Doctor Strange has been an important presence in the MCU. He aided the Avengers during Infinity War and Endgame, then enabled the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home. Though he made a film debut in his origin film Doctor Strange in 2016, he had yet to have a second movie when other similarly positioned characters like the Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man had had at least two. That’s all set to change with the release of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 6th of this year. This effectively makes Doctor Strange the MCU film that has taken the longest to get a sequel.

Multiverse of Madness isn’t just Stephen Strange’s story, however. We know that the Scarlet Witch is making an appearance alongside him, with the movie promising to give audiences with lingering Vision and Scarlet Witch questions some answers. But it isn’t just Wanda’s storyline that is full of potential. Phase 4 of the MCU introduced the Multiverse, and this movie is certain to play with the concept heavily, even hinting at connections to properties Marvel recently acquired, like X-Men and Fantastic Four. Multiverse of Madness is, in the same vein as Infinity War or Captain America: Civil War, a crossover event movie that has potentially huge implications for the wider cinematic universe. There are lots of things you may need to know before you watch it.

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Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch

     Marvel Studios

Multiverse of Madness will have both Stephen Strange and Wanda Maximoff as main characters. These two characters have had recent MCU storylines that are going to be relevant to the story of the film. Doctor Strange’s plot line revolves around the consequences of his actions during No Way Home, while Wanda is still dealing with the aftermath of Vision’s death in Infinity War and her attempt to escape it during WandaVision.

Watching WandaVision and No Way Home is highly recommended before watching Multiverse of Madness, especially the former. The MCU doesn’t focus much on Maximoff before the series, so if you want to understand her, then it’s a good idea to give that show a watch. No Way Home doesn’t focus so much on Stephen Strange as a character, but that movie is worth watching to understand how the Multiverse fits into Strange’s story. Director Sam Raimi even stated that Multiverse of Madness is a direct continuation of No Way Home. The simplified upshot of both these arcs is that Multiverse of Madness shows a Wanda dealing with grief over Vision and her family, guilt at what happened in Westview, and the discovery of the true extent of her powers. Stephen is similarly being haunted by the past, as all his meddling in the arcane and the fabric of the universe is threatening to wreck untold devastation.

Sam Raimi is Directing Multiverse of Madness

     Marvel Studios / Disney

Sam Raimi is the principal director for Multiverse of Madness. Raimi is the man behind the original trilogy of Spider-Man films and the Evil Dead series. This interesting combination of skill sets in horror and superhero movies is fitting, given the nature of the film. Multiverse of Madness promises to be a mind-bending spectacle filled with terrifying threats from the multiverse. A premise like that is filled with the sort of over-the-top stakes and wild concepts that really lend themselves to comics that are very good at delivering. At the same time, the movie is marketing itself as the first horror movie in the MCU. Raimi is the perfect candidate given that he has a background in horror with Evil Dead, and he is an avid fan of the comic book classics.

If statements from Raimi himself are to be believed, then the movie definitely will be a first foray in horror for the MCU. This is exciting for the franchise, as things like Moon Knight, which break away from Marvel conventions, tend to stand out in a good way. Of course, time will tell if these promises of horror and uniqueness are delivered upon, but for now this represents an exciting addition of more variety to the MCU. For you, the prospective viewer, it is worth keeping in mind that Multiverse of Madness may be darker and less light-hearted than other Marvel movies. It won’t quite be Evil Dead, as it is at a PG-13 rating rather than M or R, but it’s likely to have a similar mind-bending quality. Some MCU fans will be excited about the change in tone and genre, but others may be put off by the idea of horror in their superhero movie. Keep this in mind before you go see it.

The Multiverse is Here

After teasing the emergence of the multiverse in Spider-Man: Far From Home and WandaVision, audiences got nothing less than a multiversal, multi-franchise crossover with Spider-Man: No Way Home. Multiverse of Madness promises to expand on the concepts introduced in No Way Home and the other major multiversal piece of MCU media, like Loki. What’s more, elements from the What If…? series on Disney Plus have been teased in recent trailers. One of the major characters being the alternate version of Doctor Strange present in the What If…? series. What If…? and Loki are two other shows that would be good to watch before Multiverse of Madness, due to their involvement of the Multiverse.

The Multiverse is additionally fueling a lot of speculation about the upcoming film. Some are wondering if the Illuminati, a coalition of some of the smarter superheroes, has been formed from multiversal versions of our heroes. Some have also speculated that Sir Patrick Stewart’s Charles Xavier, specifically from the X-Men franchise, might be in the film, finally answering the question of what Marvel was going to do with the recently acquired X-Men movie brand. The Multiverse is a concept that has a large potential for interesting characters and storylines, especially from the comics. One multiversal storyline from the comics was Secret Wars, which could be adapted in the new phases of the MCU in which the interconnectedness of different universes is a reality. Characters like Miles Morales or Spider-Gwen could also make appearances, given that they come from different universes. Introducing the Multiverse has everyone guessing all the time, though that isn’t necessarily new for MCU films it does increase the scope of possible cameos, especially given Disney’s acquisitions.