Doctor Strange: The Multiverse of Madness: Wanda Resides at The Heart of Horror

'Doctor Strange: The Multiverse of Madness' experiments with genres but the tropes remain the same.

(This piece contains spoilers)

If WandaVision aspired for the suburban dream, then Doctor Strange: The Multiverse of Madness struggles to keep the dream afloat. It’s a hefty task, yet Wanda’s willing to bend any rules necessary to find what she is looking for– travelling the multiverse is the least of it. But the titular character is her opposition, albeit also morally ambiguous – they are supposedly a fitting match, or so we are told. And in Marvel, women are often dealt with the shorter end of the stick.

Marvel has a curious take on motherhood, or more interestingly, the lack of children in a woman’s life and what it represents. Natasha Romanoff’s (Black Widow) character called herself a “monster” for having been forcefully sterilised. And Wanda’s grief also stems from a similar lack. To the extent that her character arch is devised as that of a villain’s. Yes, she is powerful beyond belief. Yes, she can take on anyone – but she isn’t stable.

And the film is tailored to ensure Wanda resides at the heart of horror. She embodies the horrific – manifests monsters, casts witchy spells, and contorts her body in ways that are sure to leave you spooked.

It’s perhaps a homage to the 1970s and 1980s American horror films that are rooted in body horror, slashers and supernatural elements. A throwback to Sam Raimi’s origins, he directed the 1980s Evil Dead franchise, which has a cult following.

But the world-building is so wholly wrapped up in the genre that it feels like an extension of Wanda’s character. So impressive are her powers that they taint all she touches. But it’s not her powers that leave a bad taste in the mouth – it’s her gimmicky motivation. Although, the entire film may seem slightly gimmicky. WandaVision’s triumph was the point of view – we saw her struggles through her eyes. In Doctor Strange, we see it through his.

WandaVision was an excellent precursor for the narrative to unfold. But to choose her lack of children as the sole driving force feels easy. It’s the surficial white-picket-fence dream that is back with jump-scares. The change in mood is daunting and affective with elements of the gothic thrown in the mix but that a woman cannot be complete without children also feels like a letdown. And that she has to either be the epitome of motherhood or an all-powerful villain feels contrived.

She thumps her way through dark tunnels, expertly slices her enemies' bodies into half and aspires to kill. She is motivated by grief, reeling in bouts of trauma – rendering her unstable.

But it’s the stability of Doctor Strange and the emotional turmoil of Wanda that is striking.

He too has shades of grey, he too breaks the rules, and he also turns into a bit of a monster. A fact that is brought to the fore by her. But his struggles make him superior – giving him a platform for grander adventures. Wanda is simply the ladder he climbs on.

A little side note on witchcraft, women who were accused of it during the Early Modern Period, were mostly midwives. They had superior knowledge of medicine so many felt threatened by them. And during the Salem Witch Trials, they were mostly black and some white women. In the end, witchcraft was an accusation hurled at the oppressed to ensure they remain on the sidelines. So perhaps it's a skewed sense of poetic justice that someone of Wanda’s power meets the end she does.

With horror at the heart of the story. What’s more terrifying is how easily we continue to conflate motherhood with completion. We advocate it to women from an early age to the extent of brainwashing. So it’s difficult to ascertain if that’s what women want or not, especially with the current socio-political climate in the USA, vis-a-vis the Roe v Wade bill. But in this particular narrative, grief makes you do unimaginable things. So wouldn’t it have been better to see it from the eyes of grieving?