"Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness" Feature Talkback (Spoilers)
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Fone Bone
Matt Zimmer
Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness
Jaw drops. Do I have I have this right? A Marvel Cinematic Universe movie showcasing Doctor Strange traveling the Multiverse, AND directed by Sam Raimi is... getting a negative review? Checks head to make sure I don't have a fever. I don't. I guess this is happening.
Normally, when I take on a beloved franchise or sacred cow I tread a bit lightly. Deep down, in my heart of hearts, I am a coward when it comes to standing by my opinions. It's part of my Asperger's no doubt, but that doesn't justify the amount of weasel words I tend to use to placate fans of a movie I didn't like. Tell me if I'm wrong here. I don't think that will be necessary for this review. I have a sneaking suspicion I will not be the only one unhappy. I don't think this is the worst MCU movie. But for sure after all that build-up, it's the biggest let-down. I think this is the MCU's Phantom Menace. Now Phantom Menace heralded a HUGE decline for Star Wars, that many fans argue it never recovered from. I don't think that will be the case with the MCU, but I am well aware Eternals sucked butt too.
What went wrong? Everything. Let me tell you a messed up thing, and you'll think it's messed up because it's true. Marvel needs to take after DC regarding the Multiverse. The hell of it is, they clearly WERE in the excellent Spider-Man: No Way Home, and I expected this movie to be THAT on steroids. Not only is it far less epic and meaningful, Raimi doesn't seem to get or understand the selling point of doing the Multiverse in the first place. In his defense, the Marvel cartoons that have explored it before this have this specific movie's weaknesses about that (And Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse IS beloved, even by me, won't deny it). But No Way Home impressed me so much because I thought it was going to be a turning point for Marvel and the Multiverse.
Why is DC's Multiverse so much more compelling than Marvel's? Because DC has the versions of different continuities interact with each and cross-over in a huge memorable event, more often than not declining to hit the Total Reset Button at the end too. Basically, DC's Multiverse builds up and strengthens each project that participates in it. And everything that happens counts in the various Universes, adding to their continuity totals for as much of the Multiverse the crossover can actually get to.
Marvel on the other hand, in Spider-Verse, Ultimate Spider-Man, and now this, instead of crossing over beloved continuities and different versions of characters, they use a new and different continuity as a "representation" of the beloved ones. And these new continuities don't matter because we haven't seen them before really. This Patrick Stewart is not OUR Professor X, and does not tie the MCU to the Fox X-Men-verse's continuity at ALL. Basically, Spider-Man: No Way Home was awesome enough to make the Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield Spider-Man films (as well as Venom) MCU canon, but Raimi can't even keep the continuity of the animated "What If...?" straight. It's SO freaking frustrating. I was salivating at the idea that OUR X-Men and Deadpool exist somewhere out there. I would even tolerate Ben Affleck as Daredevil to see that (but that rumor was untrue) although not Tom Cruise as Tony Stark (another untrue rumor, this one fortunate for being so).
MCU is the franchise that gives the fans what they want. Its entire selling point is making movies that you can actually enjoy and have a good time at. If the movie had only one of these next myriads complaints, I'd deal with it and tolerate it. But it kept pissing me off bit by bit and a death of a thousand cuts of suck.
-I am not cool with making Wanda the Big Bad, much less a murderous Big Bad. Why? Because it makes me feel like I wasted my time caring about her on WandaVision. This is a plot turn that hurts the MCU at large, and it's not the only one in this film to do that.
-Paul Bettany does not appear. He's the elephant in the room, and it makes no sense for him not to be present in Wanda's dream scenario. It was clearly a case of them being unable to contract the actor, but him being entirely absent damaged whatever little credibility Wanda's violent pathos could possibly have held.
-Oh, look Captain Carter's Universe from "What If...?" is canon! Oh wait, they just coldbloodedly killed her and everyone else important in that Universe off instead, so that episode now means MUCH less in hindsight. Another example of this movie making the MCU at large worse.
-This movie gives credibility to the horrid Inhumans TV show by casting Anson Mount as Black Bolt. Granted, Mount was actually good in that role (and very little about that show was good) but really, Feige needs his head examined for reminding us that hot mess even existed.
