Benedict Cumberbatch improvised Doctor Strange’s ‘douchebag’ insult in Avengers: Infinity War

You probably chuckled when you heard the insult come out of Doctor Strange’s mouth. It almost never happened.

With its intersecting storylines, a gazillion superheroes and a genocidal maniac, there were a lot of things going on in Avengers: Infinity War.

But even amid all that drama, there was one unexpected line that still stood out to fans.

During a back-and-forth snark-fest between Iron Man and Doctor Strange, Benedict Cumberbatch improvised a word which showed that Steven Strange can give as good as he gets.

It also changed the tone of the conversation, an unusual barb from a character that could certainly be snide but wasn’t likely to utter such uncerebral insults.

That word was “douchebag”, as in when Tony Stark says to Steven Strange, “What exactly is your job, besides making balloon animals?” and Strange hits back with, “It’s protecting your reality, douchebag”.

In a profile interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Cumberbatch revealed that was an off-the-cuff retort he improvised on set.

“I remember on the set when I called him a douchebag, there was this sort of ripple effect,” Cumberbatch said. “’Ohmigod, did you just call Iron Man a douchebag?’. They kept it, good for them. And then it got the same kind of response at the cinema.

“I got bored of being compared to Liberace or whatever retorts the guy with the same camp goatee had opposite me, so I tried to knock him down. It’s great fun to play with that stuff. You find your feet. The more times you [improvise], the more familiar it becomes.”

Doctor Strange and Tony Stark meet for the first time in Infinity War, and it doesn’t go well. Picture: Marvel Studios

Cumberbatch will next reprise his Marvel character in Spider-Man: No Way Home. The trailer revealed Peter Parker will call on Doctor Strange to change reality so that no one will remember he is Spider-Man.

He’s also just finished filming the Doctor Strange sequel, Multiverse of Madness, which was plagued with a stop-and-start production schedule throughout 2020 and 2021 in London because of the pandemic.

He told The Hollywood Reporter, “I lost count of how many lockdowns we actually filmed through. With this government-approved gold standard testing and tracing and temperature taking and PCR and lateral flow tests. But it worked.

“And 500-plus crew came back after Christmas and there was not a single positive test.”

Multiverse of Madness also switched directors early in its production with original helmer Scott Derrickson parting with the project over creative differences. Derrickson had directed the first Doctor Strange movie.

Cumberbatch revealed he had a call from the head of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, who had told him about the shift.

“I was sad to hear about it, but that was not my decision. I completely respected the studio’s decision and it was done amicably.”

He added that replacement director Sam Raimi was an “assured pair of hands who knew that world”.

Benedict Cumberbatch at the premiere of The Power of the Dog at the Venice Film Festival. Picture: Miguel Medina/AFP

Cumberbatch spent most of 2020 riding out the pandemic in New Zealand with his wife, sons and his parents. He was already in the country filming Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog, which has just played at the Venice and Telluride film festivals. It will also have a berth at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The Power of the Dog is Campion’s first feature since Bright Star in 2009. It tells the story of a charismatic and intimidating rancher who torments his brother and his brother’s new wife.

It’s been described as a movie about conceptions of manhood and masculinity, something which Cumberbatch agreed with. “It’s a lesson in how tangled up you can become, how toxic masculinity can become if your true identity is not allowed or tolerated or celebrated or accepted,” he said.

“Tenderness, surely that’s the answer and the thing that needs to be addressed.

“Whether that’s raising men as feminists, whether that’s understanding that there is a reason behind your emotions… emotions need to be addressed and understood, rather than just put out there into the world in violence or language or an action that just permeates a toxic culture.”

The Power of the Dog, which also stars Jesse Plemmons, Kirsten Dunst and Kodi Smit-McPhee will be released by Netflix on December 1. It’s unclear if there will be a limited cinema run prior to its streaming release in Australia.

Originally published as Benedict Cumberbatch improvised Doctor Strange’s ‘douchebag’ insult in Avengers: Infinity War