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REVIEW -- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is a 2022 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics featuring the character Doctor Strange. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the sequel to Doctor Strange (2016) and the 28th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Sam Raimi, written by Michael Waldron, and stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange, alongside Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Rachel McAdams. In the film, Strange travels into the multiverse to protect America Chavez (Gomez), a teenager capable of travelling between universes, from Wanda Maximoff (Olsen).

In Marvel Studios’ “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” the MCU unlocks the Multiverse and pushes its boundaries further than ever before. Journey into the unknown with Doctor Strange, who, with the help of mystical allies both old and new, traverses the mind-bending and dangerous alternate realities of the Multiverse to confront a mysterious new adversary. “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, with Michael Stühlbarg, and Rachel McAdams. The film is directed by Sam Raimi, and Kevin Feige is the producer. Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Eric Hauserman Carroll, Scott Derrickson and Jamie Christopher serve as executive producers. The screenplay was written by Michael Waldron. “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” is in cinemas now.

Cast

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

Rachel McAdams as Christine Palmer

Patrick Stewart appears as Charles Xavier / Professor X, the leader of the Illuminati, after portraying a different version of the character in 20th Century Fox's X-Men film series. Other Illuminati members include Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter / Captain Carter, after voicing a similar version of the character in the animated series What If...? (2021); Lashana Lynch as Maria Rambeau / Captain Marvel, an alternate version of her character in Captain Marvel (2019); Anson Mount as Blackagar Boltagon / Black Bolt, an alternate version of his role in Marvel's ABC television series Inhumans (2017); and John Krasinski as Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic, a member of the Fantastic Four. Julian Hilliard and Jett Klyne reprise their respective roles from WandaVision as Maximoff's sons Billy and Tommy, while Topo Wresniwiro reprises his role from the first film as Hamir, a Master of the Mystic Arts. Also appearing in the film are Sheila Atim as Sarah, a Master of the Mystic Arts; Adam Hugill as Rintrah, a minotaur-esque being from R'Vaal who is a student at Kamar-Taj; and the creature Gargantos, designed after Shuma-Gorath. Charlize Theron makes a cameo appearance as Clea in the mid-credits scene, while screenwriter Michael Waldron cameos as a guest at Christine's wedding. Bruce Campbell, a frequent collaborator with director Sam Raimi, makes two appearances as a vendor of an alternate universe restaurant called Pizza Poppa, both during the film and its post-credits scene.

Plot

FULL SPOILERS BELOW

America Chavez and an alternate version of Dr. Stephen Strange are chased by a demon in space between universes while looking for the Book of Vishanti. This Strange is killed and Chavez accidentally creates a portal that transports them to Earth-616, where this universe's Strange rescues Chavez from an octopus demon chasing her by killing it with help from Sorcerer Supreme Wong. Chavez explains that the demons are hunting her because she has the power to travel through the multiverse.

Recognizing runes of witchcraft on the demon and the alternate Strange's corpse, Strange consults Wanda Maximoff, only to realize that she is responsible for the demons hunting Chavez. Since acquiring the Darkhold and becoming the Scarlet Witch, Maximoff believes that controlling the multiverse with Chavez's power will allow her to reunite with Billy and Tommy, the children she created during her time in Westview. When Strange refuses to surrender Chavez, Wanda attacks Kamar-Taj, killing many sorcerers. Chavez accidentally transports herself and Strange across the multiverse to Earth-838. Maximoff uses the Darkhold to "dream-walk" into the body of her Earth-838 counterpart, who lives a suburban life with her own Billy and Tommy, but Wong destroys the Darkhold, breaking the dream-walk. Maximoff forcibly compels Wong to lead her to Mount Wundagore, the source of the Darkhold's power and containing a shrine to the Scarlet Witch.

While searching for help, Strange and Chavez are arrested by Earth-838's Karl Mordo and brought before the Illuminati, which consists of Mordo himself, Captain Peggy Carter, King Blackagar Boltagon, Captain Maria Rambeau, Doctor Reed Richards, and Professor Charles Xavier. They explain that through reckless use of his universe's Darkhold, Earth-838's Strange triggered, and barely averted a universe-destroying "incursion" and had to be killed before he caused more harm; Mordo believes Earth-616's Strange is similarly dangerous. Before they can pass judgment, Maximoff arrives and kills the Illuminati, except Mordo. Strange and Chavez escape with help from the Earth-838 counterpart of Strange's ex-fiancé Christine Palmer, an Illuminati scientist.

Fleeing from Maximoff, the trio enters the space between universes to find the Book of Vishanti, but Maximoff appears and takes over Chavez's mind, using her powers to send the others to an incursion-destroyed universe. On Earth-616, Maximoff begins the spell to take Chavez's powers. Strange fights the destroyed universe's Strange, who has been corrupted by the Darkhold. Strange uses this Darkhold to dream-walk into the corpse of the alternate Strange which remained on Earth-616 and save Chavez with Wong. Unable to overpower Maximoff, Chavez instead transports her back to Earth-838, allowing Billy and Tommy to witness her evil. They recoil in fear, crying for their real mother, Earth-838's Wanda.

