Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is produced by Marvel Studios and directed by Sam Raimi. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Benedict Wong, Rachel McAdams and Xochitl Gomez among others.

The film follows a mysterious teenage girl called America Chavez who is running away from a powerful evil force and teams up with Doctor Strange to embark on a journey into the unknown. It is a sequel to Doctor Strange (2016), Avengers: Endgame (2019) and WandaVision (2021).

‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ not only created a huge buzz on the internet but it also left me feeling nostalgic and euphoric. So, I was looking forward to watching Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. However, the film made me feel like I had been ‘click-baited’. The name ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ better suits the Disney+Hotstar series ‘Loki’ than Doctor Strange. Unlike Loki, this film does not dwell into the complicated concept of the Multiverse, and leaves you waiting for more.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has failed to execute the concept of ‘Multiverse’ in the latest Doctor Strange film. The Multiverse is a complicated theory which if not explained aptly, can lead to a loss of interest amongst the audience.

As shown in both Loki and Spider-Man: No Way Home, each multiverse has variants. This means that Tom Holland’s Spider-Man is different from Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man which, in turn, is different from Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man and so on. This theory was wonderfully applied in Loki where we witnessed Sylvie or a female version of Loki, a crocodile Loki and many more variants of him.

However, if the Marvel Cinematic Universe wanted to stick to the same concept in the Multiverse of Madness too, they should have maintained consistency by casting other actors to portray Dr. Stephen Strange in the different Multiverses.

The following sentence might not sit well with Marvel fans but I felt that Wanda’s storyline had some flaws. A mother’s love for her children is the most selfless type of love. I do not think that any mother would want to hurt another (in this context a variant of Wanda herself) for fulfilling her own desires.

Yes, losing the love of your life can be unexplainably hard as she rightly tells Stephan, “I blew a hole through the head of the man I loved. And it meant nothing. Do not speak to me of sacrifice, Stephen Strange. If you give me what I want, I’ll send you to a world where you can be with Christine.” However, Stephan urges her to think of their real mother or the variant of Wanda she wants to kill when he asks her, “What happens to their Wanda?” This should have been enough to make her see through her madness. Again, I am not saying that as an individual, she cannot be unreasonable or selfish but as a mother, no variant of hers would want to harm anything that means the world to her children. Knowing her unconditional love for her boys, this particular dialogue should have been enough for her to change her mind.

Towards the end of the film, America Chavez says, “It doesn’t matter about all the other Stephens. He’s Not Like Them.” The story should have dealt with how the Doctor Strange of this universe is different from all the other Doctor Stranges’ that exist. That could have made the plot more substantial and made for a more powerful character arc.

All America Chavez’s character did was run, be it away from or with Doctor Strange in one universe or the other, and yet she was able to control her powers at the end of the film without any substantial difficulties or character development. There was an entire film on Thor’s struggle where he had to prove that he was worthy of his hammer but this one just felt too easy for a superhero film.

However, I was happy with the direction, especially the horror effects added when Wanda was chasing Doctor Strange, Christine and America. That was a spine-tingling moment, quite different from all the other MCU films and that definitely helped break the monotony.

Nonetheless, the first film had more scope for Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) and thus it felt better, but this film, despite its flaws, was not far behind.