[Marvel Movie] Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

It would be helpful there were an awful lot of Easter eggs from What If in there.

Much darker and brutal than I anticipated. Didn’t think the MCU would go there though we saw a lot of deaths in IW that didn’t make it back so maybe this just felt more violent.

Way better than Eternals and Shang-Chi. Thought the introduction of the Illuminati was a little too formal. We all knew about Prof X from the trailer but the others were nice surprises. As others said we needed much more backstory on Chavez though her introduction sets the stage for the Young Avengers which will tie in Miles Morales with the Spidey Verse.

Again it’s just brilliant of Disney to tie in the movies to the series on Disney+. Gives opportunities to delve deeper into the characters and stories.

Solid 8/10.

 

Good movie, worth a movie theater trip.

 

It felt like an average Marvel movie to me. Honestly I'm getting tired of the Marvel template and this new era hasn't come close to the bar set by some preceding films. Wandavision and Strange's What If? episode were better personal journeys than this movie.

I'm also growing tired of everything having to be connected. Some stand alone films would be nice for a change.

 

Moon knight seemed like a stand alone

 

I’ve watched wandavision but my wife hasn’t. Should I get her to watch it before Dr Strange 2

 

Kind of, yeah.

I mean, you can figure out what is going on without it, but it makes more sense if you've seen it

 

Yes...or at the very least give her a recap.

 

I've heard a LOT of criticism of this movie....and basically all of it is valid, but I went into the movie with the right mindset and had proper expectations so the many, many glaring flaws of the movie didn't bother me.

This is kind of a dumb movie where you need to turn your brain off to fully enjoy it, similar to the most recent Spiderman movie. If you don't think about the things that happen too deeply, it'll be a lot of fun.

If you do think about the implications of the things that happen, or you question why certain things were done or not done, you might find yourself hating it.

Essentially this movie might inform you as to how you would fare taking hallucinogens. Can you just accept whatever nonsense you are shown and enjoy the show for what it is, or is your mind going to revolt when faced with things that might not make sense leading to you fighting the trip and having a bad time?

 

Just refresh her over the Darkhold from the first Dr. Strange movie, Wanda's kids and Vision. That's all you need.

Really, there's only one episode that's super important to the movie. I'd just read a quick recap of all the episodes or something, instead of watching the entire season.

And even that one episode just prepares you not to get startled / exhibit "holy ****!" behavior at the theater.

But honestly, I think reading a recap of Wandavision is more important. And you don't even need a recap of the season or her antagonist, Agatha. Just focus on her kids and Vision.

Don't think the TVA is super public knowledge to...anyone, really, at this point in time.

Spoiler

Glad it's not the end of her, as Elizabeth Olsen is probably the best female actress in the entire MCU. But if/when she comes back, the villain better be on some super-ultra-mega-giga God level, because it's hard to imagine SW losing in a battle, right now.

 

Well....

Spoiler

She no longer has the Darkhold, so when she comes back, it'll be a weaker version of her.....but she should still be one of the most powerful in the universe.....but I do feel like they wasted basically her best storyline far too soon. I always wanted to get the "No more mutants" line, and we can't really do that now without completely coming up with a new basis for her to say it

 

Spoiler

Isn't the Darkhold just a spellbook? Like, once you've learned a spell from within it or memorized it or whatever, you don't need it physically on you / near you, to cast its spells?

Like, just do some hand signs ninja jutsu style, and bing bang boom, you got a spell?

 

I don't think so

Spoiler

In the movie, when the book was destroyed by random nameless wizard, she lost the ability to "Dream Walk" or whatever since the book gave her the power. I know, it's really stupid, it shouldn't work that way, but it's how they decided to make it work for the movie because it was written by 5 year old children.

Also, I think we're supposed to believe the version of her from that universe is now dead, having sacrificed herself to destroy the Darkhold in every universe the way that random nameless wizard sacrificed herself to destroy a book copy of it in the current universe.

I think the plan will be to bring in a different, slightly weaker version of her from another universe that was destroyed or something like that in the next Avengers flick.

Maybe then she'll have her kids and evil mutants later down the line will kill them so she can become a villain again and do the "No more mutants" line and wipe out nearly all of them. That might work.

 

Others already commented my thoughts on this, but, also.

Spoiler

Another nod to how powerful THIS version of Wanda was (Scarlett Witch) - Reed Richards & the Illuminati seemed to have no fear about dealing with her. As if, in their universe, she's just the "normal" dialed-down Wanda we've known all these years up until this point. They were... unaware of the Scarlett Witch revelation that our Wanda experienced.

