3) The Ancient One
There was (and still is) a lot of controversy around Marvel’s decision to recast The Ancient One, an elderly Asian male in the comics, into a younger, white female in the movie. There are valid points to be made about the under-representation of Asian actors in Hollywood movies, but Doctor Strange proves that director Scott Derrickson and his team were 100% right to cast Tilda Swinton in the role.
The Ancient One isn’t anything we haven’t seen before. She’s the stock wise mentor character who must train her Chosen One pupil until she pops her clogs and lets the student become the master. She’s Obi-Wan Kenobi. Or Dumbledore. Or Uncle Ben. As that list of old men demonstrates, The Ancient One isn’t a role that women get to play and it’s a delight to see Swinton in the part. Her androgynous features fit the ethereal role perfectly. Plus, the character is given shades of grey when it’s revealed that she leeched power from the Dark Dimension in order to sustain her own life.
In swapping her gender, Doctor Strange gives us one of the MCU’s most distinctive female characters. One who is not defined by her romance with the hero but for being a powerful character in her own right.