I hate the multiverse, so I had little hope for actually liking this Marvel superhero adventure.  To be fair, it is painstakingly realized and even makes consistent sense most of the time.  It is somewhat clever and amusing, with compassionate moments and a genuine desire to explore the humanity of its characters.  I think it probably succeeds in achieving what it sets out to do.  But I despise what it sets out to do and believe that opening this multiverse door is like opening Pandora’s Box, from which there is no safe return.

Sam Raimi’s adventure introduces Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to a young woman, America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), with the ability to transfer from one universe to another when she is badly frightened.  Former good girl Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) wants this power so she can be with the children she never had (but does, in other universes), and will destroy everything to acquire this transversal power.  Mayhem ensues.  People die.  Universes are torn asunder.  Strange is awkwardly reteamed with Dr. Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams) in another universe, hoping to save what they can and stop the madness.

And madness it is.  In one universe people are made of paint.  In another Strange fights a version of himself with music notes.  Literal notes, pointy and sharp, flying through the air like daggers.  Written by Michael Waldron, this movie throws in almost everything but the kitchen sink (evidently kitchens aren’t important in other universes).  And here’s the rub: nothing matters.  The film ends at pretty much the same point at which it began, except for the deaths of thousands and incalculable turmoil in various universes.  But on Earth 616, which is seemingly the only one that really matters, Wanda is finally persuaded of the error of her ways and gives up her unquenchable power grab.  What nonsense.

Let me promote two arguments against the multiverse.  First, by opening the door to infinite possibility, it reduces everyday living to meaninglessness.  How?  Because anything is possible, given America Chavez’s power.  Wanda states that every problem can be solved because there exists, somewhere, a solution, and she wants the power to be able to find those solutions, should she need them.  It makes sense to her, but it reduces real world living to complete unimportance.  Movies like this are using technology or magic or this transverse garbage as shortcuts for not having to conform to natural rules of existence or behavior or consequence, and expecting audiences to follow right along.  Many are, it seems, but I rebel against the idea that real life is so unimportant compared to the impossible possibilities of the multiverse, or in the case of other series, magic.  Stick with real life, please.  Fantasy has its place, and its rewards, but this is just too much.

Argument two is much more specific.  Imagine you are the parent of a fine young man or woman who has just been accepted to Grandmaster Wong’s (Benedict Wong) mystical training facility.  Your young ‘un is perhaps hoping to work with that dapper Doctor Strange at some point in the future.  But you haven’t heard from your son or daughter for awhile, and you begin to worry.  Then you get a message from Grandmaster Wong himself, informing you that your progeny has been killed in battle.  Not a battle against an evil intruder like Thanos, but killed in anger by the Scarlet Witch — Wanda — with whom you are familiar as a person who helped save the world from Thanos.  What the hell?  You can’t even seek redress against the Witch, because she is still on the side of humanity.  At story’s end Wanda has finally relinquished her mad power drive but she isn’t punished except by her own conscience — if she has one.  The world is as it was again, except that your child, and those of many others, simply no longer exist.  How’s that for a nice superhero movie adventure moral?  It’s awful, and it’s all because of the multiverse, and this idiotic need for filmmakers to pit superhero against superhero.

When I was ten or twelve I, like many other children, wondered which superheroes would win fights amongst themselves.  How could Batman, without any superpowers of his own, ever triumph against Superman, owner of every power one could ever need?  Well, guess what, Hollywood made that movie — and it was bad.  So many of these newer DC and Marvel movies pit hero against hero in ways that only children could really appreciate.  Here we have Wanda, heroine of a few Marvel adventures, turn evil because of a perceived need, and kill thousands of innocent lives.  It’s nonsense!  It’s stupid, and unnecessary, and vulgar, and unhealthy.  It’s one thing to want to make superheroes more human, but it’s another to warp one’s character so foolishly and ruin the moviemaking process by doing so.  I hate this movie.  ☆.  14 May 2022.