DOCTOR STRANGE In The Multiverse Of Madness WTF Question Explained

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness takes us on a two-hour trip through alternate universes in the pursuit of getting America Chavez the f**k away from Wanda. Hide your wife, hide your kids because someone is gonna have to raise them.

I have to say that I absolutely loved this film. I know it’s very divisive with people saying the plot is messy and that there are some disappointing aspects in terms of things like the Illuminati but I had a complete blast.

So I thought I’d revisit the film and discuss some of the big questions people have about the character turns, the plot holes and just the general issues I see popping up. This is gonna include things like why Wanda’s kids are the same even though Vision isn’t there, where the deadbeat bot is, why Reed is the dumbest smartest man on earth, why Gamora didn’t cause an incursion and basically as many questions as I can fit into one video before Wanda shows up to take my twins away.

Full spoilers ahead so if you haven’t seen the movie and that intro didn’t ruin it for you then please hit the green light and stop now!

Billy and Tommy

The first big thing I wanna discuss is why Wanda’s kids are the same in the 838 universe when she created them using magic in Wandavision. Surely they wouldn’t be exactly the same because the ones in the alternate reality were conceived the old fashion way whereas the ones in the Hex just showed up out of nowhere like those f**ks that post full-on cam spoiler clips on youtube two days before the f**king film releases.

It’s pretty confusing unless we take it that the Westview ones weren’t who came first. Billy and Tommy are roughly about 10 years old, I think, and therefore they would’ve had to have been alive for that length of time if they were real. Wandavision only happened recently in terms of the MCU timeline and therefore they would’ve been created after the real ones in the alternate universe.

If we look at 838 in general, they’re far more advanced than the 616 timeline and that’s because the snap never happened and therefore they had 5 years of developing things. This is why we see a Reed Richards who’s at the height of his powers when we haven’t even had him show up in the 616 yet. They might even be more than 5 years ahead but either way you slice it up, there’s definitely a major time difference in terms of how far advanced they are.

So How Did Wanda Make Them in 616?

How Wanda managed to make two kids that are exactly the same is explained in the movie through them discussing dreams. We learn that when one dreams, they’re actually seeing their alternate self in another reality. Therefore in 616, Wanda would’ve likely dreamed about her alternate self, met her kids that way and then subconsciously brought them to life.

We learn that in every other reality Wanda is with her kids whereas in the 616 she isn’t so, therefore, she would’ve definitely encountered them several times.

Now that kinda segways me into the next point which is:

Who’s the daddy?

Whilst it would be easy to say Vision, unfortunately, I don’t think that he exists in this universe and even if he does, the events of Wandavision definitely didn’t happen.

Now we never meet Tony Stark in this reality and therefore it’s unlikely that he actually exists there.

However, we do meet Ultron Bots which is why everyone on the internet thought that Tom Cruise could show up as Superior Iron Man. However, I don’t think that these were created by the character and instead, I believe that Reed Richards was behind them. Dubbed the smartest man on earth, if he really is that then he probably created them without the flaws and the main Ultron wouldn’t carry aspects of the personality that Tony has.

So Reed likely figured it out and because Ultron works he never tried to make Vision like what we saw in Age Of Ultron.

However, even if the events of Age Of Ultron did somewhat happen and we got a version of Vision, his time with Wanda would’ve been a lot different.

In the movie, we learn that the Illuminati killed Thanos on Titan and with this happening it means that he never would’ve gone to Earth and ripped the Mind Stone out of Vision’s head. Because this didn’t happen, Wanda would never have grieved him, created the Hex and become the Scarlett Witch.

So Ultron working as intended changes the course of the MCU and instead I think that Billy and Tommy’s kids are probably just some random guy, which…is a nice message I suppose.

Why Didn’t The Illuminati Care That Wanda Was Coming?

Now we’re going even further into a segway from this to talk about why the Illuminati didn’t care about Wanda, even though Strange desperately tries to warn them that she’s coming to Matrix their mouths.

That’s because as they say, in their reality, Strange is the biggest threat. After dream walking too much, Supreme Strange caused an incursion that killed trillions of people because it wiped out an entire reality. Thus Wanda isn’t as big a threat even though we as the viewers know how dangerous she is.

This kinda also ties into why they don’t really care and at one point Captain Marvel even says that they can handle “Strange’s little witch”.

Now because all of the prior events like Age Of Ultron, Civil War, Infinity War, Endgame and Wandavision never happened, their Wanda is pretty depowered. She’d probably be about Age Of Ultron level which is why they think it’s fine just sending lots of Ultron Bots after her as she was pretty scared of them in that film.

In the comics, the arrogance and hubris of The Illuminati always led to their downfall and they just don’t see Wanda as a threat to them because they’re used to dealing with their Wanda. They’ve probably looked into other realities and have also seen that in 99.9% of them that she’s a full-time yummy mummy who spends most of her days making her kids ice cream. So they’re just like ‘meh, we can handle her.’

This arrogance and underestimation of her is why they wade into the battle completely unprepared and why Reed even tells her about Black Bolt’s power.

Because they’re pretty idiotic, a lot of fans have said that it’s a wasted opportunity to introduce them like this and I do kinda agree on some level. However, the whole point of them is to make us think that Wanda has finally met her match but she completely overpowers them. They are supposed to represent the best team on one of the best Earths and the fact that Wanda turns them into pasta elevates her threat.