-Mr. Fantastic is ripped to shreds. Why would I be happy to see this? I'm excited it looks like it's gonna be John Krasinski for the MCU reboot, so why bum me the hell out like that? For absolutely no storytelling gain. Makes no sense.
-Yay, Patrick Stewart as Professor X! Wait, he's not OUR Professor X? So apparently Raimi feel perfectly comfortable having Wanda snap his neck like a punk. I don't actually give a crap about what Raimi feels comfortable with there. That moment sucked. I CARE about Charles Xavier, damn it. He's not a character Raimi should ever be using as a Multiverse Red Shirt / Army Cannon Fodder Guy.
-The Darkhold Stephen here utterly contradicts "What If...?'s" version. Not only was that version looking for redemption, but he was unable to find any SURVIVING Sarahs in any Universe he encountered, which is what drove him off the deep end in the first place. You can argue that "What If...?" episode boxed in Doctor Strange's canon in the Multiverse a bit. I won't disagree. And I DO think that episode sucked. But it was considered MCU canon and can't simply be retconned or ignored because Raimi wants to go in a different direction.
-The tag with Bruce Campbell is probably gonna be widely liked however, and I'll go against the grain about THAT at least, and rag on it. It's a tribute to Evil Dead for sure, but what I don't like about it is it reminds us we are watching a movie. It breaks the reality of the franchise. Sometimes, that's okay, and I would have tolerated it if the movie itself have been great, and this was a nice respite from that. The movie WASN'T great, and instead of finding it cute, I thought it damaged the world's credibility even further for one final time.
I'm shocked. I did not expect to dislike this movie. They probably also might have done better not to have billed it to us as being as consequential to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Avengers: Endgame. Absolute Crazytalk. Set unrealistic expectations there too. Which it, of course, did not meet. **.
Jaw drops. Do I have I have this right? A Marvel Cinematic Universe movie showcasing Doctor Strange traveling the Multiverse, AND directed by Sam Raimi is... getting a negative review? Checks head to make sure I don't have a fever. I don't. I guess this is happening.
Normally, when I take on a beloved franchise or sacred cow I tread a bit lightly. Deep down, in my heart of hearts, I am a coward when it comes to standing by my opinions. It's part of my Asperger's no doubt, but that doesn't justify the amount of weasel words I tend to use to placate fans of a movie I didn't like. Tell me if I'm wrong here. I don't think that will be necessary for this review. I have a sneaking suspicion I will not be the only one unhappy. I don't think this is the worst MCU movie. But for sure after all that build-up, it's the biggest let-down. I think this is the MCU's Phantom Menace. Now Phantom Menace heralded a HUGE decline for Star Wars, that many fans argue it never recovered from. I don't think that will be the case with the MCU, but I am well aware Eternals sucked butt too.
What went wrong? Everything. Let me tell you a messed up thing, and you'll think it's messed up because it's true. Marvel needs to take after DC regarding the Multiverse. The hell of it is, they clearly WERE in the excellent Spider-Man: No Way Home, and I expected this movie to be THAT on steroids. Not only is it far less epic and meaningful, Raimi doesn't seem to get or understand the selling point of doing the Multiverse in the first place. In his defense, the Marvel cartoons that have explored it before this have this specific movie's weaknesses about that (And Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse IS beloved, even by me, won't deny it). But No Way Home impressed me so much because I thought it was going to be a turning point for Marvel and the Multiverse.
Why is DC's Multiverse so much more compelling than Marvel's? Because DC has the versions of different continuities interact with each and cross-over in a huge memorable event, more often than not declining to hit the Total Reset Button at the end too. Basically, DC's Multiverse builds up and strengthens each project that participates in it. And everything that happens counts in the various Universes, adding to their continuity totals for as much of the Multiverse the crossover can actually get to.
