Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Starring Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Stephen Strange 616-Universe / Doctor Strange 838-Universe, Defender Doctor Strange / Sinister Doctor Strange), Elizabeth Olsen (Wanda Maximoff / The Scarlet Witch – 616-Universe and Wanda Maximoff – 838-Universe), Benedict Wong (Wong), Rachel McAdams (Christine Palmer 616-Universe and Christine Palmer 838-Universe), Xochitl Gomez (America Chavez), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Baron Karl Mordo 838-Universe), Patrick Stewart (Charles Xavier / Professor X 838-Universe), Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter / Captain Carter 838-Universe), Lashana Lynch (Maria Rambeau / Captain Marvel 838-Universe), Anson Mount (Black Bolt 838-Universe), John Krasinski (Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic 838-Universe), and Julian Hilliard and Jett Klyne (Billy and Tommy Maximoff 838-Universe) with a mid-credits scene featuring Charlize Theron as Clea).
Directed by Sam Raimi
Produced by Kevin Feige
Written by Michael Waldron
Music By Danny Elfman
Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures
Run Time: 2 hours and 6 minutes
World Premier: May 2, 2022, in Hollywood, California
Opening Weekend Box Office: $187 million (North America)
Worldwide Box Office: $954 million
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 74%
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Fun Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Facts
Marvel Studios announced Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on July 20, 2019, as part of the landmark 10th Marvel Studios panel at San Diego Comic Con. The film was originally announced for a May 7, 2021, theatrical release. At SDCC, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige announced that Elizabeth Olsen would be co-starring with Benedict Cumberbatch in the film and announced that the movie would be Marvel Studios’ first feature length foray into the realm of horror. The film was initially set to be directed by Scott Derrickson, who directed Marvel Studios’ first Doctor Strange film in 2016.
On January 9, 2020, Marvel Studios announced that Director Scott Derrickson was stepping down from his directorial duties on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
On February 5, 2020, reports began surfacing that Marvel Studios had hired Sam Raimi to direct Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. These reports would ultimately be confirmed by Sam Raimi himself on April 14. Raimi previously worked with Marvel Studios on the 2002-2007 Spider-Man trilogy during the time before the MCU.
On April 3, 2020, with the COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic raging, Marvel Studios announced a new release date for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness of November 5, 2021.
On April 24, 2020, with the Coronavirus Pandemic still raging, Marvel Studios announced yet another new release date for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, moving the film to March 25, 2022.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
On October 8, 2020, Marvel Studios announced that Benedict Cumberbatch had joined the cast of Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man: No Way Home in which he would reprise his MCU role as Doctor Stephen Strange. Ironically, that film would be used to canonize Sam Raimi’s previous Spider-Man Trilogy as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, complete with characters such as Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin, Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus, The Sandman (as portrayed by Thomas Haden Church), and Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker / Spider-Man all appearing in the film.
On November 27, 2020, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness commenced filming.
On December 10, 2020, Marvel Studios President and Chief Creative Officer Kevin Feige took part in Disney’s Investor’s Day with a video presentation intended to update fans on where things were going with the MCU amidst the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic. As part of the presentation, Feige confirmed that WandaVision starring Elizabeth Olsen would at long last open Phase Four of the MCU, premiering on Disney+ on January 15, 2021, as the first Marvel Studios production made available for viewing to fans in 18-months. Feige furthermore confirmed that Olsen was actively working on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness alongside a cast that included Benedict Cumberbatch, Rachel McAdams, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and the debuting Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez. Feige furthermore promised a “thrilling, scary, mind-bending adventure” and announced that the film would directly tie-in to both WandaVision and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
On January 26, 2021, production on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was temporarily suspended in the United Kingdom due to a new Coronavirus strain and its assault upon the population.
