Review: Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness

 Ready to go reality diving? 

You know, it’s extremely weird to think we’re just getting Doctor Strange 2. Doctor Strange came out in 2016, and while Strange has been a staple of the franchise since, having multiple cameos, appearing in both Avengers 3 and 4, and being a key player in Spider-Man: No Way Home, it’s still been six years since his last solo project. Thankfully, Multiverse of Madness was worth the wait. Or at least I think so. Let’s get to it, shall we?

The white hair is a nice touch.

 

We open with a Variant of Dr. Strange and a teenage girl named America Chavez attempting to get to a magical artifact in a weird time bendy space. The artifact is the book of the Vishanti, the place is the Gap Junction; a space between universes, and the thing complicating this trip is a giant glowing tentacle monster. Strange does his best to hold off the creature, this version’s magic is white instead of main MCU orange, but it proves powerful for him to defeat. Realizing their options are running out, he grabs America and attempts to use a spell that will steal her powers and kill her. This Strang believing that keeping America’s power from whoever sent the monster is for the greater good, clearly breaking America’s heart as he does.  In a mentor-mentee fashion, to be clear. Before the process can be finished, Strange is killed by the monster and America accidentally triggers her power. She opens a portal through dimensions in the shape of a Star, it sucks her and Strange’s corpse through.

 

Our Dr. Strange wakes up with a jerk, having been dreaming this whole situation. That sure was weird, but I bet that’s the last we’ll hear about that. (Wink) He quickly dresses and heads out for a big wedding. Before the ceremony starts, he’s joined by Nic West, the doctor that couldn’t save Strange’s hands, couldn’t save the Ancient One and was kind of Strange’s professional whipping boy before the magic. West admits he’s had a hard time, as he was blipped like Strange and while he was gone his pet cats and brother died. He asked Strange if there was really, truly no other way, Strange insists there wasn’t and in a sort of vindicative knife twist, West shrugs and says at least he didn’t get the girl. Yep, this is the wedding of Stephen’s love interest from the first movie, Christine Palmer. That’s rough man.

I'm honestly shocked anyone lives in New York
any more.

 

At the reception, Stephen is having a drink when Christine comes to speak with him. He congratulates her and it’s super awkward because he obviously still has feelings for her. She asks him if he’s happy, but before he can answer there’s a commotion outside. Some sort of invisible monster is rampaging through New York. Taking the excuse to not talk to Christine’s husband, Stephen jumps out a widow, pulling out his pocket square which wraps around him and turns into his wizard gear as he flies to face it. He uses his powers to make the creature visible, it’s a giant tentacle monster and do battle with it. In the scuffle, he discovers America Chavez and realizes that monster is after her. The creature is a bit too tough for him to handle alone, it smacks him around quite a bit before Wong sling-ring’s in to give back up. They, with a little help from America, kill the creature, gouging out it’s eyeball when they do.

 

The two sorcerers take America to get some lunch and get filled in on a few things. She explains that she’s from another universe, her power allows her to create portals through realities, and that dreams are in fact psychic connections to parallel versions of yourself. Wong asks the obvious question, that if that’s true that means the recurring dream he has of being chased naked by a clone is happening to a version of him, somewhere. America confirms. The creatures are hunting her to steal her powers, as even in a place like the MCU reality jumping isn’t easy. The power itself is so rare that it seems to have only manifested in this one girl. Not in multiple versions of her, either she doesn’t dream and thus is reasonably certain she is the only America Chavez. They’re still a bit skeptical, so America shows them her Strange’s corpse. Damn.

 

Wanda has been studying the No-No chapters.

