India, March 21 -- By the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth! Marvel's Doctor Strange doesn't just wield magic, he gives in to theatrical grandeur, summoning cosmic forces with incantations as bold as his crimson Cloak of Levitation. This phrase stands out as both absurd and magnificent, combining Silver Age comic-book flair and mysticism. And Benedict Cumberbatch rasps it beautifully on screen.

Abracadabra. The spell that launched a thousand tricks is thought to have originated in the 2nd century. Roman physician Serenus Sammonicus advocated using it to ward off disease (He literally inscribed it in a vanishing-letter style, as in Poof, illness gone!) Even in 21st-century movies such as The Prestige, it's shorthand for the impossible made real. Gue...