If there’s a scene in Scott Derrickson’s Doctor Strange movie where all of the characters suddenly have a vast awareness of pop culture, transform into talking motorcycles, or strictly adhere to Joseph Campbell’s idea of “the hero’s journey,” it’s probably because Community creator Dan Harmon reportedly made some contributions to the film’s script. That’s according to The Hollywood Reporter, which quotes its unnamed source as saying that Harmon wrote pages for “additional photography” after the rest of the filming was completed. Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill wrote the rest of the movie, with Prometheus writer Jon Spaihts sharing a “story by” credit with them.
What all of that could mean is that Harmon was brought in specifically to punch something up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe entry to make it funnier or smarter or simply more entertaining. He’s the co-creator of Rick And Morty, after all, and that show has a knack for presenting outrageous sci-fi concepts in a relatable way, so what is Doctor Strange’s magic if not just another outrageous sci-fi concept? Or—and we’re just throwing this out there—what if he was brought in to write the film’s post-credits stinger, setting him up to take on a bigger writing role in another upcoming MCU movie? After all, the next two Avengers sequels are coming from former Community directors Joe and Anthony Russo, so they’ve got some experience working with Harmon.
Whatever ends up happening, hopefully Doctor Strange will be the Monster House follow-up that Harmon fans have been clamoring for since 2006.