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I used to think Marvel was very consistent with their plans, but it seems like that's probably not the case.
There were some unanswered questions from the first Doctor Strange film. For example, what was Mordo going to do next, and who would become the Sorcerer Supreme? There was no sign of the main universe's Mordo. Yes, we got his variant. But what about the one from the main universe who went rogue and started hunting down other sorcerers? What did the order do about it? How was Stephen dealing with having to stand against the person who introduced him to the mystic arts? Isn't Mordo Stephen's arch-enemy in the comics? I think the MCU could have explored that.
How was the new Sorcerer Supreme appointed? On what basis was the mantle passed? I have no problem with Wong being the Sorcerer Supreme. He seems not only more responsible than Stephen but also more respectful of the rules a leader should follow so that their disciples have a good role model. I thought showing the ceremony and explaining how the role of Earth's primary protector is assigned would have been important. I'm very much interested in the mystical side of magic because that's what got me into watching the MCU in the first place. Even if I overlooked these minor details, I think there were other problems too.
Stephen Strange is undoubtedly one of my favourite MCU characters. But I'm not liking what has been going on with him. He seems inconsistent. I expected to see more of his trauma. We only saw him during the glory days of his medical career, not what drove him to become a doctor. There is a backstory behind it, as well as what led to his ignorant and arrogant personality. Yes, we saw some of these things in the first movie itself, but I expected more. I wanted to learn more about his past, not just through a few rushed monologues.
Trapping himself in an infinite time loop with Dormammu, dying countless times, and viewing 14,000,605 possible outcomes of the battle against Thanos surely would have left anyone with some lasting trauma. The lack of acknowledgement of these major events in Stephen's life bothered me. I also expected him to face the consequences of breaking the natural laws. I thought we would get to know more about Stephen Strange, understand why he is broken (as the actor himself said), and get to see the depth of his character and connect with him.
The Battle of Kamar-Taj was underwhelming to me. The group of magic users who have been protecting the world from mystical threats for such a long time should have at least some experience. Doctor Strange outsmarted Dormammu by trapping them both in an infinite time loop, and he saw all the possible outcomes of the battle against Thanos. He gained experience, to say the very least. Yet when Wanda attacked the Kamar-Taj courtyard, he was mostly just standing there and only conjured a shield once. Why that happened is beyond me.
I have absolutely no problem with Wanda being powerful. She possesses Chaos Magic, and her raw power exceeds that of the Sorcerer Supreme. Even though it feels a little contradictory, since the Sorcerer Supreme has access to various kinds of magic, countless powerful ancient relics, and is supposed to be the most skilled magic user, I'm okay with her being a powerhouse.
Emotions sometimes get in the way of her controlling her powers. Quite obviously, she was very emotional throughout the film. Otherwise, many of her actions wouldn't make much sense.
I also know she has shown various impressive feats while being emotional. But my point is that she is fighting against people who have trained for years to defend themselves against magical threats. To me, it felt like, in trying to show Wanda's power, the sorcerers were portrayed as incapable. A longer fight between both sides would have been much more interesting and wouldn't have undermined the sorcerers.
Even the Mirror Dimension fight in Spider-Man: No Way Home, despite the ridiculous ending of that scene, seemed better than this one because the characters actually fought each other. Here, it was mostly Wanda attacking all of Kamar-Taj with her energy blasts. I expected more of an actual fight between them.
Not only the sorcerers, but also most of the other characters seemed underused to me. Black Bolt, Mr Fantastic, Professor X, Captain Carter, and Captain Marvel all seemed to be underestimated. The only two opponents Wanda actually fought were the two Captains.
Not to forget the Book of the Vishanti!
After so much hype, seeing it destroyed within seconds without ever being used was upsetting. Stephen had to resort to using the Darkhold instead. I was hoping to see what the Book of the Vishanti's spells were capable of against the Darkhold's magic.
Wanda not being held accountable for what she did in Westview was already a bad thing. Then, in the end, Stephen basically tells her it's okay, so leaving that incident unaddressed is fine, which is problematic to me. It feels like they need her help, so they can't call her out for her misdeeds. At the very least, Wong should have done something about it. I mean, she is powerful and dangerous. Her actions were also somewhat justified at the end of the series, which I don't think was right.
