Doctor Strange has always operated in the trippier corners of Marvel Comics; while other superheroes were foiling bank robbers or repelling interplanetary conquerors, the good doctor was slipping between dimensions, battling mystical forces up to and including Eternity itself. He was cornball enough to pepper his speech with oaths like “By the Hoary Hosts of Hoggath!” but you definitely would not want to find yourself on the business end of one of his powerful spells.
“Doctor Strange,” the latest movie in the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe, casts a few impressive spells of its own, not the least of which is the redemption of the visual-effects extravaganza.