On March 5, 2021, in the series finale of Marvel Studios’ WandaVision on Disney+, Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff took up the mantle of The Scarlet Witch during a magical clash with wicked witch Agatha Harkness, which The Scarlet Witch emerged victorious from. During the post-credits scene, The Scarlet Witch was seen studying The Darkhold (the Book of the Damned) and being corrupted by its mystical power. From there, the concept of the MCU Multiverse was explored in Marvel Studios’ Loki: Season One, which introduced viewers to concepts such as the Time Variance Authority and the Sacred Timeline, and the enigmatic entity known as He Who Remains. Loki: Season One explained that the events seen in the Marvel Studios films that comprised The Infinity Saga (beginning with Iron Man in 2008) occurred on an isolated and predestined (Sacred) Timeline that was policed by the TVA and ruled over by He Who Remains. Branched Timelines (potential New Realities triggered when someone defies their destiny) were generally not allowed by the TVA and were pruned (purged) by its officers in order to preserve the “proper” Flow of Time and prevent the threat of Multiversal War. The First Season on Loki, which aired in the Summer of 2021, ended with the Loki Variant known as Sylvie killing He Who Remains; an act that caused the Sacred Timeline to begin Branching off exponentially, endangering the stability of the MCU 616-Universe.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Marvel Studios’ first animated series What If …? Season One takes place immediately after Loki: Season One, revolving around some of the Branched Timelines that have begun to spawn from off the Sacred Timeline following the death of He Who Remains. The fourth episode of that series titled What If … Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of his Hands? saw Benedict Cumberbatch provide the voice for two Variant versions of Doctor Stephen Strange, most notably a version of the character billed “Strange Supreme”, who literally destroyed the Universe he inhabited and all life within it in his selfish effort to reverse the death of his beloved Christine Palmer. This episode was widely acclaimed as the best single episode of What If …? Season One and marked the first time that we saw an official Variant of the MCU’s traditional Doctor Strange within the MCU. Several members of the cast of 2016’s Doctor Strange returned for that episode to voice their respective characters, including Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong, and Tilda Swinton.
On October 18, 2021, Marvel Studios pushed the release date of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness back yet again from March 25, 2022, to May 6, 2022. This was reportedly done to allow time for significant re-shoots and perfections in post-production on the Sam Raimi film.
On December 17, 2021, Marvel Studios’ Spider-Man: No Way Home was released in theaters. Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Stephen Strange had a featured part in the film, which revealed early on that Benedict Wong’s Wong was the new Sorcerer Supreme within the MCU 616-Universe that was first established in 2008’s Iron Man. The film furthermore sees Doctor Strange try to assist Tom Holland’s Peter Parker with the issue of the world having learned his identity as Spider-Man (as seen in 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home), by casting a botched spell that due to Parker’s interference, causes a Multiversal Rupture that brings other Multiversal Visitors into the MCU from other (Cinematic) Universes. Kevin Feige has gone on record stating that these Multiversal Ruptures were made possible due to the death of He Who Remains. The issue is ultimately resolved by Strange casting a spell to make the world altogether forget Peter Parker and the Multiversal Visitors are returned to their respective Universes, resolving (for the time being) a threat that could have destroyed the Reality inhabited by Tom Holland’s Spider-Man and Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange. Spider-Man: No Way Home boasted a post-credits scene that served as a teaser trailer for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
On February 13, 2022, an official trailer for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness aired during the NFL’s Super Bowl LVI.
In the Marvel Comics, the America Chavez character is an openly gay superhero that was raised by two lesbian mothers. Marvel Studios decided early on to stay true to those aspects of the character in their ongoing efforts to incorporate more LGBTQ+ themes and personas into their ever- expanding Universe of movies and shows. This decision ended up significantly costing Marvel Studios at the Box Office as Egypt, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia were among the notable Countries that opted to ban the film over the inclusion of such things. China also banned Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness for their own reasons, with Multiverse of Madness marking the fifth-consecutive theatrical release banned by China following Black Widow, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Eternals, and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
The 2023 book Marvel Studios – The Marvel Cinematic Universe: An Official Timeline confirmed that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness takes place on the MCU (Sacred) Timeline in the Fall of 2024, picking up right after the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home. Chronologically, this is one-year after the end of WandaVision and Wanda’s Darkhold Corruption. Marvel Studios’ Disney+ series Hawkeye should be viewed after Multiverse of Madness, though the scene in No Way Home of Spider-Man swinging through New York City at Christmastime occurs after Multiverse of Madness and concurrently with Hawkeye.