Realizing the error of her ways, Maximoff sacrifices herself and uses her powers to bring down Mount Wundagore, destroying all copies of the Darkhold throughout the multiverse. Before Palmer returns to Earth-838, Strange tells her that he still loves his universe's Palmer but has always been too scared to have a real relationship. Chavez begins training as a sorcerer at Kamar-Taj. Sometime later, Strange develops a third eye as a result of using the Darkhold and is approached by a sorceress, who warns him that his actions have triggered an incursion as both enter the Dark Dimension.

The Verdict:

Even though I fear that I'm beginning to be a little too lenient on these superhero films as of late than most, I'm going to stand firm in my opinion that this film definitely ranks within the top 3-5 solo superhero films that Marvel Studios has put out to date. For me personally, this film ranks behind Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Spider-Man: No Way Home in my top three favorite solo Avengers films to date.

Let's dive into an in-depth breakdown of my thoughts on the film and where I think things will go next in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Characters

Doctor Steven Strange / Doctor Strange, former Sorcerer Supreme of Earth-616 / Defender Strange (later, Zombie Defender Strange) / "Sinister" Strange

I can safely say that Doctor Strange comes off a lot more intelligent in this film than in his last Marvel Cinematic Universe appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Strange finally starting to see that there are consequences for his actions, namely his arrogance that he has to be one "always holding the knife" as how Christine Palmer put it at the beginning of the film. In his former career as a surgeon, that was well and good, but in his superhero career, those choices have cataclysmic consequences for always taking matters into his own hands. The events of this film serve as a life lesson for Strange to teach him humility for all of his intelligence and desires to always be in control and/or to be right.

Benedict Cumberbatch plays all of the multiple versions of Dr. Strange in this film effectively. That's quite the feat on itself when he's portraying at the minimum of four different versions of the same character.

My only problem with Dr. Strange in this film is that he's back to being rather stuck in his ways. He's adamant about standing in his own ground that his own solution to problem is only proper course of action (as how Christine painfully pointed out...) and it plays out throughout the entire film to the detriment of him and others affected throughout the Multiverse. There wasn't a single moment of compassion from Strange that emphasizes with Wanda's state of grieving when Strange even points out and recognizes that she is being influenced by the Darkhold. He doesn't even try to break the grip that the Darkhold's influence has on her mind. He had already seen what the Darkhold has done to two Multiverse variants of himself and to Wanda Maximoff, but decides to use it anyway. His actions in this film further solidifies Christine's comments of Strange always having to be the one who is holding the knife. Fortunately, he was able to have some character growth (even a little is better than none) in the film's climax, where the passed the baton to America Chavez to step up as the hero would save the day in this story.

America Chavez

Simply put, from the moment that she's introduced into this film, America Chavez's major justification into this film was to serve as a plot device to fuel the principle conflict. Otherwise, this film really didn't require her to be a part of it at all if there wasn't any demand for her ability to freely transverse the Multiverse.

I can understand reasoning behind a lot of the complaints in that regard in terms of how she was used here, but for what it was worth, I thought we got a decent sampler platter of what to expect from her in future appearances in the MCU.

America Chavez shines in this story in regards to where Strange failed to recognize that his fellow Avenger needed help, she was able to find the means to break the Darkhold's influence on Wanda Maximoff and recognize the error in her ways.

Before people trying to complain that this film is trying to force LGBTQ+ representation, Chavez's sexual orientation and representation here is the exact same as her comic book counterpart, so there's not any pandering to be made here.

I found this meme on Facebook and I HAD to share it in this review...

Wong, current Sorcerer Supreme of Earth-616

Wong had inherited the title of the Sorcerer Supreme during the five years that transpired after Dr. Strange was dusted along with half the universe's population after the events in Avengers: Infinity War. I like to safely assume that this film takes place following the events of Shang-Chi and the Seven Rings since I was pretty sure that I noticed some of the warriors from Ta Lo had gathered at Kamar-Taj to help fortify its defenses against the pending attack of the Scarlet Witch. Then again, I could be wrong as those were probably other sorcerers from the other Sanctums across the globe, notably in Europe and Japan. If those were the warriors from Ta Lo, then Shang-Chi was painfully absent from the action as he would have been able to do something in that battle to lend a hand.

I hate to say it, but Wong finds himself on the losing end of a lot of the battles in this film. That's not a good look to say that he's the current Sorcerer Supreme for Earth-616. His upgrade is merely in title only as he's still Strange's sidekick, despite taking over the reigns as the Sorcerer Supreme.

Christine Palmer (from both Earth-616 and Earth-838)

Earth-616's Christine Palmer was being happily married at the start of this film, clearly leaving her former relationship with Dr. Strange as a thing of the past while Strange obviously still has feelings for her. He keeps her at arms length, seemingly for her own protection.

You really can't blame her for moving on with her life instead of idly waiting around for Strange to get his act together, even before the Snap occurred over five years ago. For me, I love Rachel Adams as an actress, especially in the Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes films starring Robert Downey Jr., but I never cared for this character that was clearly reimagined for this insignificant role in these films.

