New Doctor Strange Clip Introduces Astral Form

As the never-ending deluge of Marvel promotional materials continues to pour out for Doctor Strange, we get a new clip from the films that shows a moment where impaired former surgeon Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is conversing with Tilda Swinton's mystical master, The Ancient One.

The scene takes place when Strange has seemingly been brought to the Ancient One's stronghold, where the wise master has likely tried to offer knowledge of the mystic arts' existence to Stephen. Clearly, as we see when the clip starts, Stephen is a hard skeptic when it comes to initially believing the Ancient One's sales pitch. And so, the wise master opts to show, rather than tell, knocking Strange's astral form loose from his physical body in a moment straight out of The Matrix.

For those who don't know mysticism and metaphysics: an astral form is the basically when your spirit (or soul, or whatever you call it) is separated from your body - most often represented (at least in comic books) as a ghostly apparition. Doctor Strange regularly uses his astral form to travel to places his physical body cannot reach, be it a strange dimension, or an ally's home or base, as a sort of communication system.

It's probably best for movie audiences to understand such a concept by seeing it in (literal) action. One kung fu maneuver from the Ancient One saves a great deal of time and debate about how one actually achieves such a feat. People ask fewer logistical question when it looks cool onscreen.

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Doctor Strange opens November 4, 2016; Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 – May 5, 2017; Spider-Man: Homecoming– July 7, 2017; Thor: Ragnarok – November 3, 2017; Black Panther – February 16, 2018; Avengers: Infinity War – May 4, 2018; Ant-Man and the Wasp – July 6, 2018; and Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019.