The newest edition into the MCU is much different than you would think. Unlike “Spider-Man: No Way Home”, “Doctor Strange” relied on giving characters from different universes an actual role instead of just a cameo. We are introduced to the Illuminati, the smartest minds of the world all put together. On that panel would be Reed Richards or Mister Fantastic from the Fantastic Four, Maria Rambeau as Captain Marvel, Charles Xavier as Professor X from the “X-men” movies, Captain Carter the first Avenger from Marvel’s previous show “What If…?”, and last but not least Blackagar Boltagon as Black Bolt. With meeting the Illuminati that merges at least three different universes all into the MCU which is great because it could lead into a ton of different ways they could take the Marvel Universe now. They can bring the X-men into the MCU along with Deadpool, they could introduce the Fantastic Four and could bring back great villains like Dr. Doom as well as Galactus and the Silver Surfer.

As we jump into the movie we’re thrown into a very confusing fight as we see a different variant of Doctor Strange alongside an unnamed character. We’re then thrown back into the real world where we see it was all just a dream that the Stephen Strange we know was having. Or was it. A little while later Stephen finds the girl from his dream running away from a demon in the streets of New York City. Here is where we meet the newest hero, America Chavez. She explains to Stpehen that his dream wasn’t actually a dream, it was real and he saw himself in a different universe. 

Strange goes to Wanda Maximoff for consulting about the multiverse as she has had prior experience after holding an entire town captive in “WandaVision.” Strange asks her about America and Wanda slips up and tells him that she sent the demon after America because she has the ability to travel throughout the multiverse. Wanda wants to find America and take her power so that she can be with Vision and her two kids, Billy and Tommy once again. Wanda then wages an all out war chasing Strange, America, and Wong all throughout the multiverse to get the power to travel the multiverse. It was a very dark turn that director Sam Raimi took in technically his first MCU film and I applaud him for that. It was great to finally see no one holding back and it could lead to seeing more R-rated anti-heroes like the Midnight Son’s which have characters like Blade, Punisher, Ghost Rider and so many more.

It was refreshing to see Wanda’s long storyline pan out starting in “Avengers: Age of Ultron” as a young and angry villain and eventually realizing what she was doing was wrong. She then helped the Avengers defeat Thanos and save the world, just for it all to be lost after the immense amount of pain she went through in losing her husband and kids. 

The weakest part of the movie was definitely America Chavez. She wasn’t a bad character and the acting wasn’t awful but her storyline just seemed a little too fairy tale like. One second she has no clue how to control her power and then the very next she’s taking down the most powerful in the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe. I feel like if they gave more of a storyline where she’s learning how to use and control her power it would’ve been better. We don’t always need to see the good guys win. We saw the Avengers lose in Infinity War and if Strange would’ve lost and it extended into a later movie I don’t think it would’ve been the worst idea.

Altogether I think it was a very strong movie. Significantly darker which is good and also just a very good storyline for Wanda as well as Strange. In the end credits scene we’re once again introduced to a new character named Clea. She needs Stephen’s help to fix an incursion and that’s where it ends. Overall rating for the movie I’d give it an 8/10. Great arc for Wnada and Stephen, but as previously stated America’s arc just fell a little flat.