For those who aren't aware, Christine Palmer is the name of one of three women in Marvel Comics that were known as the "Night Nurse" in the VERY short-lived comic book of the same name.

Earth-838's Christine Palmer wasn't much different outside of her bright red hair, which made me confuse her with a possible cameo from Jean Grey before she turned around and addressed Strange during his and Chavez's confinement. This variant of Palmer seems to only exist to allow Strange to have a Christine Palmer that he can confide into about his "true" feelings without ruining her marriage.

Karl Mordo / Karl Mordo, Sorcerer Supreme of Earth-838

One thing that is going to confuse a lot of viewers watching this film is the poor job this film does of distinguishing Earth-838's Karl Mordo from 616's own. Strange merely mentions the latter in a throwaway line of dialogue explaining the 616's Mordo's whereabouts when they meet the Earth-838 version for the first time. Strange enough, Dr. Strange is able to entice this Mordo into fighting him after pointing out their similarities.

Earth-838's Mordo inherits the title of Sorcerer Supreme for that universe after that universe's Dr. Strange is killed by the Illuminati. He shares their views that 616's Strange is a threat to all of the multiverse.

I thought it was pretty odd that he wasn't killed off like the rest of the Illuminati during Wanda's murderous rampage. They just left him in the Illuminati's control room with a half of a power dampening bracelet on and never brought him for the rest of the film. I'm going to reserve hope that they have something more in store for him (both versions actually) in Doctor Strange 3, whenever that happens.

Wanda Maximoff / The Scarlet Witch

Note: The concept art shown above was shared and found on Twitter.

The Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff's full potential as a magic user after this was unleashed at the end of WandaVision) serves as the primary antagonist for this film after showing that she has clearly gone off the deep end following the events of WandaVision. The events of that series left her in possession of the Darkhold. With it, she becomes obsessed with the idea that the only solution to seeing her children (Billy and Tommy) again would be to take America Chavez's powers as her own.

If you haven't gotten a clue by now, then allow me to spell it out for you. Wanda has gone completely off the deep end after convincing herself that the "children" that she conjured up with her magic like the rest of the illusions in Westview, were real. Now she's willing to hunt down America Chavez across the multiverse to find an universe where she can be with those children as their mother. It's simultaneously heartbreaking and scary to see how far gone into a downward spiral that Wanda has gone since losing Vision in Avengers: Infinity War. She's lost herself to the pain of loss and doesn't know how to recover from it at all.

I have seen other critics and skeptics who have been critical of this film complain that Wanda's actions aren't justified and she's simply too powerful for this narrative without any explanation. In my honest opinion, I feel that these same critics have not been paying attention up to this point or simply haven't bothered to keep up with Wanda's journey throughout the MCU up to this point. She is in possession of the Darkhold, a magical tome of magic that not only has unfathomable power on its own, but amplifies the magical potential of whoever is in possession of it - not to mention that the Darkhold takes hold of that user's dark impulses and desires. It's captured her soul in a sense. Wanda's next step of the evolution of her character had to be that as a villain as she was already on that course anyway in WandaVision.

She has lost more than anyone else in the MCU to date. She lost her brother Pietro/Quicksilver to Ultron's forces at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron. She was forced to blow a hole into the head of the man that she loved in hopes of destroying the Infinity Stone that he carried and saving the universe from the threat of Thanos, which proved to be fruitless as Thanos merely used the Time Stone (forcing her to relive that tragedy) and killed Vision again right in front of her for the Soul Stone. She was among the many heroes that saw Tony Stark/Ironman's noble sacrifice at the end of Avengers: Endgame and was made painfully aware that both Vision and her former teammate Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow were unable to be resurrected like everyone else. She was still grieving at the end of WandaVision. She had to sacrifice her dream world (including her sons) to free everyone from the Hex, which was created in the first place as a byproduct of her own grief. Reading the Darkhold only caused her pain of loss and grief to multiply tenfold as it's influence easily warped her mind and convinced her that bringing her children back was possible by acquiring Chavez's powers to freely traverse the Multiverse. The Darkhold's influence sets Wanda on a bloody rampage in this film to satisfy that obsession to be reunited with her children, while simultaneously blinding her to the fact that she has become a monster to do so. Being the most powerful magic user on the planet doesn't make Wanda immune to the Darkhold's influence at all. That fact, along with her powers include some limited telepathy, telekinesis, and reality warping on top of her proficiency as a sorceress in this continuity makes her a very formidable foe with the Darkhold amplifying her powers even further. She's not thinking with a rational mind, hence why she's so dead set on fulfilling this fool's errand.

I can understand the gripes from fans of WandaVision who are under the impression that Wanda's acting out of character or contradictory to her actions from that series. She released the people from Westview from under her spell in the Hex and seemingly came to terms with the grief of losing Vision but I think those same fans are ignoring (and greatly underestimating) the degree of the Darkhold on her already damaged psyche. Her grief and her desire to be reunited with her children again gave the Darkhold a firm chain to be seduced by its power. I don't think she forgot about Vision as a spit in the face to what happened in WandaVision. Instead, she went accepting and acknowledging her grief and went to back to full blown denial - this time concerning the "fake" children she conjured up, Billy and Tommy.

