Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Is Still Marvel’s Most Unique Project

Though Sam Raimi is one of the godfathers of modern superhero cinema thanks to his work on Sony’s Spider-Man trilogy around the century, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness served as his official introduction to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The filmmaker’s mark is on the movie from the opening frame, combining horror and campy comedy within the perfect little Raimian bundle. The only problem is that fans across social media seem to hate it.

Doctor Strange fights a Shuma-Gorath dupe on the streets of New York, eventually ripping it’s bus-sized eye from the socket serving as its entire body. Black Bolt—in his full comic-accurate get-up, nonetheless—accidentally blasts his own brain to bits after the multiverse’s most powerful sorceress changes reality to wipe the mouth from his face. That sorceress then turns around and invades the fortified home of mystical magics by manipulating magic in mirrors, transforming into a contortionist and seemingly breaking her own bones so that she can fit through the one mirror closest to her targets.

All that, and we still haven’t brought up the fact a zombified Stephen Strange summons demons from Hell only to use them as a cap to fly across a canon to Mount Wundagore, the snowy summit in which the demon Chthon wrote the Darkhold. With each passing scene, Raimi, Michael Waldron, and Marvel Studios churned out one shot after the next fans of the franchise had never seen before. Now a year after release, those on social media continue to vilify the movie as one of the worst the studio has put out.

Amidst rumors that Waldron may have been replaced, some are celebrating. “I had to turn Multiverse of Madness off it was so bad,” one tweeter wrote. In a thread about the aforementioned unfounded rumors, one tweet went viral after its poster shared an image of Captain America’s “We won,” line from The Avengers — all because Marvel Studios had the audacity to do something it hadn’t done before and make a movie that fans of the franchise hadn’t yet sat through.

Give us more demon capes. Give us more eye monsters. Give us all the weirdest stuff y’all can muster. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is better off because of it.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is now streaming on Disney+ and available for purchase on physical home media wherever movies are sold. What’d you think about the sequel? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!