The screenwriter of "Doctor Strange 2" talks about inspiration: Indiana Jones wearing a cape

Doctor Strange 2 screenwriter Michael Waldron has shared some of his inspirations for the sequel, and some of them may be surprising.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, he said that food explorer Anthony Bourdain and the famous movie character Indiana Jones were two of his two main inspirations for the sequel. Stephen Strange and Bourdain are obviously very different people, and Waldron said that Bourdain has a "high intellect" different from Strange.

Waldron said: "Anthony Bourdain attracted me very much. Strange is a very good neurosurgeon and wizard. Anthony Bourdain is just an ordinary person, but he has a very high intelligence. He seems to have the ability to get to the essence of others in just a few words. But Anthony Bourdain never really did that. This was the first material of "Doctor Strange".

He added: "Anthony Bourdain has been everywhere and seen everything. What surprises you at this point? I think about all these heroes in the MCU, in the world after Avengers 4, how do you regroup and go up against a Thanos-like foe to go up against a villain in a standalone movie?"

Waldron also drew inspiration from Indiana Jones. In Waldron's opinion, Doctor Strange is basically "Indiana Jones in a cape."

“He’s the kind of hero who takes it all in his stride,” Waldron said. “That’s what makes Harrison Ford’s hero great. The bad guys get beaten back. Look at Doctor Strange in the first movie. He gets beaten up pretty bad, but he’s very resilient.”

Waldron's friend Jeff Loveness, one of the screenwriters of "Rick and Morty", commented that Waldron wanted to write a "really successful "Indiana Jones"-style masterpiece", which is also what he wants to achieve in "Doctor Strange 2".

In addition, Waldron has another big pressure, which is to tell a good story for Wanda Maximoff, played by Elizabeth Olsen, in "Doctor Strange 2". When talking about Jac Schaeffer, the producer of "WandaVision", he said: "I don't want to disappoint my good friend. She made such a good series, and I don't want to be a slouch. So we talked a lot about delivering Wanda's story wonderfully."