Doctor Strange Director Shortlist Isn't So Short, Magic in the Marvel Universe Isn't So Magical, Says Feige

During interviews on the press junket for Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige was pinned down on the issue of the upcoming (but still-not-officially-announced) Doctor Strange movie. Not long ago, word of a shortlist for directors surfaced online, with reports saying that Marvel had narrowed the search down to just three or four names, who would help shepherd in a new script since, previous rumors held, the one they had wasn't working anymore. When asked about Scott Derrickson, Jonathan Levine and Mark Andrews, the names on the reported "shortlist," Feige said that there was some truth to the list, in the sense that those people all came in for talks, but that's about it.

"We've met with all of [those three]," Feige told Slashfilm. "Some of those three are not in contention any more, some of those three we're still talking with and there are many others. We have not narrowed it down as much as the internet thinks. I wish we had." Meanwhile, in a separate interview with Badass Digest, Feige explained magic in the Marvel Universe...pretty much the same way they explained the Norse gods. The science is simply so advanced it seems like magic. "Are you watching the Cosmos series? That's magic, [the quantum physics]. It's unbelievable," he said. "If somebody knew how to tap into that stuff, what's the difference between that and magic? You don't get into it in Harry Potter, but if a scientist went to Hogwarts he'd find out how some of that stuff is happening! We're not going to spend a lot of time on that, but there will be some of that. And particularly for a character like Strange, who goes from a man of science to a man of faith and who traverses both worlds. And sometimes there won't be an answer! Sometimes he'll want an answer — 'How is this happening?!' — and nothing."