‘Doctor Strange 2’ Has Become Marvel’s First Must-See Movie Since ‘Avengers: Endgame’

_{Years of stand-alone films and Disney+ shows has rendered ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness‘ Marvel’s first Phase Four mythology episode.}

We are just over two months out from the May 6 domestic release of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. While we don’t have a third trailer, and we may not get one between now and May (unless Disney wants to throw out a new one for Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in mid-April), it is the second trailer formatted for IMAX auditoriums. And since I did that “sneak into an IMAX theater showing a mega-movie to watch the big trailers on the biggest screen” thing this morning, I can confirm that it plays very, very well on an IMAX screen.

I mean, that’s not a shock, but we’re so used to seeing and judging trailers viewed on a laptop or smartphone that, well, that’s why I do this. And yeah, the opening 360-degree whirl when Strange wakes up actually makes you dizzy in a theater. I still think it’s a needlessly cryptic teaser, offering no concrete information about just what Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) did to cause problems with the multiverse or what the actual consequences seem to be.

I’m guessing it won’t be directly related to the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, as Marvel has been pretty good about the big events in a given movie happening in that actual movie (or at worst, during the Avengers movies or the Captain America sequels). Heck, the first teaser emphasized that one needn’t have watched WandaVision either.

Considering Spider-Man 3 version 2.0 earned $1.85 billion, I don’t think too many people will be too lost if the film relies on those films for context. I’m beyond curious as to how the film will play thanks to a few unique factors.

First, obviously, there may be $100-$150 million less coming from China than might have been expected pre-Covid. Second, it’s been 6.5 years since the first Doctor Strange movie, which earned $677 million worldwide in late 2016. Under normal circumstances, I’d say that’s way too long for a sequel, but A) Covid may have changed the rules on that and B) Marvel hasn’t kept Strange out of the spotlight since then.

The not-so-Sorcerer Supreme popped up in a rather funny cameo in Thor: Ragnorak in late 2017 only be a co-lead in Avengers: Infinity War in 2018 and a supporting character in Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2021. The film will be a sequel to Doctor Strange (hence a return for Chiwetel Ejiofor and Rachel McAdams) but will also be a quasi-sequel to Spider-Man: No Way Home and WandaVision.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 got delayed until next summer and Eternals, Shang-Chi and Black Widow operated as stand-alone. Even No Way Home ended in a way to potentially render irrelevant to the broader MCU narrative. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is either the “season premiere” or at least the first “Sweeps Week mythology episode of Phase Four.”

As such, there’s a certain grim irony in the film opening three years after Avengers: Endgame. Back “in the day,” big sequels to franchise flicks often opened around three years after their respective predecessors. Batman Returns opened three years after Batman, The Empire Strikes Back opened three years after Star Wars and so forth. The Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings films changed the game, hewing closer to various once-a-year horror franchises which Saw turned into an “If it’s Halloween, it must be Saw” artform.

After years lost to Covid and spent tying up unfinished business, launching new stand-alone franchises and premiering “old business” Disney+ television shows, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness can sell itself as the first “must-see” MCU flick since Avengers: Endgame. So if it plays much bigger, especially in North America, than “just another Doctor Strange movie,” well, that’s why.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness opens May 6. Offhand, it’s probably the front-runner to top the domestic box office for summer 2022, even if I think Jurassic World: Dominion still holds the upper hand worldwide. Ask me again in two months. And yeah, the IMAX trailer looks and sounds spectacular in IMAX. So, for that matter, did the Fantastic Beasts 3 trailer, but that’s another conversation.