3 / 10
I have watched Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness twice. The 3 reflects honest evaluation of one of the most structurally compromised Phase Four entries and the film that most clearly demonstrated the multiverse premise’s destructive effect on MCU storytelling discussed in How The Multiverse Destroyed The MCU. Sam Raimi brought specific horror-genre filmmaking sensibility to the production. Some sequences benefit substantially from Raimi’s approach. The broader film operates as decorative fan service through the Illuminati sequence, character assassination of Wanda Maximoff through unmotivated heel turn, and violation of the magic system rules that the original Doctor Strange film had carefully established. The 3 is honest evaluation that acknowledges Raimi’s specific contributions while honoring the structural failures of the broader film.
The Setup
Stephen Strange has been navigating the consequences of the multiverse opening that the Spider-Man: No Way Home spells produced. A young woman named America Chavez is pursued by demonic entities across multiple universes. She possesses the ability to travel between universes but cannot control the power. Strange and Wong rescue her in New York and bring her to Kamar-Taj for protection. Strange consults Wanda Maximoff, hoping her experience with reality-warping powers might help understand America’s abilities.
Wanda has been corrupted by the Darkhold, an evil book of magical knowledge introduced in the WandaVision Disney+ series. She is the actual antagonist pursuing America to acquire her multiverse-traveling power. The middle act involves Strange and America escaping through multiple universes to evade Wanda’s pursuit, including the universe-616 where the Illuminati operate. The third act features Strange’s confrontation with Wanda using forbidden necromantic magic, the destruction of the Darkhold across multiple universes, and Wanda’s apparent self-sacrifice while collapsing the magical mountain housing the original Darkhold.
Sam Raimi’s Direction
Sam Raimi had directed the original Spider-Man trilogy (2002-2007) and substantial horror genre work (Evil Dead franchise, Drag Me to Hell) before Multiverse of Madness. The hiring brought specific horror-genre filmmaking sensibility to the MCU’s mystical-arts dimension. The decision to apply genuine horror conventions to a mainstream MCU release was creatively ambitious and represented one of the franchise’s more interesting director-material pairings.
The Raimi sensibility shows in specific sequences. The Wanda hunting through Kamar-Taj attack sequence operates as genuine horror with sustained dread and physical violence. The Strange consultation with the corpses of dead Strange variants includes specific horror imagery. The multiverse travel sequences feature kaleidoscopic visual approaches that draw on Raimi’s broader visual style. The Mount Wundagore sequences involve genuine cosmic horror imagery.
The Raimi contribution also faces specific limitations within the MCU framework. Marvel Studios’ broader tonal requirements prevent Raimi from committing fully to horror register. The film must remain accessible to family audiences who expect superhero entertainment. The trade between horror ambition and family accessibility produces sequences that operate at neither full horror intensity nor full superhero entertainment register. Raimi’s specific strengths are partially deployed and partially constrained. The result is a film that occasionally achieves horror moments embedded in superhero-genre conventions that the surrounding studio requirements prevent from sustained development.
The Illuminati Sequence
The film’s most-marketed element is the Illuminati sequence in Earth-838, a parallel universe where the Avengers were replaced by an organization called the Illuminati. The sequence features alternate-universe variants of major Marvel characters: Patrick Stewart returning as Professor X from the Fox X-Men franchise, John Krasinski as Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic, Hayley Atwell as Captain Carter (Peggy Carter as Captain America from the What If…? Disney+ series), Lashana Lynch as Maria Rambeau as Captain Marvel, Anson Mount returning as Captain Marvel’s Black Bolt from the failed Inhumans television series, and the Illuminati’s leader Karl Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor returning in a Mordo variant role).
The sequence operates as the multiverse premise’s clearest single fan-service deployment. The audience receives unexpected appearances by legacy characters who could not have appeared in the MCU through normal continuity. Patrick Stewart’s return to the Professor X role was widely promoted and generated substantial audience anticipation. John Krasinski’s casting as Reed Richards was speculated about for years as fan casting before the actual deployment.
The Illuminati characters exist on screen for approximately ten minutes before being killed by Wanda Maximoff during her attack on the Illuminati’s headquarters. Each death is depicted with horror-influenced specificity. Mr. Fantastic’s body is shredded. Black Bolt’s head explodes. Captain Carter is bisected. Captain Marvel is crushed under a statue. Professor X’s neck is snapped. The sequence delivers the fan-service appearances and then immediately eliminates the characters in graphic combat that has no broader narrative consequence within the film.
