Dr. Strange has become one of the most iconic characters in the MCU since the release of the movie in 2016, as well as his popular cameo appearance in Thor: Ragnarok. He’s different than a lot of the other heroes, from his looks to his powers, and his presence in the movies has now opened up the door for more mystic powers within the entire MCU. Before Dr. Strange came out, however, there was a lot of controversy. Particularly around the nature of his powers and the white-washing of certain characters, Disney had a lot of damage control on their hands.

Despite the dust having somewhat settled over the last year or so, there’s still other things that have not been brought into the Strange universe and it’s a wonder if Disney ever will. The Dr. Strange comics have a long history surrounded in controversy as well as different backstories that haven’t been given to certain characters in the movie version. Some of this comes from earlier versions of the superhero while other parts come from nothing being said in the current movie story lines. We have 15 secrets to know about Dr. Strange and to keep an eye out for in the upcoming movies!

15 WONG THE SERVANT

We all know Wong in the movies was a master of the mystic arts. Strong, capable and definitely powerful, he was certainly one of the great additions to the movie despite the other controversies surrounding it. This is actually a leg up from who Wong was within the comics and something the screen writers felt was a much needed fix due to racial stereotyping.

In the comics, Wong was Dr. Strange’s manservant who didn’t really have any sort of agency of his own.

There’s a lot of demeaning duties and luckily the movie decided that this was something they felt the movie could live without. In the MCU, Wong is now the watchful eye over the library at the Kamar-Taj and is seen as an equal to Strange.

14 FAKE LETTER FROM A REVEREND

We’ve known about this secret for awhile, but maybe you didn’t! When Frank Brunner was finishing Marvel Premiere #14, featuring Dr. Strange, Stan Lee almost had them retract the entire comic from the shelves. Within this storyline, we were shown Sise-neg or Genesis. Lee worried that this portrayal of God would upset some of the readers and found it to be too controversial.

Brunner and Steve Englehart decided they would fake a fan letter from a reverend to try and get their verdict reversed. Posing as Reverend Billingsley, they told Marvel how they loved the story and it was one of their favorite comics ever. They received a call saying they no longer needed to retract the comic but that they had to print this letter in the issue!

13 THE ILLUMINATI

This title may look like a joke, but we promise it’s not: Dr. Strange really was a part of the Illuminati. Originally, this team was created by several of the most powerful and smartest heroes in the Marvel Universe. The goal of the Illuminati was to secretly help mold the supernatural world and its inhabitants.

Among great minds such as Charles Xavier and Reed Richards, Strange was one of the original founders.

We’ve not yet seen anything about the Illuminati and nothing thus far has hinted at its appearance in the cinematic universe. However, with the new Avengers movie coming out and the involvement of several superhumans (as well as that whole Fox deal), it’s a very huge possibility. The question is, how much of a role will Strange play in one of Marvel’s most hidden societies?

12 THE 1978 FLIM

Before our beloved Benedict Cumberbatch was playing the mysterious Dr. Strange, there was another film; one in which we do not speak of. In 1978, there was a television film version of Dr. Strange that came out. This movie isn’t really heard, nor spoke, of and seems to remain in the dark ages of the '70s and there’s probably a good reason for that.

The film was about Dr. Strange needing to fight off a demon who’d entered our world. It takes a long time before we even get to him gaining his powers and most of the time he’s really just a doctor. This was supposed to lead to a television series that never happened, but clearly no one thought about making another film till 2016.

11 DOCTOR DOOM'S RIGHT HAND MAN

In general, Doctor Doom isn’t really a good guy -- the name alone sort of says everything. However, our beloved Dr. Strange was, in fact, working for Doom as one of his right-hand men. During the Secret Wars series, the two worked closely together to try and save the Multiverse. Granted, there’s some speculation on whether or not Strange was misguided in his alliance, but he nonetheless was more of a villain in this series than his usual heroic position.

Going by "Sheriff Strange" while under Dr. Doom, he’s almost like a whole other person altogether.

And yet, Strange doesn’t end up staying by Doom’s side. He does eventually chose to do what is right verses what Doom is telling him to do, but the price he pays for disobeying is steep.

10 THE NIECE OF DORMAMMU

This one is a little more of a taboo rather than a full on scandal, but Strange does have a love interest with Dormammu’s niece, Clea, in the comic books. In the comics, she’s the princess of The Dark Dimension, which does in fact mean that she has powers much like Strange does. In a lot of ways, they’re a perfect couple. The most notable indication is that they helped each other to keep their worlds separate and the way it should be.

However, being in love with your foe’s niece doesn’t seem to be the best move. Clea still hasn’t been included in the MCU and from the way things look, Strange has another love interest for the movies. Even though it looks like we won’t be seeing her in on the big screen, it doesn’t mean we can’t hope for a miracle.

9 BARON MORDO

In the 2016 film, we saw a completely different side to Mordo. He was one of the people to actually help train Strange in the mystic arts using the Staff of the Living Tribunal as his weapon of choice. The two actually work together to take down Kaecilius, but this wouldn’t have happened in the comics.

Originally, Mordo was both Strange’s greatest adversary and the one who plotted to kill the Ancient One so he could be the Sorcerer Supreme.

