Hear Me Out: Dr. Strange Was Not Special

I had a conversation a few weeks ago with my best friend’s boyfriend and it included some deep conversation about the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I love deep MCU discussion. Here’s the thing, Steven Strange got on my nerves. The first half of the movie is him whining about his hands, which I understand to an extent. His hands are what made him special but his complaining is what made me fall asleep on this movie several times before I finished it.

Dr. Strange was a surgeon. The best in his field. He was proud, cocky and arrogant. He was Tony Stark without the partying and women. With all the years he spent in medical school and all the years he spent practicing, Strange knew how to study efficiently. His unique talent was reading and trial and error. I thought, before I watched the film, that Strange would be a super hero because he himself was special but after watching the movie and talking to my best friend’s boyfriend, I realized he was a regular dude who needed a purpose and used common talents to excel in this new field.

Now, I hear what some of you may be saying. Isn’t Tony Stark the same way? Well, sort of. We have the backstory of his father being this brilliant scientist so I feel like some of that came from him learning from him. Stark did go to MIT and I assume he was a good student, again, because of his father and what he did. However, Strange was a master of mystic arts which, as presented to us, seems much harder to master than engineering. (If you were or are and engineering student, don’t kill me. I know the field is hard.) I only say this because, as we saw in the MCU, many people were able to duplicate Stark’s technology and as we saw in Spider-Man: Far From Home, there were a lot of people behind the scenes who actually gave Stark those ideas. I want it to be known that Iron Man is my favorite Avenger so I can point out his flaws. He saved the universe. He will forever be the best but in this sense, I think Strange has him. Also, Strange probably saw a lot of himself in Stark which is why Stark got on his nerves. I loved how they seemed to kind of come together at the end.

I feel like amongst all the Avengers and Avengers adjacent members Strange is the best example of someone who became the best amongst his peers from relying on himself and his talents.