Marvel on the other hand, in Spider-Verse, Ultimate Spider-Man, and now this, instead of crossing over beloved continuities and different versions of characters, they use a new and different continuity as a "representation" of the beloved ones. And these new continuities don't matter because we haven't seen them before really. This Patrick Stewart is not OUR Professor X, and does not tie the MCU to the Fox X-Men-verse's continuity at ALL. Basically, Spider-Man: No Way Home was awesome enough to make the Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield Spider-Man films (as well as Venom) MCU canon, but Raimi can't even keep the continuity of the animated "What If...?" straight. It's SO freaking frustrating. I was salivating at the idea that OUR X-Men and Deadpool exist somewhere out there. I would even tolerate Ben Affleck as Daredevil to see that (but that rumor was untrue) although not Tom Cruise as Tony Stark (another untrue rumor, this one fortunate for being so).
MCU is the franchise that gives the fans what they want. Its entire selling point is making movies that you can actually enjoy and have a good time at. If the movie had only one of these next myriads complaints, I'd deal with it and tolerate it. But it kept pissing me off bit by bit and a death of a thousand cuts of suck.
-I am not cool with making Wanda the Big Bad, much less a murderous Big Bad. Why? Because it makes me feel like I wasted my time caring about her on WandaVision. This is a plot turn that hurts the MCU at large, and it's not the only one in this film to do that.
-Paul Bettany does not appear. He's the elephant in the room, and it makes no sense for him not to be present in Wanda's dream scenario. It was clearly a case of them being unable to contract the actor, but him being entirely absent damaged whatever little credibility Wanda's violent pathos could possibly have held.
-Oh, look Captain Carter's Universe from "What If...?" is canon! Oh wait, they just coldbloodedly killed her and everyone else important in that Universe off instead, so that episode now means MUCH less in hindsight. Another example of this movie making the MCU at large worse.
-This movie gives credibility to the horrid Inhumans TV show by casting Anson Mount as Black Bolt. Granted, Mount was actually good in that role (and very little about that show was good) but really, Feige needs his head examined for reminding us that hot mess even existed.
-Mr. Fantastic is ripped to shreds. Why would I be happy to see this? I'm excited it looks like it's gonna be John Krasinski for the MCU reboot, so why bum me the hell out like that? For absolutely no storytelling gain. Makes no sense.
-Yay, Patrick Stewart as Professor X! Wait, he's not OUR Professor X? So apparently Raimi feel perfectly comfortable having Wanda snap his neck like a punk. I don't actually give a crap about what Raimi feels comfortable with there. That moment sucked. I CARE about Charles Xavier, damn it. He's not a character Raimi should ever be using as a Multiverse Red Shirt / Army Cannon Fodder Guy.
-The Darkhold Stephen here utterly contradicts "What If...?'s" version. Not only was that version looking for redemption, but he was unable to find any SURVIVING Sarahs in any Universe he encountered, which is what drove him off the deep end in the first place. You can argue that "What If...?" episode boxed in Doctor Strange's canon in the Multiverse a bit. I won't disagree. And I DO think that episode sucked. But it was considered MCU canon and can't simply be retconned or ignored because Raimi wants to go in a different direction.
-The tag with Bruce Campbell is probably gonna be widely liked however, and I'll go against the grain about THAT at least, and rag on it. It's a tribute to Evil Dead for sure, but what I don't like about it is it reminds us we are watching a movie. It breaks the reality of the franchise. Sometimes, that's okay, and I would have tolerated it if the movie itself have been great, and this was a nice respite from that. The movie WASN'T great, and instead of finding it cute, I thought it damaged the world's credibility even further for one final time.
I'm shocked. I did not expect to dislike this movie. They probably also might have done better not to have billed it to us as being as consequential to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Avengers: Endgame. Absolute Crazytalk. Set unrealistic expectations there too. Which it, of course, did not meet. **.
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AdrenalineRush1996
Back with a better image
About the film's writing, I'd like to point out that Raimi didn't write the screenplay. It was actually by Loki season one showrunner Michael Waldron, so if you have a problem with the film killing off the alternate universe versions of Professor X, Mr. Fantastic etc, blame Waldron for that.
Fone Bone
Matt Zimmer
Are you suggesting Raimi had no final script approval? Because I don't buy that. I simply believe he doesn't care about those specific alternate Universe characters as much as we do. I doubt Feige does either to be honest, but the third Holland Spider-Man WAS still a loving Valentine to the first five Spidey films. This was an actual failing on the writers, producers, AND directors.
