After watching the recently released trailer for Doctor Strange, as well as the first one, it appears that Chiwetel Ejiofor's character is not the Baron Mordo we are used to seeing. He seems much friendlier to the Sorcerer Supreme than he is in the comic books or in animated ventures.
He doesn't seem annoyed when Benedict Cumberbatch's character is around him. In fact, we see him as a kind of helpful guy - serving as a mentor and then teaming up with him to save New York City.
So, when Comic Book gets the opportunity to speak with Scott Derrickson, they ask him about the relationship between Doctor Strange and Baron Mordo. And here's how the director responds:
There’s definitely an evolution in the relationship. I didn’t want to do what the comics did, and start off with Mordo just being an arch nemesis and a bad guy straight from the beginning. I think with all so called villains, with all antagonists in any movie, you are only as invested in them as you are in their point of view and Mordo has a good strong point of view in this movie and the same is true of Mads Mikkelson’s character.
According to Derrickson, both Baron Mordo and Kaecilius are "men of ideas, men of principles, men of beliefs", and he enjoys watching supervillains of this kind.
From what the director says, it seems like we won't have to wait for a Doctor Strange sequel, or any other movie, to see Baron Mordo's transformation from a friend to a foe.
While talking to Comic Book, Scott Derrickson also claims that the November 4 release is the movie where "Marvel goes full weird!" He explains:
That full weirdness is written in the Ditko images, the Jack Kirby images, the early Doctor Strange comic book panels that are still to this day so mind blowing. What the comics did was, they brought with Doctor Strange an extra dimension into psychedelia, mysticism, and spirituality, and all these very 60’s things, and broke open the Marvel comic book universe into the Marvel multiverse.
And the director suggests that his upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe installment is going to be "the beginning of the Marvel Cinematic Multiverse". The movie is serving the same function that the comic book did. Derrickson adds:
Even though it was a weird aberration as a comic book, I think it was a real linchpin in the comics. It ended up being decades of new stories and I think this movie will do the same thing.
If the director's words don't make any sense to you right now, wait for movie to hit the theaters, buy a ticket, sit down, and say, "Teach me!" And until then, remember what The Ancient One says in the Comic-Con trailer when Doctor Strange makes a similar complaint - "Not everything does, not everything has to!"
Be prepared for a strange journey with Doctor Strange! (Gif via Tumblr)
