that sort of stuff, happen in the 1920s."
He continued, "So the idea is that he went through all of that and the training to become the world's greatest magician maybe in the early '30s, late '20s, and he's been living in Greenwich Village for 90 years looking the same in his place, and nobody really notices. We just sort of liked that idea, and he would have been sort of out of time. But other than that, it would have just been very sort of Steve Ditko because, you know, that's the best."
It's an interesting plan but we understand why Kevin Feige turned down the idea.
Gaiman's new series The Sandman is currently streaming on Netflix.
Related: Marvel Confirms Scrapped Debut of Menacing Villain in Doctor Strange 2
Explore new topics and discover content that's right for you!