Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness has finally arrived in theatres and there's
a lot to break down in Sam Raimi's latest film.
The ending, the post credit scenes and the Multiverse events are just a few elements
that need further discussion, and I'm going to be breaking it all down and explaining
what happened.
As a warning, this analysis will contain spoilers, so if you do happen to be
someone who hasn't seen Doctor Strange 2 yet, then I would recommend watching this video
after you've seen it.
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But without further a do, lets dive into Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness explained.
So after Loki and Spider-Man No Way Home gave us our introductions to different multiversal
elements, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness may be suggesting that the MCU
Multiverse has ended.
This film very much tackles the fallback of Doctor Strange's actions and what it could
mean going forward in future MCU projects.
In the Multiverse of Madness, Strange, America Chavez, and another
universe's version of Christine Palmer, apart of Earth-838, are in search of the Book of
Vishanti, which is a powerful weapon that give
sorcerers the exact magic they need.
This is the exact book we see in the opening scene, with another version of Steven in Defender
Strange and America Chavez, trying to reach it
to defeat Gargantos.
Doctor Strange of our universe sees this in his dream and thinks that it is to weird to
be true, but as explained later by Wanda, the dreams they have are
actually different versions of themselves from different universes.
A pretty cool idea and Strange himself will soon realise that when Chavez and the body
of defender strange show up on their version of earth, that it is actually
real.
Chavez does come to our earth as she has the ability to travel the multiverse, with her
strange dieing in the process, it's our Doctor Strange that comes in contact with
her and soon understands the greater threat.
Christine Palmer's wedding day is disrupted and they eventually defeat Gargantos, but
in the aim of recruiting Wanda Maximoff, Strange realises
that the Scarlett Witch wants the powers of Chavez, so that she can be with her children
in another universe.
And with her consumed by the Darkhold, that book which we saw in the post
credits of Wandavision that contains a great evil power, it seems that getting the book
of Vishanti is the only way that they can stop her
from ripping the multiverse apart.
Chavez can't control her multiverse travelling powers at first and this leads to them travelling
to another version of earth.
This happens at the Kamartaj when they were about to be hurt
by Wanda after she attacks them, and America Chavez always opens a portal just as things
are about to go south.
This is never truly explained with much logic but like a lot of the
supporting characters, they are mainly there to serve as plot devices.
They find themselves in what will eventually be designated Earth-838, with the earth that
we know being Earth-616.
So when they arrive they try to find Earth-838's version of Doctor Strange, only to find out
that he has died and has a statue to honour him, reading that he died fighting Thanos
in this particular universe.
But we soon learn that this wasn't the truth.
Earth-838's Illuminati get their hands on our Strange and America Chavez with the help
of their universe's Baron Mordo, and this secret team of superheroes
let Strange know about their secret.
It turns out that Strange 838 had actually become mad with power while fighting Thanos,
and had destroyed an entire dimension in the process.
So one of the Illuminati killed him, and they agreed to display him as a hero.
And this can be reflective of our Doctor Strange, because while he's a
hero for helping to defeat Thanos, his mistakes and ideals are quite the reverse to that understanding
of his heroic actions.
So the question we are left with is whether our Doctor
Strange will follow a similar route and is this the fate of all versions of Strange in
the multiverse?
And it's at this point that Wanda catches up with them usign the Darkhold, taking
over the body of a Wanda in their current universe and killing all the members of the
Illuminati.
We see Professor X, Mr Fantastic, Monica Rambeau and Black Bolt all brutally murdered,
meaning their versions of these characters won't be staying in the MCU anymore.
That doesn't mean that we won't see other versions of them in the MCU's traditional
universe, but as cameos from Earth 838, it did feel quite a
dissapointing scene.
But Wanda ends up destroying the book, taking America Chavez, and sends our Strange and
Christine Palmer of Earth 838 through one of Chavez's accidently created
multiverse portals and into a completely different dimension.
So the aim is that she would steal the multiversal traveling powers that America
Chavez has so that she can find Billy and Tommy in an alternate universe, and be with
them forever.
And she makes it very clear that she wants to dominate the multiverse in the
forseable future because if her children are in danger, she can escape with them to another
universe.
And this is where the ending of Multiverse of Madness comes fully into motion, because
after trapping Strange and Christine 838 in an alternate dimension, we meet another version
of strange.
And it's here that he ends up battling a twisted version of himself.