AdrenalineRush1996
Back with a better image
I'm not suggesting anything as all I'm saying is that Raimi didn't write the film's screenplay plus I'm not even saying that both he and Feige are blameless on this, so there's that.
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Fone Bone
Matt Zimmer
I blame everybody. It was a disappointing film.
AdrenalineRush1996
Back with a better image
Okay, fair enough but do you think the film would've been better if it was under the director of the first film with him also writing the screenplay?
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6/24: Dr. Doom easter egg confirmed.
Names of 14 worlds visited in the movie.
6/26: Strange and America's sequence through the Multiverse was changed at the last minute.
6/30: The Assembled episode should be live in a few minutes/hours. EDIT: Delayed to July 8.
7/3: ILM VFX supervisor Julian Foddy talks about the Black Bolt death scene. And Mr. Fantastic's.
7/13: Mr. Fantastic and Black Bolt were late additions.
Names of 14 worlds visited in the movie.
6/26: Strange and America's sequence through the Multiverse was changed at the last minute.
6/30: The Assembled episode should be live in a few minutes/hours. EDIT: Delayed to July 8.
7/3: ILM VFX supervisor Julian Foddy talks about the Black Bolt death scene. And Mr. Fantastic's.
7/13: Mr. Fantastic and Black Bolt were late additions.
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Checkerboard
THE HOME OF THE TOP TOON STARS
Having forgotten the first film by now and not watching WandaVision or other MCU shows on Disney+, I was the ideal viewer to objectively say whether this movie is any good and manages to work on its own. Thankfully it manages that quite well, although it can be a bit puzzling at times. Some nice concepts, nods to Raimi and good pace. The underlying theme and bridge, albeit fairly short, worked well. Maybe I'd be happier if they relied more on practical effects and played more with the multiverse aspect. It felt a bit crammed already, so hard to say how to do it better. I would say the film is a solid 7/10. Maybe seeing it at cinema helped. I hope the third one will build on this and have closure. The older I am the less I'm a fan of mainstream superhero movies, but this one at least tried to stand out - similarly to No Way Home, Venom, Morbius or Batman. Let's see how the other projects connect.
8/4: Storyboards of Mordo's death in deleted scene.
8/18: Art of the Movie in November solicits.
8/20: Concepts of Nightmare and lake set.
8/22: Art for unused Strange-Wanda fight.
8/31: Waldron wrote a Fantastic Four end tag at one point.
8/18: Art of the Movie in November solicits.
8/20: Concepts of Nightmare and lake set.
8/22: Art for unused Strange-Wanda fight.
8/31: Waldron wrote a Fantastic Four end tag at one point.
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Random Multiverse of Madness Thoughts:
- I do think the movie has a thorough-line and arc for Strange...can he be happy? Can he accept help? But it kind of gets lost with everything else going on in the movie.
- They're really pushing the Christine Palmer thing after What If. Like, they seemed like exes and close friends in the first one but now it's "I never got over you, I'm in love with you in every dimension, etc." Where does that leave Clea then? The one woman he can actually be an equal partner with and won't put up with his @#$% but still want to be with him?
- Wanda turning villain was so abrupt. Like, barely five minutes of screentime and then she's like "yeah, okay, I'm the bad guy." And like the entire point of the ending of WandaVision was Wanda realizing she screwed up and trying to learn to control her powers so this doesn't happen again and subverting the tropes of powerful women going crazy and falling prey to female stereotypes...only for this to double down on her being an out of control powerful woman who is obsessed with her kids (crazy moms, amirite?). It's like they struggled to come up with a villain for this film so they just defaulted to making it Wanda and blaming the Darkhold so they didn't have to really put more work into it. Even their justifications for it mostly boil down to "well, it happened in the comics" even though it was badly handled in the comics to begin with. The only reason it works as well as it does is because of Elizabeth Olsen's acting.
- Also the same issue in the comics where Wanda is so obsessed with her kids that she barely brings up Vision when WandaVision was as much, if not more, about her love for Vision as it was about her getting kids. I think Elizabeth Olsen had to justify why Vision wasn't in the Variant universe because thinks they got divorced in that timeline, but it just feels like it's devaluing their romance.
