Thanos Was Never the Biggest Enemy of Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange, It Was This Regular Combat Stick at Kamar-Taj

Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange struggled to master over this one thing at Kamar-Taj, despite his impressive sorcery skills.

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SUMMARY

  • Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange had trouble catching a fighting stick during training scenes.
  • The scene, shared in behind-the-scenes footage, shows Cumberbatch's failed attempts to catch the stick.
  • Despite this, the final training scene in the film became an iconic moment for fans.
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Benedict Cumberbatch has proven to be the ultimate Doctor Strange for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, channeling his wit, charm, and personality as a whole most profoundly. From a doctor who only sought to cure his hands to a well-established sorcerer who head-on takes the challenges posed by multiversal threats, he has truly come a long way as the character.

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Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange in the MCU. | Credits: Marvel Studios.
Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange in the MCU. | Credits: Marvel Studios.

Throughout this journey, he has also battled quite a few big baddies, including the likes of Dormammu and Thanos, the latter of whom even posed an existential crisis for the doctor himself. But it seems that even the Mad Titan may not have been Strange’s biggest enemy, considering how one other element at Kamar-Taj posed a greater nuisance to him: A fighting stick!

Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange Couldn’t Overpower a Fighting Stick at Kamar-Taj

Ever since he initially started playing the successful, wealthy neurosurgeon who transforms into a Master of the Mystic Arts after a tragic accident in 2016’s Doctor Strange for the MCU, Benedict Cumberbatch has butted heads with quite a lot of serious villains. But while his wit and sorcery helped him overpower them, his skills humiliatingly fell short in front of a fighting stick.

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As seen in the official Making of & Behind the Scenes footage shared by DVDFilmBonus on YouTube, this happened while Stephen Strange and Mordo were getting ready to train the former to the best of his ability in combat. For this, while Mordo was supposed to wield the Staff of the Living Tribunal, he would pass down a different fighting stick to Strange.

Mordo teaching Strange in a still from Doctor Strange. | Credits: Marvel Studios.
Mordo teaching Strange in a still from Doctor Strange. | Credits: Marvel Studios.

However, hilariously enough, Cumberbatch’s sorcerer just couldn’t catch and wrap his hands around the stick. In the three failed attempts shown in the clip, Chiwetel Ejiofor‘s Mordo really tried his best to deliver his dialogue and throw the stick to Cumberbatch to catch at the same time. But, each time, Strange’s powers just somehow fell a bit short.

In fact, even the Sherlock star couldn’t hide his embarrassment as, after consecutively failing to catch the stick, he went on to say:

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Damn it, I’m just not that cool.

If anything, it seems like he just couldn’t get that one scene right no matter how hard he tried, considering how, in the final clip of that training scene seen in the film, this moment wasn’t present. That said, it seems that even Thanos, the one who wiped away Strange’s mere existence with a snap, couldn’t serve as big of an enemy to Strange as the fighting stick at Kamar-Taj!

Even Without the Fighting Stick, the Final Scene Still Became a Massive Fan Favorite

Mordo brandishing the Staff of Living Tribunal in the movie. | Credits: Marvel Studios.
Mordo brandishing the Staff of Living Tribunal in the movie. | Credits: Marvel Studios.

While not being able to catch a simple fighting stick despite training so hard was indeed a humiliating moment for both Cumberbatch and his character, the end result of that scene was still nothing short of iconic. Even without Mordo throwing the stick for Strange to wield as he lashed at him using the Staff of the Living Tribunal, the training scene has still become a massive fan favorite.

As Mordo tried to train Strange to “fight like your life depended on it” while hitting him with his relic one after the other, Cumberbatch’s sorcerer brilliantly tried his best to dodge his opponent‘s attacks and hit back. This further held incredible relevance to fans as Strange was seen once again fighting Mordo (although a different variant of him) in Multiverse of Madness as well.

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That said, fans can’t help but hold this scene dear to them. Taking to the comment section of a clip of the same shared by Filmey Box on YouTube, here’s what they have to say:

I love this scene so much since it ends up being incredibly relevant/convenient/ironic in the sequel ~ @sagealexander1538

Looking at this now this feels so eerily uncanny ~ @orien2v2

Cumberbatch's Strange wielding his sorcery skills. | Credits: Marvel Studios.
Cumberbatch’s Strange wielding his sorcery skills. | Credits: Marvel Studios.

“FIGHT! FIGHT LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDED ON IT!!!” He’s talking to the audience to. Whether you’re fight is doing homework or against a disease, fight like hell my friends. Because your life does depend on it. ~ @celestialbeez7024

“Fight like your life depend on it. Because one day it may.” ~ @brunopereira90rp

these scenes are so cool ~ @user-xl1ob5lb4e

I like when he yells “Fight! Fight like your life depended on it! I love this movie but find Strange’s oh sorry I mean Dr. Strange’s string weapons soooooo lamme. ~ @Vekren

I’m not even gonna lie. But watching this film was thrilling. ~ @theozeff7835

Well, all jokes aside, Benedict Cumberbatch most certainly did a beyond-thrilling job at bringing his character to life here, even though he may have failed in front of a mere fighting stick one too many times. Perhaps, in another universe, he just may catch the stick and fight better!

Doctor Strange is currently available to be streamed on Disney+.

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Written by Mahin Sultan

Articles Published: 1429

Mahin Sultan is a News Content Writer at FandomWire. With more than a year's worth of experience in her field, she has explored and attained a deep understanding of numerous topics in various niches, mostly entertainment.

An all-things-good enthusiast, Mahin is currently pursuing her Bachelor's degree in Commerce, and her love for entertainment has given her a solid foundation of reporting in the same field. Besides being a foodie, she loves to write and spends her free time either with her nose buried in a good book or binging on COD or K-dramas, anime, new movies, and TV serials (the awesome ones, obviously).

So far, Mahin's professional portfolio has 1,000+ articles written on various niches, including Entertainment, Health and wellbeing, and Fashion and trends, among others.