After everything that Wanda has endured up to this point, I truly felt her pain when she said, "It's not fair..." to Doctor Strange. It's really not when the Avengers were willing to break the rules of time and space to bring all of the people that Thanos snapped away out of existence, but she can't explore any means to bring back the ones she lost too? They do it and they were seen as heroes, but when she attempts to do the same, she's regarded as a villain. It's hard not to see the hypocrisy in this logic, but the major difference is that Wanda goes as far willing to kill and murder innocent lives. The notion where Wanda can't recognize that fact is truly where the "madness" of this film's title truly comes into play.

The Illuminati

Captain Peggy Carter / Captain Carter

King Blackagar Boltagon / Black Bolt

Captain Maria Rambeau / Captain Marvel

Doctor Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic

Charles Xavier / Professor X

This was the worst kept secret/surprise in this entire film in my eyes - even more than the three Spider-Men reuniting in Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Hayley Atwell reprises her role as Peggy Carter from her previous appearances in the MCU, along with voicing this variant of the character in What If...? animated series. Lashana Lynch reprises the role of Maria Rambeau from the original Captain Marvel film for this variant of Captain Marvel. Anson Mount reprises the role of Black Bolt in a comic book accurate costume of the same character he portrayed in the defunct Inhumans TV series. Fortunately, this was a variant of Black Bolt without any ties to the previous version that he portrayed. Patrick Stewart makes his MCU debut by reprising the role of Charles Xavier/Professor X, but as a variant separate than the one he played in the FOX-made X-Men films. And last but not least, John Krasinski makes his MCU debut as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic.

Keep in mind that these characters are all either variants, completely different from their previous Earth-616 counterparts, or completely different takes on their characters altogether - i.e. Professor X is NOT the same one from FOX's X-Men franchise. I just thought that I should clarify that before people get confused.

Right off the bat, I was pleasantly surprised by these returns and castings. John Krasinski looks JUST like how I would picture Reed would look like in the MCU, so definitely no complaints from me on his casting in the least. I hope they keep that slick design for the Fantastic Four costumes too. Seeing Anson Mount back as Black Bolt was a little jarring - even more seeing him in his comics accurate costume. I thought he did a fine job as that character in the Inhumans TV series. It's just a shame that show was seen as Marvel Studios' first big failure. I will admit that it had some weak writing, but a lot of the sour grapes on that series could be contributed to Marvel as a whole trying to force the Inhumans down everyone's throats as a defacto replacement for mutants in both the MCU (where they haven't even been properly established yet) and in the comics at the time. That created a widespread backlash that caused both the live-action projects and comics to backpedal on that notion completely. Hopefully, we'll get to see mutants' proper debuts in the MCU sooner more than later, especially since we were treated with Professor X in action here.

Speaking of which, Patrick Stewart is definitely looking his age here. No amount of digital touch ups could hide that fact. I thought it was pretty cool that he was riding in his comics accurate hover chair too. After her absence in WandaVision that could have contributed to Monica Rambeau's backstory and origins, I was glad to see Lashana Lynch back to play Captain Marvel this time around, even though I wasn't a fan of the costume they went with for her here. Wouldn't it have killed them to give her a variation of Monica's black and white costume from the comics? I'm guessing they must be saving that for Monica in The Marvels next year if we didn't see something similar to it here.

Mystery Woman

Clea is the woman clad in the purple costume, portrayed by Charlize Theron. She originates from the Dark Dimension, just like Dormmamu and is actually considered to be his niece. In the comics, Clea is Dr. Strange's long-time love interest and later his wife before she inherited the title of the Sorcerer Supreme after his recent demise in the comics. A lot of people are already speculating that they are going to fast track to that storyline and I don't see it that way. I was expecting to see Clea to show up in the original film as Strange's love interest, but was actually disappointed that they went with Christine Palmer instead for that role. Now that they (kinda) resolved his unresolved issues with their relationship, he can move on to his true love interest from the comics.

Clea is shown here using some sort of a magical knife to tear through our reality into the Dark Dimension after warning Strange of an incursion that they need to fix. I know a lot of people in the theaters that I attended were confused about who she was and I had to double-check myself when I got home since I didn't hear any casting news about Theron landing that role. Then you have the other people over the weekend completely dismissing her importance to Strange's stories going forward. I see Clea's addition into the MCU is nothing but positive. It opens the doors for more exciting Dr. Strange stories going forward, especially since Benedict Cumberbatch said that he has absolutely no issues with continuing to play the character for another ten years if the stories continue to be well-written.

Where the hell was Vision?