- It's weird that a Dr. Strange film doesn't actually have a Dr. Strange villain in it other than Mordo. Like, Wanda feels like they mixed Umar and Nightmare together, but why not, like, actually use those characters? Well, they might just use Umar since they introduced Clea, but still.
- Even as Sorcerer Supreme, Wong still ends up playing sidekick.
- I love how Rintrah gets so much marketing and merch and doesn't even get named in the actual movie. Or does, really, anything.
- Their take on America Chavez's origin was more comical than I think they intended it to be. I mean, a bee!? A frikkin bee!? Although her parents are actually alive now, so...good for her?
- All the stuff with Mordo really feels like it's relying a lot on viewers taking at face-value a lot of stuff happening off-screen like Mordo having an entire character arc or story of becoming comic Baron Mordo and dedicating his life to destroying Dr. Strange so that you really feel the contrast with how happy Variant Mordo was to see Strange or that moment when Strange goads him into playing to type and trying to kill him. And this isn't even taking into account how they were planning to just have Wanda unceremoniously off the main Mordo at the start of the movie. Chiwetel Ejiofor's just trying to do the best that he can with what little they give him to work with.
- Also "Baron Karl Mordo" was on the level of "I'm a Baron, Sam." And yet Strange only notices the "Karl" part. Did he not hear Mordo's first name in the first movie?
- The two Strange's talking about their sister was probably one of the more powerful moments in the movie. Also I feel like Cumberbatch actually did a solid job differentiating all the Stranges, even the ones with really brief scenes. But so much for Strange Supreme actually being in this even though they basically just threw in an equivalent of him.
- So is possessed Wanda off the hook for basically murdering the entire Illuminati? I know she was possessed, but still...
- The Illuminati was so much fanservice that they didn't seem to really think past that sequence with Strange when they fight Wanda. I mean, Reed does nothing other than tell Wanda how to basically kill Black Bolt and the women are the only ones who put up much of a fight.
- Does being Captain Marvel somehow make you smugger and more condescending? Because that seems to be what happened to Maria.
- They can't even get James Spader to do marginal Ultron lines anymore?
- Patrick Stewart still knows how to deliver as Professor X. A mental neck snap was kind of another graphic way of killing him though.
- I have to say, as much as I question Christine Palmer's role in this film, Rachel McAdams looks great with red hair and in that bodysuit.
- The Clea mid-credit scene was so abrupt after the prior ending. The Darkhold power starts going crazy in Strange and then suddenly...mid-credit scene he's just walking around normally, gets immediately accosted by Clea, and is off to an adventure in the Dark Dimension like nothing ever happened outside his third eye. Like the mid-credit scene would've been a much better ending but it felt like they needed one big moment to justify their usual mid-credit scene thing. It was just a bit too much for me.
- I do think the movie has a thorough-line and arc for Strange...can he be happy? Can he accept help? But it kind of gets lost with everything else going on in the movie.
- They're really pushing the Christine Palmer thing after What If. Like, they seemed like exes and close friends in the first one but now it's "I never got over you, I'm in love with you in every dimension, etc." Where does that leave Clea then? The one woman he can actually be an equal partner with and won't put up with his @#$% but still want to be with him?
- Wanda turning villain was so abrupt. Like, barely five minutes of screentime and then she's like "yeah, okay, I'm the bad guy." And like the entire point of the ending of WandaVision was Wanda realizing she screwed up and trying to learn to control her powers so this doesn't happen again and subverting the tropes of powerful women going crazy and falling prey to female stereotypes...only for this to double down on her being an out of control powerful woman who is obsessed with her kids (crazy moms, amirite?). It's like they struggled to come up with a villain for this film so they just defaulted to making it Wanda and blaming the Darkhold so they didn't have to really put more work into it. Even their justifications for it mostly boil down to "well, it happened in the comics" even though it was badly handled in the comics to begin with. The only reason it works as well as it does is because of Elizabeth Olsen's acting.
- Also the same issue in the comics where Wanda is so obsessed with her kids that she barely brings up Vision when WandaVision was as much, if not more, about her love for Vision as it was about her getting kids. I think Elizabeth Olsen had to justify why Vision wasn't in the Variant universe because thinks they got divorced in that timeline, but it just feels like it's devaluing their romance.
