“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” is super dark, very grim, and super rushed, but entertaining!

The horror elements to this one are a lot of fun, otherwise it’s not that great. The killing of the Illuminati could have been done much better and happened too fast.

Anyone else see it?

NO!!! And we didn't appreciate the spoilers!

I wouldn’t show it to little kids, but this was more on the wavelength of Wandavision and Loki than a Sam Raimi horror. The Suicide Squad was an order of magnitude more scary and disturbing than this.

I had to block about 10 keywords and phrases on Twitter because the Twitter gays will NOT stop gushing over Wanda and this movie.

I'm also annoyed because I wanted a Doctor Strange movie, not a Scarlet Witch movie. Frankly if she's this godlike with her powers, she needs to be euthanized as I think they discuss doing in the comics.

Did the Darkhold make an appearance?

OP, it is unbelievably assholish and selfish of you to have posted spoilers for a movie just being released today on the front page of Datalounge. You should have posted them inside and you are an absolutely fucking cunt for not doing so.

I hope you have the shittiest month ahead of you imaginable. You are a selfish nasty cunt.

r5 yes actually a large plot point as well as the book of vishanti.

As bloated messes go, I enjoyed it.

I share OP's reaction.

Elizabeth Olson plays Scarlet Witch crossed with Stephen King's Carrie with a dollop of The Exorcist's Reagan.

It even throws in the horror movie trope of the "good" characters escaping from Scarlet Witch, who is gaining on them, and yet, they stop to have conversation with each other (two, iirc).

You know, it's that so-stupid-of-them moment that causes you to root for the monster?

R8 wanna know what was very stupid? The smartest man ever, Mr Fantastic telling Wanda what Black Atom’s power is, leading to him dying seconds later.

Saw it this weekend and still not sure what I thought about it. A very mixed experience. So much stupid in the script, and I didn't really need a story about how women go crazy if they get power or just want kids. I console myself that Wanda surely isn't really dead and this is just the middle of her story.

On the plus side Raimi and Olsen pulled out all the stops to keep us entertained. Loved all the visual flair and Raimi-isms, from the Evil Dead shout-outs to the clever transitions to the musical battle. Olsen was terrific and Scarlet Witch is now one of the MCU's best villains. If they had to make her bad I'm glad they really went for it.

Oh, and I thought those child actors were good enough in WandaVision. What happened? They were pretty bad in this.

It mixes and borrows a lot from the Scarlett Witch's story. She was possessed by the Darkhold. Then she willed her children to life with the VIsion then he was kidnapped by the government (after taking over the world's computers) and torn apart. She went full on evil after that and Magneto came and took her as his own. So basically she took the darkhold to look for a multiverse where she had her kids, kill that verison of her and take over that life....so many better Doctor Strange stories that could have been told.

Just saw it the other day. Would give it five and a half out of ten. Bizarre more than anything.

And all the fuss about the same sex characters in the movie??!! The two Moms (lesbians) of the young heroine were in the film for about 15 seconds. That's progress??????!!!!!!

The movie sounds like utter trash.

If you loved Wanda's character progression over the arc of WandaVision, you'll hate what they did to her here.

[quote]Elizabeth Olson plays Scarlet Witch crossed with Stephen King's Carrie with a dollop of The Exorcist's Reagan

Perfect description. I finally saw it and was blessedly spoiler-free until I saw it. It was painful to watch her descent, but Olsen is probably the best actor in the MCU and made it fully believable that she’d go that far. It really hurt seeing her go though all that after what she went thorough in Wanda:Vision. I hope she gets some redemption (and isn’t dead). At least so they can bring back Kathryn Hahn.

From the red hair, to the previous outfits, it’s obvious that Elizabeth’s Wanda is their version of Jean Grey/Phoenix. This is not the Wanda I recognize from the comics :(

We already have a thread on this comic book crap.

Sorry, don't read the comic, and I'm a bit confused. Doctor Strange created the Multiverse and in the Loki show's first season finale the multiverses, merge or connect (like an Incursion?)? And is Charlize Theron's character in the end credits from the same bureau as Owen Wilson's Mobius from Loki?

And how does the Watcher, from What If, fit into all of this if Doctor Strange created the Multiverse?

r19

Dr. Strange did NOT create the multiverse

I just watched this on Disney Plus.

It was fine. Although holy fuck, the Illuminati were useless save for Xavier who at least tried. I’m a huge Scarlet Witch fan (comic version) and it makes me sad they are making this Wanda the MCU’s Jean Grey in everything but name. I don’t recognize her.

I wish Wanda’s motivations were better, and that’s where it fell apart for me. She could easily mind control America, have the portal made, and fuck off forever. But her excuse for wanting to kill a child is, “But if I don’t have the powers myself, how will I cure my children of diseases if they end up having one in the future?” Huh?

I’m glad Rachel McAdams finally got to do something in these movies.

It seemed like it would have been better set for tv than a film... it was more a setup for America Chavez but it falls in line with their attempts at other marvel projects with youth. It's more cringe than entertainment and they can't decide what age range audience they're aiminig for.

The absolute worst of it [spoiler] was the third eye. If only they would combine old skool prosthetics with cgi. Even old school methods would have been better than pure cgi.

