"Doctor Strange" director Scott Derrickson hinted in a recent interview during Comic-Con International in San Diego that the upcoming film is bringing much more than magic to the Marvel Cinematic Universe -- it's also opening a portal to Marvel's multiverse.

"What the comics did was, they brought with Doctor Strange an extra dimension into psychadelia, mysticism, and spirituality and all these very 60's things and broke open the Marvel comic book universe into the Marvel multiverse," Derrickson told ComicBook.com. "I think 'Doctor Strange' is going to be the beginning of the Marvel Cinematic Multiverse. It's really serving the same function that the comic did."

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The Marvel Universe, considered the primary timeline of Marvel Comics (known as the 616 universe), exists within a multiverse; a collection of alternate timelines and universes. Marvel's multiverse was established within the pages of "Captain Britain," where it was discovered that every Earth within the multiverse had a protector that was part of the Captain Britain Corps.

The concept of the multiverse ties in well with Doctor Strange, as each universe within the multiverse is also protected by a Sorcerer Supreme (a universe can never have too much protection). Appointed by the mystic entity known as Vishanti, the Sorcerer Supreme protects the universe from magic using the amulet, the Eye of Agamotto. And, as readers are already aware, and filmgoers will soon find out, Doctor Strange is Earth-616's Sorcerer Supreme, bearing the Eye of Agamotto.

Marvel's "Doctor Strange" starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Rachel McAdams, Mads Mikkelsen, Tilda Swinton, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Christine Palmer is set to hit theaters November 4, 2016.