- It's weird that a Dr. Strange film doesn't actually have a Dr. Strange villain in it other than Mordo. Like, Wanda feels like they mixed Umar and Nightmare together, but why not, like, actually use those characters? Well, they might just use Umar since they introduced Clea, but still.
- Even as Sorcerer Supreme, Wong still ends up playing sidekick.
- I love how Rintrah gets so much marketing and merch and doesn't even get named in the actual movie. Or does, really, anything.
- Their take on America Chavez's origin was more comical than I think they intended it to be. I mean, a bee!? A frikkin bee!? Although her parents are actually alive now, so...good for her?
- All the stuff with Mordo really feels like it's relying a lot on viewers taking at face-value a lot of stuff happening off-screen like Mordo having an entire character arc or story of becoming comic Baron Mordo and dedicating his life to destroying Dr. Strange so that you really feel the contrast with how happy Variant Mordo was to see Strange or that moment when Strange goads him into playing to type and trying to kill him. And this isn't even taking into account how they were planning to just have Wanda unceremoniously off the main Mordo at the start of the movie. Chiwetel Ejiofor's just trying to do the best that he can with what little they give him to work with.
- Also "Baron Karl Mordo" was on the level of "I'm a Baron, Sam." And yet Strange only notices the "Karl" part. Did he not hear Mordo's first name in the first movie?
- The two Strange's talking about their sister was probably one of the more powerful moments in the movie. Also I feel like Cumberbatch actually did a solid job differentiating all the Stranges, even the ones with really brief scenes. But so much for Strange Supreme actually being in this even though they basically just threw in an equivalent of him.
- So is possessed Wanda off the hook for basically murdering the entire Illuminati? I know she was possessed, but still...
- The Illuminati was so much fanservice that they didn't seem to really think past that sequence with Strange when they fight Wanda. I mean, Reed does nothing other than tell Wanda how to basically kill Black Bolt and the women are the only ones who put up much of a fight.
- Does being Captain Marvel somehow make you smugger and more condescending? Because that seems to be what happened to Maria.
- They can't even get James Spader to do marginal Ultron lines anymore?
- Patrick Stewart still knows how to deliver as Professor X. A mental neck snap was kind of another graphic way of killing him though.
- I have to say, as much as I question Christine Palmer's role in this film, Rachel McAdams looks great with red hair and in that bodysuit.
- The Clea mid-credit scene was so abrupt after the prior ending. The Darkhold power starts going crazy in Strange and then suddenly...mid-credit scene he's just walking around normally, gets immediately accosted by Clea, and is off to an adventure in the Dark Dimension like nothing ever happened outside his third eye. Like the mid-credit scene would've been a much better ending but it felt like they needed one big moment to justify their usual mid-credit scene thing. It was just a bit too much for me.
Fone Bone
Matt Zimmer
Thank you very much for the in-depth post. And I agree with your negative review.
9/27/22: I finally sat down and watched it for the first time. This definitely had the slog of Iron Man 2 or Dark World in terms of pacing and too much world building. I had a hard time moving past Wanda's heel turn. Strange and Wanda are the two top magic-users yet they couldn't think to work together and train America. No, they had to trapeze through several dimensions and many, many lives taken all for Strange to figure out how America could master her powers and then to show Wanda how wrong she is. It was just the unnecessary bloodshed that stopped me flat from accepting much. And the guest stars as Illuminati-838 would have been 100% cool if not for them being cannon fodder with Xavier getting his neck snapped being the most atrocious of choices and somewhere down the list, wasting the fan-favorite casting for Mister Fantastic. I guess there's a small chance he might do the MCU version but it feels pretty slim right now. Felt like Chiwetel Ejiofor got the short end of the stick having barely any minutes in the movie and only playing an AU. And Rintrah is just there, no explanation and not even named until the end credits. And yeah, they mentioned Westfield and she was after her kids, but just a brief mention of Vision. Huhn, speaking, White Vision is still out there. Or that really dumb line of Strange intimating he didn't appear in WandaVision because he knew Wanda would do the right thing. Pfft. Felt they could have explained Incursions better. So like if the door is left open too long, then the two realities start to collide? Or is from using too much Darkhold/Dark Dimension energy for too long to do things like dreamwalk that causes an Incursion?
