‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ Fails by Leaning Too Hard on Fan Service
Since the Marvel Cinematic Universe began proper, there have not been many times that the lack of the complete Marvel Comics Universe was felt too acutely. Yes, we missed the Spider-Man, X-Men, and the Fantastic Four, but that was fine because we managed to get Spidey in the end. However, when Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness teased the Illuminati, it promised the expansion and combination of these two MCUs.
The result.
Ehhh …
SPOILERS FOR DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS.
Wanda is the villain of the movie, using her powers to try to steal the multiverse-jumping abilities of America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), in order to get her sons, Billy and Tommy, back. Doctor Strange and America end up on Earth-838, where Strange is brought before the Illuminati.
Alright, the Illuminati in this story is made up of Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier/Professor X, the leader of the Illuminati; Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter/Captain Carter (sigh); Lashana Lynch as Maria Rambeau/Captain Marvel; Anson Mount as Blackagar Boltagon/Black Bolt; and … John Krasinski as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, from the Fantastic Four.
If you can manifest that casting, I hope this means we get also dark-skinned Storm. Anyway, Wanda takes over the body of her Earth-838 self and proceeds to brutally murder every single member of the Illuminati. You can tell Sam Rami enjoyed himself making surreal horror on Disney’s dollar. I can at least respect that. But that is the only purpose the Illuminati serve. Cameos. Fan service.
I don’t even care about Reed Richards, but even I was like, “Oh wow, he looks good, the costume looks good this is nice.” Then they are murdered. No expansion of the Marvel Universe, no bringing in mutants, no nothing. It felt like a bucket of cold water being thrown on my face because it felt so pointless. The MCU could just never bring in the mutants and they would lose nothing. They can pick and choose a few key players that fans what to see, dangle the promise of it happening, and then we do it all again.
This leads us to Wanda and her villain story in this movie. I will be honest, I hated almost every single moment of Wanda’s storyline. Elizabeth’s acting aside, this felt like a complete bastardization of the character, the story that she was based on, and what we got from WandaVision. I have long done my best to accept that this version of Wanda is not only not a mutant, not Jewish, and not Romani, in the hopes that the reason they used her character and kept her around is that Marvel Studios saw the possibilities of the character.
Apparently, they only saw her capacity to suffer. The problem with taking the House of M storyline and just copying and pasting it into the MCU is that it missed the context that brought that story about. Hell, it is called the House of M because it is about Wanda’s family, which includes Magneto! Big events in comics, big character moments, build upon each other. They, when done right, happen for a reason. Doctor Strange 2 does many things for no other reason than the fan service—the thrill of seeing one scene.
Unfortunately, it does that by setting back the arc of a major female character, bastardizing the agency and character of America Chavez, and brutally killing off some major players because it will cause gasps. Great storytelling. Can’t wait for them to make Jessica Jones even more problematic.
(featured image: Marvel Entertainment)
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