Oli Davis and Luke Owen compare what we saw in the first Doctor Strange teaser with the film’s Concept Art trailer screened last year…

This week saw Marvel debut their first trailer for Doctor Strange on Jimmy Kimmel. Ben ‘Batman’ Affleck must be fuming given his and Kimmel’s history. The trailer didn’t give away much in the way of story and we didn’t even get a proper look at Strange in his full gear; just a tantalising ‘up-the-cape’ shot (as the superhero gossip magazines call it). Instead, the teaser focused on conveying a sense of tone, setting up the mood of the film and introducing the first magical elements of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Asgardian mumbo jumbo not withstanding).

Back in October, however, Flickering Myth’s Luke Owen was invited to Disney’s presentation of their 2016 release slate. There, they showed a concept art trailer for Doctor Strange, which was introduced by director Scott Derickson and featured some visuals not seen in the released trailer.

So what was in that Concept Art trailer that wasn’t in the film’s first teaser?

Benedict Cumberbatch in action

Marvel does

The Doctor Strange teaser gave nothing away about how its titular character will fight. The most active we see Strange is when he’s being astral blasted by The Ancient One and doing his best ‘DERP’ face whilst looking at his hands.

At the end of the Concept Art trailer, however, footage was shown of Benedict Cumberbatch in pre-production physical training. Here, Cumberbatch was seen practicing martial arts-style movements.

It hints towards the type of action we’ll get in the Doctor Strange movie, as each Marvel title has its own brand of combat. Thor’s involves hammer smashing, Iron Man’s is very blasty, while Captain America loves his hand-to-hand fighting. The Concept Art trailer suggested that Doctor Strange will add yet another dimension to the MCU’s physicality – a more Eastern approach to combat befitting of its mystical and magical theme.

Speaking of ‘another dimension’…

New corners and dimensions…

Marvel does

The full teaser contains several fantastic shots of the world Doctor Strange inhabits – chief amongst them being Mads Mikkelsen’s character twisting a corridor like a kaleidoscope, and what appears to be New York splitting apart at right angles. But these are all still linked to Earth, if not our reality. This magical dimension at least appears terrestrial.

Not according to the Concept Trailer.

The planet Morag as seen in Guardians of the Galaxy.

At the presentation back in October, a Disney representative promised that Doctor Strange will take us to “places we’ve never seen before,” a title card in the trailer teased “new corners and dimensions of the Marvel Cinematic Universe” and the majority of the concept art showed locations with an overwhelmingly purple hue – environments that were very similar to Morag, the planet Star Lord visits at the beginning of Guardians of the Galaxy, or Thanos’ rock island seen in the same movie. That’s not to say Doctor Strange will visit Morag, just that the Concept Trailer art was very reminiscent of the planet. It featured a ruined castle and barren landscapes, which suggests that Derickson will take us to more places than just the Astral Plane.

Doctor Strange’s Hadokens

Not only did the teaser leave out scenes of physical combat, there was also no reveal of Doctor Strange’s eventual powers. The Ancient One and Mikkelsen got to show off their mystical talents, but – bar the final, post-title shot – the teaser was very much centred around the Stephen part of Doctor Strange – you know, before he gets his magical Phd.

This is Strange graduating Hogwarts.

When the Concept Trailer showed Cumberbatch in his pre-production training, however, it provided a very early look at how Strange’s magical powers will manifest. When performing his martial arts movements, mystical light shot from his hands, and it looked damn cool.

You can watch Luke’s full breakdown of the Doctor Strange Concept Art Trailer from October below, and let us know what you thought of the first Doctor Strange trailer in the comments.

Doctor Strange is set for release on October 28th in the UK and November 4th in the US, with Scott Derrickson (Sinister) with a cast that includes Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock) as Stephen Strange, Tilda Swinton (Snowpiercer) as The Ancient One, Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) as Baron Mordo, Benedict Wong (The Martian) as Wong and Rachel McAdams (True Detective) and Mads Mikkelsen (Hannibal) in as-yet-unconfirmed roles.

Oli Davis is the Co-Editor of Flickering Myth, curator of its Super Newsletter, Lead Producer ofFlickering Myth TV and host of the Flickering Myth Podcast. You can follow him on Twitter@OliDavis.

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