We got our first taste of The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) in 2008 and now, 12 years later, the universe has created an expansive menu with a catalog of over 30 entries between movies and television shows. Most recently, the universe has brought us the sequel and follow up to Disney’s 2016 wizarding hit, Doctor Strange. The latest installment, directed by Sam Raimi, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, was released in theaters on May 5th and delivered a visually chaotic narrative that has so far left casual fans confused, and Marvel diehards wanting more.
If you’re planning a trip to the movies to view Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, it is recommended that you indulge in refreshments as the film’s run time is over 2 hours.
If you are looking to elevate your movie experience, consider visiting a theatre licensed to sell alcoholic beverages. If you’re seeing the movie on the West Coast, for example, you can benefit from alcohol service provided by staff who have undergone responsible beverage service training in California to ensure a high level of service.
Phases of the MCU
Historically, Marvel has categorized its films into chronological order by establishing separate Phases. For example, Phase 1 lasted four years and encompassed every film released from 2008-2012.
Phase 4 of Marvel picks up after the 2019 film Avengers: Endgame and had a lot of potential as the MCU could have gone in any direction following the snap incident with Thanos (played by Josh Brolin). However, the projects of Phase 4 released so far, including the likes of Black Widow, WandaVision, Shang-Chi and The Legend of the 10 Rings, and The Eternals, have lacked a certain quality.
The Marvel Movie Storyline Format
With so many superhero stories under its belt, Marvel has come to a point where they almost recycle the same format every time. In almost every movie, viewers can expect the following storyline:
- The hero’s confidence is shaken when their daily routine is interrupted by a threatening force
- The hero rallies to face the force and is defeated or overwhelmed and suffers some type of loss
- The hero enters a dark state and must learn a valuable lesson to grow and gain the courage to face the threat once again
- The hero learns their lesson and rises up, often with the potential help of unexpected allies, to vanquish the threat once and for all
- The story concludes with a victory for the hero even though the audience is left with many vague unanswered questions to be answered in a variety of sequels.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness tries very hard to break this typical format by playing on the tragedies of a former hero to depict their fall from grace and turn them into a villain.
Creating an Impactful Villain
A protagonist becoming the antagonist is not a new concept to storytelling as there are more and more stories that feature a struggling protagonist who tries their hardest to remain a positive force but ultimately falls to darkness. This is a particular arc that is overwhelmingly present in the story of this film’s villain.
The Shortcomings of Wanda
In Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Wanda Maximoff, played by Elizabeth Olsen, becomes the antagonist in a transition that is so one-dimensional and unrelatable that by the time she shows up as the actual villain, it’s not even believable.
Wanda experiences the loss of her family in the 2021 project WandaVision and, in this Doctor Strange film, she uses that grief as justification for attempting to end a child’s life, take advantage of their power, and harness it to be with her family again in another reality.
Though Olsen is able to deliver a good performance with the material she is given, it, unfortunately, does not lead to a well-developed spiral into the darkness of a truly chilling antagonist, taking away from the effectiveness of the storytelling found in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.