How long did Doctor Strange and Dormammu spend in the Dark Dimension? In 2016, we saw Stephen Strange save Earth from being consumed by the Dark Dimension by making a deal with Dormammu, but in exchange, he had to be killed over and over again, which was made possible by trapping themselves in a time loop.
How long did Doctor Strange spend in the time vortex? Even the Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness finale doesn’t provide a definitive answer to this perplexing subject. Although the exact amount of time Stephen Strange spent with Dormammu is unknown, it may be roughly determined based on the exponential development of his talents following his fateful meeting with the being.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness delves deeper into the multiverse, which was introduced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and expanded upon in subsequent films like Thor, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Doctor Strange.
In the scene where the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) guides Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) around the multiverse, the audience gets a glance at some of the realities discovered there, including the Mandelibus Dimension and the Dark Dimension. In the film’s climax, Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen) and the Zealots successfully summon the Dark Dimension and Dormammu to Earth, killing Wong (Benedict Wong) in the process.
As Strange, Baron Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor), and Wong prepared to fight, time froze as they were halted mid-spell and Strange used the Eye of Agamotto to rewind time and bring Wong back. Strange’s brilliant/insane idea was inspired by Kaecilius’s declaration that Dormammu’s arrival could not be halted and that the Dark Dimension is beyond time.
Doctor Strange vs. Dormammu by @KevinNowlan pic.twitter.com/iLUhssWbaX
— Rob Rogers (@theaginggeek) February 13, 2019
Unlike Dormammu, Strange went to the Dark Dimension to spend time with him. Dormammu slew the sorcerer when Strange defended himself, but the sorcerer resurrected himself and said the same thing. Dormammu, confused, asked Strange if it was an illusion, to which Strange replied that he had “brought a little power” from his world, and that power was time.
Strange set up a system that allowed him and the wicked Dormammu to get stuck in a recurrence loop, allowing him to be repeatedly murdered by Dormammu and then revived. When Dormammu told Strangely he would spend all of the eternity dying in agony, Strange convinced him it was a little price to pay to safeguard Earth, and in doing so, he became Dormammu’s slave. When Dormammu gave up, he struck a bargain with Strange, and Strange went back to Earth.
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Doctor Strange Was In The Dark Dimension Long Enough To Level Up
Only a couple of minutes had elapsed on Earth when Strange returned, but he had spent much longer in the Dark Dimension. Robert C. Cargill, the screenwriter for Doctor Strange, said in 2018 that the character’s extensive time spent in the Dark Dimension was “deliberately unclear with room to address it later.” While barely minutes elapsed on Earth, Cargill assured us that Strange had plenty of time to “get even more mastery over his talents” in the parallel universe.
This explains why, despite the relatively short period between the events of Thor and Thor: Ragnarok, he showed a substantial increase in competence. It’s probably fair to believe that Strange spent years in the Dark Dimension to develop his abilities, conduct experiments, and acquire new tricks. Although the post-credits scene in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness implies that Doctor Strange’s time loop had certain consequences, it does not resolve the question of how long he spent in the Dark Dimension.
Director Scott Derrickson said in 2016 that Strange was supposed to say something along the lines of “we’ve been through this a thousand times,” which would have provided a clue as to how long he had been stuck in the loop.
However, despite that piece of information, time does not exist in the Dark Dimension, and it stopped ticking on Earth when Strange left. Since there is less data on the subject, pinpointing a specific duration is difficult. One thing that can be said with certainty is that Doctor Strange stayed in the Dark Dimension for an extended period.
