Re-Visiting the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

 "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" (2022)

Due to characters popping up it's easy to forget that it's not uncommon for long stretches of time to pass before installments of their solo films. Take a look at the first "Doctor Strange." It came out in 2016. You wouldn't think that because since then we've seen the Sorcerer Supreme pop up in "Thor: Ragnarok," "Avengers: Infinity War" & "Endgame" and "Spider-Man: No Way Home." And that doesn't include his animated appearances in "What If...?" 

Principal photography on "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" began in November 2020 but was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic in January 2021. It resumed in March 2021 and concluded in mid-April 2021. The film stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Stephen Strange, Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Karl Mordo, Benedict Wong as Wong, Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez, Michael Stuhlbarg as Nicodemus West and Rachel McAdams as Christine Palmer. The film was written by Michael Waldron. It was directed by Sam Raimi. "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" premiered on May 6, 2022.

Just normal meditating.

It's interesting that I saw this movie for the first time almost a year ago to the day. Time flies when Marvel is just pumping out content without giving us a chance to catch our breath. 

I have some big issues with this movie and I will be ranting about them but I figured that I will save that for the end of this recap. I thought I would start with the things I liked about it. And honestly, there are quite a few things. I remember seeing this movie twice in theaters and enjoying it both times despite my pretty major issues with the story. That story is this: America Chavez has the power to punch portals to different worlds in the multiverse. She is being pursued by strange creatures and this pursuit takes her to the doorstep of Doctor Strange and the new Sorcerer Supreme, Wong. When Strange goes to Wanda Maximoff aka the Scarlet Witch for help, he learns that she is the one pursuing America, hoping to steal her powers to reunite with a version of her missing children somewhere in the multiverse.

Benedict Cumberbatch continues to be one of the MCU's secret weapon. His Stephen Strange is so faithful to the comics in the best way. He's sardonic and there has been growth but he's still the snarky, perfectionist who thinks he is better than everyone and that's kind of what we want. If someone is in charge of such powerful magicks, don't you kind of want them to be super overconfident. And, its not like Strange doesn't pay the price for his overconfidence. He's basically told at every turn that the reason that he can't be with Christine in any multiversal incarnation because of his obnoxious antics. 

Elizabeth Olsen continues to be one of the strongest actors within the MCU. I have some major issues with Wanda's character arc in this film (a preview of the rant to come). But Olsen sells all of it. You believe everything. This is definitely a more over-the-top performance than what we are used to from her, but we still get a lot of quiet moments. Olsen can make you weep with just a facial expression which we learned in "WandaVision" and that quality is on display here as well. This is a more physical performance than we're used to seeing from Olsen and she knocks it out of the park. When she is stalking Strange, America and 838 Christine throughout the Illuminati complex, it's like she's a shambling unstoppable zombie and the reason its so scary is because of the physicality of Olsen's performance.

Zombie Supreme.

They really should just rename Phase 4, Phase Wong. Benedict Wong's character has been killing it so far from his appearance in "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" to what he does here. I love that Wong is the Sorcerer Supreme and I love that is still the case when this movie is over. It would have been easy to give the title back to Strange, but they don't and I think that is a smart move. I was terrified that they were going to kill Wong, especially when Wanda tosses him off of Wundagore Mountain, but Wong survives as he always should. 

Poor Rachel McAdams. She is definitely suffering from Natalie Portman in the first two "Thor" movies syndrome. She's just the girlfriend. She has no agency of her own. She's relegated to being the one that got away. The 616 version of Christine Palmer is married off at the beginning and the 838 version is just there to encourage Strange and pine for him but eventually let him go. This definitely feels like the swan song for the character in the MCU, particularly with the introduction of Clea, and she definitely deserved better than this. Xochitl Gomez acquits herself well as America Chavez, but there's just not a ton of stuff there for her to do. She feels more like a prop rather than a fully fleshed out character. I am sure this isn't the last we've seen of her and hopefully she'll blossom in future appearances. There's lots of potential here and I'd love to see it come to fruition.

One of the things I really enjoy about "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" is the pacing. We are so used to Marvel movies being long, like two and half hours to three hours long, but this one is a brisk 2 hours and 6 minutes. The movie doesn't have you linger on things too long and that isn't really a bad thing. This is really the first time that the MCU has dipped it's toes in to horror and do you really want to watch a horror movie that lasts almost three hours?

