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Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

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Film

Enter a new dimension of Strange.

Rating: PG-13

Character: Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch

Directed by: Sam Raimi

Written by: Michael Waldron

Produced by: Kevin Feige

Cast Members: Benedict Cumberbatch, Rachel McAdams, Xochitl Gomez

Released date: May 6, 2022

Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Duration: 2h 6m

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Doctor Strange teams up with a mysterious teenage girl from his dreams who can travel across multiverses, to battle multiple threats, including other-universe versions of himself, which threaten to wipe out millions across the multiverse. They seek help from Wanda the Scarlet Witch, Wong and others.

Production Images

Trailer

Trivia

Elizabeth Olsen flew to London to work on this film just two days after she finished filming WandaVision (2021).
One poster displays Hinduism motifs, namely the many selves and many arms the Sorcerers take on. In Hindu Mythology, having many avatars is a sign of ultimate power. Wanda in the same poster takes on the role of Kali, the goddess of death but not an evil goddess, as she is also the goddess of motherhood.
While most MCU films are released under the genres of Action, Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy, this will be the first film in the MCU to be released under the Horror genre.
The first Marvel movie to be specifically credited as "a Kevin Feige production."

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This movie was originally meant to be before Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) before the COVID-19 Pandemic forced the schedules to be altered and for this movie to ultimately come after it.
Elizabeth Olsen was largely unaware of the Multiverse of Madness story while filming WandaVision (2021) and tried to ensure Maximoff’s role in the film honored the events of the series rather than having the series be affected by the film.
The film is tied into and takes place after WandaVision (2021) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021).
One poster displays statues of a tiger with wings and a female goddess. These are known as Hoggoth and Oshtur, who in the Marvel Comics, along with Agamotto, form the trinity of gods of magic known as the Vishanti.
According to director Sam Raimi, almost 40 minutes of additional scenes were cut from the film during post-production.
The trailer for this film is the first trailer of an MCU film to be rated 15 by the British Board of Film Classification, the equivalent of an R or hard PG-13. However the film received a 12A rating, similar to all the other MCU films.
ovel “At the Mountains of Madness”, as well as an opportunity to use Stan Lee’s trademark alliteration (i.e.: Stephen Strange, Bruce Banner, Matt Murdock, Peter Parker, Reed Richards, Susan Storm, etc.).
Wong is forced by Scarlet Witch to take her to Mount Wundagore, where the Darkhold was originally written. In the comics, Wundagore is where Wanda Maximoff (the Scarlet Witch) and her brother, Pietro (Quicksilver) were born, and where Chthon, who authored the Darkhold, played a first-hand role in infusing Wanda with her magical powers.
This is the most violent Marvel film to date, featuring the gruesome deaths of several characters. These include a character’s head exploding, a character falling and getting impaled, a character who is painfully stretched and ripped apart until destroyed, a character whose neck is snapped, a character who is cut in half, and more. Most of these deaths are shown explicitly on-screen, but contain relatively little blood or gore.
Wanda twisting the mirror dimension to her advantage establishes how much her knowledge of all things magic has grown since WandaVision, setting up the moment when she uses the Darkhold to dream walk.
When Wanda and Captain Carter are fighting, the latter mentions, “I can do this all day,” the same comment Steve Rogers is known for in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), Captain America: Civil War (2016) and Avengers: Endgame (2019). The phrase is also sung by the Steve Rogers character in “Rogers: The Musical” seen in Hawkeye (2021).
When Professor X enters the “possessed” Wanda-838’s mind, he goes inside her memories. This pays tribute to the first X-Men (2000), where, after entering Senator Kelly (Bruce Davison)’s mind, he goes inside his memories.
When in Wundagore, Wong explains Wanda the history of the place and the creation of Darkhold, he mentions Chthon as the first demon in history. A moment later, Wong looks to a large black statue of a demon. This is the statue of Chthon.
The fourth wall is broken three times throughout the movie: by Wong when in Kamar-Taj he says “The Scarlet Witch!”, by Wanda-838 a second later when possessed by Wanda-616 as she looks directly into the camera, and by Pizza Popa Vendor in the post-ending credits scene, after the Dr. Strange spell to hit himself ends that he screams happily to camera “It’s over!”
Wanda’s actions throughout the film and her role in destroying Vision (which was mentioned in this film) draws inspiration from the 2004 Avengers storyline “Avengers Disassembled”, due to her role as a villain in that storyline similar to the film as a result of a mental breakdown. In that storyline, much like the film, Dr. Strange was the one to defeat her.
Wanda kills Charles Xavier in this film as the Scarlet Witch. In the X-Men comics, Scarlet Witch was originally portrayed as the daughter of Magneto, the archenemy of the X-Men and a friend-turned-enemy of Xavier. However, due to the influence of the MCU with her introduction in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) and as Disney at the time had not bought 20th Century Fox which owned the rights to the X-Men films, it resulted in Scarlet Witch and Qucksilver’s mutant status and connection to Mageto to be completely retconned in the 2015 Uncanny Avengers series, despite the fact that both of these characters were originally X-Men characters who both debuted in “X-Men #4” in January 1964, originally as enemies of the X-Men as they were both part of Magneto’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (which the title of this issue is named after that group)
Wanda’s destruction of Chthon’s tower in Mount Wundagore resembles the Sokovia destruction seen in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015): both rise into the air first to fall after.
Ironically, if Wanda had used the Darkhold to travel across the Multiverse looking for her children and found an alternate universe where her children were alive but the alternate Wanda was missing or dead, she could have replaced her peacefully and the rest of events of the movie wouldn’t have happened.
Wanda feels disgraced and unhappy after losing Vision and their children Billy and Tommy as it happened in WandaVision (2021), claiming (at around 35 mins) that she dreams of her children every night only to live a nightmare when she wakes up every day. She too went looking in the multiverse for a way to replace them although it implies she would kill an alternate Wanda.
During the scene where Wanda has breached the Illuminati, Reed yelled, “the building’s been breached!”, in which Strange replied, “No shit, genius!”. This is an indirect reference to the popular Benedict Cumberbatch character, Sherlock Holmes, where the usual idiom for stating the obvious is supposedly, “no shit, Sherlock!”.
When in Kamar-Taj Dr. Strange attacks Wanda, he projects dragons from his hands. This is a homage to the Dragon Strike spell wielded by Touma Kamijou in A Certain Magical Index (2008).
When Dr. Strange meets Wanda by first time, she is cutting branches from apple trees in the garden of her house. In the Holy Bible apple is the alleged “Forbidden Fruit” that it caused Adam and Eve’s exile from Garden of Eden. As them, Wanda was tempted by the Darkhold in WandaVision (2021), being exiled from Westview (a Garden of Eden for her).