Is That The End of The Illuminati?

Now I know a lot of chatter online is about how we waited years for Professor X and also John Krasinski to show up as Mr Fantastic. To throw them away seems stupid but I believe in my heart of hearts that all of these characters will be back in some form or another.

Disney acquired 20th Century Fox so they will likely be doing an X-men movie soon. We know that a Fantastic Four one is right around the corner. Captain Carter is confirmed to show up in Season 2 of What If. Maria will probably be back in some form or another in The Marvels and Black Bolt, yeah sure get him back on another Earth.

So the majority of these characters will return in upcoming projects either centred around them or with them in the background for like two seconds.

Was the Illuminati’s Inclusion Disappointing?

Hmm, it kinda depends if you’re more bothered about the cameos than what they were supposed to represent but let me know below what you think.

Now with them comes a lot of exposition about incursions which is massively pulled from the comics. In the source material, two worlds start to move toward each other on a collision course that will destroy them both. Those in each world have to either accept their fate or fight to the death until they destroy the other reality which ties into the Secret Wars event.

This will likely be the big arc that’s coming around the corner and we discover that if one enters another universe through dream walking that it will start to create a footprint there. This will eventually cause an incursion that will destroy reality.

This is why Strange and Christine can’t be together even though the pair both have feelings for one another. If they were to live in a reality together it would eventually pull either the 616 or 838 towards it which would lead to a path of destruction.

So they say goodbye at the end with Strange saying…he loves her…in every…I’m not crying you’re crying.

How Can America Chavez and Clea Jump Earths?

America Chavez and Clea can jump between Earths, and Strange can’t, is because neither of them used the Darkhold to dream walk. As we see, Clea cuts open reality into the dark dimension so she can enter and exit whatever universe she wants this way. We also discover that America is the only version of herself that exists in the entire multiverse.

Her just being her means that there is no one for her to puppet in another reality and therefore no incursions will be caused.

More About The Darkhold

There’s actually another similarity with the Darkhold, The Book of Vishanti and America that we learn about in the movie.

We discover that the Darkhold was created for the Scarlett Witch and even see statues of Tommy and Billy at the fortress later on. Chthon created this in every universe to bring about the prophecised Scarlett Witch and that is why there is a Wanda and Darkhold in every reality.

However, there is only one Book of Vishanti because there is only one America. Both very much represent their own books and when we see the pages of Vishanti open there’s even a star there like what America has.

Why Doesn’t Gamora Cause an Incursion in Endgame?

Now the reason Gamora doesn’t cause an incursion in Endgame is that technically she’s from the same reality as the one that died. The events of Loki hadn’t really transpired at that point and therefore every time there was a branched timeline created, the TVA shut it down. They also said in Loki that Endgame was meant to happen the way that it did so they wouldn’t ever wipe out Gamora.

She comes from 2014 in that reality and therefore when her past self travels to the future it doesn’t create an incursion because she’s still from the 616. This is the same with Steve Rogers who used the Quantum Tunnel to travel back through time in the 616 reality and it was from here that he created a branched timeline with that Peggy Carter but not a completely different earth dimension. The way light is used in the film also reflects other worlds which is why America’s has different colours in it because it’s on a different colour spectrum whereas the 616 looks the same throughout.

Does This Film Undo Wanda’s Arc?

Now a major criticism I’ve also seen about the film is that it undoes Wanda’s arc in Wandavision. Personally, I don’t really see that as being true and in the post-credits scene we left her on her own studying the Darkhold and looking for her kids.

We then pick up with her doing the same – studying the Darkhold and looking for her kids. Though it’s getting compared to Daenerys from Game Of Thrones, I think there is actually way more setup here.

Wanda is also corrupted by the Darkhold which is why she’s not really that reasonable anymore and if you can accept that Sinister Strange was turned evil by it then you can accept that Wanda was too.

Remember, this is a book that prophesied the rise of the Scarlett Witch and thus it was written purely with the intent of corrupting her in order to turn her into someone that would rule the multiverse.

So there is precedent there even if they do rush some of the character development.

Are We Getting More from Agatha Harkness?

Now Wanda dying at the end of MOM could also explain how we’re getting the Disney+ series Agatha: House Of Harkness. At the end of Wandavision, Wanda trapped Agatha in an illusion but with her apparent death at the film’s close we could see Agatha breaking out of this which would lead to her solo series.

What’s Next For Wanda, Strange, and America?

This film very much brings a close to Wanda’s arc but we could definitely see her back at some point. Now it also does this with Strange, who grows as a character throughout the film. Early on Christine says that he always has to be the one holding the knife which is echoed by her 838 counterpart.

However, come the end of the film he finally decides to hand things over to America rather than taking her power. He no longer has to be the one holding the knife and can instead trust in others.

Seeing him fixing the watch in the final few scenes also represents a lot of things for the character.

The first film ended with Strange staring at the watch in the Sanctorum accepting that he was broken but still powering through it. However, this film ends with him repairing it showing how he’s overcome the internal issues he had over losing Christine.

Small Comic Spoiler Ahead

We’re also introduced to Clea in the post-credits scene who actually ends up becoming his wife in the comics. I guess as one portal closes another one opens and it’s a great way to take the character.