I'm sure that was a question for a lot of people that watched WandaVision. Sam Raimi openly admits in several press interviews that he didn't watch all of WandaVision prior to stepping in to direct this film and was merely going by Marvel Studios' guidance, so that's on them for not enlightening him on what happened to Vision in that story. The Vision that Wanda fell in love with is still dead, with his remains being studied by S.W.O.R.D. during that series. They rebuild Vision without his memories as a blank slate, similar to his "White Vision" appearance and revival in the comics. The Hex-created artificial Vision, made from Wanda's memories, fought and and compromised with his doppelganger, only to come to the conclusion to share his memories with the "real" Vision. The last time that we saw the "White Vision" in that series was the image of him flying off to process this new data that he acquired from the Hex-made Vision. I can't blame him if he has no attachments to Wanda Maximoff as he merely inherited those memories and they are not his own. As for Wanda, I don't blame her either for not seeking him out. The Vision she knew is still dead and not coming back. Even in WandaVision, she showed a complete lack of compassion nor interest in Vision's doppelganger.

Besides, why would she settle for some cheap imitation when she could explore the Multiverse for her children instead? We can look back at evidence in WandaVision that even Vision was powerless to talk Wanda out of what she was doing to the people of Westview, so I doubt that his presence would have made much difference here either. His pleas would have went on deaf ears, just like her obsession to keep the Hex active during the events of that series.

Story

Dr. Strange protects America Chavez from an incoming attack from Gargantos.

And for Capcom Versus fans, yes, that's the same Shuma-Gorath from the Marvel Super Heroes series of fighting games.

I'm not going to completely rehash the events of this film, but I'm going to discuss them at length with my own thoughts sprinkled throughout.

The film starts off with America Chavez and Defender Strange being chased by some demon on their way to acquire the book of Book of Vishanti. That attempt goes sour as Strange (who deduced that the only way to save the Multiverse was to kill Chavez and take her powers as his own) is killed while Chavez accidentally creates a portal that transports them to Earth-616 when she's captured by the demon.

I thought this Strange being wounded and "infected" by that demon would have played into the finale, but it didn't at all. I was thinking that Strange would have been corrupted (similar to one of the demons from Stranger Things' Upside-Down wounding Elle at the end of the third season that crippled her powers in a sense) when he tried to dream-walk within that Strange's corpse, seeing that Wanda had thought of preventing that from happening this far in advance. It would have made for another additional foil to the film's climax, but I can't say that I'm disappointed.

I should also note that it was pretty clever swerve to have the Book of Vishanti introduced into the MCU as a MacGuffin here, along with the real MacGuffin of this film, America Chavez. I'm getting a little ahead here, but I wonder if the Book of Vishanti can still be used, despite the fact that it was destroyed by the Scarlet Witch. Much like the origins of the Darkhold that are hinted at later in this film, I can't help but get excited at the potential for Vishanti and/or Agamotto's MCU debuts in a later film. It should be said that the amount of seeds being planted for future concepts and themes in this film is mind-blowing.

Chavez's presence in Earth-616 is immediately made known as she's being chased by an octopus demon. In the marketing and promotional info blurbs, they name this demon, Gargantos, but any fan of Strange's comics can tell you that is obviously inspired by Shuma-Gorath. I'm sure Disney/Marvel Studios didn't want to get into a legal battle over the usage of that name with Heroic Signatures over that name and possible royalties for its usage outside of Marvel Comics. After being rescued by Wong (the current acting Sorcerer Supreme) and Strange (who was forced to abruptly leave Christine Palmer's wedding) interrogates Chavez and find out that she's being pursued by these demons for her unique power - the ability to freely traverse the Multiverse. They both agree to take her Kamar-Taj for her protection, while Strange looks to recruit Wanda Maximoff as some back-up. Unfortunately for Strange, Wanda reveals her hand as she has been the one who has been sending those demons after Chavez as she wants to use her power to reunite with Billy and Tommy, the children that she conjured up in the Hex when she took over Westview.

I called it since the end of WandaVision that nothing good was going to come from Wanda reading the Darkhold and here she is, firmly established as the main antagonist of this film.

Strange refuses to give her Chavez, so Wanda attacks Kamar-Taj and slaughters several of sorcerers residing there. She corners Strange, Wong, and Chavez, only for Chavez's powers to trigger again out of fear, this time sending her and Strange to Earth-838.

This doesn't stop Wanda's pursuit of them in the least as she uses the Darkhold to "dream-walk" into the body of one of her multiversal counterparts, namely the Wanda of Earth-838 that lives a normal life with Billy and Tommy. Before Wanda could get any headway into enjoying this moment and resuming her bloody rampage, one of Wong's disciples sacrifices herself to destroy the Darkhold, hence cutting off Wanda's link with the Multiverse and forcing her to lose her children again. She threatens Wong with the lives of the remaining sorcerers who are still barely hanging on alive from her previous attack to provide her with the spells for Darkhold since the Sorcerer Supreme has access to that knowledge. Wong reluctantly complies as he leads her to Mount Wundagore, the source of the Darkhold's power as a demon etched the spells into the walls of the castle.

I'm sure a lot of people didn't catch that reference, but I thought it was a nice touch that they planted the seeds for Chthon existing in this continuity. Wundagore is also associated with the High Evolutionary too in Marvel Comics' lore, so that was another nice nod to the comics too since the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were both conceived in that very place.

