DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS

The Doc prescribes something stronger…

DIRECTOR SCOTT DERRICKSON STARRING BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH, ELIZABETH OLSEN, BENEDICT WONG ETA 7 MAY 2021

For all its pleasures, 2016’s Doctor Strange faced one key criticism from Strange-heads. With its city-warping visuals and quality capework, director Scott Derrickson’s giddy trip had fun messing with the MCU’s scenery. But in its fealty to origin-story formula, it never fully tapped into the destabilising potency of the comics’ lysergic influences.

If the title does not deceive, Dr. Stephen’s return promises altogether stranger things. At Comic-Con, Derrickson teased something “gothic” and “horrific”, the “first scary MCU film”. And he promised much “psychedelic weirdness”, which should be hippie-trippy sitar music to fans’ ears.

In short, enter the multiverse… Although the concept has been teased in the MCU (mischievously by Far From Home’s Mysterio),

this is the studio’s chance to dive deep into its transdimensional delights. And if Strange is the right man for that plunge, his comics are also littered with the right villains for the job. Alongside the likely return of Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Baron Mordo, will we see a Nightmare on MCU Street? Will Dracula be a back-door opening for Blade’s MCU entry? Or, noting the title’s nod to John Carpenter’s In The Mouth Of Madness, will the Lovecraftian Shuma-Gorath await?

Keep guessing, says the good Doc himself, Benedict Cumberbatch. “[Strange] will be facing unexpected things. He’ll be in a position rather like the audience of not knowing what’s coming… We’re going back to kind of try to destroy him a bit, I think.” Sounds like just what the Doctor ordered.