Along with its weird imagery, a producer for Doctor Strange 2 hints that the "madness" in the title will have different meanings for each character.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness producer Richie Palmer hints that the titular "multiverse of madness" will have different meanings for each character throughout the film. Following on from the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home and WandaVision, the sequel will see the return of Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange as the surgeon-turned-sorcerer joins up with Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) to travel through the MCU's growing multiverse and repair the cataclysmic damage that has been done. Helmed by famed horror and Spider-Man director Sam Raimi, with a script by Loki writer Michael Waldron, the latest outing for Doctor Strange looks to be one of the most surreal entries in the MCU canon so far.
With Cumberbatch and Olsen set to play alternate versions of their characters across the multiverse, the film also sees the return of a number of other MCU characters. Strange's ex-lover Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams), the current Sorcerer Supreme Wong (Benedict Wong), and Strange's former-mentor-turned-adversary Karl Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) are all back from previous entries as allies and enemies for the Master of the Mystic Arts. The sequel will also introduce a new character in dimension-hopping teenager America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), and the latest Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness trailer has teased the possible return of Professor X (Patrick Stewart) from the non-MCU X-Men series.
Although details on exactly what Strange and Maximoff will encounter on their inter-dimensional travels has been kept tightly under wraps, more and more teases have been released as the movie approaches its premiere. Now, one of the film's producers provides a hint as to what the title "multiverse of madness" precisely means for the superheroes. In an interview with Empire, Palmer suggests how the "maddening" personal events surrounding the protagonists will impact their decisions and actions. Read the full quote below:
Madness has many different definitions. It’s maddening for Doctor Strange to have to watch the love of his life marry someone else. And it’s maddening for Wanda to have been told, "There’s a book, and there’s a chapter about you in that book you should read, and secrets you don’t know about yourself."
It's evident that the aforementioned "madness" will clearly not just be limited to the mind-bending, reality-twisting imagery fans have already been treated to in the trailer. The two characters have already undergone extensive emotional turmoil, with Wanda having lost both Vision and her children in WandaVision and Strange having had to forgo any romantic future with Christine in the first Doctor Strange in order to protect the New York Sanctum. The secret Wanda learns from the Darkhold and Strange seeing Christine marry someone else may prove to be the tipping points for them both. And, with it looking like Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch will clash at some point during their journey, this suggests that these differing personal circumstances, coupled with the metaphysical madness surrounding them, may form the backdrop to their conflict.
This additional plot tease might get many fans racing to theories about what Palmer means by the characters finding their situations "maddening." Given the lengths Wanda went to process her grief in WandaVision and Strange's typical predilection to bending the rules of the Sanctum, some fans will no doubt be wondering how far the two protagonists can be pushed, and what the consequences of that might be. Luckily, with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness releasing in just under two months, audiences will not have long to wait to find out.
Source: Empire