But on the flip-side, yeah it was pretty rad to see Atwell play a version of Captain Carter and for Anson Mount to be brought back to play the 838 version of Black Bolt, even using the sign language he originated on the Inhumans show. Deep cut but I was super stoked to see Mister Fantastic use Doom's Time Platform from the comics to port into that meeting room. And yeah, it was cool to see some of Raimi's style seep into scenes like Pizza Poppa, when possessed Wanda is limp-running after them through the tunnel, or the souls of the damned. I think there was also a nice wink to Moon Knight - the show that revealed that supernatural creatures are invisible to regular people - when Strange makes that octopus monster visible to everyone. This was the first time I was introduced to America Chavez but I really dug the character and the actress was a great choice, looking forward to seeing where America will pop up next. Like in No Way Home, the discussion about Spider-Man's powers was amusing enough. I did appreciate the reveal the Darkhold Wanda had was just a copy because that can explain away the Darkhold in AOS/Runaways was just a copy, too. EDIT: Totally missed the Xena statue and the Delta 88 on first viewing.
Wonder how long Strange's humility will last (i.e. finally bowing out of respect to Wong, fixing the watch to imply he's moved on). But as Mordo said in the first movie, the bill comes due. And that bill came to Strange in the final moments with the Darkhold third eye still manifesting even though all Darkholds were destroyed. And we finally get Clea, ooo Charlize Theron!, for a few a few seconds. Dah.
I think this was one of the lesser sequels, a 7/10 at best, and it could have been way better. I think at the end of the day, it was information overload and I couldn't get over Wanda doing all these awful things.
10/4: Concept art of Daniel Craig as Balder the Brave.
11/22: Aaron Black posts concept art.
Craig comments on Baldar casting.
5/24/23: Olsen confirms Craig was playing Balder and says she saw the design and costume.
3/27: Dr. Doom was considered for the Illuminati.
But on the flip-side, yeah it was pretty rad to see Atwell play a version of Captain Carter and for Anson Mount to be brought back to play the 838 version of Black Bolt, even using the sign language he originated on the Inhumans show. Deep cut but I was super stoked to see Mister Fantastic use Doom's Time Platform from the comics to port into that meeting room. And yeah, it was cool to see some of Raimi's style seep into scenes like Pizza Poppa, when possessed Wanda is limp-running after them through the tunnel, or the souls of the damned. I think there was also a nice wink to Moon Knight - the show that revealed that supernatural creatures are invisible to regular people - when Strange makes that octopus monster visible to everyone. This was the first time I was introduced to America Chavez but I really dug the character and the actress was a great choice, looking forward to seeing where America will pop up next. Like in No Way Home, the discussion about Spider-Man's powers was amusing enough. I did appreciate the reveal the Darkhold Wanda had was just a copy because that can explain away the Darkhold in AOS/Runaways was just a copy, too. EDIT: Totally missed the Xena statue and the Delta 88 on first viewing.
Wonder how long Strange's humility will last (i.e. finally bowing out of respect to Wong, fixing the watch to imply he's moved on). But as Mordo said in the first movie, the bill comes due. And that bill came to Strange in the final moments with the Darkhold third eye still manifesting even though all Darkholds were destroyed. And we finally get Clea, ooo Charlize Theron!, for a few a few seconds. Dah.
I think this was one of the lesser sequels, a 7/10 at best, and it could have been way better. I think at the end of the day, it was information overload and I couldn't get over Wanda doing all these awful things.
10/4: Concept art of Daniel Craig as Balder the Brave.
11/22: Aaron Black posts concept art.
Craig comments on Baldar casting.
5/24/23: Olsen confirms Craig was playing Balder and says she saw the design and costume.
3/27: Dr. Doom was considered for the Illuminati.
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Probably for the best we didn't have Doom show up just to be Wanda'd...bad enough it happened in Reed's introduction 
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Viper wrote on Light Lucario's profile.
Happy 4th of July, Light Lucario. I really hope you get to enjoy the fireworks tonight. Have a wonderful evening.