Quotes

Wanda Maximoff: [to Strange] You break the rules and become a hero. I do it and I become the enemy. That doesn't seem fair.
Wanda Maximoff: Know that they'll be loved.
Dr. Stephen Strange: Your children aren't real, you created them by magic. Wanda Maximoff: That's what every mother does.
Dr. Stephen Strange: Wanda, you are justifiably angry. You had to make terrible sacrifices. Wanda Maximoff: 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.
[to Billy and Tommy] Scarlet Witch: I'm not a monster.

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Dr. Stephen Strange: Wanda. What do you know about the Multiverse? Wanda Maximoff: Viz had his theories. He believed it was dangerous. Dr. Stephen Strange: He was right.
Reed Richards: Black Bolt can tear you to pieces with one whisper from his mouth. Wanda Maximoff: What mouth? [removes Black Bolt’s mouth]
Scarlet Witch:[sees Zombie Strange] Dreamwalking, you hypocrite!
Wanda Maximoff: What if you brought America here? Dr. Stephen Strange:: Here? Wanda Maximoff: Yeah. I know what it’s like. To be on your own, hunted for abilities you never wanted. I can protect her. Wanda Maximoff: [realizing Strange has stopped walking with her] You never told me her name, did you? Dr. Stephen Strange: No. No, I didn’t.
Scarlet Witch:You have no idea just how reasonable I’ve been. Dr. Stephen Strange:Right. Book of the damned, calling yourself a which, conjuring creatures to abduct a kid. I don’t exactly call that being reasonable. Scarlet Witch: Send those creature after her instead of myself was mercy. And in spite of your hypocrisies and insults I have begged you to safely get out of my way. You have exhausted my patience. But I do hope you understand. That even now. What’s about to happen. This is me, being reasonable.
Reed Richards: Wanda, please. I have children of my own, I understand your pain. /Wanda Maximoff: Is their mother still alive? Reed Richards: Yes. Wanda Maximoff: Good. Then there will be someone left to raise them.
Scarlet Witch: They will never know or need to know what I did for them! America Chavez: But you will.