Doctor Strange: first trailer reveals Benedict Cumberbatch's mystical hero

The actor stars alongside the likes of Tilda Swinton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Michael Stuhlbarg, Benedict Wong, and Mads Mikkelsen

With Captain America: Civil War looming on the horizon; it's time to look a little further, and a little deeper into the crystal ball of the Marvel cinematic universe.

Jimmy Kimmel Live's week-long Marvel extravaganza saw Benedict Cumberbatch pop in to reveal our first trailer for Doctor Strange; which sees the star take on the role of Stephen Strange, here glimpsed in the car wreckage which ends his career as a neurosurgeon. We later see the most damaging of its effects: the trembling hands which leave him incapable of performing surgery.

Thus, he must embark on an arduous journey of healing; encountering Tilda Swinton's Ancient One, who is essentialy normal Tilda Swinton but bald, who introduces Strange to the world of mystic arts. Yet, as much as Cumberbatch has previously promised a wild, psychedelic look for the film; this first trailer hasn't really promised much out of the ordinary.

"There's going to be crazy sh*t going on," was the actor's exact quote; yet, this glimpse doesn't reveal any revolutionary shifts in tone for Marvel. Establishing itself as a more ponderous, weighty entry into the canon, with some insincere musing on chakras from a bunch of white people; Doctor Strange is so far relying heavily on a fairly uninspiring mélange of visuals from Inception and The Last Airbender.

That said, Marvel may just be playing things tactically here; Doctor Strange's world is an utterly bizarre one, and perhaps this first glimpse of advertising is keeping hidden some of the film's grander oddities.

Previously, Cumberbatch has admitted having difficulty with the peculiarities of Strange's gesticulatory spell-casting: "I’m still in the infancy of learning all that. It was like, okay, I’ve got to keep throwing these poses, these spells, these rune-casting things, everything he does physically I’m thinking, there’s going to be a huge amount of speculation and intrigue over the positioning of that finger as opposed to it being there, or there. And I’m still working on that."

Directed by Scott Derrickson, the film also stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as Baron Karl Mordo, Rachel McAdams, Michael Stuhlbarg, Benedict Wong, and Mads Mikkelsen. The trailer was preceded by the release of the first official poster for the film.

Doctor Strange hits UK cinemas 28 October.