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marvel cinematic universe - How long was Doctor Strange in training under the Ancient One?


The movie depicts a vague time lapse where Doctor Strange undergoes lots of studying and training.


How much time has passed in his whole training arc of the movie?



Answer



About six to nine months.


This supposes that the movie's end scene with Thor happens roughly around the time that Thor: Ragnarok is released (November 2017).



Evidence


New information has come out, and according to the director of the film, the movie takes place in a single year.



Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) spends about “three to six months” in recovery from his accident. (“There is a more precise answer, but I don't remember,” says Derrickson.) The entire film runs from one autumn to the following year’s autumn – though Derrickson adds the caveat: “Don't hold me to this, because I haven't thought about this in a long time.”



So if the whole film is about a year, and he's in recovery for 3-6 months, then the only time left to train is the 6-9 months. This is exactly in line with my original analysis.


Additional Evidence


Strange's accident happens on Tue Feb 2, 2016. I get this time from his watch when he's picking one out for the gala he's heading to:


Doctor Strange's unbroken watch The real world equivalent of Doctor Strange's watch
Left: Doctor Strange's watch. Right: Jaeger LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Perpetual, the real-world watch that was used for the film.



When he's mugged, it's a Wednesday in January, 2017. This is about a full year later than anyone else has supposed, before. I assume it's 2017, because of the date previously established. To be January again, it has to be the following year. This makes sense considering the time he spent in the hospital, the number of surgeries he had performed, and the fact that he spent all of his money.


So, if we assume mid-late January 2017 to the Ancient One's death sometime before early November 2017, that's a max of 9 months (and a couple weeks, maybe). Given that we have no idea how long passes between her death and the scene with Thor, it could be shorter, but less than 6 months seems unlikely.


Doctor Strange's broken watch after the accident


Issues


Although it's unclear, the day hand seems to be pointing to the upper left quadrant of the day section, somewhere between where we see the clear 17 and the unclear 7 from 27. The broken glass makes it hard to tell.



At the end of the movie, when Strange puts his watch back on, it appears to say Thursday, in January again. So, I'm not sure what's going on here. Everything else is in the same positions, included the day/night cycle, so I believe at this point weekday hand is probably just broken.


Doctor Strange's broken watch at the end of the film


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