In the Spring of 2019, The Walt Disney Company’s acquisition of Fox’s television and movie studios were finalized, landing the rights of popular Marvel characters such as The X-Men and The Fantastic Four with Marvel Studios. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, released three-years after the deal was completed, was the first Marvel Studios production to reflect this change in the status quo on screen, as the film introduced two prominent members of The X-Men and The Fantastic Four: Professor Charles Xavier and Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic! Fox had produced several X-Men films and a couple of Fantastic Four films, beginning in the year 2000 and extending through the Disney acquisition. Patrick Stewart was a familiar casting choice for fans of those films as Stewart had portrayed Xavier in seven films for Fox: (X-Men, X2: X-Men United, X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men: Origins: Wolverine, The Wolverine, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and Logan). Multiverse of Madness marked Stewart’s 8th time portraying Xavier on film. As for Reed Richards, John Krasinski was a popular fan choice at the time of his casting, and this inspired Marvel Studios to turn to him to portray Mister Fantastic. Both Xavier and Richards are members of the 838-Universe’s Illuminati in Multiverse of Madness.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness marks the live action debut of “Captain Carter.” The character first appeared in What If …? Season One, though the 838-Universe version of the character is a Multiversal Variant of the one seen in What If …? Hayley Atwell portrays Peggy “Captain” Carter in Multiverse of Madness, marking her MCU eighth appearance in the role following Captain America: The First Avenger, Marvel One-Shot: Captain Carter, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, Avengers: Endgame, and What If …? Season One.
As established in Spider-Man: No Way Home, the presence of a Multiversal Visitor within an Alternate Universe threatens the stability of the Universe that is being visited. This raises the stakes of 616-Doctor Strange’s visit to the 838-Universe in Multiverse of Madness, as his mere presence can cause an “Incursion.” As explained by John Krasinski’s Reed Richards: “An Incursion occurs when the boundary between two Universes erodes and they collide, destroying one of both entirely.” We actually see the remnants of one such Universe in Multiverse of Madness when we meet “Sinister Strange” and this concept looks as if it will fuel The Multiverse Saga as it moves forward on the Road to Avengers: Secret Wars.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
My Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Review
I have to start this review by saying that this movie is unlike anything that the Marvel Studios team have ever produced, and I sincerely mean that. This is scary, suspenseful, haunting, and violent … it is fast-paced, in-your-face storytelling with some of the most unforgettable images and disturbing sequences in comic book movie history! The attention to detail is distinct and the evolution of Stephen Strange and Wanda Maximoff both as characters is extreme!
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness wastes no time in jumping right into the Multiverse side of things, as the film opens in another Universe! The very first sequence features a Doctor Strange Variant (that we will call Defender Strange) trying with all of his magical might to defend an endangered young woman named America Chavez from a monstrous assault. Defender Strange (portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch) quickly fails in this quest and after deciding to sacrifice America for the greater good of the Multiverse, Defender Strange is killed by the monster that was stalking Chavez! A Panicked Chavez inadvertently opens a Multiversal portal (this is her power), landing (along with the corpse of Defender Strange) in the 616-Universe (our Prime MCU {Sacred} Timeline as established in this film) where she is stalked by the monstrous one-eyed squid monster: Gargantos. In the meantime, our Doctor Strange (the one who we last saw in Spider-Man: No Way Home) after seeing the death of Defender Strange in a dream is begrudgingly attending the wedding of his beloved Christine Palmer, who has moved on since the first Doctor Strange film. Soon, Strange is pulled into the ongoing conflict between America (who he recognizes from his dream) and Gargantos, and he is soon joined by Wong, the Sorcerer Supreme.