The structural problem is severe. The audience receives the introduction of legacy characters they have been hoping to see in the MCU. The film then kills these characters in approximately the same scene where they appear. The deaths register as essentially weightless because the characters were introduced specifically to provide brief fan-service appearances before being eliminated. The audience cannot mourn characters they were introduced to in the same scene where they died. The sequence operates as nostalgia delivery system rather than as integrated narrative element. The marketing positioned the Illuminati as significant additions to the MCU. The film positioned them as ten minutes of celebrity cameos before being killed for spectacle.
For Writers
The Multiverse of Madness Illuminati sequence demonstrates the cost of character introduction without character development. The film introduces approximately six major legacy characters in a sequence lasting approximately ten minutes and kills all of them within the same sequence. The audience cannot form emotional investment in characters introduced and killed within the same scene. The deaths therefore generate no dramatic weight despite the elaborate combat depictions. The sequence operates as nostalgia delivery rather than as integrated narrative. The lesson for writers is that character deaths require character establishment to generate emotional response. If your character has not been on screen long enough for the audience to invest in their interior life, their death will register as procedural information rather than as loss. The Illuminati characters in this film are introduced specifically to be killed. The audience reads this even when they enjoy the immediate fan-service surprise of seeing the actors return. The dramatic impact of the deaths is essentially zero because the dramatic foundation for the deaths was never established. Character deaths require character lives. The Illuminati received cameos rather than lives. The deaths therefore generated entertainment value rather than dramatic value.
The Wanda Heel Turn
The film positions Wanda Maximoff as the actual antagonist who has been pursuing America Chavez throughout the runtime. The Wanda of this film has been corrupted by the Darkhold introduced in WandaVision. She is willing to kill multiple universes’ worth of people, multiple MCU heroes, and multiple variants of herself to acquire America’s multiverse-traveling power. Her motivation is to reunite with her children who exist only in alternate-universe variants of herself.
The character development problems are severe. WandaVision had ended with Wanda accepting that her children were not real and committing to grow through the loss rather than through magical denial. The Multiverse of Madness Wanda has rejected this acceptance and returned to magical denial. The shift between WandaVision’s conclusion and Multiverse of Madness’s antagonist Wanda is unmotivated by anything depicted on screen. The character has been reframed for the new film’s purposes without sufficient narrative development to support the reframing.
Elizabeth Olsen plays the Wanda role with continued commitment. The performance is professionally executed within the limits of the material. The material itself does not allow Wanda to function as either developed antagonist or as continued protagonist whose character arc audiences had been invested in across multiple previous appearances. The Multiverse of Madness Wanda is essentially a different character than the WandaVision Wanda, with the difference left unjustified by anything the script establishes.
The pattern is the franchise’s broader Phase Four-Five issue of treating established characters as material to be reframed for current production needs rather than as accumulated capital to be respected. Wanda’s heel turn in Multiverse of Madness operates similarly to the broader character degradation patterns discussed in the emasculation essay, though applied to a female character rather than to male characters. The franchise treats its established characters as flexible material rather than as fixed foundation. The audience response across multiple Phase Four-Five productions reflects this pattern.
The Magic System Violation
The original Doctor Strange film carefully established the magic system as a discipline with internal logic, as discussed in the Doctor Strange (2016) review. Spells required specific training, specific tools, specific time to cast, and specific consequences for misuse. The constraints gave the magic system the dramatic foundation that drama requires.
Multiverse of Madness violates these constraints repeatedly. Wanda Maximoff demonstrates reality-manipulation capabilities that exceed what the original Doctor Strange film established as the boundaries of mystical-arts practice. Strange himself uses necromantic magic in the third act through the corpse of his Earth-838 variant, performing a “Dreamwalking” spell whose mechanics are introduced solely to enable the climactic sequence. The Darkhold provides Wanda with reality-warping capabilities that effectively make her unbeatable by ordinary means, requiring the script to invent specific weaknesses on demand to allow the resolution.