 

I thought it was 9/10. Maybe 10/10. One of my favorite comic movies ever. Just... a fun ride. Show this movie to 13 year old me and my head would explode. We're spoiledt.

Spoiler

Glad Reed Richards was somehow not spoiled for me and I hope he returns.

I definitely saw a world that looked like Savage Land. Did I also see 2099? Something def looked VERY 2099, which was cool.

I guess there is no 1-thing that is creating all of this multiverse stuff. I thought what happened in Spiderman 3 was going to lead into all of these multiverse problems, but these problems are actually unrelated. I thought what happened in Loki would lead to these problems, but... maybe not. What happens in Ant Man 3 might be something completely different involving the multiverse.

So... it's just a lot of different multiverse things happening? Not 1 single event causing it all.

 

I thought it was a middling MCU effort. Maybe a B-. I generally try and not spoil myself going into a movie, but I kind of wish I knew a little more of this one going in and I might have enjoyed it more. Had I entered the theater expecting to watch a hard PG-13 Sam Raimi horror movie set in the Marvel universe I would have been more forgiving than going in just expecting a MCU formulaic movie. They definitely let Sam Raimi put his stamp on this one. I suppose it wasn't moreso than Waititi or James Gunn, but Raimi's style feels so different than the other Marvel movies that it was a bit jarring. But once you move past that it was pretty fun, even if it did feel disjointed here and there. I'll spoiler any further detailed discussion:

Spoiler

I can kind of see why Feige pushed back on the "magic" type powers up until recently. It definitely feels like cheating for Dr Strange or Wanda to seemingly be able to do whatever they want at any given time by just doing weird things with their hands. The silly music fight between Strange and Other Other Strange felt ridiculous for that reason. You've got a spell that animates musical notes into little knives? And you both decided THAT'S how you were gonna fight this battle?

Then you have battles like between Scarlett Witch and Other Captain Marvel....which is just energy beams shooting at each other until one of them proves more powerful and gets thrown across the room. That feels like the most boring of super people at this stage. Compare that to like the Avenger movies where everyone has unique, pretty well defined abilities and they have to utilize them in creative ways sometimes to fight the other baddies (or each other). It just feels like we are moving down a path that will be much more boring. Maybe they surprise me.

I'll admit I am not a comics person, so when they revealed the other universe council to be the Illuminati, I thought it was some ridiculous reference to kids who thought our entire world was run by some rich white guys in a bunker somewhere that control everything with money. It seemed like a stupid joke. Had no idea that was an actual thing in the comics.

I didn't care about America Chavez at all. I second those that said they should have introduced her elsewhere previously. Because they didn't spend much of any time with her in this movie and compared to how much I cared about the other Avengers she might as well have been a Star Trek redshirt.

The horror elements were really well done and pretty creepy, though the moral implications of Dr Strange using the Darkhold to animate his corpse and then utilize demon spirits to fight felt weirdly glossed over. I get the ending sort of signified there may be more to that, but it felt really odd that no one in them moment seemed to think that was a really, really bad idea.

It sounds like i hated the movie. I did enjoy it but I have come to expect more from Marvel and this wasn't one of their best. I do think the other alternate universes can be done well (the latest Spidey as a really good example of that), they just need to be a little more focused. Certainly the box office indicated people were on board, so maybe I'm in the minority.

 

I'm really happy Disney let them go that far gore wise. I really didn't expect some of the brutal stuff. Bravo.

 

My 15 yo son said it was horrible. I hated the first one, I’ll pass.

 

To be fair, in Wanda's final battle with Agatha in Wandavision, it consisted mostly of "energy beam" blasts, as well. With Dr. Strange, there's a lot more creativity, as I don't think 'attacks' are as easy as conjuring up energy beams.

Spoiler

The musical notes battle between Strange and Strange serves to showcase the limitations of Strange's powers and also puts into perspective just how strong Wanda is, compared to the Sorcerer Supreme.

I don't think Strange could go toe-to-toe with Captain Marvel and won, much less Professor X. Dude didn't exactly beat Dormammu in the first film with sorcerer powers (used his brain and found a loophole, essentially), and didn't beat Wanda in this second film, either.

To me, MCU has kinda made Dr. Strange look weak, compared to his enemies in the first and second films. They've made him more of a tactician that wins through smarts, rather than rely on sorcerer powers. It's up for debate on whether that's a good thing or not.

 

ACK-THU-LEEE

Spoiler

You have to think of the Darkhold as a Mystic Weapon
Can Dr. Strange fly without the cape? Why cause the Cape has the flying power
The Darkhold has the Mystic Power to do some nasty things

Rocket River