An all-out fight ensues that ultimately sees our Strange conquer Gargantos by ripping its gigantic eye out of its octopus-like face. I thought this was a really cool sequence with some fantastic camera shots and a successfully captured sense of real panic. With Gargantos conquered, Strange convenes with America, at which point we discover the truth about his dream.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness introduces us to the concept of dream-walking. In the MCU (as this film reveals), dreams are actually glimpses into the lives of one’s Variants across the Multiverse; a rather popular metaphysical theory in some circles. So, what Stephen thought was a bad dream was actually his witnessing of the death of Defender Strange! America tries to explain this to Strange, but he doesn’t believe it until he sees the actual corpse of Defender Strange for himself. As for dream-walking, that entails one’s ability to possess the body of one’s Variant in another Universe. This will become a crucial plot point as the film moves on. Anyway, as Wong and Stephen talk with America, they realize that Gargantos as well as the monster that killed Defender Strange were imbued with runes, which seemed to suggest that they were being controlled by a witch. It is at this point that Strange seeks out assistance from Wanda Maximoff.
Doctor Strange finds Wanda in what appears to be a peaceful existence of gardening and living a life that appears to have no magical influence. Wanda ends up blowing her own cover however, when she name-drops America Chavez without Strange having mentioned her name. It turns out that Wanda is enduring anything but a peaceful solitude. For Wanda is not only as heartbroken as she ever was over the loss of The VISION (having now essentially watched him die three times), but she is also in grieving over the losses of her children Billy and Tommy, and on top of those things, she has been corrupted by The Darkhold. If you watched WandaVision, you know what Wanda is capable of without corruption, so just turn the volume up on all of that and add a few dashes of evil, and you’ll have an idea of where this is going … Wanda is completely and totally broken and at this point in her tumultuous life, she is incapable of bullshit.
As it turns out, it was Wanda herself that has been unleashing these deadly monstrosities upon America Chavez in an effort to steal her Multiversal power so that she can reclaim the life with her beloved children that she lost during the Westview debacle by venturing to another Universe and staying there with Alternate versions of her kids. This realization causes Stephen to slip into a mild panic, and Wanda issues an ultimatum for Stephen to either hand America over to her custody or suffer the consequences. Stephen of course decides to test Wanda’s resolve, uniting with Wong and the might of all of Kamar-Taj in an effort to fend Wanda off. This was a terrible mistake!
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Having given what she felt was a legitimate chance to Strange, Wanda now sees herself as being justified in carrying out what comes next, and what that is, is a declaration of war upon Kamar-Taj! Wanda ends up completely dominating the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj and destroying the very essence of the compound established by Agamotto and maintained by The Ancient One for so long. She slays numerous sorcerers and reduces the erected buildings to rubble in a powerful display of witchcraft that not even Wong can successfully defend against as the Sorcerer Supreme. Elizabeth Olsen is incredible during this entire sequence in her portrayal of Wanda, who is in a ruthless and merciless pursuit of Strange and Chavez. Sam Raimi’s touches as a master horror director also shine here, as Wanda is presented as downright terrifying through creepy body contortions, first-person camera shots, and an emphasis on her eyes. With Wanda dominating the situation and in very real danger of taking America’s power unto herself, America inadvertently opens a portal that takes herself and Stephen into the Multiverse, leaving a frustrated Wanda standing amongst the ruins of Kamar-Taj. From there, Wanda makes Wong her plaything while using The Darkhold to try her hand at the art of dream-walking.
Complete with a WandaVision musical cue that warmed my heart, we enter the Multiverse where Wanda locates a Variant of herself that is living (in the 838-Universe) a peaceful life as the mother of Billy and Tommy. Wanda manages to briefly take over her Variant’s body to make physical contact with the Variants of the boys that she’s lost, only for a sorcerer to sacrifice her life to destroy The Darkhold. This prompts a furious Wanda to torture what is left of Wong’s followers in order to force Wong to embark upon a journey with her to Wundagore Mountain. More on that in a bit!
