Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

“Journey into the unknown in Marvel Studios’ Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. When the MCU unlocks the Multiverse, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) must enlist help from old and new allies as he traverses mind-bending and dangerous alternate realities in order to confront a surprising adversary.”

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was easily one of my most anticipated MCU films of this year, as I always enjoyed Benedict Cumberbatch’s portrayal as Stephen Strange and continually wowed by his abilities, as well as his biggest character flaw that he needs to overcome in most situations: his arrogance. While we saw a hint of the multiverse in the previous MCU film, Spider-Man: No Way Home, okay, maybe a bit more than a ‘hint’, having an entire film dedicated to the further exploration of that was very exciting.

The biggest mystery leading up to the release of the film, for me anyway, was who the antagonist was and the main plot of the story, as the early trailers didn’t give much of anything away. So, if you haven’t seen the film and don’t want to spoil anything, I wouldn’t read much further, as I’ll be diving into spoiler territory.

Spoilers Ahead.

While the title suggests Doctor Strange will be navigating the Multiverse, as I mentioned, there was little information on what exactly he’ll be doing or what possible dangers he may encounter. In the opening sequence we meet America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), and who we come to realize is an alternate version of Doctor Strange. We discover that America’s abilities enable her to travel the multiverse, not at will, because her powers only seem to work when she’s frightened. She’s being hunted by creatures who want to kidnap her for her abilities, only to find out they are conjured by witchcraft, and who do we know that’s a witch of the scarlet variety? If you’ve seen WandaVision, you know what Wanda Maximoff went through in which her despair of losing the love of her life caused her to go a bit off the deep end and enslave an entire town and create a magical reality in which Vision is alive and they have children together. She apparently doesn’t acclimate to real life all too well, as last we saw her in the series she was exploring the Darkhold. Now, desperate to find another universe in which her children actually do exist, she is hunting America down in order to steal her power, travel to said universe and supplant native Wanda as her alternate-universe-children’s mother.

Now that we’re caught up, I’ll be straightforward, I think the entire thing is plain dumb, and I’ll give my reasoning.

Knowing Wanda’s character since Captain America: The Winter Soldier, we’ve seen her path to redemption based on her actions of the past. It’s a long road for her, and then when she finally feels like she is beginning to belong, her actions in Sokovia throw another wrench into her journey. Despite this, and all the hardships she’s endured, she becomes part of The Avengers, fighting one of the biggest battles we’ve seen in the MCU. Her loss of Vision, granted, sends her into a downward spiral, thus WandaVision, but she finds redemption again after an entire series of her being in denial and enslaving tons of people. The issue is, we see her redemption at the end of WandaVision, we feel good about it, then we have no context as to why she’s all of the sudden super evil besides just saying ‘Oh, Darkhold’. I honestly think this is one of the weakest stories in the entire MCU, and the weakest villain since Thor 2. Her misguided justification in her actions is a bit too on the nose when you write a villain that believes wholeheartedly that they are in the right. One of the worst lines of dialogue I’ve ever heard comes from this: “I’m not a monster, I’m a mother.” Wanda’s needs are so shortsighted they are entirely one dimensional, causing me to not care in the slightest, thus defeating the entire point of the plot. While I know my reactions are entirely subjective, on a second watch I didn’t feel any better about Wanda, her motivations, or anything relating to the antagonist in the story whatsoever.

Now, I didn’t feel that way about everything, as my excitement for the character Doctor Strange was still present all the way through, despite not caring what or who he was fighting. His journey seems to have left off pretty close to the first, with his regret of losing Christine (Rachel McAdams), despite him now being an all-powerful wizard and savior of the universe. This despair follows him through his travels in the Multiverse, where he has quite a bit of bonding with America Chavez. I do think that this could have been explored much more in depth than it was, instead of her being imprisoned and/or captured for a large portion of the film, because the moments between them humanized Doctor Strange, and those moments seemed to be few and far between.

The Multiverse was cool, but the introduction of it presents a major problem that I don’t know how the MCU is going to overcome. Deaths now have little meaning in any future film because of it. Tony Stark could easily come back at any time as an alternate version of Iron Man, or someone else playing him. We saw different characters taking on different mantels, and characters we’ve been familiar with in the past show up as themselves. Does it matter their fates? No, because it’s an alternate universe, and at any time one can just pop up from an infinite number of other places. Spider-Man: No Way Home tackled this way better than this film did. With the introduction of the Multiverse, things are going to become so convoluted that Marvel and Disney are at risk of losing audiences. You’re already seeing it with the low viewership in some of their newer Disney+ shows, and unless they pull back the reins a bit, we could finally see the end of the superhero box office dominance.

I’ll preface this next part by saying that I’ve been a fan of Sam Raimi since I saw Evil Dead as a kid, and followed every single one of his films since. It’s always fun when he ventures into the mainstream, and he never fails to put his own spin on the films he directs, and I loved it. Until now. Perhaps it’s the mood of the film overall that spoils it for me, or I’m just tired of the whole schtick that gave him a cult following, but I found those moments to be only distracting and took me out of the flow of the film. Anyone who knows Raimi knows what moments I’m talking about, the weird camera twists, high-speed zooms, lenses that make you sea-sick. I love Raimi, I love Bruce, but it all felt out of place when I wanted, and expected, a Doctor Strange film, and got WandaVision 2.0.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness gets some things wrong, but it gets some things right as well. Despite my level of enjoyment and disappointment with certain aspects, there is a lot of entertainment value in the story that introduces some new characters into the MCU, and presents a lot of questions about what’s next, especially with Doctor Strange.

We were given a digital code to review this film, which is now available on Disney+. The physical copy doesn’t come out until the 26^th of this month, which will be packed full of extras, with superior video and audio, something that cannot be accurately reviewed based on internet connections. According to the press release, you can expect these extras to be included, a bonus for picking up a physical copy, as well as not having to pay for a subscription service any time you want to watch it:

Special Features

• Method to the Madness – Join various crew members and Marvel employees in interviews as they discuss their love of Sam Raimi and all the details of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness that make it quintessentially Raimi.
• Introducing America Chavez – In this short and fun profile piece, we’ll learn about America’s humble beginnings in the comics. We’ll meet Xochitl Gomez and discuss the complications her character’s unique power presents for the future of the MCU.
• Constructing the Multiverse – Writing a feature film for Marvel is no easy task. In this playful yet informative featurette, we’ll dive into the challenges that writer Michael Waldron faced in creating the twisting and turning story of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
• Bloopers
• Gag Reel –  Take a look at some of the fun outtakes on set with the cast and crew of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
• Audio Commentary – View the film with audio commentary by Sam Raimi, Richie Palmer, and Michael Waldron

Deleted Scenes

• A Great Team – A journalist questions Doctor Strange’s integrity.
• Pizza Poppa – Bruce is relieved when Doctor Strange’s spell ends.
• It’s Not Permanent – Bruce tries to accuse Doctor Strange of being an imposter.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is now available on Digital and will be release on 4K, Blu-ray and DVD July 26.