The pattern of expanding capabilities to meet plot needs is one of the franchise’s structural problems. The original Doctor Strange handled magic system constraints correctly. Multiverse of Madness expanded those constraints whenever the plot required expansion, generating a magic system that operates flexibly rather than with the consistent rules drama requires. The audience reads the pattern. The dramatic stakes deflate because the magical capabilities are no longer constrained in ways the audience can track.
Benedict Cumberbatch’s Performance
Benedict Cumberbatch continues as Stephen Strange with sustained professional commitment. The performance is one of the film’s more consistent elements. Strange operates with the specific arrogant intellectual register Cumberbatch had established in the original film, modified slightly by the experiences of Infinity War and Endgame. The character has developed enough across previous appearances to support continued screen time without requiring substantial new character work in this specific film.
The script does not give Strange particularly demanding material despite the film’s title positioning him as central protagonist. Strange functions primarily as audience perspective character traveling through multiverse environments and witnessing other characters’ actions. The actual dramatic engine of the film operates through Wanda’s antagonist arc and America Chavez’s coming-of-age subplot. Strange’s specific character development is minimal across the runtime despite the film bearing his name.
Cumberbatch’s professional execution prevents the limited material from being more visibly problematic. A weaker leading actor would have struggled with the role’s reduced agency. Cumberbatch maintains audience engagement through specific verbal cadence and physical presence even when the script gives him less to work with than the original film provided.
Craft: The Multiverse Premise’s Most Visible Failure
Craft Note
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is the film at which the multiverse premise’s destructive effect on MCU storytelling became most visible to general audiences. The Illuminati sequence delivered the multiverse premise’s most extreme fan-service deployment alongside the premise’s most explicit demonstration of why such deployment damages serialized drama. The audience received legacy characters they had been hoping to see in the MCU and watched those characters die within minutes of their introduction. The combination of immediate satisfaction and immediate disappointment captured what the multiverse premise actually delivers across the broader franchise.
The film also violated the magic system rules the original Doctor Strange film had carefully established. The expansion of capabilities to meet plot needs is the broader pattern across multiverse-era productions. Each film expands what the magical characters can do to meet current narrative requirements, with cumulative effect that the magic system loses the constraints that drama requires. Multiverse of Madness represents the pattern operating at high intensity within a single film.
The Wanda heel turn represents the broader Phase Four-Five pattern of treating established characters as material for current-production reframing rather than as accumulated capital to respect. WandaVision had ended with Wanda accepting loss and committing to growth. Multiverse of Madness rejected this conclusion and returned her to antagonist function. The shift was unmotivated by anything depicted on screen. The franchise prioritized current-production antagonist needs over established character continuity.
The 3 rating reflects honest evaluation of the cumulative structural failures despite Sam Raimi’s specific directorial contributions. The horror-influenced sequences operate at higher craft level than the broader production but cannot save the film from its structural problems. The Illuminati sequence delivers fan service at the cost of character development. The magic system expansion destroys the constraints that made the original Doctor Strange function. The Wanda heel turn dismantles WandaVision’s conclusion. Each problem compounds the others. The aggregate effect is a film that fails despite individual strengths.
For analysis of the broader multiverse problem, see How The Multiverse Destroyed The MCU. For analysis of the broader character-degradation pattern this film exemplifies, see The Emasculation Of The MCU.
The Verdict
A 3. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is one of the most structurally compromised Phase Four entries and the film that most clearly demonstrated the multiverse premise’s destructive effect on MCU storytelling. Sam Raimi’s horror-genre direction produces specific successful sequences. The Illuminati sequence delivers fan service while killing the characters it introduces within minutes. Wanda Maximoff’s heel turn dismantles WandaVision’s character conclusion without sufficient narrative justification. The magic system constraints the original Doctor Strange film established are violated repeatedly. Benedict Cumberbatch’s performance maintains audience engagement despite reduced material. The broader film operates as franchise expansion through multiverse mechanics rather than as integrated standalone narrative.
I have watched it twice. The 3 reflects honest evaluation. The second viewing made the structural problems more visible than the first viewing’s immediate fan-service satisfaction had allowed. Other viewers may rate the film higher based on appreciation for Raimi’s specific contributions or for the Illuminati nostalgia. The 3 reflects the cumulative production failures and the broader franchise damage the film exemplifies. The MCU’s multiverse problem became unmistakable through this film’s release.
