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Marve's Doctor Strange Won't Be An Origin Story

Spider-Man was bitten by a radioactive spider. Superman is an alien from Krypton. Batman’s parents are dead. One thing many comic book fans have said is that they’re tired of movies retelling these stories over and over again and they tend to be a bit boring. The Amazing Spider-Man retold the character’s origin only 10 years after it was already told and it didn’t add anything new to the story.

I’ve always said that The Incredible Hulk told the best origin story with Edward Norton in the opening credits. Tells you everything you want to know before heading into the story — wham, bam, thank you ma’am. Turns out, Marvel Studios is about as tired of these origin stories as I am, and the upcoming Doctor Strange film will not be an origin story. Devin Faraci of Badass Digest appeared on Meet The Movie Press [via Dark Horizons] and spoke about Jon Spaihts’ screenplay for the film. Here’s what he said, emphasis mine:

So, for Doctor Strange they’ve had a script in-house forever. It is a pretty standard origin story for Doctor Strange. It’s got Baron Mordo as the bad guy. That’s all gone. Marvel’s new thing is no more origin stories.

So, [the] Doctor Strange movie no longer has an origin. It begins in medias res. It has Dr. Strange already established as the Sorcerer Supreme. It is a totally new script. Jon Spaihts is working totally new, on his own, without any of the previous stuff. Not even touching the previous script.

Good for you, Marvel! All audiences need for Doctor Strange is to introduce that he’s a sorcerer and take it from there. Any nuances to the character can be introduced during the story as it happens, maybe with flashbacks, so there’s no need for an origin story.

The other aspect of origin stories is that they tend to set up the universe the character inhabits. Fortunately, Marvel Studios has been setting up the Marvel Cinematic Universe for six years now, so we already know that the Chitauri invaded New York and there’s a giant green rage monster hanging out somewhere on Earth.

It looks like this will end up being a trend for most comic book hero movies. If rumors are to be believed, both Batman and Wonder Woman will have been fairly active in the DC Universe at the start of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Even Man of Steel didn’t spend half the movie on Superman’s origins (we’ve seen it twice already in film). I’ve criticized Warner Bros. for trying to rush into the Justice League too quickly, but one of the benefits is that they introduce all the characters at once and get that out of the way — no need for origin films.

So what do you think? Should comic book movies retire the origin story entirely? Let us know in the comments below!

[Editor's Note: I think so; it's gotten way to formulaic, across the board. I like the 'opening credits origin story,' or the 'jump right in, here are the flashbacks telling the origin' way to go. Iron Man and the original Superman had the best origin stories, but it's still first half is the origin, second half is the movie.]

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