The Best Scene In Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness
Contains spoilers for "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness"
It's been six years since Benedict Cumberbatch first donned the Cloak of Levitation as the Master of the Mystic Arts in Scott Derrickson's "Doctor Strange." Since then he's helped save the world from the Mad Titan, Thanos (Josh Brolin), in "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Endgame," before cleaning up Peter Parker's (Tom Holland) multiversal mess in "Spider-Man: No Way Home." But the sorcerer has finally returned for his own sequel, "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," wherein he explores different universes while trying to help America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) escape a deadly threat.
It's impressive how much Sam Raimi's "Multiverse of Madness" manages to pull off in its 2 hours and 7 minutes, considering it has so many key players and ideas to establish. Not only does it boldly elevate former Avenger Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) as the main villain, the one seeking Chavez's power for herself, but it dives headfirst into the Marvel multiverse, exploring other realities that exist in parallel to our own — the finally confirmed Earth-616. Unsurprisingly, this comes with some incredibly crowd-pleasing moments and cameos that will surely surprise Marvel fans of all ages, even if the marketing revealed Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell) before the film even arrived in theaters.
The best scene in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" stands head and shoulders above the rest, and it's not the one you're thinking of.
The haunting of Wanda Maximoff
With Sam Raimi in the director's chair this time around, horror fans are really in for a treat. Not only does he know how to handle superheroes and heartfelt storytelling thanks to his time on the "Spider-Man" trilogy in the early 2000s, but he's a master at creating uniquely terrifying atmospheres. He's perhaps best known for directing the "Evil Dead" trilogy in the 1980s, and he brings some of his signature camera moves to the "Doctor Strange" sequel.
One of the key concepts the movie introduces is the idea of "dream walking" — where a powerful sorcerer or witch can use the Darkhold to take hold of their alternate selves in another universe to use as their avatar. But when Strange and Chavez escape to the Illuminati's Earth, Scarlet Witch from the main 616 universe uses dream walking to control the Wanda Maximoff of that universe. The results are chilling.
The sequence shows a happier Wanda who lives with her two sons, Billy (Julian Hilliard) and Tommy (Jett Klyne) in a quiet suburban area — not unlike Westview from "WandaVision." It isn't long before soccer mom Wanda realizes she's being h(a)unted by a supernatural force that follows her through the house. We get glimpses of the Scarlet Witch's eyes in reflective surfaces, as well as free-flowing POV camera shots that swoop through the house, before the villain takes over her alternate self entirely.
It's psychedelic, trippy, and downright creepy. In other words, fans of Raimi's work will love it. This might seem like an odd choice as a best scene, but just stay with us — it's exactly what the MCU needs right now.
Yes, it's better than the Illuminati scene
The obvious choice for best scene in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" is the sequence where the titular hero meets the Illuminati in an alternate universe. Yes, meeting John Krasinski's Mr. Fantastic is, well, fantastic — and even the return of Anson Mount's Black Bolt is a sight to behold — but it doesn't exactly serve the story other than as a cautionary tale for Strange. The cameos are obviously exciting, but they do feel like an easy bit of fan service with only marginal story utility.
The creepy scene in the Maximoff house proves that when the MCU leans into a specific genre it really excels like it did way back in Phase 1. "Iron Man" is an action-thriller, "Thor" is a fantasy adventure, and "Captain America: The First Avenger" is a war movie. Since then, the MCU has mainly stuck to the "superhero" genre, with the occasional diversion into spy thriller with "The Winter Soldier" or kung-fu flick with "Shang-Chi."
"Doctor Strange" going full horror is Sam Raimi doing what he does best — being weird and terrifying. For characters like Stephen Strange and Scarlet Witch, this works perfectly. Even narratively, Wanda possessing the body of her alternate self shows that she's willing to do whatever it takes to be with her children, because she's struggling to cope after suffering with so much loss over the years.
It was one of those rare moments in a Marvel movie where fans really have no idea how it's going to play out, and seeing Scarlet Witch go full big bad is just viciously entertaining.