FAQ
Is Sam Raimi’s direction worth seeking out?
Partially. The horror-influenced sequences operate at higher craft level than the broader production. The Wanda Kamar-Taj attack, the corpse-Strange consultation, and various Mount Wundagore sequences benefit substantially from Raimi’s specific sensibility. The Marvel Studios broader tonal requirements prevent full horror commitment. The result is a film with horror moments embedded in superhero-genre conventions rather than as a sustained horror experience. Raimi fans should sample the specific sequences. Casual viewers will not receive the full benefit of his approach.
Why is the Illuminati sequence problematic?
Because the film introduces approximately six major legacy characters in approximately ten minutes and kills all of them within the same sequence. The audience receives the introductions as exciting nostalgia surprises and then immediately loses the characters before any emotional foundation can be established. The deaths register as procedural information rather than as dramatic loss. The sequence operates as nostalgia delivery system rather than as integrated narrative element. Patrick Stewart’s return as Professor X received specific marketing emphasis. The character exists on screen for approximately three minutes before being killed.
Is Wanda’s heel turn really unmotivated?
The motivation is stated rather than developed. The Darkhold has corrupted her. She wants to reunite with her children from alternate universes. These motivations are referenced by dialogue and asserted by plot mechanics. The narrative development that would make these motivations land emotionally is not present. WandaVision had ended with Wanda accepting loss and growing through acceptance. Multiverse of Madness reverses this conclusion through the Darkhold’s influence without depicting the corruption process. The audience receives the antagonist Wanda as different character than the protagonist Wanda of WandaVision, with the difference left as plot mechanism rather than as character development.
How does the magic system violation work?
Wanda demonstrates reality-warping capabilities that exceed what the original Doctor Strange film established as mystical-arts practice. Strange uses necromantic Dreamwalking magic introduced solely for the third-act climax. The Darkhold provides reality-altering power without the constraints the original magic system required. Each expansion is justified within the immediate scene but contradicts the broader system the franchise had established. The cumulative effect is that the magic system loses the constraints that drama requires.
Is America Chavez worth caring about?
Partially. Xochitl Gomez plays America Chavez with appropriate enthusiasm for a young character thrust into cosmic events. The character has specific multiverse-traveling powers and clear initial motivation (escaping the entity pursuing her). The character development across the runtime is minimal beyond accepting her powers and learning to use them. America operates as plot device more than as developed character. Subsequent MCU appearances will determine whether the character receives more substantial development.
How does this fit Phase Four?
Multiverse of Madness is one of the Phase Four entries that demonstrated the franchise’s broader collapse. The phase contains Black Widow (0), Eternals (1), Multiverse of Madness (3), Love and Thunder (-100), Wakanda Forever (3), Quantumania (-100), and The Marvels (-100). The phase has the lowest average rating in this review series. Multiverse of Madness occupies the lower middle of the phase’s range. The film’s specific structural problems (multiverse fan service, character degradation, magic system violation) are representative of the broader phase’s issues.
Should I watch this if I’m completing the MCU?
Yes, with managed expectations. The film establishes plot elements that subsequent multiverse-era productions build on. The Illuminati sequence is part of the franchise’s broader multiverse establishment. Wanda’s apparent death affects subsequent storylines. America Chavez may return in future productions. The narrative contribution is real even when the film itself does not entirely succeed. Watch once and engage primarily with the Raimi-directed sequences.
How does Benedict Cumberbatch’s performance compare to the original?
Cumberbatch maintains the character’s verbal cadence and physical presence from the original film. The role gives him less to work with than the original Doctor Strange provided. Strange functions primarily as audience perspective character traveling through events rather than as protagonist driving them. Cumberbatch’s professional execution prevents the reduced material from being more visibly problematic. The character has accumulated sufficient previous development that the limited new material does not damage the broader character continuity substantially.
What is the Darkhold?
An evil book of magical knowledge introduced in the WandaVision Disney+ series. The Darkhold corrupts those who use it, gradually expanding their magical capabilities while degrading their moral judgment. Wanda Maximoff used the Darkhold during WandaVision and has been corrupted by it across the intervening period before Multiverse of Madness begins. The destruction of all Darkhold copies across multiple universes is the film’s climactic objective. The book has become one of the franchise’s recurring magical artifacts whose specific properties expand to meet current production needs.