P Palmer
[In Strange's apartment, discussing his pursuit of expensive therapies to heal his hands]
Maybe it's time to consider stopping.
Strange
No, no, this is exactly the time not to stop, because, you see, I'm not getting any BETTER!
P Palmer
But this isn't medicine anymore, this is mania! Some things just can't be fixed.
Strange
Life without my work --
P Palmer
-- is still life. This isn't the end. There are other things that can give your life meaning.
Strange
Like what? Like you?
P Palmer
[pauses, shocked by his words]
And this is the part where you apologize.
Strange
This is the part where you leave.
P Palmer
Fine. I can't watch you do this to yourself anymore.
Strange
What, too difficult for you, is it?
P Palmer
Yes, it is. It breaks my heart to see you this way.
Strange
No. Don't pity me.
P Palmer
I'm not pitying you.
Strange
Oh yeah? Then what are you doing here? Bringing cheese and wine like we're old friends going for a picnic? We are not friends, Christine, we were barely lovers. You just love a sob story, don't you? Is that what I am to you now? "Poor Stephen Strange, charity case! He finally needs me!" Another dreg of humanity for you to work on. Patch him up and send him back into the world, hearts just humming! You care SO MUCH, don't you?!
P Palmer
Goodbye, Stephen.
[Tosses her apartment key onto a table and walks out]
The Ancient One
You're a man looking at the world through a keyhole. You've spent your whole life trying to widen that keyhole. To see more. To know more. And now on hearing that it can be widened, in ways you can't imagine, you reject the possibility.
Strange
No, I reject it because I do not believe in fairy tales about chakras or energy or the power of belief. There is no such thing as spirit! We are made of matter and nothing more. We're just another tiny, momentary speck in an indifferent universe.
The Ancient One
You think too little of yourself.
Strange
Oh, you think you see through me, do you? Well, you don't. But I see through you!
Strange
[She strikes his astral form out of his body.]
What did you just do to me?!
The Ancient One
I pushed your astral form out of your physical form.
Strange
What's in that tea? Psilocybin? LSD?
The Ancient One
It's just tea. With a little honey.
Strange
What just happened?
The Ancient One
For a moment, you entered the astral dimension. A place where the soul exists apart from the body.
Strange
Why are you doing this to me?
The Ancient One
To show you just how much you don't know. Open your eye!
The Ancient One
[She touches Strange's forehead and blasts him into a kaleidoscopic astral journey.]
You think you know how the world works? You think that this material universe is all there is? What is "real"? What mysteries lie beyond the reach of your senses? At the root of existence, mind and matter meet. Thoughts form reality. This universe is only one of an infinite number. Worlds without end. Some benevolent and life-giving, others filled with malice and hunger. Dark places where powers older than time lie, ravenous and waiting. Who are you in this vast multiverse, Mr. Strange?
The Ancient One
[Strange returns to Kamar-Taj and lands at the Ancient One's feet.]
Have you seen that before in a gift shop?
Strange
[After a long beat]
Teach me.
The Ancient One
No.
Mordo
[Strange is experimenting with time manipulation using the Eye of Agamotto.] [Bursting in]
STOP! Tampering with continuum probability is forbidden!
Strange
I was just doing exactly what it said in the book!
W Wong
And what did the book say, about the dangers of performing that ritual?
Strange
I don't know, I hadn't gotten to that part yet.
Mordo
Temporal manipulations can create branches in time. Unstable dimensional openings! Spatial paradoxes, time loops! You want to get stuck experiencing the same moment over and over again forever, or never having existed at all?!
Strange
They really should put the warnings before this stuff.
The Ancient One
[The Ancient One talks to Doctor Strange in their astral forms as she dies]
I've spent so many years peering through time, looking at this exact moment. But I can't see past it. I've prevented countless terrible futures, and after each one, there's always another, and they all lead here but never further.
Strange
You think this is where you die.
The Ancient One
You wonder what I see in your future?
Strange
No. Yes.
The Ancient One
I never saw your future, only its possibilities. You have such a capacity for goodness. You've always excelled, but not because you crave success, but because of your fear of failure.
Strange
It's what made me a great doctor.
The Ancient One
It's precisely what's kept you from greatness. Arrogance and fear still keep you from learning the simplest and most significant lesson of all.
Strange
Which is?
The Ancient One
It's not about you. When you first came to me, you asked me how I was able to heal Jonathan Pangborn. I didn't. He channels dimensional energy directly into his own body.
Strange
He uses magic to walk.
The Ancient One
Constantly. He had a choice, to return to his own life or to serve something greater than himself.
Strange
So I could have my hands back again. My old life?
The Ancient One
You could, and the world would be all the lesser for it. I hated drawing power from the Dark Dimension, but as you well know, sometimes, one must break the rules in order to serve the greater good.