After looking the corpse over and discovering more examples of what he and Wong believe to be Witchcraft runes (there were some on the initial ribbon monster and tentacle monster as well) Stephen goes for a consultation. He finds Wanda Maximoff living on an apple orchard in the middle of nowhere, claiming to have given up magic. Wanda assumes he’s there initially to punish/chastise her for what happened during the events of WandaVision, but Stephen obviously isn’t. He says he wants help to protect the girl and figured he could use the expertise of the Avenger’s resident magic user. Yeah, fun fact, the MCU big wigs and Benedict Cumberbatch himself don’t consider Stephen a full time Avenger, he’s more of a consultant in their minds. Wanda is receptive to helping, even suggesting that Stephen bring America to her farm to look after. After Stephen stops walking, Wanda realizes her slip about using America’s name without having been told it first and drops the charade. Her orchard was a chaos magic construct, and she’s truly fully embraced magic and been studying the Darkhold. Turns out, that book had shown her how to peek into other dimensions and she’s seen realities where her boys Billy and Tommy are still alive. She wants to steal America’s power to get to them. As professional curtesy, Wanda gives him until sundown tomorrow to turn America over or she’ll come for her, and then Strange and the wizards of Kamar-Taj will be dealing with the Scarlet Witch.

 

Side note, it’s also weird to me that I guess Wanda is just now starting to use that codename when she’s been a professional hero since Age of Ultron.

 

The Masters of the Mystic Arts form a barrier to keep Wanda out, but using her telepathy she forces a wizard to freak out and run, breaking the shield, and allowing her in. She starts ripping through wizards, using her own immense mystic power to overwhelm them. Stephen is able to trap her in the Mirror dimension, but that proves to only delay her slightly as she is able to break through into reality through reflective surfaces. Wanda almost gets America, but she opens another portal sucking herself and Steven through. They dip through multiple possible realities, one of which where they were made of paint, before arriving in a futuristic New York City, in what is later dubbed Earth reality 838.

 

Stephen and America wander the future city for a bit, pissing off a street vender played by Bruce Campbell when America takes food without paying as they do. In her defense, she assumed this reality didn’t use money anymore as a lot of them don’t. Stephen puts a spell on him to hit himself for a while and they keep walking. They also come across a device that plays memories as video, for America it show when her powers firsts manifested and her moms (yes, she’s the daughter of a lesbian couple) were lost between dimensions, and for Stephen an early date with Christine when she gave him the watch he still wears. They finally make it to the Sanctum Sanctorum and discover that 838’s Stephen Strange died killing Thanos. They’re greeted by the current Sorcerer Supreme, Baron Mordo. Oy, this guy. Shockingly, this Mordo greets Stephen warmly and invites them in for tea.

 

Council of the Tight Asses.

They explain the situation with Wanda to Mordo, who listens to them attentively. While Stephen and America think they might be safe for now, Mordo reveals to them the Darkhold can show Wanda how to do a forbidden spell called Dream Walking. It lets the user to possess an alternate universe’s version of themselves and use their power through them.  It’s at about this points that America and Stephen pass out from poisoned tea. They wake up in a holding cell in a facility that turns out to be run by 383’s Christine Palmer and staffed with Ultron drones. They’ve got Stephen and America in handcuffs that suppress their powers thanks to one of 838’s magical relics. She also informs them of this universe’s numerical designation and that Stephen’s reality is 616. Some folks were upset by this as that is the number for the comic universe, but I honestly can’t bring myself to care. Stephen is taken and brought before the Illuminati, a judiciary body on 383. It consists of Baron Mordo, Captain Peggy Carter, Blackagar Boltagon (Black Bolt), Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau), Mr. Fantastic, and Charles Xavier. Xavier is actually in his yellow hover chair from the Animated series and his background music is a remix of that theme. Yes, I squeed. This group informs him that while Strange is hailed as a hero in this universe, being the one to kill Thanos, but he crossed serious ethical lines to do so. He used his realities’ version of the Darkhold to peak into other realities to find ways to fight Thanos. This allowed him to fin the Book of the Vishanti and use its power to kill Thanos, but it’s revealed that in his searching he caused an Incursion. Incursions are when two or more universes are pulled into each other and one or both are destroyed. 838’s Stephen triggered one while looking for the Book and destroyed realities. As punishment for his crimes, he asked that his friends form the Illuminati to protect their reality and to execute him. Black Bolt uses his impossibly powerful voice to obliterate him.