[quote] [R19] Dr. Strange did NOT create the multiverse

What was Spiderman: No Way Home about then?

Raimi and Cimbernatch is a win win for me.

[quote]R23: What was Spiderman: No Way Home about then?

Parallel universes. Nobody 'made' them; they're just there.

[quote]R15: If you loved Wanda's character progression over the arc of WandaVision, you'll hate what they did to her here.

I never watched WandaVision (I kind of swore to myself that Marvel movies were enough, that I wouldn't indulge Marvel series) and, watching this film, I kept worrying that there was something essential to understanding Wanda's character that I had missed out on by not seeing it. Do you think that's the case, R15?

I did watch the animated Doctor Strange episode of 'What If?', which was helpful. As soon as Doctor Strange and 838's Christine Palmer got plunked down in that distorted reality and went looking for the Sanctum, I knew exactly who that bastard would be.

Except it’s a different variant of Dr. Strange, not the one from ‘What if…’

If you’d watched the whole series, you’d see that the one you are alluding to gets a slight redemption and a different ending than being impaled on a wrought iron fence.

R26 Not the poster you are responding to, but yes, I would consider WandaVision to be essential. It’s one of my favorite things (aside from the last episode) Marvel has done and is definitely worth the watch, but to me it completely falls apart in the last episode and that seeped into the movie

You can tell in both WandaVision and Doctor Strange that they aren’t fully committed to who they want Wanda to be. Is she good person who desperately wants to feel safe and loved but is struggling with complex trauma and mental illness or is she a sociopathic psychotic control freak who will do whatever it takes to get what she wants? I’m sure they are going to hand wave the atrocities away with, “Oh, it was the Darkhold’s fault!” but she’s worse than Loki at this point and definitely has a higher body count/enslaved more people

I wish they had been clearer in WV if Wanda *really* knew what she was doing (she did) and I wish they would have left out the “They will never know what you sacrificed for them!” because that ages even WORSE after the movie, and I didn’t think that was possible. I’m not really hopeful for a nuanced Wanda at this point, and I don’t see how she will ever join the main team again.

[quote]R27: If you’d watched the whole series, you’d see that the one you are alluding to gets a slight redemption and a different ending than being impaled on a wrought iron fence.

You mean there's another 'Strange' episode in 'What If...'?

The end two episodes tie all previous episodes together.

Hmm... (after some reading online):

R30, which do you think was worse, Supreme Strange from 'What If,' or Sinister Strange from 'Multiverse of Madness'?

Sinister Multiverse Strange didn’t get the character development or redemption so he’d be worse IMO.

Uh she went full on Jean Grey in the comics after they dismantled the Vision. She joined her father, removed 99% of the worlds mutant population...She had done omega level bad shit in the comics.

G*d, I hated this film. I posted yesterday, but didn't see this thread. It was an utter piece of crap. The CGI was awful, the wigs were awful, the plot was awful, making Wanda a villain is awful, her motives are awful, Dr. Strange himself is not believeable as an action hero, the Sorcerer Supreme looks like he needs a nap. We were laughing because it was SO BAD.

It was a very workman-like movie that was too focused on establishing the "multiverse" and its rules, rather than any character development for the titular Doctor Strange.

I like the camp horror Sam Raimi contributed. I like the America Chavez character. The story and character development was weak and convoluted at the same time. It's one of those blockbusters you watch, think it's great or at least half decent, and then have completely forgotten by next week, and you struggle to remember details when it's time to watch the next part of the franchise (TV show or movie).

r28 the dopple acquireds her powers... otherwise can you imagine the outcry when the kids don't become fruits and aren't introduced.

[quote]R36: I like the camp horror Sam Raimi contributed.

Like the cameo by Bruce Campbell as 'Pizza Poppa,' doing much the same thing he did in 'Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn', hitting himself in the face.

Repeating myself, but I think Elizabeth Olsen is the best actor in the MCU. She started the Avengers Civil War-we forgave her. She hijacked an entire town-we felt sorry for her. She went full on Jason Voorhees, killed a hell of a bunch of people, nearly destroyed the multiverse-and we were left feeling sympathetic.

My major problem was the only thing connecting Wanda in Wanda:Vision to the Wanda in this movie was a 5 second shot of her using the Darkhold in an after the credits scene at the end of the series. When it was revealed early on in the movie that she was the villain, I was like “wait, wut?” It was barely alluded to in Wanda:Vision. Agatha told her she’d need her one day and I expected Agatha to show up and lend a hand and they didn’t even use her!! It was much too abrupt a shift for me.

But seeing her breakdown when she scared the kids, and the other her comforting her. Oh!!!! How could you not feel sorry for her despite all the mass murder?

When she was first introduced (also in a post credits scene) I thought, oh, well she won’t be around long. And now she’s the biggest villain ever??

I really hate to think this was the end of her story. She’s practically the center of the MCU in the wake of Iron Man.

R33 Yeah, but House of M is more nuanced than that (even though I hate it). Wanda had spent her whole life being controlled by her overbearing brother and manipulated by her tyrannical father for a cause she didn’t even support— “No more mutants” was more self loathing than it was malice. Her whole life she had been pushed around because of men, politics she didn’t care about, and made to feel like a freak because of her abilities and her heritage.