Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

***Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness*** is a 2022 American superhero horror film based on the Marvel Comics character Doctor Strange. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is intended to be the sequel to Doctor Strange (2016) and the 28th film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Sam Raimi from a script written by Jade Bartlett and Michael Waldron, and stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange, alongside Elizabeth Olsen, Benedict Wong, and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

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## Plot

When the Multiverse-hopping traveler America Chavez is attacked by evil monsters from across dimensions, Doctor Stephen Strange goes to Wanda Maximoff (aka the Scarlet Witch) to help protect her. However when Wanda learns that Chavez’s powers may be able to reunite her with her kids Billy and Tommy, Strange and his friends flee across the Multiverse to find a way to save Chavez and defeat the Scarlet Witch.

## Good Qualities

1. Sam Raimi shows off his excellent directing skills, akin to those he put in practice in his *Spider-Man* film trilogy. Not to mention, this was a step up from his previous films non Marvel related, since his films before 2022, including Paranormal Activity, can come across as either boring or just simply unbearable to watch.
2. The film not only pick up what happened after *WandaVision* and season one of *Loki*, but it also picks up what happened for a few months as well after *Spider-Man: No Way Home*, although it still work for people who hasn't watched the show.
3. Benedict Cumberbatch played multiple roles for alternate versions of Doctor Strange in one film (Doctor Strange, Sinister Strange, Defender Strange, and the walking corpse of Defender Strange), providing that he has incredible range.
4. Unique and amazing visuals effects, like the scene where Strange and Chavez enters the portal and passes through the multiverse for the first time.
5. Phenomenal fight and action scenes. It perfectly make clever usage of all the individual characters' unique abilities.
6. It explores the character of Chiwetel Ejiofor (Karl Mordo) as he turns to villainy and betrayal found from the comics in *Doctor Strange* that were set up, although he was a variant who is a member of the Illuminati as he appears for couple of scenes.
7. Reed Richards (or Mr. Fantastic) is officially introduced in the movie for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, who is played by John Krasinski, thus fulfilling the fan service that heavily predicted Krasinski's first appearance in the MCU as Mr. Fantastic, and this incarnation doesn't take itself too seriously, unlike the one released 7 years before this movie .
8. There's a wider variety of magic in terms of spells, color, and style in the film, leading to more unique magic combat such as 616-Strange and Sinister Strange's musical sheet fight, no doubt to alleviate some of the criticisms of the common orange sparkly style of magic previously seen in the MCU.
9. Danny Elfman did a excellent job with the score.
10. It introduced the horror elements in Marvel Cinematic Universe for the first time, with the 1980s-style. It makes more sense for critics and audiences when you realise Sam Raimi, famous for his horror films, directed this movie.
11. Wanda Maximoff as the Scarlet Witch is a fantastic villain, and can even be pretty scary and intimidating at times thanks to Elizabeth Olsen‘s amazing performance.
12. A darker tone than the first movie, yet it does not forget to have humor and positivity that barely feel forced to do right unlike many previous superhero movies that tried too hard to be dark & gritty, especially the films from DC.