In the meantime, Doctor Strange and America Chavez venture through various Alternate Universes before landing in Universe-838. This journey through the Multiverse was pretty incredible and gave us momentary glimpses at several other Realities including what I identified as a Noir Reality, an Underwater Reality, a Cubed Reality, a Paint Reality, and a Cartoon Reality along with glimpses of dinosaurs, skeletons, and even The Living Tribunal! I don’t have an updated Visual Guide to the Marvel Cinematic Universe with which to properly identify the names of all of these other worlds, but there were some pretty cool visuals!
As for Universe-838, viewers were able to spend a little quality time here! This was a gorgeous futuristic world full of color and environmental stability. It even had rainbow-colored clouds and boasted several innovative technologies, including one that enabled one to visually display their memories! It was through this technology that the story of America’s tragic loss of her parents when her powers first manifested themselves was told, a scene that served to endear Strange to America all the more.
From there, America suggests they seek out this Universe’s Doctor Strange and they do, only to discover that this world’s Doctor Strange had already (supposedly) died a hero, conquering Thanos! Strange and America then encounter a Variant of Strange’s old Kamar-Taj trainer Karl Mordo, who welcomes them into this Universe’s Sanctum with open arms. After exchanging pleasantries, Mordo ends up poisoning Strange and Chavez, and they awaken in cells where they encounter a Variant of Christine Palmer. Soon, a group of ULTRON sentries arrive to take Strange before The Illuminati!
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Strange meets the 838-Universe versions of Captain Marvel (Maria Rambeau), Captain Carter (Peggy Carter), Black Bolt of The Inhumans, Mister Fantastic of The Fantastic Four, and Charles Xavier of The X-Men and learns that this Universe’s Doctor Strange was actually killed by The Illuminati after Thanos was conquered on Titan, but only due to Strange having consulted The Darkhold. Doing this corrupted Strange and in fact led to what The Illuminati called an Incursion; the potentially cataclysmic collision of two Universes. Strange was executed for this crime, but to honor his sacrifice, The Illuminati publicly credited Strange for the victory over Thanos, simply stating that he died in battle upon Titan. This flashback scene to their execution of 838-Universe Strange was really well done and was complete with an impaled and defeated Thanos visibly seen amongst the ruins of Titan!
And let’s discuss The Illuminati! They were awesome! The highlight for me was the casting of John Krasinski as Reed Richards! I am one of the many people who have wanted to see this for a long time, and I thought he was Fantastic as Reed Richards; pun intended! Seeing Hayley Atwell in live action as Captain Carter was wonderful too, and of course Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier being there was a really big deal, and it came complete with a musical nod to the iconic theme song from X-Men: The Animated Series! A lot of fan service here from Marvel Studios, and I dug most of it in a major way!
This whole Illuminati thing was very unsettling for our Doctor Strange, who in the process of being judged by them, was desperately trying to warn them of the imminent danger that Wanda posed, only for them to consistently try to make Strange himself out to be the greatest threat to their Universe.
In the meantime, back in the 616-Universe, Wanda ascended to the top of Wundagore Mountain where she was welcomed by demons who’d been preparing for her ascension, waiting for her to claim her Hellish Throne as The Scarlet Witch. It is from here where The Darkhold originated, and Wanda was able to use the mystical power of the place to effectively dream-walk and after casually kicking Wong down the Mountain, Wanda wielded her Chaos Magic to locate the 838-Universe Variant of herself and then seize her body in horrifying fashion.
Wanda then set off in her new body to find Stephen and America and to stand against The Illuminati!
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
The Scarlet Witch is full-on Terminator mode here for those of you who have seen those movies. There is no mercy. No hesitation. It is unabashed violence. Wanda kills each and every member of The Illuminati in the most horrible and decisive way possible! She takes away Black Bolt’s mouth and then when he tries to speak, he implodes his own brain and shatters his own skull! She stretches Mister Fantastic beyond his limits before popping his skull as if it were a balloon! She cuts Captain Carter in half with her own Vibranium shield! And she crushes Captain Marvel to death! Professor X then tries to wage war against Wanda on the landscape of her own mind, and this is a really well-done scene as we see the imprisoned 838-Universe Wanda and a broken television showcasing the WandaVision show. Charles does what he can, but he is ultimately no match for The Scarlet Witch and Wanda violently snaps the neck of Professor X, killing him!