Everybody in this party dying like Illuminati.

"Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" introduces the Illuminati to the MCU. The Illuminati consists of Captain Carter, Maria Rambeau as Captain Marvel, Black Bolt, Reed Richards, Karl Mordo and Professor Charles Xavier. This is pure fan service and you know, it got me. People have been clamoring for John Krasinski to play Reed Richards in the MCU and we get it. I definitely think that there is no way that he will play Reed in the "Fantastic Four" MCU movie that is in the pipeline, but at least we will have this. As someone who is a huge X-Men fan and grew up watching "X-Men: The Animated Series" I definitely got goosebumps seeing Patrick Stewart in that classic look with the yellow hover wheelchair and the theme song playing. You know that I am susceptible to fan service and they got me with this one, gal.

I like that Marvel is branching out and hiring directors like Sam Raimi. He has some experience with Marvel films having directed the original "Spider-Man" trilogy. Marvel famously doesn't give their directors a lot of leeway but there are definitely moments in this movie where they let Sam Raimi do what Sam Raimi does. The horror elements are very Raimi. The whole sequence with Wanda unaliving the Illuminati is very Raimi from Wanda unraveling Reed like spaghetti to her removing Black Bolt's mouth so he basically blows up his own brain. But, it's the sequence with Wanda snapping Xavier's neck on the astral plane that really gives you the full Raimi.

The other part of the film that feels like a full on Sam Raimi production is Zombie Strange. Seriously. It feels like something that I could see happening in "Drag Me to Hell." I love that Marvel allowed Raimi to bring these distinct visual flourishes and his own eccentricities into this movie. It helps "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" have it's own cinematic language that differentiates it from other MCU projects.

To me, my Illuminati.

There are other small moments that I love and a lot of it has to do with the visuals. The sequence of America and Strange traveling through the Multiverse is so visually arresting. Then, there is the fight between Strange and his Darkhold protecting variant. Love it or hate it, and I love it, that music notes battle will go down in MCU history.

OK. So it's time for me to air out my major grievance with this movie and it is the complete and total character assassination of Wanda Maximoff. When I first saw this movie, I wondered if the person who wrote it had even seen WandaVision and it turns out... he hadn't. Just this week, Michael Waldron admitted that Marvel hadn't shown him "WandaVision" when he was writing the script or even tell him the major character beats that Wanda was going to go through during the series. That is so crazy to me. There really is no excuse for that. So, if it feels like you missed a major part of Wanda's story between the series and this film, you pretty much did.

Wanda goes through so many things in "WandaVision" and its difficult to connect the dots from there to here. At the end of the series, Wanda seems contrite and sad for the things she did in Westview. She seems to be ready to make amends but all of that is tossed out the window in this movie. Wanda's complete heel turn just doesn't make a ton of sense. The movie doesn't do a good job of explaining how Wanda goes from somewhat repentant to being ready to murder a child to steal children away from someone else. The movie basically just says that Wanda does these things because of um.. motherhood and *waves hand generically* the Darkhold. The Scarlet Witch is a great character and she deserves better than all of this. We don't have that many marquee female Avengers anymore and we shouldn't be making them go crazy and killing them off for something as cliché as motherhood making a woman crazy. I'm hopeful that they fix this Scarlet Witch situation in the upcoming "Agatha: Coven of Chaos" Disney Plus series.

A brief mention of Wundagore Mountain which features heavily in the back half of the movie. In the comics, that is the home of the High Evolutionary, the villain of the just released "Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3." I doubt they will connect, but worth mentioning.

The film ends on a Raimi horror note with a jovial Strange freaking out when a third eye appears on his forehead. The mid credits scene introduces us to Charlize Theron as Clea, who in the comics is Strange's wife. She claims that he is responsible for a multiversal incursion and they are off to stop it. The post credits scene is a fun stinger with Bruce Campbell's character which is another Raimi hallmark.

Next up, we meet the third member of "The Marvels," Kamala Khan, as we begin our re-watch of the next Disney Plus MCU series, "Ms. Marvel."

What did you all think of this movie? Did you think that Wanda was done dirty? What was your favorite part? Your least favorite? Is this really the season of Wong? Let me know in the comments.