Benedict Cumberbatch in a scene from Marvel's Doctor Strange. Photo / AP
Benedict Cumberbatch in a scene from Marvel's Doctor Strange. Photo / AP
Personally speaking, our favourite Doctor Strange exchange is the one in which Benedict Cumberbatch's arrogant neurosurgeon, newly arrived at the remote mountain home of Tilda Swinton's Ancient One, scornfully queries the writing on a piece of card handed to him by Chiwetel Ejiofor's Baron Mordo.
"What's this? My mantra?" asks Cumberbatch's Strange.
"It's the wi-fi password. We're not savages," replies Mordo, deadpan.
Cumberbatch himself, however, was apparently taken with some of the film's slightly more profound pieces of dialogue.
In a new Tumblr Q&A session, hosted by Buzzfeed, the 44-year-old actor was asked what his favourite line from the film was.
The piece of dialogue in question, as fans of the Marvel film may remember, is spoken by Swinton's ageless sorceress, who describes the snippet of advice as one of the world's most important lessons.
"Arrogance and fear still keep you from learning the simplest and most significant lesson of all," she tells Strange. "It's not about you."
While it may have taken the fictional Strange a while to fully appreciate his teacher's words, it seems that the man behind the superhero has fully taken the phrase to heart.
Tilda Swinton and Benedict Cumberbatch attend the 'Doctor Strange' photocall at Soho House on October 26, 2016 in Berlin, Germany. Photo / Getty
Later on in the public Q&A, after being asked if he had "any words of advice for those who struggle to be their own hero", Cumberbatch replied: "Just remember it's not about you."
And, after being asked what lesson he would choose to learn from the Ancient One, if he could pick only one, the Sherlock star said: "Without being too pompous, if I knew what I had to learn, I don't think I would learn it, but as in the film, to remember that it's not about you, and how to try to choose the path for a greater good."
"Even if you don't believe in altruism, doing good for others makes you feel good so... everyone's a winner," he added."That, and being able to make shit move with a hand gesture, fly, go through dimensional gateways, and defeat the evils of other dimensions."
The actor, whose wife Sophie Hunter is pregnant with the couple's second child, was also faced with the question of whether or not if there is anything that makes him feel "electrifyingly alive", that he "wouldn't trade the world for".
His endearingly earnest answer? "My family."
On a slightly less serious-minded note, the star also weighed in on what would happen if Strange had to fight JRR Tolkien's dragon Smaug, whom he voiced in Peter Jackson's trilogy of Hobbit movies.
Asked if Strange would win, Cumberbatch said: "Oh yeah, Smaug's just an angry lizard. He ain't got nothing on a sorcerer."