Wanda made short and destructive work of The Illuminati, leaving Strange, America, and the Christine Palmer Variant scurrying to find an exit that will take them to the Gap Junction (a physical Realm located between Universes) where they can find the Book of Vishanti (the antithesis of The Darkhold). Wanda’s stalking of the trio here is full-on horror and I loved every second of it! The Gap Junction is eventually reached, but the Book of Vishanti is destroyed and Strange and the Palmer Variant are propelled to another Universe while Wanda takes America back to the 616-Universe as her hostage.
As I understand it, I’m pretty sure that the Universe Strange and Palmer land in is the Universe that the 838-Universe Strange destroyed, for this Universe is a desolate place full of death and destruction that has fallen victim to an Incursion. This Universe boasts just one lone survivor at this point, and I will refer to him as Sinister Strange. This Variant initially seems benevolent, but our Doctor Strange soon discovers this to be a ruse. This version of Strange has been completely corrupted by The Darkhold (hence his sporting of a physically manifested Third Eye, and in fact, I figure it is from this Sinister Strange that the 838-Universe Strange got the idea of using the Book of the Damned in the first place). A fierce battle between the two versions of Doctor Strange commences and after our Strange wins what is a visual and audible assault on the senses, he uses The Darkhold to dream-walk into the corpse of Defender Strange so that he can confront The Scarlet Witch in the 616-Universe atop Wundagore Mountain!
This leads to what is essentially The Scarlet Witch and her demons against a Zombie Doctor Strange, a defiant Wong, and a desperate America Chavez and it is an all-out horror spectacle! This battle sees the Zombie Strange coach America on to victory in a war that is ultimately won when Chavez rises to the occasion and gives Wanda what she wants, gifting Wanda with a few minutes with Billy and Tommy (in the 838-Universe), but that does not go well as the children are terrified of the wicked witch! A disgusted Wanda refrains and is even comforted by her 838-Universe counterpart, who promises to love Billy and Tommy, inspiring The Scarlet Witch to bring Wundagore Mountain down upon herself after she destroys The Darkhold in every Universe.
Strange (616) and Palmer (838) then return home to their respective Universes.
Later, we catch up with America training to be a Master of the Mystic Arts and we see a humbler Strange at long last giving props to Wong as the Sorcerer Supreme. Later still, Strange develops a physical manifestation of the Third Eye, revealing that he too has been at least partially corrupted by The Darkhold and in the mid-credits scene, our Stephen is approached by a sorceress named Clea who informs him that his actions have caused another Incursion and that his services are needed to help prevent this Incursion from occurring. Clea then whisks Strange away into the Dark Dimension, which we were introduced to in 2016’s Doctor Strange.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
A Couple of Questions Coming out of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness with My Answers
# 1 – What do Incursions mean for the future of the MCU?
Well, in the Marvel comics, Incursions as we know them were introduced in Jonathan Hickman’s epic Avengers / New Avengers / Fantastic Four / Secret Wars crossover runs, really driving the narrative of his Time Runs Out story. All of these stories stressed the destructive force of Incursions and showed individual Universes go to war against each other in a play for survival once an Incursion became absolute. To survive an Incursion, one Universe merely needed to eradicate another, and only one Universe can survive an Incursion (though sometimes, both are destroyed). The 838-Universe of Doctor Strange must have come to realize this, and after making the hard choice, this is the crime that The Illuminati punished him for. He may have presented them with a successful way to defeat Thanos, but he doomed trillions in the process, in fact killing twice as many people as Thanos would have! Clea has recruited Strange to combat another Incursion, and I do not expect this to be the last Incursion event that we will see in the MCU. Traces of the power of The Darkhold still exist within our Strange, and I suspect the Incursion problem is only going to get worse moving forward in the MCU.