Wundagore's Darkhold Castle ends up housing a shrine and throne reserved for the Scarlet Witch as the site has everything that Wanda needs to rule all of the Multiverse once she gains access to Chavez's power.

If they haven't planted enough seeds for Chthon down the road, then that was the icing on the cake with the whole shrine dedicated to her. I couldn't help but chuckle at the design similarities to Sauron's Dark Tower/Barad-dûr from J.R.R. Toiken's The Lord of the Rings. You cannot tell me that they didn't do that on purpose.

Back in Earth-838, Strange and Chavez meet that universe's Karl Mordo who captures them and takes Strange to stand trial before the Illuminati. The Illuminati decree that Dr. Strange is the biggest threat to the Multiverse, not the Scarlet Witch, since they reveal that their Strange triggered a universe-destroying incursion.

For me personally, I thought it was a little too soon into the life of the MCU that they should be introducing the concept of incursions, but that's just my opinion. We're already really ahead of ourselves in a lot of themes and concepts in this continuity already, but I guess they don't have any other way around it at this point. I was on the fence about the Illuminati being introduced into the MCU at this stage, but after their appearance here, I don't see any harm in it as this variant was vastly different than the comic book version of the same name. I'm glad that they didn't cop out for a Tony Stark/Robert Downey Jr. cameo here too. The longer he stays dead in this continuity, the better.

Out of the blue, this Mordo chimes in talking about this particular Strange (Earth-616) is similarly dangerous. I thought it was rather odd timing too, especially to say that this Karl Mordo is supposed to be different than the one in Earth-616. The only thing we get concerning the fate of Earth-616's Mordo is a throwaway line from Strange that he went mad as he went on his quest to hunt down and destroy all magic users. (Laughs) Apparently, he didn't run into Wanda Maximoff as we know what would have happened if he did...

I should point out that this film was originally going to release immediately following the end of WandaVision and PRIOR to Spider-Man: No Way Home to serve as the de facto finale for that series and Wanda Maximoff's story up to this point but it was later rescheduled to release currently instead. I found it was strange (no pun intended) that they didn't mention Strange's blunder from that film with the botched spell that would have served as all of the evidence that they needed to come to an conclusion about this Strange. Outside of that small mention of Spider-Man at the beginning to Chavez, it seems like that whole ordeal has been erased from everyone's minds, so that means that spell was actually effective then.

I may be mistaken but is this the first time outside some of the side projects (TV shows and cartoons) and straight from Kevin Feige's own mouth that the main continuity/canon universe of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is designated 616 in any "official" capacity?

Strange and Wanda visiting Earth-838.

Strange standing before the Illuminati.

Dr. Strange arriving to the incursion-destroyed universe.

Strange using the Darkhold to cast the spell to dream-walk back to Earth-616.

Before the Illuminati could pass judgment on 616 Strange, Wanda (possessing 838 Wanda again) shows up and pretty much slaughters everyone and everything in there standing between her and America Chavez, including tons of their Ultron sentries/drones. The Illuminati step in to try to stop her, but they each get picked off one by one in some of the most gruesome deaths in this film to date. Captain Marvel and Captain Carter put up the longest fights though, but that's not saying much.

(Laughs) I think there shouldn't be anymore arguments about who is the strongest Avenger now or anymore talk about how overpowered Captain Marvel is. She got beat just like everyone else here.

Charles Xavier proved to be the last line of defense as 838 Christine Palmer assists Chavez in escaping while Strange frees himself after a quick skirmish against Mordo.

I got a kick out of Raimi going back to his horror roots with Wanda pursuing the trio down the hallways and corridors like a limping zombie due to the soles of her feet being cut open from walking on all of that broken glass. I have to give the man props for pushing that PG-13 rating as far as he could with the violence and horrific deaths in this film, even with the implied violence. All of the Illuminati's deaths were pretty shocking, even by these standards. Since everyone forgot about Mordo, he was spared from getting his comeuppance from Wanda.

The trio reaches the Book of Vishanti, only for Wanda to render it to ashes before Strange could even use it. She got ahold of Chavez in the process and throws Strange and Christine into another universe while she hurls Chavez through a portal to send her back to the 616 before breaking the spell on 838 Wanda.

Strange and Christine soon realize that they have been stranded within an incursion-destroyed universe.

During my first viewing, I was convinced that this was the same universe that Strange Supreme originated from in Marvel's What If...?, but on my second viewing, I realized that it's not, despite a lot of visual similarities. That incursion-destroyed universe just has a LOT of similarities to Strange Supreme's own. Besides, there was nothing left of Strange's universe outside of him and Christine (who he still couldn't save with all of the powers that he amassed and stole).

Strange confronts another variant of himself, a "sinister" Strange that has allowed the Darkhold to corrupt him in a similar manner as the Scarlet Witch. After a mildly entertaining "musical" battle of magic, Strange defeats his sinister doppelganger and claims this universe's Darkhold. He instructs a reluctant Christine to protect his vulnerable body since he's going to dream-walk into the corpse of Defender Strange that he left in the 616 universe since that's his only means of being able to get back there to save Wong and Chavez.

