Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, released May 2, 2022 is the sequel to the 2016 movie, Doctor Strange.

The movie begins with perhaps the scariest thing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Dr. Strange with a ponytail. He’s escorting one America Chavez to a special book, to stop an interdimensional demon from chasing them. The beast gets the upper hand and Dr. Strange dies. Then America teleports into a different universe along with Strange’s dead body and the giant demon. This universe just so happens to be present, the one with our Dr. Strange. Strange awakes in a cold sweat, and he’s still racked with guilt from having to give Thanos the Time Stone in Avengers: Infinity War, and because he had to erase Peter Parker from history in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Strange is attending his ex-girlfriend, Christine’s, wedding and has to jump into action, along with Wong, to defeat this inter-universal beast. 

America tells Strange and Wong that beings keep chasing her through the 70-plus universes she’s travelled to so far. So the most logical next step would be to contact Wanda Maximoff. Maximoff casually lets it slip that she is no longer herself- she is the Scarlet Witch, and she’s been the one sicking demons on America since the beginning. Much like America is the only version of herself in the Multiverse, Wanda is the only version of herself without her sons that she conjured in her show, Wanda-Vision. Yet Strange isn’t going to let that happen. He and Wong gather the sorcerers of the world to protect America from Wanda. The Scarlet Witch shows up and massacres every sorcerer except for Wong and Strange. Strange and America manage to escape to another universe, but Wong is captured by Wanda. According to junior Autumn Mann, “I don’t like how Wanda was portrayed in this one. I feel like she doesn’t exactly suit the villain role.”

The two find themselves in a universe where Dr. Strange is dead, Thanos arrived and Strange sacrificed himself to defeat him. Strange and America are captured by the heroes of this universe: The Illuminati. The Illuminati consists of Mordo: from Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel, Captain Carter: from What If…?, Black Bolt: from Inhumans, Mister Fantastic himself: Reed Richards, and finally Professor Charles Xavier: from X-Men. These six mean to turn America over to Wanda to save the universe, but Wanda shows up and obliterates all of them except for Mordo. Strange, along with an alternate version of his ex girlfriend Christine escape thanks to a portal created by America, yet she is captured by Wanda and taken to her altar.

Strange and Christine find themselves in a universe with an evil version of Doctor Strange, one who has the same corruption that’s gotten a hold on Scarlet Witch. The New Strange refuses to give the power to our Strange, opting instead to attack our strange, and get compeletly murdered, making three out of the four Doctor Stranges we have seen in this movie dead. Strange uses the evil Strange’s power to find where America is and posses the dead Strange from the beginning of the film, as he cannot teleport directly there. Strange saves the day as a decomposing body, with the help of Wong. Wanda finally realizes what she’s doing is wrong after going into an alternate universe and scaring her children. She brings the entire altar down with her and the zombie Strange inside as Wong and America teleport away. According to Maria Puga-Trevino, “I find America very annoying. It makes no sense why she won’t just trust Doctor Strange.”

America and Wong find the universe with Strange and Christine and the three go home, leaving Christine to her own universe. That’s where the movie ends, with everyone happy once again. The movie is rated a 74% on rotten tomatoes, a mediocre score for a film I consider to be quite exceptional. Although Doctor Strange is quite the intriguing hero, it can be expected he may return, just as the post-credit scene promises.