# 2 – Is Wanda Maximoff Dead?
With comic book movies and shows, I follow a simple rule when it comes to these types of questions … if you don’t see a corpse, the character is not dead. Even that isn’t a guaranteed thing, but it’s a nice place to kind of stake your tent as a viewer! Yes, it would appear that Wanda was buried in a pile of rubble, but how much did we see her withstand earlier in the film!?! Obviously, The Scarlet Witch could have survived that, and if Marvel Studios wants to move forward with this character there is plenty of source material to draw from … Most obviously, she could make a deal with the Devil so to speak, and we can finally see Mephisto make his MCU debut! Wanda gets her kids, Mephisto gets what he was covertly out to get in WandaVision (confirming all of those things so many of us theorized about during that show), and the story moves on toward some sort of place of redemption for Wanda, who will, coming out of this film will need some serious mental and spiritual rehabilitation.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Final Thoughts
I loved Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and a lot of my appreciation for this film directly applies to the utilization of The Scarlet Witch and Elizabeth Olsen’s portrayal of the character! I am a big Scarlet Witch fan, and heading into this movie, the thing I wanted most was to see Wanda completely unhinged, and to say that we got that would be a gross understatement!
Sam Raimi gave us some absolutely terrifying imagery with most of that revolving around Wanda as a wicked witch to be feared! Be it Wanda’s reaching through reflections, crab-walking, twitching, flying, floating, or outright murdering other characters, Wanda Maximoff was a clear villain in this movie and established herself as one of the greatest comic book movie villains of all-time! She was scary. She was creepy. She was devilish. She was mean. She was unapologetic. She was driven. And she was evil while seeing the movie’s primary protagonist as the villain of the story.
When it comes to The Scarlet Witch, I got every single thing that I wanted out of this movie, right down to her violently murdering The Illuminati! Elizabeth Olsen delivered in a major way by taking this character that she has portrayed for eight-years to more new and exciting places while continuing her story from WandaVision. This was new. This was different. This was awesome. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was the Scarlet Witch movie that I’ve waited years for!
It was beyond that, the continued evolution of Marvel Studios! The people who say ad nauseam that all superhero movies are the same and that all Marvel movies are formulaic no longer have a leg to stand on. If you’ve watched WandaVision, and Loki, and Eternals, and Moon Knight, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, you have had a very different experience with each project. You’ve seen different tropes, different themes, different plot points, etc.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was a horror movie. Yes, it was a superhero movie at its core, but it went to places that Marvel Studios has never gone and it went all-in on those things! This was dark and violent and frightening. This was sorcery vs witchcraft. This was Doctor Strange vs The Scarlet Witch. Honestly, it was so different, I don’t know that Marvel Studios didn’t alienate a subsection of their fan-base with this film, because it pushed the envelope, and it pushed it hard! I loved it, but I can see a lot of folks being turned off by this type of thing. That’s fine though, if you’ve read much of my writing, you know that I’m perfectly happy with Marvel Studios making movies and shows just for me.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
As part of evaluating this film, I believe the question of whether or not Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness lived up to the hype that preceded it, is a fair thing to ponder and to be completely fair, I am going to say … no.
It lived up to the hype for me, but I think a lot of passionate fans are going to feel let down that by the fact that the Multiverse was not all that it was hyped up to be. Most people had believed we were going to see a ton of cameos, and most people believed we were going to visit a variety of Universes and spend a lofty amount of time with those characters and in those Universes. Unless you turned off your phone and completely avoided the internet, you heard rumors pertaining to everyone from Tom Cruise to Chris Evans, to Hugh Jackman showing up in this thing, and that specific hype was what had a lot of people anticipating this movie.
