Sam Raimi feels like the ideal choice to direct Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, even though he stumbled into the job by accident after Scott Derrickson departed over creative differences. The Sorcerer Supreme’s solo debut boasted some impressively trippy and psychedelic visuals, but from a narrative perspective, it remains one of the weakest entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Not only does Raimi have plenty of superhero experience, though, having created and helmed the severely underrated Darkman 30 years ago before tackling Sony’s Spider-Man trilogy a decade later, but his sensibilities are perfectly suited to the sort of horror-tinged adventure that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness promises to be.
The director cut his teeth on The Evil Dead, and the Deadite trilogy is a deft blend of scares, gore, laughs and irreverent humor, all put together with a stylish and inventive verve. If Raimi takes those elements and applies them to the comic book genre, which he’s a big fan of and has plenty of history with, then the results could be spectacular.
When asked to describe the project recently, producer Kevin Feige wasn’t willing to reveal much, but gave a short, sweet and yet hugely exciting answer, saying:
“Thrilling, scary and mind-bending, and really pushing the boundaries of storytelling.”
There’s absolutely no point in trying to guess where the plot of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is heading, even as the cast begins to fill out. After all, almost every Marvel hero under the sun has been linked with an appearance already, and the fact that we know so little about the movie, something that probably won’t change much between now and March 2022, helps make it one of the most exciting Phase Four efforts, especially with WandaVision and Spider-Man 3 setting the stage for the multiverse before Stephen Strange gets his own sequel.