13. America Chavez is a great new character with an unique power, who use the powers to sent them in the multiverse.
	* Despite the fact that America Chavez is a lesbian in the comics, the film did not pander to the LGBT community as it only focus on the main plot and backgrounds of a long journey that Chavez and Doctor Strange had to go through to put an end to the schemes of the Scarlet Witch.
	* The concept that made America Chavez living with lesbian parents rather than making her a lesbian herself like the comics was very well executed as the childhood tragedy that happened to her parents pushed Chavez to a extension that made a good character development which mainly involves full control of her powers necessary to defeat the Scarlet Witch. Plus, this change was accurate to the comics, as America has two moms, Amalia and Elena Chavez who gave their lives to protect America as well as other children in a testing facility.
	* Thankfully, Disney didn't make a big deal about the LGBT part, unlike *Eternals*.
	* Unlike *Captain Marvel*, America Chavez was not written as a overpowered superheroine and a egoistical feminist that would be used as a filler within Doctor Strange's very own movie, though Chavez was the whole main priority Doctor Strange had to face with throughout their actions and battles in the film.
14. Not only does Zombie Defender Strange look nightmarish, but he casts a spell similar to the Images of Ikkon (like in Infinity War against Thanos), giving him multiple arms and making him look like a monster straight out of a movie like *Insidious* or *Sinister* (the latter of which, coincidentally, executive producer Scott Derrickson, who also directed the first film, was the director for).
15. Patrick Stewart returns as Charles Xavier / Professor X, who portrayed him in 20th Century Fox's X-Men film series, as the leader of the Illuminati. Not only that, but Anson Mount returns as Blackagar Boltagon / Black Bolt, who portrayed him in ABC's Marvel's *Inhumans*.
16. While everyone in the Illuminati was somewhat despicable due to their subjected calculations to execute 616-Doctor Strange and kill off 838-Wanda who was possessed by the Scarlet Witch even though that would cause the death of 838-Wanda, only Professor X was definitely likeable as not only he took a major risk to free 838-Wanda from mind control, but he was also trustful enough to give 616-Doctor Strange a chance to save America Chavez and to prove himself to be different from the other corrupted/misguided Strange variants. He even quoted his old phrase from *X-Men: Days of Future Past* as a main reason to spare and trust 616-Doctor Strange, "*Just because someone stumbles and loses their way doesn't mean that they're lost forever*", thus keeping his original likable character.
17. While America Chavez, Doctor Strange, and Wong had lunch together after their battle against a monster that chased Chavez, they made good and funny references of Spider-Man, his actions, and the events that occurred in *No Way Home*, even though it would hurt very much to notice that Doctor Strange and Wong do not remember their friend Peter Parker anymore.
18. A very exciting mid-credit scene where Strange develops a third eye and is approached by a sorcerer, Clea, who invites him to avert an incursion in the dark dimension.
19. Bruce Campbell's cameo as Pizza Poppa, a vendor from an alternate universe is hilarious, as he gets a gag about Doctor Strange casting a spell to make him punch himself in the face for three weeks. In the post-credits scene, it finally stops, prompting him to manically laugh, look at the camera and shout "IT'S OVER!"

