Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is the MCU's most interesting mess. Sam Raimi brings genuine horror filmmaking to a franchise that desperately needed it, Elizabeth Olsen delivers a villain performance for the ages, and the multiverse concept finally gets the unhinged treatment it deserves. It is also a film that introduces a teenage character wearing a pride pin, features an Earth where Captain America is a woman and Captain Marvel is Black, and treats witchcraft as a legitimate power system. The culture war discourse writes itself.

The plot picks up after WandaVision and Spider-Man: No Way Home. Doctor Strange encounters America Chavez, a teenager who can punch star-shaped portals between universes. A demon is hunting her for this power. Strange discovers that Wanda Maximoff, corrupted by the Darkhold, is the one sending the demons. Wanda wants Chavez's power so she can travel to a universe where her sons Billy and Tommy are real and be their mother.

What follows is a multiverse chase that takes Strange and Chavez to Earth-838, where they meet the Illuminati: a council including Captain Carter (Peggy Carter as Captain America), Maria Rambeau as Captain Marvel, Reed Richards, Black Bolt, Professor X, and Mordo. Wanda dreamwalks into her Earth-838 counterpart and systematically murders the entire Illuminati in a sequence that is both thrilling and genuinely disturbing. Black Bolt's death, where Wanda removes his mouth and his own sonic scream implodes his skull, is one of the most horrific images in superhero cinema.

The traditional elements are strongest in the thematic core. Strange's arc is about learning that heroism means trusting others rather than controlling outcomes. Every other Strange variant tried to sacrifice Chavez or seize power. Our Strange is the one who chooses faith in another person. Wanda's story is a cautionary tale about grief consuming you, about a mother whose love for her children twisted into something monstrous. Her final act, destroying the Darkhold across all universes and sacrificing herself, is genuine redemption through self-destruction. These are powerful, classically structured moral arcs.

The woke elements are real but woven into the fabric rather than delivered as lectures. America Chavez is openly LGBTQ+ with two moms, wearing a pride pin throughout the film. This is faithful to the comic character, who has always been LGBTQ+. The film was banned or censored in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and several other countries because of these elements. The Earth-838 Illuminati features Captain Carter replacing Captain America (woman replacing man) and Maria Rambeau as Captain Marvel (Black woman in the role held by a white woman in the main MCU). These are technically multiverse variants, which provides narrative justification, but the casting choices are clearly intentional representation.

Wanda as villain is a double-edged sword. On one hand, Elizabeth Olsen is magnificent and the story demands a powerful antagonist. On the other hand, taking the MCU's most prominent female character with her own Disney+ show and turning her into a mass-murdering psychopath is a choice. The Darkhold corruption explains it narratively, but it also means the MCU's biggest female hero arc ends with her buried under a mountain.

Raimi's direction elevates everything. The horror sequences are genuinely frightening. The musical note battle between Strange variants is wildly creative. The zombie Strange sequence, where our Strange reanimates his dead variant using the souls of the damned, is the kind of gonzo genre filmmaking the MCU rarely allows. Danny Elfman's score is excellent.

RT Critics: 74%. RT Audience: 86%. Metacritic: 60. IMDB: 6.9. Box office: $955.8M worldwide on $200M budget (net).

Formula: Weighted Score = Severity × Authenticity Multiplier × Centrality Multiplier

🔴 Woke Tropes

Trope	Severity	Authenticity	Centrality	Score
LGBTQ+ Representation (America Chavez)	3	High	Moderate	2.1
Gender-Swapped Legacy Heroes (Illuminati)	3	Moderate	Moderate	3
Witchcraft / Occult as Legitimate Power System	2	High	High	2.52
Female Hero Turned Villain	2	Moderate	High	3.6
Diverse Supporting Cast	2	High	Low	0.7
Teen Girl as Key to Everything	2	High	Moderate	1.68
TOTAL WOKE				13.6

🟢 Traditional Tropes

Trope	Severity	Authenticity	Centrality	Score
Heroism Through Trust (Strange's Arc)	3	High	High	3.78
Redemption Through Sacrifice (Wanda)	3	High	High	3.78
Consequences of Dark Power	2	High	Moderate	1.4
Male Hero Remains Central	2	High	Low	0.7
Maternal Love as Motivation	1	High	Moderate	0.56
TOTAL TRADITIONAL				10.2

Score Margin: -3 WOKE