Scott Derrickson Reveals The Evolution Of Doctor Strange And Baron Mordo’s Relationship

Both Doctor Strange trailers show a very happy friendship between Mordo and Strange but, as comic fans know, that might not last very long.

In classic Doctor Strange comics, Mordo is not exactly an ally to Strange for the most part. While they come from similar training backgrounds and should have similar ideologies, they don’t. As for what Mordo’s outlook will be in the Doctor Strange movie, we’ll have to wait and see. That said, we did catch up with Scott Derrickson at San Diego Comic Con to hear about the evolution (or de-evolution) of the relationship between the two magicians.

“There’s definitely an evolution in the relationship,” Derrickson tells ComicBook.com exclusively. “I didn’t want to do what the comics did and start off with Mordo just being and arch nemesis and a bad guy straight from the beginning. I think with all so called villains, with all antagonists in any movie, you are only as invested in them as you are in their point of view and Mordo has a good strong point of view in this movie and the same is true of Mads Mikkelson’s character. They’re both men of idea, men of principles, men of beliefs and those are the kind of antagonists I enjoy watching, so we tried to make a movie with those kind of antagonists.”

Doctor Strange stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange, Tilda Swinton as The Ancient One, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Baron Mordo, Rachel McAdams as Christine Palmer, a.k.a. Night Nurse, Benedict Wong as Wong and Mads Mikkelsen as Kaecilius. Scott Derrickson is directing the film, which will be the first foray into the magical side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The new film hits theaters November 4, 2017.