It turns out that the Evil Strange has already been corrupted by a different Darkhold book,
and the version in this reality was guarded by this evil Strange.
But once he is eventually defeated, our Doctor Strange has to use it to commit an act of
necromancy.
So he sets up a Satanic symbol of candles and uses the dark magic from this
Darkhold to put his consciousness into the body of another strange in another universe.
And that strange turns out to be the defender Strange
who was killed in the opening scene and buiried by Stephen on Earth.
So it's yet another example of Doctor Strange using extreme actions to get the job done,
potentially symbolising his own downfall at some point too, just like
we've seen with multiple versions in this film.
Now as Zombie Strange, he harnesses the power of damned souls to fight Scarlet Witch at
her temple, while she is currently transfering
the murtiversal powers of America Chavez into her own body.
But it's revealed that even this zombified Dr. Strange with demonic
powers still cannot defeat Wanda.
In a final moment, Chavez asks Strange to take her powers instead, but in order to prevent
Wanda from getting power, the only way seems to be in
convincing her that Billy and Tommy are happy with their version of Wanda in the universe
that she wanted to get to.
She sees that the children are defending their mother and it makes
our Wanda see through her mistakes.
So she has a change of heart and decides that the only way forward is for her to destroy
the Darkhold, her sacred throne, and ultimately herself in
the process.
It's a sad end for her character in Phase 4 and I'm guessing that if she were to come
back that it would be through another version of her, such as the 838 version we saw
being possessed by our Wanda.
But for now, our Scarlett Witch appears to be dead.
And in the final moments, America Chavez and Wong, who helped to stall Wanda during all
the climatic events, travel back through the multiverse
to reunite with Strange and Christine.
And once Strange comes back into his own body, we learn that things won't be the same going
forward.
The final shot is him walking down a street in New York, and he is hit by the pain and
force of something within.
And this is answered very quickly in the first post credit scene.
As with every Marvel film, there are post credit scenes attached and in the Multiverse
of Madness, we get two of them.
The first post-credit scene happened right after the closing
moments and it answers that final shot featuring Strange who had been in quite the amount of
pain.
Well during this scene, a third eye opens up on his forehead, showing that the Darkhold
has now taken form within his body, as previously seen with evil doctor strange, and ultimately,
he is now corrupted forever.
So were left asking whether there's a way of removing this
darkhold and whether Strange is on a path to being as evil as the other versions of
him are in different universes.
But that's not even the main thing that happens in the first credit
scene.
While walking down a street in New York, Clea, played by Charlize Theron arrives and tells
him that due to his actions, he has caused an incursion, and they're going to have to
fix it.
She tears a hole in reality, Strange reveals his third eye and they go off into space.
An Incursion is of course an apocalyptic event that sees two universes clashing and it's
the threat the Illuminati feared with their version of Strange.
So Doctor Strange 3 will likely see Strange and Clea taking on a threat that's moving
between one universe and another.
In the comics, Clea is romantic with Doctor Strange and comes from the Dark Dimension,
so it will interesting to see what route they eventually go down.
And finally, the second post-credits scene isn't anything plot related
but more of a fun appearance of someone who's been in every Sam Raimi Film.
This features Bruce Campbell returning at the Pizza Place
from one of the other universes seen earlier on, where Strange had cast a spell on him
and he would himself over and over for days.
That spell wears off in the post credit scene and
it's just a fun little reference to the actor, who of course appeared in the Evil Dead films
and also all 3 original Spider-Man movies.
But yes, it'll be intruiging to see what they do
with the next Doctor Strange and whether they eventually show our version of the character
becoming as evil as the other versions seen in
this story.
But that was my video explaining the plot and ending for Sam Raimi's Doctor Strange
In The Multiverse Of Madness.
Like I said in my spoiler free review the other day, the film was one
that I quite enjoyed, but I was hoping for something less messy and one with a bigger
essence of Sam Raimi.
The plot was quite weak and the choppy editing was way too much at times.
But I do really like the visaul style of the film
and was quite shocked that Raimi's influence on that was at the very forefront of the overall
presentation.
I am going to see it again to really flesh out my thoughts, but overall,
it was a film that I think had more potential.
But I do hope this breakdown did help some of you guys understand the events and smaller
details a bit better, and overall, I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the film,
so don't forget to let me know down below in the comments section.
I will be doing a video essay on the film next week too, so keep a
look out for whenever I post and make sure you don't miss any of it.
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