Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness: A Misstep In Marvel’s Trajectory

The release of Iron Man in 2008 launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe into decades of success. 

Fourteen years later, we entered a new era for Marvel with the release of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse Of Madness, which hit theaters on May 6.

We are no longer in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but rather the Marvel Cinematic Universes. 

The film centers around Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez). 

America, a girl with universe-hopping superpowers, seeks Strange’s protection as she is followed by Wanda who wants to use Chavez’s powers to travel to a universe in which she can be with her kids that she sacrificed in the mini-series WandaVision.

Though the last Marvel film release, Spider-Man: No Way Home, dipped its toes in the concept of the Multiverse through the interaction of characters from previous Spider-Man franchises, it still very much took place in our world where Peter Parker was the main attraction.

In Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, it is not Dr. Strange nor Wanda that take center stage but rather the multiverse itself. 

Therein lies the strengths and failings of this installment. 

On a positive note, the introduction of the multiverse does manage to bring excitement and novelty to the MCU even after more than 10 years of releases. 

This is particularly true when our familiar superheroes visit a reality named Earth-838. 

There we are met with Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell), a female version of Captain America, and Dr. Reed Richards (John Krasinski), a popular member of the Fantastic Four, who are part of a group of superheroes previously not introduced to the MCU. 

We also have an appearance of the fan-favorite Dr. X played by Patrick Stewart from the X-Men movies.

While it is an interesting part of the movie, it is very brief and underdeveloped. 

A similar issue is present with other elements of the movie such as the introduction of the new universe-hopping character America Chavez. 

While she plays an integral role in the plot, we barely have any emotional attachment to her even by the end of the film. 

The underdevelopment might be because this film only serves as a setup for future movies further exploring these characters. However, the quality of the current production should never be sacrificed for future films.

Instead of exploring these new worlds or characters, too much time is spent going through excessively CGI’d interdimensional limbos as a quest for a magical book that will help them defeat all evil. Not only is this a lazy plot point but it also gets dropped as the film aims to go for a magical pep talk instead.

Throughout the film, America Chavez cannot control her powers which only manifest in moments of extreme fear. In the end, she is the only one left to defeat Wanda. 

Achieving control of her powers could have been a deeply personal and emotional moment but instead it boils down to Dr. Strange telling her “You can do it!” and solving all their problems.

The film feels like it is stuck between being an ambitious science-fiction installment and a character study of the three main characters and ends up doing both in a mediocre manner. 

However, the most disappointing moments are the ones that had squandered potential. 

Wanda as a villain is a compelling character choice and Elizabeth Olsen plays it well. Yet, it does not follow the character development that she went through in WandaVision (2021). 

By the end of that series, she had repented after enslaving a whole town in a hex of her creation to keep her family. She also gave up her husband and kids to free a single town. 

How do you then expect us to believe that she is now willing to sacrifice a young girl and potential whole universes to get her kids back? She would have simply kept her previous hex.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse Of Madness has elements that could create a good movie but fails to effectively utilize them. 

Dr. Strange also feels superfluous to the story and undergoes no personal development. 

The film feels like an installment that sacrificed its quality to set up future Marvel stories.

We can only hope that the sacrifice is worthwhile.