How Ant-Man, Thor & Doctor Strange Set The Rules Of Magic And Science In The MCU

To date, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has mainly dealt with the ramifications of scientific inventiveness — the tech in Iron Man’s armor, the formula that gave Steve Rogers his powers, and the unfortunate creation of Ultron.

Even in the discovery of the Asgardians, a God-like race from a far off place, the world of magic has yet to be truly explored. Later this year, though, the floodgates will open to that side of the universe with Doctor Strange.

At a recent set visit, Marvel chief Kevin Feige recently spoke abut the difficult task of setting the rules of both science and magic in their universe to ComicBook.com.

“It’s very hard, because you don’t want to rule yourself into it being mundane or rule yourself into it not being fantastical or magical,” he said. “Certainly, we’re not doing that and you’ve heard me talk about the Quantum Realm in Ant-Man, which was certainly designed for that movie and for that story to take the notion of somebody who has the ability to shrink to another level that we’ve never seen before.

“As we were doing that and studying it and talking to the science advisors who are always more than willing to spend an afternoon with us and talk about these amazing things. That the Quantum Realm is another dimension. It tapped into what we had been working on for this movie, as well. That really became the notion that we’re scratching the surface with the Quantum Realm and then we just do a deep-dive in this.”

While a great deal of research is done in making sure things mesh well with their existing precedents, Feige and the team also factor in simpler things, like if it actually looks mesmerizing on screen.

“A lot of it is, is it cool? Is it entertaining? Does it give us visuals that we’ve never seen before in a movie? That’s been particularly hard on this film to find outside of the comic books and the Ditko artwork, comparable for the visuals we want to bring for this,” he said. “Steph Ceretti, our visual effects supervisor, has amazing reference. All of it is sort of close to what we want but none of it is exactly what we want, which is an exciting place to be in. The visuals that you’ll ultimately see in November, we might not even have seen yet because they’re still being designed and developed.”

Even early trailers point to this out of the box creativity, as the city literally folds in on itself in one particularly stunning sequence. It has us hopeful for the creative visuals that the final cut of the film will ultimately contain.

From Marvel comes Doctor Strange, the story of world-famous neurosurgeon Dr. Stephen Strange whose life changes forever after a horrific car accident robs him of the use of his hands. When traditional medicine fails him, he is forced to look for healing, and hope, in an unlikely place – a mysterious enclave known as Kamar-Taj. He quickly learns that this is not just a center for healing but also the front line of a battle against unseen dark forces bent on destroying our reality. Before long Strange – armed with newly acquired magical powers – is forced to choose whether to return to his life of fortune and status or leave it all behind to defend the world as the most powerful sorcerer in existence. Join Strange on his dangerous, mystifying, and totally mind-bending journey.

Doctor Strange hits theaters on November 4th.