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In this scene I saw that Doctor Strange was looping again and again and was repeating his dialogue again and again and Dormammu was killing him again and again.

I know that Doctor Strange had done something with time but I don't clearly understand what he did exactly.

Can anyone please explain what exactly happened in that scene?

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  • From a previous interview I had read when the movie initially came out, the director indicated they had cut a scene where Strange says we've done this a thousand times, so I think he does remember. empireonline.com/movies/features/… Additionally, the last time he confronts Dormammu in the movie, he says, No, I've come to bargain, or such, changing his line. As to the idea of time on Earth being frozen, or moving forward, I remember, at this point in the movie they are in Dormammu's timeless dimension, so whatever is happening is separate from the Earth
    – Deborah
    Feb 23, 2017 at 2:54

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Mordo: Temporal manipulations can create branches in time. Unstable dimensional openings. Spacious paradoxes! Time loops!!! You want to get stuck reliving the same moment over, and over, forever, or never having existed at all?

 

Dormammu: You... what is happening?
Strange: Just as you gave Kaecilius powers from your dimension, I've brought a little power from mine. This is time. An endless looped time.

Before Strange confronts Dormammu, he uses the Eye of Agamotto to create an unbroken time loop. This is represented by the glowing green "bracelet" that he creates and wears. The result is Strange and Dormammu (and possibly everyone in the world) being stuck reliving the same short window of time encompassed by the time loop Strange has created.

Time Loop Bracelets - functional AND stylish

Strange: Take your zealots from the Earth. End your assault on my world. Never come back. Do it, and I'll break the loop.

Once Dormammu has agreed to Strange's demands, he presumably uses the Eye of Agamotto's powers to break the time loop, and the bracelet is not seen again.

What time bracelet? I never had a time bracelet.

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    Not everyone in the world; he makes a point that everyone else will go on with their lives while they're trapped in the loop
    – Izkata
    Feb 22, 2017 at 20:24
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    "Yeah. But everyone on Earth will live." Not 100% the same as saying their lives will go on outside of the loop.
    – phantom42
    Feb 22, 2017 at 21:06
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    He probably would have got through to Dormammu much more easily if he'd started each loop with a clock radio playing "I Got You Babe".
    – rickster
    Feb 23, 2017 at 6:36
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    Wonder if its worth mentioning that this is because the Eye is a Stone?
    – Tablemaker
    Feb 23, 2017 at 14:35
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    I'm pretty sure the time loop existed only in Dormammu's dimension; Strange gets the idea when some other character mentions that Dormammu exists "outside of time", so Strange brought some time with him.
    – KutuluMike
    Feb 24, 2017 at 15:35
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Doctor Strange essentially created a "backup save" with the Eye of Agamotto (which has the time infinity stone stored inside it). Every instance in which he died time reverted to this point, albeit Dormammu and Doctor Strange remembered the previous encounters because Dormammu "exists outside of time" and Doctor Strange wielded the eye.

This loop continued until Dormammu agreed to Strange's requests and Strange ended the loop.

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    An infinite time loop...not exactly a "backup save"...but yes.
    – Paulie_D
    Feb 22, 2017 at 16:10
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    I've only seen the movie once, but does Strange actually remember the previous encounters? His strategy doesn't seem to rely on that, only on keeping Dormammu trapped in a time loop.
    – Tin Wizard
    Feb 22, 2017 at 20:53
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    @Walt - Only saw it once as well. But probably the way to tell would be if he walks and talks exactly the same every time. A person who remembers would naturally try to change it up a bit.
    – T.E.D.
    Feb 22, 2017 at 21:01
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    @JoshPart I may be making assumptions, but I'm used to the argument that pain you don't remember can't make you suffer, but... "Then you will spend eternity dying. / Yeah. But everyone on Earth will live. / But you will suffer. / Pain is an old friend." My interpretation is that the suffering will be from repeated deaths.
    – Cort Ammon
    Feb 22, 2017 at 23:14
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    Doesn't Strange defend himself from whatever killed him the previous time during his first few iterations?
    – KutuluMike
    Feb 24, 2017 at 16:25

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