Personally, I wanted to see Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool really bad, and I was hoping to see Hugh Jackman as Wolverine too, but to be fair from the other side, Marvel Studios never promised any of these things. Aside from naming the film Multiverse of Madness, this was a pure case of the internet hype machine bonding with fan fiction and pushing a narrative that was supposedly true, but in actuality was never rooted in fact. Spider-Man: No Way Home was crazy good, and it delivered on just about all of the hype that preceded it, and I think that film caused the cameo hype for this movie to go overboard, but in reality, such things were never in the cards here. We did get cameos, and these cameos were supposed to be very big deals, and I believe that the introductions of Professor Xavier, Mister Fantastic, and Black Bolt specifically were treated as a big deal, and whether or not that was enough to satisfy each specific viewer is up to that viewer, but I do believe some people are going to feel pretty letdown.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Personally, the biggest problem that I had with this film was actually not with the movie itself, but with the trailers! Did the trailers for this film show too much? Oh, yes. Absolutely!
Revealing Patrick Stewart in a trailer was a huge marketing mistake, because not only did it spoil what should have been a surprising moment in the movie, but also because a lot of people figured “If they’re showing us Patrick Stewart in the trailer, what kind of surprises are we going to see come movie time!?!” And I think that’s fair. I certainly felt that way. The truth all along however was that The Illuminati were the biggest surprise of this movie and the trailers just about fully spoiled not only their presence, but who each member of the group was!
Along with that, we saw sequences from just about every single important scene in the trailers. Defender Strange? Saw it. Gargantos? Saw it. Wanda attacking Kamar-Taj? Saw it. America and Stephen tumbling through the Multiverse? Saw it. Stephen standing before the The Illuminati? Saw it. Wicked Wanda? Saw it. Zombie Strange? Yeah, we even saw that! The trailers showed WAY too much, and whoever is in charge of marketing should be dressed down and given some new directives going forward. Remember how little we saw of Endgame? That was awesome! Remember how cool it was to see Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire revealed during No Way Home? That was wonderful! Sometimes, less is more, and that certainly is the case with this film, as anyone that paid attention to the trailers could pretty much plot this film out from start-to-finish, as it was all there.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Now that those critiques are out of the way, let me offer some hope and say that I DO think eventually, everyone is going to get just about everything that they want! With the introduction of Incursions, I really do believe Marvel Studios is moving towards some sort of an adaptation of Secret Wars and that means that this Multiverse thing is something that is going to continue to play itself out for months and even years to come! We are still going to see teases of other worlds and other Realities, we are still going to see other Variants, and it’s all going to lead to a Multiversal War that will pit Variant against Variant and Universe against Universe, and it’s going to be beyond epic!
As fans, we want everything NOW, but I believe that Marvel Studios is playing the long game here, and we just have to be patient and hope we live to see it all pay off! We know The Fantastic Four is coming! We know mutants are coming! We know Deadpool is coming! We Know Kang the Conqueror is coming! We don’t know exactly when or how, but for now, we just have to enjoy the ride!
The end is only part of the journey, and personally, I really enjoyed this part of the ride!
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Highlights of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff / The Scarlet Witch (two versions)
Wicked Wanda
Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Stephen Strange (four versions)
Wanda murdering each member of The Illuminati
John Krasinski as Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic
Wanda’s Unrelenting Assault on Kamar-Taj
Hayley Atwell as Captain Carter
Sam Raimi’s trademark directorial style Unrestrained
Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez
Jett Klyne and Julian Hilliard as Billy and Tommy Maximoff
Excellent Musical Score
Marvel Studios Embraces the Horror!
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Notable MCU Concepts Introduced:
Defender Strange. America Chavez. Gargantos. Universe-838. Christine Palmer (Universe 838). Doctor Strange (Universe-838). Thanos (Universe-838). Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic (Universe-838). Maria Rambeau / Captain Marvel (Universe-838). ULTRON (Universe-838). Charles Xavier / Professor X (Universe-838). Sorcerer Supreme Mordo (Universe-838). Black Bolt (Universe-838). Billy and Tommy Maximoff (Universe-838). Wanda Maximoff (Universe-838). Sinister Strange (Incursion Universe). Clea. Mutants. Inhumans. The Fantastic Four.
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