## Bad Qualities

1. The pacing can be rather off sometimes.
2. The film is somewhat confusing for casual viewers, because everything happening here can sometimes happen way too fast and it even requires viewers to watch Disney+ shows *WandaVision*, *Loki*, and *What If..?* to get to know concepts about the multiverse and its countless variants of superheroes and villains.
3. **One of the most criticized aspects of the film was the infamous characterization of the Scarlet Witch:**: **It's major bad character development.** but it wasn't like that with her story arc. Despite her character growth and seemingly maturity at the series finale of *WandaVision*, the Scarlet Witch went from a caring, benevolent, kind-hearted, and selfless superheroine who was willing to move on, to a egotistical, sadistic, arrogant, and ferocious villain who was determined to kill opponents and even innocent people for her own goals; **and all because she wanted to be with her imaginary kids!** While it was understandable that Wanda had suffered a lot as she lost her loved ones and friends over the years, her tragic past does not give excuses for the Scarlet Witch to endanger the Multiverse for her crazed obsession of getting her imaginary kids back. She knew very well that the main purpose of the Darkhold was to corrupt people like Agatha Harkness in *WandaVision;* yet, she deliberately took possession of it and let it control her to the point where she would be unreasonable to listen. Her counterarguments with the protagonists had been nothing more than plain and pathetic excuses for numerous attempts to absorb the powers of America Chavez, even knowing well that such action would kill the young innocent girl. Her own quotes like "*I'm not a monster, Stephen, I'm a mother*", "*What have you done*", and "*I would never hurt anyone*" only made Wanda even more ironically pettier and inessential as she had committed all crimes in *WandaVision* and this film **for nothing but narcissistic and disgusting purposes.** The Scarlet Witch did not show any remorse for her malicious actions, and only did so when the imaginary/alternate kids rightfully rejected her and made her see the error of her way **at the last minute**.
	* About the point Wanda was killing off innocent people willfully, America Chavez was probably even minding her own business prior to the film, but the Scarlet Witch had found her as a key to get to "her" kids in a alternate universe, thus provoking a wild chase and straight-up murder attempts against Chavez who was definitely innocent, making some viewers to show even more sympathy for Chavez than Wanda herself as the former literally ran for her life **across the Multiverse.** While Doctor Strange and Wong tried to reason with the Scarlet Witch, she just simply attacked them viciously as she murdered multiple troops and protectors at Kamar-Taj; in a later occasion, she **threw Wong out of a palace** as he only tried to reason with her for a final time. Besides, everyone in the Illuminati (with the exception of Professor X) were no saints, but the Scarlet Witch unnecessarily eliminated the entire Illuminati except 838-Baron Mordo, thus creating potential devastating consequences within the latter's universe. An extremely powerful and invincible being like the Scarlet Witch could have just simply knock a enemy team out and set them aside with only one purpose of getting a single particular target and nothing else. To make things even more worse, the Scarlet Witch controlled 838-Wanda, her innocent and loving alternate self, without the latter's will or consent, and one point, the Scarlet Witch even attempted to kill 838-Wanda without hesitation or any second thought to get 838-Wanda's kids for herself.
4. Despite America Chavez's decent character development in the film, the majority of the events made her serve as an idiotic damsel-in-distress who heavily relied on Doctor Strange and his resources to survive, and she did not even tried to defend herself against the Scarlet Witch until **a single sentence** from a defeated Doctor Strange made her feel motivated enough to use and control her powers to finally fight against Wanda during the final battle.
5. **False advertising**:
	* The teaser and multiple trailers show that Sinister Strange would be the main antagonist of the film as he ominously quoted to the main Doctor Strange, "things just got out of hand" while the Scarlet Witch confront inner struggles as she helps Doctor Strange with the multiverse issues. However, Sinister Strange only appeared in one scene near the climax and had less than twenty minutes of screen time as he got killed off by Doctor Strange after a short violent feud over the copy of the Darkhold.
	* **Somewhat misleading title:** Though the title indicates that this is a movie about Doctor Strange and his adventures across the multiverse, the film focuses more on subplots regarding the schemes of the Scarlet Witch, Wanda's children, and America Chavez's journey as Doctor Strange had succeeded in fixing issues within them. Besides, most fans believe that the Scarlet Witch should have been introduced as the main character of the film as Doctor Strange was only portrayed as a side character who simply fixed problems of other characters. If one would pay specific attention to the film title "Multiverse of Madness" and its abbreviation "M.o.M.", then it can make one realize this film has a stupid plot about the Scarlet Witch wanting to become a mother again as she travels within the Multiverse to capture and kill America Chavez instead of manipulating reality again. Because of those circumstances, to quote a YouTube comment, the film title should be retitled as "The Scarlet Witch and her Madness in the Multiverse", as it would make even more sense to the film's plot.
	* Despite being a decently well written plot, the film could cause confusion to the audience whether it is about Doctor Strange, the Scarlet Witch, America Chavez, or their adventures within the multiverse, although most indicate that this film is about the Scarlet Witch and her intentions to kill Chavez as Doctor Strange came along to help the latter escape.
