The first thing one notices about Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is that this episode is as tonally different to standard Marvel fare as a nightmarish fever dream is from waking reality. Almost alone among the studio’s directors, Sam Raimi has been allowed to put his unique stamp on the saga – it feels at least as close to the film-maker’s earlier horror efforts Evil Dead II and Drag Me to Hell as it does to films such as Spider-Man: No Way Home and the Avengers movies. Why is Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch suddenly the villain? Who is America Chavez and why is Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange a zombie version of himself? Let’s do a deep dive into the new film to find out.
