Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: Bop or Flop?
- Emelah the Blogger
- May 8, 2022
- 4 min read
How does Dr. Strange fair across dimensions? Is Wanda the most powerful character in the MCU?
Action/Adventure, 2 hr 6 min, PG-13
Released: May 6, 2022
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez
Director: Sam Raimi
What’s it about? Dr. Stephen Strange casts a forbidden spell that opens a portal to the multiverse. However, a threat emerges that may be too big for his team to handle.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 75% | IMDb Score: 7.5/10
Bop or Flop? *SPOILERS AHEAD*
Most films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) are indeed bops, but this one misses the mark for me.
Before we get to the plot, the trailer was very misleading. It had me believing Wanda and Strange were about to be teamed up against an evil Dr. Strange. That was not the case. Instead, it was Dr. Strange against Wanda (and eventually a darker version of himself) all because she was under the Darkhold and in a manic search for her children.
Personally, I am still confused over her children being born of magic. In WandaVision, they claimed her kids were real despite being born under those circumstances, yet they disappeared with her hex. Apparently they are still alive, not in this world but in other universes. It's hard to understand why there was no Vision or Pietro in the other dimensions. Also if the twins were made from magic, how come she couldn't create them again?
In all her magic, she thought it was best to hunt down a teenage girl who accidentally travels through the multiverse.
Though America was the victim, she irritated me. Nobody can control their powers at first, but she didn't even TRY to use them. From the very first scene, she was just standing there while Dr. Strange from Earth-616 was getting his ass beat. When she finally did start to use her powers at the end of the film, she did wonders! But we needed you to show up way earlier, baby girl...
Irritation aside, it was nice to see Latina and queer representation, even know the presence of her mothers were brief. In the comics, she is queer as well.
Multiverse of Madness abbreviates to MoM, and this Mother's Day, I'm thinking of Wanda Maximoff. She mourns the loss of her twins while being the mother to a culture of stans. To be clear, this is a Wanda stan count. She has proven she is the baddest bitch several times at this point even before her transformation to the Scarlet Witch.
Don't forget, she was rocking Thanos' shit for a good minute. Don't play with her! For the record, she did warn everyone Scarlet Witch was coming...
This film proved she is the baddest bitch in the MCU because:
All the sorcerers in and their force fields Kamar-Taj couldn't hold her! She killed a few
She had lines! She was funny as hell. Very cold
Assumed Mount Wundagore, a forbidden place for the Masters of the Mystic Arts, as her throne
Killed Earth-838's Black Bolt, Dr. Reed Richards, Captain Marvel (Maria Rambeau), Captain Peggy Carter, and Professor Charles Xavier... all while dream-walking
Dr. Strange feared what she would be capable of (including causing immeasurable damage across the multiverses) if she possessed America's ability to travel dimensions
In the end, Wong, America and Dr. Strange had to team up to slow her down. She really only stopped because SHE wanted to, after coming to her senses
I'm not saying Wanda was right for all she did, but I understand her. She was grieving and misunderstood. With the Darkhold, she was clearly not in her right mind, but a woman possessed. She took things too far, which she only realized after America finally took her to a dimension and her kids saw her as a monster instead of their mother.
I didn't like this plot line at all. Powerful women are written so poorly in MCU (for example, Jean Grey in X-Men). Why couldn't Wanda be respected as all powerful and not go crazy or turn into the villain? She deserved so much better. Dealing with the multiverse literally opens limitless possibilities for plot lines. They could have leaned in to the angle depicted in What If, where Dr. Strange kept trying to save Christine from dying, or even winning back her heart.
(Side note: the "I love you in every universe" was beyond sweet. But why couldn't she go back with him? Her Stephen is dead.)
They could have leaned into the plot that was alluded to in the trailer with Darkhold Dr. Strange corrupting the multiverse and our Dr. Strange needing Wanda's help to save the day. There could be some cleanup left for Strange to do from the previous ripples in tie we saw in No Way Home and Endgame. There could be other evil witches or sorcerers that emerged that needed confrontation. There could've even been another Thanos! Or better yet, if our Wanda got to keep her children and another Wanda came trying to steal them.
There were so many missed opportunities with this storyline. Where was Magneto, who fathers Flash and Scarlet Witch in another universe? Again, no White Vision or Pietro?
Despite my issues with the film, there were some very cool visual elements and unforgettable moments. It was a horror film in some ways, and it was fun to see other worlds. Dr. Strange being able to dream-walk in Dr. Strange from Earth-616's dead body was impressive, and a little demonic.
Everything but the plot was top-tier, so its in between a flop and a bop. A flip if you will, because it can go either way.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is in theaters, with special shows in IMAX and 3D.
Emelah’s Score: 🎥 🎥 🎥
Comments