Strange
Mordo won't see it that way.
The Ancient One
Mordo's soul is rigid and unmovable, forged by the fires of his youth. He needs your flexibility, just as you need his strength. Only together do you stand a chance of stopping Dormammu.
Strange
I'm not ready.
The Ancient One
No one ever is. We don't get to choose our time. [Takes his hand] Death is what gives life meaning. To know your days are numbered, and your time is short. You'd think after all this time, I'd be ready. But look at me. Stretching one moment out into a thousand…just so that I can watch the snow.
[Her grasp on Strange's hand vanishes as she dies.]
Strange
[Strange regroups with Mordo in the New York Sanctum following the Ancient One's death]
She's dead.
Mordo
You were right. She wasn't who I thought she was.
Strange
She was complicated.
Mordo
Complicated. The Dark Dimension is volatile, dangerous. What if it overtook her? She taught us it was forbidden while she drew on its power to steal centuries of life.
Strange
She did what she thought was right.
Mordo
The bill comes due. Don't you see? Her transgressions led the Zealots to Dormammu. Kaecilius was her fault, and here we are in the consequence of her deception. A world on fire.
Strange
[Strange enters the Dark Dimension to bargain with Dormammu, creating a loop of magic on his own wrist]
Dormammu, I've come to bargain!
D Dormammu
YOU'VE COME TO DIE. YOUR WORLD IS NOW MY WORLD, LIKE ALL WORLDS.
Strange
[He disintegrates Strange easily. Strange re-appears.]
Dormammu, I've come to bargain.
D Dormammu
YOU'VE COME TO DIE. YOUR WORLD IS NOW MY... [realizes he is repeating himself] WHAT IS THIS? ILLUSION?
Strange
No, this is real.
Strange
[He kills Strange again, resetting time again] [bored]
Dormammu, I've come to bargain.
D Dormammu
WHAT IS HAPPENING?
Strange
Just as you gave Kaecilius powers from your dimension, I brought a little power from mine. [gestures to the magic loop] This is time. Endless looped time.
Strange
No.
Strange
[Dormammu kills Strange again, and the loop resets] [Re-appearing]
Dormammu, I've come to bargain.
D Dormammu
YOU CANNOT DO THIS FOREVER.
Strange
Actually, I can. This is how things are now! You and me, trapped in this moment, endlessly.
D Dormammu
THEN YOU WILL SPEND ETERNITY DYING!
Strange
Yes. But everyone on Earth will live.
D Dormammu
BUT YOU WILL SUFFER!
Strange
Pain's an old friend. [An enraged Dormammu repeatedly kills him; Strange re-appears again] Dormammu…I've come to bargain…
Strange
[killed and revived repeatedly]
Dormammu…Dormammu…Dormammu…
D Dormammu
YOU WILL NEVER WIN!
Strange
No... but I can lose. Again. And again. And again, and again, forever. And that makes you my prisoner.
D Dormammu
[Dormammu kills Strange twice more; the loop resets after each death]
NO! STOP! MAKE THIS STOP! SET ME FREE!
Strange
No. I've come to bargain.
D Dormammu
WHAT DO YOU WANT?
Strange
Take your zealots from the Earth. End your assault on my world. Never come back! Do it, and I'll break the loop.
Kaecilius
[Strange returns from the Dark Dimension.]
Isn't it beautiful? A world beyond time? Beyond death?
Kaecilius
[Strange lands behind Kaecilius]
What have you done?
Strange
I made a bargain.
Kaecilius
[notices himself and his remaining Zealots fading away]
What is this?
Strange
Well, it's uh, it's everything you've ever wanted. Eternal life as part of the One. [Strange breaks into a wicked smirk] You're not going to like it.
Strange
[Kaecilius and his remaining Zealots are sucked into the Dark Dimension] [To the departed Kaecilius]
Yeah, you know, you really should've stolen the whole book, because the warnings... the warnings come after the spells.
[Wong laughs]
T Thor
[Mid-credits scene: Thor is meeting with Strange. The scene also appears in Thor: Ragnarok]
So Earth has... wizards now, huh?
Strange
Tea?
T Thor
[finds himself holding a cup]
I don't drink tea.
Strange
What do you drink?
Strange
[Strange changes the cup into a large mug of beer; Thor drinks]
So I keep a watch list of individuals and beings from other realms that may be a threat to this world. Your adopted brother, Loki, is one of those beings.
T Thor
It's a worthy inclusion. [the mug refills itself]
Strange
Yeah. So why bring him here to New York?
T Thor
It's a bit of a long story. Family drama, that kind of thing. But we're looking for my father.
Strange
Oh, okay. So if you found Odin, you'd all return to Asgard promptly?
T Thor
Oh, yes. Promptly.
Strange
Great. Allow me to help you.