 

While all of that is going on, sorry it was easier to break it into chunks than do both plot lines at once, Wanda attempts to use Dream Walking to find Stephen and America. She possesses her 838 counterpart and intends to go find them but is distracted by her boys. They do the cringiest song asking for ice cream. While Wanda is distracted, a wizard named Sara Wolfe (no, her name isn’t said in the movie I had to look it up) grabs a knife and destroys the Darkhold, being burned alive in the process. Without the book as a focal point, Wanda is unable to Dream Walk further. She holds several wizards hostage and threatens to kill them unless Wong tells her how to Dream Walk without the Darkhold. Wong tries to hold out but the threat to his students causes the Sorcerer Supreme to break. He tells her that the book was a copy of runes and spells etched into a temple at the top of Mount Wundagore, a forbidden mountain. Wanda forces Wong to sling-ring them to the mountain and she flies them to the top. There she’s met by several hulking monsters and statues depicting herself and her sons. She uses the power of the place to Dream Walk into 838 Wanda again and she goes on the offensive.

 

Just as the Illuminati begin to vote on whether to kill Stephen or not, she burst in and starts wrecking shop. The Illuminati except Mordo and Xavier go to face her. Reed Richards tries to talk Wanda down, but she’s done talking. He threatens her by moronically saying that Black Bolt can destroy her with a word, to which she uses her power to remove his mouth. Bolt tries to talk, causing his voice to ricochet back and blow out his skull. She then rips Reed apart, chops Carter in half with the Shield and drops a statue on Monica Marvel and blows it to kingdom come. Ooo, of all those, Reed’s death will probably have the most… serious consequences. While that was happening, Xavier speaks with Stephen mind to mind and realizes that this Stephen is different from theirs. He rolls off to try to help. Mordo elects to kill Stephen himself, but Stephen tricks him into breaking his cuffs and escapes. Mordo has a great line where he shouts to Stephen as he runs off “I’m starting to get why your Mordo hates you!” Wanda finds the cell holding America but is held off by Xavier. He uses his powers to enter her mind, represented by a blank white void. He finds 838’s Wanda inside, buried under debris like from her home in Sokovia. He tries to free her, believing that would break 616 Wanda’s hold, but 616 Wanda breaks his neck. Thankfully, he bought enough time for America to get free and run.

 

Book of the McGuffin.

Stephen, America, and Christine meet up and Christine leads them to an underground bunker where their Stephen hid a quick entrance to the Gap Junction and the book of the Vishanti. Wanda continues to chase them, though they delay her long enough with the bunkers defenses to get to the gate. Wong also briefly distracts her in 616, but gets thrown off the mountain after. Don’t worry, he’s fine. Using his watch from Christine to break 838’s Stephen’s lock, they get to the book, but Wanda arrives, destroying it, grabbing America and channeling enough of her power to cast Stephen and Christine into another dimension. Wanda throws America through another gate to her waiting monsters in Reality 616, and once freed, 838 Wanda runs back to her family.

 

Stephen and Christine awaken in a reality where an Incursion has occurred. Stephen finds the Sanctum and another Stephen inside. Well call him, I don’t know, 999 Stephen. To prove to 999 that Stephen is who he says, 616 Stephen tells his other self about their sister that died when they were children and how that death probably led to his obsession with fixing things himself despite it not always being the right call. 999 Stephen is willing to help 616, offering him his copy of the Darkhold to let him Dream Walk, but in exchange he wants Christine. He also shows off a third eye in the middle of his forehead, a side effect of using dark magic. Stephen refuses and the two have a battle using magically infused musical notes. Stephen defenestrates his evil twin, killing him on a spike. Using the Darkhold, Stephen Dream Walks into his corpse back on 616, Christine defending him from the spirits of the damned that try to attack him in the corrupted dimension. Stephen is able to force the spirits to obey him in 616 and fashions a cloak of them to help him save America.

 

And for the finale, you must see the movie.

A very cool poster.