Hypocrite much? I mean, c'mon. Strange chided Wanda at the start of the film for using the Darkhold and here he is doing the same thing. To be fair though, the Sorcerer Supreme is one of the few people in the comics continuity that can resist the dark influences of the Darkhold, so there's that to consider in hindsight.

As soon as Strange dream-walks into Defender Strange's zombie corpse, he's immediately attacked and assaulted by several mystic ghosts that state that he is walking on forbidden grounds with this spell. Christine is able to fight off some of the ghosts with some of the magical artifacts in Sinister Strange's Sanctum and reminds Strange that the ghosts are mystic beings and he's the Master of the Mystic Arts. Strange then reigns them in and tethers them to his zombie corpse in a cloak of sorts and flies off to confront Wanda at Wundagore.

You would think that this would be enough to beat her but it's not. Strange's otherworldly powers combined with some help from Wong isn't enough to contain Wanda's powers. Wong urges Strange to sacrifice the girl and take her powers as his own, but Strange gets a better idea. He gives Chavez the vote of confidence that she needed to hear, realizing that she's always had control of her powers but just never realized it as she's always sent them where they needed to be. America Chavez confronts Wanda and lands a few good blows but she's still no match for the Scarlet Witch either.

Before people complain about Chavez getting the Mary Sue treatment here, it wasn't that at all. She didn't get the highly convenient shonen anime hero power-up to save the day at the most pivotal moment and won without any problems. She was still outmatched here, just like Strange, Wong, and so many others up to this point.

Chavez is ready to admit defeat as she says, "Okay, I'll give you what you want..." as Wanda is ready to finish her off. They return to the 838 universe, right in the middle of 838's Wanda's living room where she sits with Billy and Tommy. 616 Wanda immediately hurls 838 Wanda across the room and goes to the boys. They are immediately horrified of her. 616 Wanda tries to reassure them that she's not a monster until it dawns on her that she really has been one all of this time. 838 Wanda assures her that Billy and Tommy will be loved and cared for while 616 Wanda resolves to make everything right. She destroys Darkhold Castle and every trace of it on Mount Wundagore, along with all of the copies of the Darkhold across the Multiverse for no one else will be tempted by it like she was while sacrificing herself in the process.

I don't believe for a second that the Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff is going to stay "dead", especially from how many times she's been killed off and revived in the comics (not to mention recently in the current run of X-Men comics). Let's not forget that Elizabeth Olsen signed an eight year contract with Marvel Studios not too long ago, so there's that too. I wouldn't mind seeing her being a part of the X-Men whenever Marvel Studios gets that off the ground as we have to have her utter that "No More Mutants" line at some point down the road.

Strange admits to 838 Christine that he will always love his universe's Christine, but confesses that he has been always afraid of having any sort of a real relationship. After Chavez returns everyone home to their rightful universes, she settles in to train at Kamar-Taj with Wong's other students and assists in the rebuilding efforts.

I was bummed out that we didn't get a Marvel's Runaways cameo from Nico Minoru here too (icing on the cake for anyone that saw Marvel's Runaways Season 3 finale), but I guess that would have been far too much to ask at this point.

Strange repairs the watch that he has been hanging onto that Christine gave him and goes off to enjoy a morning stroll, only to double over in pain and sprouts a third eye as the film fades to black.

Apparently the third eye is the "heavy toll" that's inflicted onto the reader of the Darkhold, but I don't see it as a negative side effect since Dr. Strange has been one of the few sorcerers in Marvel Comics to use the Darkhold and not allow it to corrupt him completely like so many others that become Chthon's pawns.

One of would think that's it to the film, but the mid-credits teaser has a mystery woman (Clea as previously mentioned) show up to recruit Strange to fix an incursion. She cuts a hole into reality into what looks like the Dark Dimension and invites Strange to follow her. He confidently brandishes the Cloak of Levitation and his new third eye and asks her to lead the way as the film truly ends there.

Dream-walking Strange within the zombie corpse body of Defender Strange during the film's climatic finale.

Earth-616's Wanda Maximoff realizing the error of her ways as she comes face-to-face with her Earth-838 counterpart.

Charlize Theron makes her MCU debut as Clea in a mid-credits teaser.

Closing Thoughts

After two viewings over the past opening weekend, I can confidently say that this is easily in my top three favorite solo hero MCU films to date, along with Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Spider-Man: No Way Home.

I'm not saying this film is flawless either, as there are some moments of this film where it clearly feels like a Sam Raimi film, but others where it leans too hard into the tried and true Marvel formula that we have either come to love or hate at this point. The latter is definitely a side effect of Raimi's true vision being handicapped by Marvel and Disney's higher ups and definitely a casualty of having to adhere to the rating restrictions as well. I think this film would have benefited more with a R-rating, but I applaud Raimi for pushing the envelope as far as he could with the PG-13 rating for this film. That's a marvel on it's own in its own right.

