Released:  May 6, 2022

Directed By:   Sam Raimi

Screenplay By:  Michael Waldron (Rick & Morty, Loki, Heels)

Music By:  Danny Elfman

Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, Michael Stuhlbarg and Rachel McAdams

Plot:   Stephen Strange casts a forbidden spell that opens the doorway to the multiverse, including alternate versions of himself, whose threat to humanity is too great for the combined forces of Strange, Wong, and Wanda Maximoff.

Tagline:  Enter a new dimension of Strange.

How did this movie do
Budget: $200 Million

• First appeared in Strange Tales #110 (cover-dated July 1963)
• Origin Issue was Strange Takes #115
• Created by Steve Ditko with Stan Lee
• Named Dr. Strange because he would appear in Strange Tales
• Strange was created during the Silver Age of Comic Books to bring a different kind of character and themes of mysticism to Marvel Comics
• Origin: Begins as an extremely talented but egotistical surgeon who loses the ability to operate, after a car crash severely damaged his hands beyond repair. Searching the globe for healing, he encounters the Ancient One, the Sorcerer Supreme. Strange becomes his student, and learns to be a master of both the mystical and the martial arts.
• Lives at Sanctum Sanctorum, located in 177A Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village, New York City
• Strange assumes the title of Sorcerer Supreme and, with his friend and valet Wong, defends the world from mystical threats.
• The character was first portrayed in live-action by Peter Hooten in the 1978 television film Dr. Strange
• Benedict Cumberbatch plays Stephen Strange in Doctor Strange (2016), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), and the animated series What If…? (2021).
• Draws his powers from mystical entities such as Agamotto, Cyttorak, Ikonn, Oshtur, Raggadorr, and Watoomb, who lend their energies for spells.
• Favorite Tools: Eye of Agamotto, Cloak of Levitation the Wand of Watoomb, Book of the Vishanti and the Orb of Agamotto
  • The Eye of Agamotto: Theory is that it was created by the ancient sorcerer Agamotto (one of Strange’s Vishanti). Said that the Eye of Agamotto draws on Agamotto’s own mystical ability to span distances and dispel disguises and illusions.
  • Cloak of Levitation: The Cloak of Levitation was given to Dr. Strange by the Ancient One for defeating Dormammu. A magical relic that is able to move and fly on its own power, enabling its user to levitate and hover in the air. First Appeared In Strange Tales #127.
  • Book of the Vishanti: a grimoire which contains vast knowledge of white magic. Counterpart to the Darkhold (Created by the Elder God-turned demon Chthon, the first practitioner of dark magics). Both books are indestructible. It is possible to destroy single pages of either book, but the balancing spell in the other book is destroyed as well to maintain a mystical balance.
• The Vishanti are a trio of supernatural, god-like entities who act as patrons for the Sorcerer Supreme and defenders of the Earth realm.
  • Current Member(s): Hoggoth, Oshtur, Agamotto
• Clea (from the post credit scene)
  • First introduced in Marvel’s comics in 1964’s Strange Tales #126
  • Daughter of the original ruler of the Dark Dimension and niece of Dormamu
  • Romantically tied with Stephen Strange (was his wife at one time)
  • In the current comics, she is the Sorcerer Supreme following Doctor Strange’s death

• Wundagore Mountain – Where Chthon wrote the Darkhold, became home to Herbert Wyndham, the geneticist known as the High Evolutionary
  • A woman named Magda, reportedly gave birth to twins, who later became known as Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch at the High Evolutionary’s citadel.
  • Chthon imbued the newborn infant who would become the Scarlet Witch with latent potential for using magic
  • High Evolutionary is rumored to be coming to the MCU…could he have saved Scarlet Witch?
• Her mental instability has caused Avengers Disassembled, House of M and M-Day
• Has died and come back many times in the comics.
• According to Elizabeth Olsen’s new contract will see her be a part of the MCU for the next 7 years in 2022 so it’s very likely she’s coming back (could be as a variant)
• The prophecy about ruling or destroying the multiverse (so she should be back in one form or another)

• America Chavez’s first appearance was Vengeance #1 (Sept. 2011)
  
  
• Sam Raimi’s first directed feature film in 9 years, since Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)
  
  
• Elizabeth Olsen flew to London to work on this film just two days after she finished filming WandaVision (2021).
  
  
• This film, Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), and Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) were all filmed at the same time. ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ in both New York City and Atlanta, Georgia, ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ in Sydney, Australia, and ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ in England.
  
  
• While most MCU films are released under the genres of “Action”, “Comedy”, “Drama”,” “Sci-Fi”, and “Fantasy”, this will be the first film in the MCU to be released under the “Horror” genre.
  
  
• When Scott Derrickson was going to direct, he had plans of debuting Namor the Sub-Mariner in the film. Namor and Dr Strange were allies and members of the superhero team the Defenders. Namor will make his debut later on in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022).
  
  
• Bruce Campbell, longtime collaborator of director Sam Raimi, was asked at a convention if he had been cast in this film. He gave a one-word answer: “Linoleum”. On April Fools Day 2021, Campbell posted a fake script page of the film that contained a dialogue scene with Doctor Strange and Ash from The Evil Dead (1981).
  
  
• Scott Derrickson, director of the previous film Doctor Strange (2016), was set to return. However, due to creative differences with Marvel, he stepped down. He stays as the film’s executive producer.
  
  
• This is composer Danny Elfman’s second MCU film, after Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015).
  
  
• In April 2022, Saudi Arabian film censors demanded a 12-second long scene in the film to be cut in order to be released in the local theaters. The scene in question mentions America Chavez’s (Xochitl Gomez) lesbian parents. However, Marvel and Disney refused to cut any scenes from the film, causing uncertainties on whether the film would be released in Saudi Arabia at all.
  
  
• This movie was originally meant to be before Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) before the COVID-19 Pandemic forced the schedules to be altered and for this movie to ultimately come after it.
  
  
• The film title is a play on the H.P. Lovecraft horror novel “At the Mountains of Madness”
  
  
• It’s the twenty-eighth film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, originally going to be the twenty-seventh in the series.
  
  
• This is composer Danny Elfman ‘s ninth comic-book feature, after working on the Tim Burton Batman films, the Men in Black series, the Sam Raimi Spider-Man films, Hulk (2003) , Wanted (2008) , Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) , Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) and Justice League (2017) .
  
  
• The one-eyed tentacle monster in the film is known in the Marvel comics as Shuma-Gorath, after a legal issue over the name, the monster was renamed Gargantos.
  
  
• This is Sam Raimi’s fourth comic-book adaptation, and the second Stan Lee-Steve Ditko comic hero he’s adapting.
  
  
• Sam Raimi initially didn’t want to direct any future superhero films, having lost faith in himself due to the critical and audience backlash he received from Spider-Man 3, in turn thanks to the Executive Meddling on that film.
  
  
• Wanda in the poster takes on the role of Kali, the goddess of darkness and chaos… but not an evil goddess, as she is also the goddess of motherhood.
  
  
• One poster displays statues of a tiger with wings and a female goddess. These are known as Hoggoth and Oshtur, who in the Marvel Comics, along with Agamotto, form the trilogy of gods of magic known as the Vishanti.
  
  
• In Charles Xavier’s first scene, he is accompanied by a brief orchestral score of the X-Men: The Animated Series (1992) theme track.