 

So, the good first. Sam Raimi really flexed his horror muscles here for this movie, giving it a unique tone from most other MCU films. Hell, there’s a bit when Wanda is chasing Stephen and co where she has an exaggerated limp, is covered in blood and screaming like the living dead from Night of the Living Dead. It’s spooky. Stephen I think is amazingly portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch once again. This version still seems to be wrestling with the “it’s not about you,” idea from the first film, on top of this idea if he’s happy or not. The two do make for an interesting internal conflict for Stephen to be processing. Honestly, having seen his What If…? episode I thinks puts some of his Christine angsts into better context. In that episode, and reality, Stephen literally destroys the universe and figuratively destroys himself, attempting to bring a dead Christine back to life. Someone you’re that devoted to getting married to someone other than yourself? Yeah, no I in no way believe he’s okay for most of this film’s runtime. But props to him for doing his best to keep it under wraps to not ruin the wedding. Benedict Wong is great as Wong once again. I like that the MCU seems to be sticking with him as the Sorcerer Supreme for the foreseeable. Don’t get me wrong, I think Stephen is stronger magically speaking and may reclaim the title one day, but Wong I think is more interested in being the wise mentor to the other wizards than Stephen would be. Stephen’s stronger but Wong is the better teacher, to put it succinctly. Stephen is still a bit miffed at this for most of the movie’s run, but he does end up bowing to his friend and mentor by the end, so I think they’re in a good place. Elizabeth Olsen was great as this corrupted version of Wanda Maximoff. I’ll admit, I was hoping at the end of WandaVision she might be on the mend but looking back that was incredibly naïve. A powerful witch, left alone with a book that taught her forbidden magic, lonely and desperate to get her kids back, there was no way this ended well. I liked how her story here ended, as its open ended enough that it could be the end of Wanda Maximoff, but they could also still totally bring her back if they wanted to. The Illuminati were a great concept to see explored a little too. Some of the most powerful MCU characters together on a single team is just such a unique concept. Sure, they really were just there too give Wanda fun and powerful targets to blow up, but such memorable blow ups. Though, I should mention that the reason I said Reed Richard’s death would have the most ramifications, his son Franklin, confirmed to exist in this universe, has almost godlike powers and I could totally see him ripping realities to sunders trying to find the woman that killed his dad. Just sayin’. I liked Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez. She’s the right mix of wary of others, nervous due to being constantly on the run, and self-doubting because her powers don’t seem to work right. I have to admit, jumping realities intermittently since you were like ten has to lead to an unusual mindset. I like how Stephen and her bonded over the movies run, but think it could have been better if we fleshed something out here a little.

 

And that brings us into the bad. The sister reveal was poorly done and that sticks in my craw a little. Why? Because it was done so much better in the Dr. Strange (2007) animated film. April Strange (Donna in most continuities) in that film suffered from a brain tumor. Stephen dedicated his life to becoming a surgeon as quickly as he could to be the one to remove the tumor and save her life. He failed to do so, and her death led to him to his selfish, egotistical mindset. Now, tell me, is that more interesting than Stephen Strange is a dick… because? like it’s presented in the MCU and his dead sister is brought up as a footnote in movie 2? Yeah, I thought so too. Add that to the first film and then you get the subtext here, and in his other appearances, that Stephen doesn’t play well with others because of this death. All I’m saying. There were several characters in this that felt like I was supposed to care about, but they only had one or two scenes, like Rintrah the minotaur and Sara Wolfe. Maybe they’ll get some prequel explanation later but here it just felt odd. But those are really the two points bringing it down for me, characters I’m supposed to care about but don’t and really rammed in there dead sibling background.

 

This isn’t really a bad point, I just find it funny that Mordo’s end credit scene from Dr. Strange 1, where he seemed to be announcing he’s going to start killing Sorcerers is still the longest running dangling plot point of the MCU. I wonder if we’ll ever see it tied off at this point. Who knows?

 

So, yeah, I liked Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. It was a visually and stylistically unique entry into the MCU. It brought in America Chavez, one of the most popular characters of the last decade or so, introduced some new concepts about the Multiverse like Incursions and dreams being connections to alternate realities, and let us see how horrifying a hero can be if they don’t have a support structure and are just bombarded with trauma. Lot of deaths could have been avoided if someone brought Wanda to therapy is all I’m saying. The effects were stunning, the magic amazing, and it has me jazzed to see Dr. Strange 3. Hopefully it won’t be another six years in the making. See you later. 

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