Did you spot this brilliant Groundhog Day Easter Egg in Doctor Strange?

The Bill Murray classic gets a nod in the MCU film

Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor strange — Marvel Studios

Ben Allen

Published: Friday, 9 August 2019 at 2:51 pm

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A Marvel fan on Twitter has spotted an excellent Easter Egg in Doctor Strange, which references a Bill Murray classic and may have given away the ending, if you had been paying attention. (Or were somehow precognisant.)

Spoiler warning: the film ends with Benedict Cumberbatch's wizard using the time stone to trap both himself and the villain Dormammu in an endless time loop, in which Doctor Strange is killed over and over again. Appropriately, fans of Groundhog Day might have seen it coming.

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"In Doctor Strange, the live/die/repeat finale is hinted at early in the film, just before Strange gets in the car accident," @MovieDetail explained. "When he picks up his watch, the face reads February 2nd. Groundhog Day. Which also happens to be the name of a movie about a guy stuck in a time loop."

It's a clever reference from writer/director Scott Derrickson, who clearly had the Bill Murray comedy in mind when he was putting the film together. How could you not think of it when toying with the very fabric of time?

Derrickson is back on board to helm the upcoming sequel, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. With its Lovecraftian horror vibe, maybe we'll get a Ghostbusters reference next? Or failing that: Caddyshack.