It’s been hinted at that Mordo has gone down a dark path at the end (during that post-credits scene), meaning he's very well on his way to becoming the supervillain he is in the comics and we're sure he'll show up in a sequel to the movie, should one ever be made.

8 THE ANCIENT ONE

While there is a lot of controversy around the casting of the Ancient One and the whitewashing of someone who was traditionally a Tibetan man in the comics, there’s also another change that the MCU made in terms of the Ancient One’s death. In the film, the Ancient One’s death is a result of her connection to the Dark Dimension. She eventually accepts her passing as a given and watches the snow with Strange before she takes her eternal leave.

This is much more peaceful than the death the Ancient One of the comics is given. A demon named Shuma-Gorath arrives on Earth through the Ancient One’s mind, thus leaving him to beg Strange to kill off his physical form. And while he is technically dead, he still has an astral form, the same as the one we see in the movies.

7 CARLO STRANGE

It seems there are actually two different Dr. Strange characters in the Marvel Universe. One is the character we all know and love, Stephen Vincent Strange, and the other is Carlo Strange. This was actually the first incarnation of Dr. Strange; they would recycle this name after the first and last appearance of Carlo.

He appeared once in 1963 with a similar cape and hair design to Stephen, but rather than a hero, he was a villain.

His main target for attack would be Iron Man and, in this version, he was more of a mad scientist than an actual doctor. Thankfully, Carlo would never again be seen for whatever reason and two months later, Stephen would walk onto the comic book scene as a master of the mystic arts.

6 DR. ORPHEUS

If you’ve ever watched Adult Swim’s The Venture Bros, you may have come across a character known as Dr. Orpheus. He’s a drama queen necromancer who always seems to be making a big deal out of everything. If his striking hair and long cape look familiar, that’s because it’s speculated that he’s a parody of Marvel’s Dr. Strange.

Dr. Orpheus is a necromancer that lives in the Venture Compound with his daughter, Triana Orpheus. While he does tend to use these dark powers for really mundane things, like helping around the house, he is actually quite powerful -- his teacher claims him to be one of his greatest students. He’s usually over the top with how he presents himself, but he also seems to be living a really average life with his kid.

5 CO-FOUNDER OF THE DEFENDERS

We all know that the television version of the Defenders is founded by Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist. This team is ready to protect what they love at any cost, but this is by no means is the original team from the comics. In fact, a lot of these characters are new to the Defenders while a lot of original characters have been left out, including Dr. Strange.

Interestingly enough, the Dr. Strange series that was ongoing at the time had abruptly been cancelled right in the middle of the arc.

Roy Thomas decided to finish Strange’s tales in his fellow hero’s stories such as the Hulk and Sub-Mariner which eventually lead to a team up. In the MCU, however, Strange seems to have nothing to do with the Defenders.

4 BROTHER VOODOO

Brother Voodoo is one of the superheroes that practices magic in the Marvel Universe; he’s extremely iconic and he and Strange have a lot of important interactions in the comic books. Yet, despite his importance, we’ve seen nothing of him yet in the MCU. Since Dr. Strange has sort of opened up the more mystic side of the Marvel world in the movies, however, there’s a pretty good chance we’ll be seeing Brother Voodoo soon.

Daniel Drumm is the brother of Voodoo and he was recently killed in the 2016 movie. In the comic books, we see Brother Voodoo communicate with his deceased brother on a spiritual plane; could it be that his death in the MCU will lead us to finally seeing Brother Voodoo in the movies? It looks like we’ll have to wait at least for the new Dr. Strange to come out to get an answer!

3 NO CAPE, NO SPELLS

Dr. Strange has a bit of new look in recent arcs. While the MCU is just now getting caught up with our favorite superhero, he’s been going through a lot in the comic version. In 2015, the issue Dr. Strange: Last Days of Magic was released revealing that Strange’s library had been destroyed due to the altering of magic.

This leaves him without his iconic cape and his magical abilities that make him who he is.

Strange has to fend for himself just like anyone else with only his physical form. We have to wonder if anything will happen to his library in the MCU with this particular issue as inspiration. This arc really did a number on our favorite doctor, but to have something happen to the library would certainly be interesting!

2 PSYCHEDELIC

Dr. Strange is known for its psychedelic artwork and a really bizarre storyline. However, the creators of the popular comic were accused of taking certain "things" while working on it because of it’s unusual artwork. In the earlier days, the art design and mysticism used in Dr. Strange made the comic look as though it were pulled right from a hallucination. People wrote in asking if the people at Marvel were using any sort of substances to help fuel their inspiration for their work.

Of course, this wasn’t true. Dr. Strange was made from pure imagination and not at all the product of any help. It wouldn’t really make sense for the artists and creators to be doing anything like this while one the job, but this certainly isn’t the kind of fun creative past Disney would really want us to remember.

1 THAT MASK

Dr. Strange seems to have gone through a bad face moment like the rest of us, and it wasn't not pretty. We all know Strange as a sort of classy-looking gentleman with his superhero form being a little more striking to fit his unusual, or strange, name. But for a while there he actually had a completely different look -- Strange actually wore a full-on mask for a time.

He also wore an almost entirely different costume that made him look more like your average superhero.

There was actually a reason for this, however. He was, at one point, exiled to another dimension where he could only return if he changed his identity. The traditional superhero mask was a great way to conceal his true face and allow him to return!