The Marvel Cinematic Universe has thus far spanned over twelve years of high-quality movies and shows and is imminently entering its fourth phase of glory. It has generously given the fans action, comedy, mystery, and tragedy, heroes of renown and villains of infamy. It has explored the heights of outer space, the depths of the subatomic quantum, and the fringes of liminal dimensions. Even now, the MCU is pushing the envelope in new ways with Disney Plus’s WandaVision. For all the moments of significance the MCU offered, there is only one that is the most profound. 2016’s Doctor Strange delivers a message of great magnitude in the most succinct way.
Phase Three of the MCU started with the crisis of Captain America: Civil War. After it resolved that major conflict the MCU pivoted to Doctor Strange, a sidestep designed to introduce the audience to magic and the multiverse. Specifically, moviegoers got a crash course in the Mystic Arts via the Ancient One herself. The Ancient One, played by Tilda Swinton, is said to be Celtic, powerful, and deeply mysterious. Her exact age is unknown, but the way she maintains her long life was revealed as a twist near the end of the film. It is one of the central conflicts between the villain, Kaecilius, and the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj. In the third act of the movie, after a spectacular space-bending battle between Strange, Mordo, and Kaecilius, the Ancient One is fatally injured in a fall.
As Christine Palmer and the other surgeons attempt to save her life, the Ancient One enters the Astral Dimension to watch a storm outside the hospital. Doctor Strange followers her to plead with her to return to life. This scene and what the Ancient One teaches Strange is the most profound moment of the entire cinematic universe.
Up to this point, Stephen Strange was a vain, egotistical, and self-centered individual. His pursuit of the Mystic Arts was solely to gain the power to restore his hands and return to his wealthy elite lifestyle, a world he was torn from after a brutal car accident of his own making. In this scene, as lightning slowly strikes New York City, he begs the Ancient One to return to her life, but she rejects the notion. She faces the final moment of her life, a moment in which she observed for countless centuries, and expresses to him the simplest, most significant lesson of all: “it’s not about you.”
The Ancient One teaches him, and more significantly the audience, the universal truth of altruism. Like Jonathan Pangborn, she explains, Strange could learn the magic to fix his feeble hands and return to his normal life. Or, like Kaecilius and her, he could even choose to abuse the immense power for his own selfish gain. What is best for other people, for the world, though, is for him to assume the responsibility of Sorcerer Supreme and use his power for good.
This moment impacts the conclusion of Doctor Strange where Stephen catches Dormammu in a time-loop. He sacrifices himself to a perpetuating death until Dormammu capitulates. This is a very Doctor Strange comic book style ending. The message also directly impacts Avengers: Infinity War where Doctor Strange surrenders the Time Stone to Thanos in exchange for Tony Stark’s life. Doctor Strange knows, because he viewed the millions of possible timelines, that life’s best chance at winning against the Mad Titan is for Doctor Strange to give up the very thing he swore to protect, ultimately, to give up his own life.
More than all of this, the Ancient One’s final lesson of altruism is a wonderful message, especially with the current state of the world. All too often people forget how the simplest acts of courtesy and kindness can go along way in making another person’s day. What is most profound is that in all the Ancient One’s long life, this was the lesson she wanted to share in her final moment.
One can argue that the ends do not justify the means, that the Ancient One’s siphoning of the Dark Dimension’s longevity was an abuse of her power. This is the case with Mordo, who concludes at the end of the movie she was a liar, and the impetus for his turn to villainy. He spent his whole career as a Master of the Mystic Arts defending the natural order of the world, specifically combatting those, like Kaecilius, who pervert it to their own will. To him, the Ancient One is no different than their enemies. What is worse, though, is that she was the Sorcerer Supreme of his entire Order preaching against the very thing she was doing. At the beginning of the film, the very first word Kaecilius says to the Ancient One is “hypocrite.” He is not wrong. However, the motive for her duplicity was altruist and thereby justifiable. Doctor Strange understood her, and that is why he was chosen to replace her as Sorcerer Supreme.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness intends to be released March 25, 2022. There is a possibility that Doctor Strange will guest star on WandaVision and could even have a role in the upcoming Spider-Man movie, but these are unproven theories.