I will admit that I had my concerns about Xochitl Gomez's casting as America Chavez prior to seeing this film. After seeing her performance here, I'm confident in her ability to carry that character forward in the MCU. I have no doubts that the MCU is going to bring her back for the Young Avengers since it seems pretty obvious that what they are alluding to with the introductions of other legacy characters and young heroes, such as Yelena Belova, Kate Bishop, and Ms. Marvel next month in her own Disney+ series.

This film does stumble a little in terms of trying to follow-up with hanging plot strings with Karl Mordo (Earth-616) and barely resolving Strange's relationship issues with Christine Palmer in this film. I understand that they wanted to

I thought this film was Elizabeth Olsen's best performance to date as Wanda Maximoff. You could tell that she's been dying to take Wanda to this point of "madness" after all that has been building in her life to this point. This film did a great job of not only making her the most powerful Avenger without a shadow of doubt, while simultaneously making her the most terrifying villain this universe has seen in quite some time.

While I'm sure there will be a lot of people picking apart the Multiverse aspects of this film for weeks and months to come, I thought this was a great follow-up to Spider-Man: No Way Home since that door had be teased for so long for that lackluster tease/swerve with Mysterio in Far From Home, only to have that same door thrown right open in No Way Home in the fallout from those same events.

A lot of people on social media are convinced that this film is teasing that the MCU's next big crossover event will be Secret Wars. With the mention of incursions and that concept being introduced into this film, I can't be too surprised that people are jumping to that conclusion as I honestly thought about it as a possibility myself.

As Kevin Feige points out in a recent interview, the actions of both Sylvie and Loki at the end of Loki opened up the Multiverse to be explored and is the reason why Strange's botched spell was able to pull in the invaders from other universes to our own in Spider-Man: No Way Home.

He Who Remains (with Jonathan Majors reprising the role for that character) is obviously going to become Kang the Conqueror, who has been confirmed to appear next as the titular villain for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania early next year. Kang has both time travel AND multiverse travel at his disposal across all corners of reality, making him a big enough threat to all of the Multiverse and not just the 616 universe. It could go even further than everyone (and all of their Multiverse variants) working together to stop Kang when/if all of the Multiverse hangs in the balance with incursions occurring to destroy every single one just like in the 2015 comics event of the same name (Secret Wars).

I think that's going to be Marvel Studios' long-term strategy to integrate as much from their older projects and properties without muddying the waters of their own continuity up to this point. I see it as how the Arrowverse used the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event from the comics to open up their multiverse while simultaneously bringing all of their individual shows, most of which that didn't exist in the same continuity, into one shared universe. In the case of the MCU, I think that would save Marvel Studios some time in terms of reintroducing and rehashing the origins and histories of the Fantastic Four, Blade, Ghost Rider, The Defenders (Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, The Punisher, and Iron Fist that they regained/inherited back from Netflix), the X-Men, and finally Spider-Man - despite whatever Sony may have planned for their own shared universe. It could be a soft reset/reboot for their universe up to that point that could honor and put to rest those hanging threads from other takes on these characters, much like how Marvel Studios put the bow on the original Raimi Spider-Man trilogy and the Amazing Spider-Man films with the appearances of those two Spider-Man teaming up with 616 Spidey in Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Let's not forget that there seems to be a lot of push for Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures to introduce Miles Morales into the MCU in some capacity and I don't see any other event to do so than this since it was essentially how Miles wind up in the 616 universe in the first place after existing in the Ultimate universe exclusively in the comics prior to that.

That being said, Phase Four still has a LOT of TV shows for Disney+ and films left to go, so we just might see this pan out but at the same time, I'm not ruling anything out as there isn't really any concise way to see where they are going with the landscape of the MCU following Avengers: Endgame.

Watch It or DOn't Bother?

This is a complete no-brainer for me. Definitely watch this one, especially if you saw WandaVision from start to finish as it wraps up Wanda Maximoff's journey from there that started all the way back in Avengers: Age of Ultron to all of her sequential appearances after that to now.

Those select few MCU fans and casual viewers in general that may not have followed the Disney+ shows will be in a dark on this one though, which is why I think a lot of critics are giving this film some rather unsavory reviews.

Sam Raimi's direction definitely redeemed him in my eyes, especially after the lackluster note he left the superhero genre with Spider-Man 3. While this film suffers in a few points where it would have benefited with more of Raimi's touch instead of the traditional Marvel formula, I didn't think it hurt this film as a whole for the long run. I hope this film's success convinces Marvel to bring Raimi back on board for a future project and allow him to have complete free reign from start to finish without being tied to the hip and being forced to comply to Marvel and Disney's constraints and limitations without shaking the hornet's nest.

This is definitely a film that should be seen for Marvel Cinematic Universe fans to be able to get a glimpse of what is to come for the future in terms of more involvement with the Multiverse while simultaneously moving forward the emotional journeys of both Dr. Strange and Wanda Maximoff forward following the events of Avengers: Endgame. Unfortunately, fans of America Chavez may be a little disappointed as this is still a story primarily centered around Dr. Steven Strange, with Miss America's involvement being limited to mostly a plot device for the entirety of this film.

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