	* In previous trailers, Karl Mordo was featured to be one of the main characters as a primary enemy of Doctor Strange due to his determination of stopping and killing his former friend. However, it turns out that he was not the same Karl Mordo Doctor Strange had trained and fought with in the previous film, but Mordo in this film was simply a random variant who is a member of the Illuminati that tricked and captured Doctor Strange and America Chavez. Additionally, similar to Sinister Strange, he only had less than twenty minutes of screen time, thus wasting the opportunity to have a conflict between Doctor Strange and the main Karl Mordo.
6. For some reason, possibly due to making sure the film was a success in foreign countries, America Chavez was rewritten from being a lesbian to someone having lesbian parents, although America having two moms was a thing in the comics, this however led the movie to be banned at the last minute in many countries.
7. **Executive meddling:** Scott Derrickson, the director of *Doctor Strange*, had previously returned to direct this sequel, and he had potential ideas as he wanted to make this film into a full-blown horror movie featuring Nightmare, a villain of Doctor Strange from the comics, while deeply exploring the characters Jonathan Pangborn and Hamir after their smaller roles in the first film. Derrickson wanted to explore more into gothic and horror contents that were lacked in the first film as a few producers also had ideas to feature the Multiverse as a horrific concept that have hopeless consequences while introducing more monsters. Despite these methods however, Marvel Studios and Disney decided to turn this movie that would only have scary sequences without actually featuring a horror plot, therefore Derrickson decided to depart as the director but remained in the film production as a executive producer as a compromise to avoid conflicts with creative differences while Sam Raimi took over as a new director. While Raimi did a good job of showing best efforts with the film and its scary sequences, it was not put into full potential to go into detail of the Multiverse as an extremely dangerous notion to be dealt and meddled with since it would be unwise to mess with something that has very little to no information and acknowledgement. Besides, this meddling was only made to rely on and expand the aftermath of *WandaVision* instead of actually focusing on the main story of Doctor Strange and his own individual adventures.
8. The CGI in the film can be felt out of place in some parts of the film, especially with the third eyes located in the foreheads of Sinister Strange and Doctor Strange.
9. Despite the film being decent, it somewhat carried out misandrist methods that made the majority of the women smarter and stronger while men getting weaker and stupider. For example:
	* Doctor Strange, in his very own movie, and Wong who are very powerful characters have been overwhelmed and overpowered by the Scarlet Witch at every battle they face, even during the final battle where Doctor Strange dreamwalked using the rotting corpse of Defender Strange. Doctor Strange basically only ran around the corners of the movie without even combating hand-to-hand against the Scarlet Witch. Besides, Doctor Strange previously had no problem dealing with more powerful beings like Thanos with four Infinity Stones and he even lasted much longer before being outsmarted.
	* The moment where Mr. Fantastic answered the Scarlet Witch's question regarding whether the mother of his children is still alive, Scarlet Witch blatantly stated out loud that the children would have someone else to look up to, thus making the statement being a punch in a face to real-life fathers and father figures as if they are unnecessary to contribute and raise the lives of children.
	* Additionally, three male members of the Illuminati (Black Blot, Mr. Fantastic, and Professor X) were killed in quick, painful, and gruesome approaches but Captain Carter and Captain Marvel were given an opportunity to fight in a lengthy violent confrontation against Wanda before being eventually killed.
10. Despite being heavily anticipated, and finally being introduced in the MCU, the Illuminati were very underutilized and downgraded, in regard to their powers. To the point where some people have compared them to the "League of Super Acquaintances" from that *SpongeBob* episode or the "Guardians of the Globe" from the TV show *Invincible,* due to them also being teams of heroes who were easily defeated by overpowered enemies despite their powers.
	* Additionally, everyone in the Illuminati except Professor X were very unlikeable (in a bad way) characters as they were willingly to execute 616-Strange for the destruction 838-Strange variant (their own Doctor Strange) had done previously without even listening to 616-Strange's explanations of his own Scarlet Witch and her major threats to the Multiverse. The Illuminati, along with their Christine Palmer (the 838 variant of the main counterpart), believed that 616-Strange is the same as their variant and former teammate who accidentally destroyed a different universe in a attempt to defeat Thanos. 838-Palmer, while understandably cynical and unoptimistic about the 616-Strange and his selfless intentions to stop the Scarlet Witch, was also unlikeable for a while as she frequently questioned 616-Strange even though he is a completely different variant despite having similar ends to stop conflicts.
	* Besides, Mr. Fantastic, 838-Mordo, and 838-Captain Marvel highly and arrogantly underestimated the Scarlet Witch as they claim that Wanda is not a multiversal threat they needed to face while stating that they can handle "[616-Strange's] little witch if she decides to dreamwalk". In terms of irony, they all but 838-Mordo died in the conflict, which made their statements being pointless.
	* The infamous moment when Mr. Fantastic, introduced in the movie as "**The Smartest Man Alive**", was dumb enough to tell Wanda about Black Bolt's powerful voice; which resulted in the latter being killed by Wanda.