Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Marvel Studios’ latest highly anticipated tentpole film, has officially hit theaters. Fans and critics disagree about whether it’s one of the best MCU films, but almost all agree that it’s one of the strangest. The film delivered on the concept’s promise of blatant eccentricity.
Although the script has numerous pacing and storyline flaws, Multiverse of Madness’ biggest merit is that Kevin Feige allowed it to be a Sam Raimi film before an MCU film. The sequel to Doctor Strange features the famed horror director’s trademark odd humor and off-kilter “splatstick.” The end result is one of the MCU’s oddest installments to date, with hundreds of hilariously crazy scenes.
Strange And America Chavez Traveled Through A Universe Where They Were Made Of Paint
Strange and Chavez traverse through a series of other universes in rapid succession in one of the film’s most mind-bending moments. One is simply a complete universe of paint droplets falling from the sky. When Strange recounts his brief trip through a realm made of paint, seasoned interdimensional traveler Chavez warns him that getting stranded in that universe is a poor idea because finding food in a planet made of paint is difficult.
Strange And Chavez Were Arrested By A Real-Life Illuminati
Multiverse of Madness introduces an MCU Illuminati, as promised by the trailers. This Illuminati, like the common conspiracy theory, is a shadowy organization that controls the world. This version of the secret organization is well-versed in the multiverse (they even have someone who can name all of the universes).
The trailers announced Patrick Stewart’s comeback as Professor X and Hayley Atwell’s live-action debut as Captain Carter. Anson Mount as Black Bolt, John Krasinski as Reed Richards, and Lashana Lynch as a version of Maria Rambeau who became Captain Marvel round out the cast.
Strange Cursed A Pizza-Ball Vendor To Punch Himself For Three Weeks
Bruce Campbell, Raimi’s frequent collaborator, was expected to make a cameo in the Doctor Strange sequel, and he didn’t disappoint. It takes advantage of Strange’s almost limitless magical talents to provide Campbell with lots of laughs. On Earth-838, he plays a pizza-ball vendor who confronts Strange after Chavez steals some of his multiversal pizza product.
Strange puts a hex on the pizza-ball seller to have him punch himself in the face continuously for three weeks in order to get rid of him. Campbell reprises his role as the pizza-ball vendor at the end of his three-week curse in the humorous post-credits stinger. “It’s over!” he exclaims, realizing he’s no longer condemned to keep pounding himself.
Strange Embodied His Own Corpse For The Final Battle
The witch-powered-by-an-evil-book-versus-zombie-powered-by-the-souls-of-the-damned ending in the Doctor Strange sequel is not only the Raimi-est sequence in the film; it’s also a superb example of plant-and-payoff storytelling. America brings a multiversal Doctor Strange body with her when she first lands on Earth-616.
Strange in that version instantly buries his own body in the midst of New York, resulting in a Strange corpse in Manhattan prior to the third-act reward. Strange sets up the payoff with a fantastic Raimi-style one-liner when he wants to dreamwalk into a 616 body in the climactic battle: “Who says it has to be alive?”
Strange Fought His Evil Self With Musical Notes
Strange finds himself stranded in a dimension where yet another malevolent Doctor Strange has caused an incursion that has destroyed the Earth at the end of Multiverse of Madness’ second act. Strange faces his other self in the decrepit Sanctum of that realm and discovers he has been tainted by the Darkhold. The two Doctor Stranges fight by magically tossing musical notes at one other from the pages of sheet music in one of the most visually interesting scenes in the film.
Strange, like the Darkhold-corrupted version of himself, breaks down on the street and grows a third eye on his forehead in the film’s final shot (before the credits scenes). Wanda’s sacrifice shattered all the Darkholds across the multiverse, but Strange isn’t out of the woods yet, according to the third-eye scene.
Strange has decided to accept this third eye as a new superpower, according to the mid-credits sequence, in which Clea invites Strange to the Dark Dimension to investigate a suspected incursion he made.
Strange Learned That Every Other Version Of Himself Is Evil
Strange discovers that he is the greatest threat to the multiverse when he is taken before the Illuminati on Earth-838. Every other version of Stephen Strange in the multiverse turned out to be a monster, including the one seen in What If…?
However, the film emphasizes that Strange from Earth-616 is the exception that proves the norm. America has traveled between universes, assuring Christine Palmer that the 616 Strange is “not like the other Stephens.”
Strange Ripped Out An Octopus Demon’s Eyeball
When America Chavez first arrives in the Earth-616 universe, she is pursued by a Lovecraftian octopus demon intent on obtaining her valuable multiverse-hopping abilities for the benefit of a witch. This scenario – which concludes in Strange pulling the octopus’ eyeball out of its socket – feels like a callback to Raimi’s gruesome roots, given that he made his start in the “splatter” subgenre of horror.
Wanda Became A Mass Murderer
Wanda’s role as the film’s main villain was one of the main story threads obscured by the Doctor Strange trailers. She turns out to be the witch attempting to seize America’s power, and she’ll go to any length to obtain it so she may go across the multiverse to one of the realities where her sons Billy and Tommy are real.
Wanda has brutally wiped off legions of sorcerers at Kamar-Taj within minutes of her introduction. She’s annihilated the entire Earth-838 Illuminati line-up by the end of the second act (minus Mordo). This plot rips apart her WandaVision redemption arc and turns her into a full-fledged villain.
Wanda Sealed Black Bolt’s Mouth Shut
Reed Richards informs the Scarlet Witch that Black Bolt can kill her with his superhuman tongue when she meets the Illuminati on Earth-838. This proves to be a fatal error, as he hands over the team’s most precious weapon to a mystical supervillain.
“What mouth?” Wanda asks morbidly. Black Bolt’s mouth has been bound shut by her wicked power, it is revealed. He ends up caving in on himself from the inside because his superpower is already fully charged. The most frightening set-piece in the film was Wanda’s murder of the Illuminati, which began with this horrible killing.
