Marvel is getting ready to unleash the magic of Doctor Strange on VOD and DVD/Blu-ray later this month after a very successful run at the box office. That being the case, director Scott Derrickson has been making the rounds and talking a bit about the movie, or in this case, some things that didn't make it into the movie. Today, a brand new, deleted scene from Doctor Strange has been released online and the director has explained his thoughts on it, as well as why it ultimately was cut.

The scene in question was released by Entertainment Weekly and features Mads Mikkelsen as the villainous Kaecilius and his group of loyal Zealots attempting to make contact with the Dread Dormammu. Unfortunately for one of the Zealots among the group, things don't go so great and he is treated rather brutally to the full wrath of Kaecilius. Here is what Scott Derrickson had to say about the scene and why it didn't make it into the final cut of Doctor Strange.

"I really liked those scenes and I think everyone did a good job on them, [but] they weren't hard to cut. We tested the movie with and without them. It wasn't just about the audience's reaction, it was really how the movie felt. Pauline Kael used to always talk about the director needing to know where the audience wants to be, and at that point of the movie, the audience didn't want to be jumping around, they wanted to stay with Strange, who's on this very interesting, very personal, and very dramatic journey. The intrusion of those scenes was breaking up the soul of the movie in a way that just wasn't necessary. We didn't need it. When we removed them, we found that we lost very little, and we gained more power in the major arc of the character. So, it was a pretty easy choice in the end."

The scene does give us a bit more of a look into Kaecilius' side of things, but Doctor Strange was told as an origin story and largely focused on Stephen Strange's journey to becoming the new Sorcerer Supreme. For better or for worse, that meant that Kaecilius was not focused on a whole lot, at least not in terms of getting any backstory or much context for his evil doings in the movie. Weak villains have often been a complaint among fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it has been made clear that the folks at Marvel Studios like to focus on the heroes, which is a strategy that has paid off for them so far.

To that point, Doctor Strange was a major success for Marvel Studios and has now grossed a grand total of $670 million at the worldwide box office. That puts it above the lifetime gross of Man of Steel, which grossed $668 million worldwide and focused on Superman, who is easily one of the most recognizable and popular superheroes on the planet. In the case of Doctor Strange, even many hardcore comic book fans had only a passing familiarity with the character prior to the release of the movie, let alone the general moviegoing public who turned out in a big way to see it. That speaks volumes about Marvel's strategy and the powerful brand they have been able to build.

Doctor Strange is set to arrive on digital platforms on February 14, with a DVD/Blu-ray release on the way a couple of weeks later on February 28. Aside from the deleted scenes, other bonus features that will be included with the Blu-ray release include several behind the scenes featurettes and perhaps most importantly, Team Thor: Part 2, which will once again check in on Thor and his human roommate Darryl. Be sure to check out the brand new deleted scene from the movie for yourself below.