Back in 2022, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness brought Benedict Cumberbatch's all-powerful sorcerer back for a mystical adventure that took place across various universes. It was a thrilling spectacle brought to life by horror legend Sam Raimi, who dabbled with Marvel characters for the first time since his legendary Spider-Man trilogy. It also featured Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda Maximoff, who had finally taken up the Scarlet Witch mantle after her leading role in Disney Plus breakout WandaVision.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe film had all the makings of a huge success story and, for the most part it was, grossing a huge $955 million at the box office (a $300 million increase on its 2016 predecessor) and giving the former Sorcerer Supreme a nightmarish, multiversal adventure that audiences are still talking about to this day.
The film received a positive response from critics upon its release, but upon further analysis - from both fans and critics - its reception has become somewhat more mixed in the years since that release. Be that from some of its questionable character portrayals or its extended battle sequences, there are some aspects of Multiverse of Madness that did not serve the movie well.
Lack of focus on Doctor Strange's supporting characters
Although the majority of Doctor Strange's supporting cast returned for relatively big roles in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, they were (mostly) playing different versions of their characters. Rachel McAdams returned as Earth-838's Dr. Christine Palmer and Chiwetel Ejiofor was also playing that earth's version of Baron Mordo.
It was certainly cool to see the cast portraying alternate versions of their characters and they did add a great deal to the plot, but it did leave us feeling a little short-changed when it came to the actual characters we knew and loved from the original 2016 movie.
Granted, Rachel McAdams did reappear as the MCU's Christine Palmer in the film's opening act, but she was getting married to someone else - essentially suggesting that she was no longer going to be a part of Stephen Strange's life. He was always going to love Christine, but they weren't going to end up together - partially because he "always had to be the one holding the knife" and because of the five year Blip caused by Thanos.
Multiverse of Madness was so focused on its own stories that it didn't necessarily give closure to the hanging plot threads from the first movie. Although Strange's sadness over the chance at happiness he missed with Christine served a purpose, Mordo's relegation here did not. We never found out what happened to the original Mordo, who vowed to take down all power-wielders in the previous film's post-credits scene. Yes, he was supposed to cross paths with Wanda and meet a grizzly end, but as that scene never made it into the film, Doctor Strange's biggest question wasn't given the answer it needed in its own sequel.
The Illuminati was wasted
The moment that Earth-838's Captain Marvel said "Oh we can handle your little witch", you just knew they were doomed. That was the point of the line, probably; to show us that they are arrogant, victims of their own hubris. From that standpoint, the way that the battle played out made sense. They just didn't have to come off as stupid, too.
The commitment to the notion of all Doctor Stranges are trouble just didn't work, in spite of the film's best efforts to make us believe it. Can he be arrogant? Yes. Is he annoyingly smart? Oh absolutely. Does that mean all of them should be judged by the other one's actions? Heck no. Look no further than Earth-838's Wanda who, yes has powers, but also spends her time as a loving mother to her children; not multiverse-hopping to kill anyone who stands in her way like the MCU's Wanda did.
But the Illuminati knew better, right? That's why Reed Richards, a.k.a. The Smartest Man Alive, told a reality-warping witch how Black Bolt could destroy her with his mouth... only for Wanda to know exactly what to write out of reality (spoiler alert: it was his mouth). What about why Captain Carter told Wanda how she could "do this all day", only for Wanda to violently kill her 15 seconds later.
There is no denying that the Illuminati's entrance to stop Wanda was extremely heroic and triumphant. But every decision that came after that completely undermined the characters. Some of them were arrogant, sure, and that arrogance can lead to stupidity, but the script portrayed them as inept. And honestly, the cast and fans deserved better than that.
No big battle between Doctor Strange and the Scarlet Witch
When it was revealed that Wanda Maximoff would be a part of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, fans were excited at the prospect of seeing the Scarlet Witch team up with the former Sorcerer Supreme. When it was subsequently revealed that she would be the villain of the movie, fans were equally as excited about the prospect of seeing the two powerful entities facing off against each other.
Agatha Harkness said in WandaVision that the power of the Scarlet Witch exceeds even that of the Sorcerer Supreme himself. Although Doctor Strange 2 very much leaned into that, it never fully put that into action. We knew from the beginning that Wanda was more powerful, and then dialogue in the movie also supported this. And yet we never got to fully see that play out.
Seeing the two power-wielders standing against one another would have been a sight to behold, and all involved knew this too - for the sequences in which Wanda confronts Strange at Kamar-Taj and faces off with Zombie Strange definitely have that larger-than-life aura about them. That's why it was so disappointing that they never actually engaged in much of a battle.
The Scarlet Witch is arguably the biggest threat that the MCU and its multiverse has ever faced, so why didn't we get to see a scene of Strange battling her like he did with Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, pulling out all the stops in a bid to defeat her? And why would a chase movie, in which Wanda spent most of the film pursuing her targets, not deliver on its promise of having them actually fight each other.
Between the whole chase that the movie revolved around, the obstacles that were put in Wanda's way to prevent her from catching up to them, and the decision to distract her with the Souls of the Damned, the movie took every opportunity to sidestep a battle between the two super-charged entities. And that is only worthwhile if it eventually delivers on the promise with a final showdown.
To think of the powerful battle we could have seen between these two. Oh, what could have been.
The movie undermined WandaVision's conclusion
Elizabeth Olsen was undoubtedly the shining star in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Wanda Maximoff has long been one of the franchise's most interesting characters and Olsen was captivating amidst the character's unanticipated villainous turn. That said, it's hard to watch the movie and not feel a little bit short-changed by how it undermines and ignores the progression of Wanda's arc in WandaVision. If we're being honest, it is essentially the same arc.
Yes, Wanda was still grieving after the loss of Vision (who she had now lost for a third time), she was still grieving the loss of Pietro, and now she was grieving the loss of her children, who were a part of her idyllic life in Westview. And yes, she was being both influenced and corrupted by the Darkhold. All of that does count towards her antagonistic behavior in Doctor Strange 2. And yet, it can't be ignored that it still feels like the film takes her two (or maybe two thousand) steps backwards.
At the end of WandaVision, Wanda had realized that what she did to the people of Westview was wrong. She couldn't understand her power but, after becoming the Scarlet Witch to defeat Agatha Harkness, she learned that everything had to go back to the way it was. This was a major moment of character growth for a hero who had been through so much tragedy throughout her time in the MCU. And yet, by the time we meet her again (just over a year later) in Doctor Strange 2, she's hellbent on allowing an innocent kid to die so that she can be with alternate versions of her own.
Again, the Darkhold was whispering sweet nothings in her ear, we get that. Maybe it's less the progression of her arc and more the execution that is the problem. Wanda got here seemingly overnight and it's hard to overlook that. If she had become the franchise's big bad over the course of a number of movies - as was originally rumored - maybe it would have been more believable. But here, she was just a fully-blown villain separated from the rest of the characters through a sequence of plot devices who, after chasing them down all movie, finally realized that what she did was wrong in the end. That last part is particularly frustrating as it simply felt like a less-than-stellar rehash of the realization she already had in WandaVision.