That incident made her the Scarlet Witch, the harbinger of Chaos, destined to destroy the world. The sorcerers knew about her, so of course there should have been some action taken. Why not try to redeem her? After all, she's one of the most loved and popular characters, played by a talented actress.
Wanda destroying Wundagore in the end was a bad choice again. She needs to learn to control her emotions and not let the Darkhold take control of her mind again. She needs training. Dare I say, she should even have counselling. They could have brought Vision back as well, since his memories were restored to some extent. I don't understand why they had Vision fly away when Wanda needed him, and I don't get why they haven't tried to find each other since then.
Her final act felt more like an escape than genuine redemption, which I don't think was the right choice. We have already seen what she is capable of when overwhelmed by her emotions. Multiverse of Madness was the result of her isolating herself and being left untreated. I'm pretty sure she isn't dead. She is still capable of causing havoc again, so these events shouldn't be disregarded at all.
I also expected to see Loki, as Sylvie killing He Who Remains is what caused the timelines to branch. The multiverse has become unstable, and Loki is aware of that, according to the show. Although their interaction in Thor: Ragnarok was brief and unfriendly, Loki needed to share this information with somebody, as he seemed willing to help. Protecting reality is one of Doctor Strange's responsibilities. Even if Loki couldn't reach them directly, I would expect the sorcerers to have some relic or spell that lets them know whether the Sacred Timeline is stable or not. It feels like they haven't been doing anything significant throughout Phase Four, even though they're the ones who are supposed to deal with events like these.
I also expected to see more of the Stephen-Wong duo. Honestly, I was hoping to get some fun scenes with the Cloak of Levitation too. I also missed the first movie's soundtrack, as it was one of my favourites because it matched the mystical vibe so well.
The movie felt a little too fast-paced. Some scenes felt forced. I couldn't connect with a lot of things. I expected to see bits and pieces of the other things I mentioned above.
This movie felt more like an expansion of WandaVision than a Doctor Strange movie about experiencing and exploring the madness of the multiverse. I expected more focus on Stephen, the people associated with him, and his surroundings. Instead, it was mostly about Wanda's grief, the havoc she caused, and the consequences of her actions. I think this could have been handled better if they had shown the history of the Darkhold, the demon that created it, its influence over its readers, Chthon being awakened because of the Scarlet Witch, the destruction it could bring to the multiverse, and so on.
According to the concept arts, the original plan was to introduce Nightmare as the villain. Stephen and Wanda would have teamed up against him, with Wanda gradually falling under Nightmare's influence. Donna’s scene was supposedly filmed, but it’s upsetting that it never made it to the final cut. I think those ideas would have been very interesting, especially since one of the most fascinating parts of WandaVision was the reveal of the Scarlet Witch and Agatha's little bit of history.
I don't mean to be disrespectful, but Wanda being emotional and doing awful things feels repetitive now. She is capable of so much more. Why not try to change her destiny as the destroyer of the world and give her a proper redemption arc instead of trying to justify her actions? And seeing Stephen help her break free from the Darkhold's influence while struggling with the conflicting emotions of fighting a former ally for the greater good would have been nice too.
Both Stephen's and Wanda's interconnected stories could have been handled better. Including Loki would have been the cherry on top! I think that would have done the title, Multiverse of Madness, more justice.
Sure, Stephen got a little character development in this film. But at this point, it feels like he is being used as nothing more than a plot device in the MCU. That's why he seems so inconsistent to me.
The filmmakers clearly wanted to make it something of a horror film. Jumpscares are fine sometimes. But having intelligent characters behave irrationally simply to create horror wasn't something I wanted to see. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness could have worked as a horror movie without relying on some of those unnecessary elements, considering Stephen and the sorcerers already deal with otherworldly demons.
Again, I am in no way trying to be disrespectful to the creators and writers of this movie. Of course, they know better than I do. They have been handling the franchise for a long time, and kudos to them for that. I don't dislike fast-paced, action-packed movies either. I didn't need to see a lot of cameos or mind-blowing stories. I just wanted to get to know the characters better, connect with their stories, and feel the depth of their journeys. After waiting so many years, the sequel was somewhat disappointing to me.