Kevin Feige Teases Doctor Strange's "Unique" Powers And The Eye Of Agamotto

Marvel can take big swings these days. This year, they turned Ant-Man – a character most people are hardly familiar with – into a box-office hit, following the massively successful and equally obscure Guardians of the Galaxy. When Marvel's name is on a film, people will show up, which is why it's the perfect time to introduce Doctor Strange. Director Scott Derrickson (Sinister) can get weird with this comic book adaptation, and from the sound of it, that's what he's doing.

After the jump, read Marvel's CEO Kevin Feige's comments on just how strange (not a bad pun, I promise) of a comic book movie Doctor Strange might be. He also gets into the character's unique abilities and accessories – like the Eye of Agamotto, which could turn out to be very important to the MCU later on.

The other day we got our first look at actor Benedict Cumberbatch in costume, and overall, the response was positive. Cumberbatch looks the part, and Marvel, Derrickson, and all involved stayed true to the character's distinct appearance from the comics. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Feige says they want to remain faithful to Doctor Strange's powers and all the "tongue-twisty" spells he casts:

He does cast spells, which in the comics have very sort of tongue-twisty fun names. We don't want to shy away from that, because that's what makes Doctor Strange Doctor Strange. He has a Cloak of Levitation that allows him to fly, but he doesn't fly like Superman or like Thor. It's almost got a consciousness of its own, this cloak, which, again, gives us a superhero with a red cape — which we've seen a few times — but allows us to do it in a wholly unique and wholly original way. He can create these mandalas of light that he can use as shields and he can use as sort of weapons. He can create portalas that will open before your eyes that he can step through and go to other places around the world. And frankly, even in this film, we'll only touch upon what a lot of his powers are.

The days of ironic comic book movies are, hopefully, over. Marvel embraces who their characters are, rarely ever shying away from their potentially goofy elements. The worse comic book movies tend to forgot what makes their characters special in the first place, whether it's their costume or world, and it's promising to hear Feige doesn't want to deviate too much from Doctor Strange's history in the comics. That includes the Eye of Agamotto, which is a part of the superhero's powers:

In this film, the Eye is a very important relic that can be quite dangerous if used in the wrong hands, because it has the ability to do any number of things, the most dangerous of which is, it can sort of manipulate probabilities. Which is also another way of saying, 'screw around with time' — which is part of our story.

Some fans have speculated that the Eye of Agamotto could turn out to be one of the Infinity Stones, and the theory doesn't seem too far-fetched considering Marvel is working towards Avengers: Infinity War in 2018 and 2019. But only time will tell.

Doctor Strange is currently shooting. The film opens in theaters November 4, 2016.