In his 1977 zine Omniverse, Mark Gruenwald, a stalwart comic fan who would go on to create and edit dozens of key Marvel characters, argued that we weren’t thinking big enough with our comic multiverses. Sure, both Marvel and DC had toyed with the idea of parallel Earths, but Gruenwald believed that the concept wouldn’t be taken to its fullest potential until it could cross over with all that fiction had to offer — and maybe even our real world itself. This kept crossing my mind while I was watching Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the latest in the ever-evolving string of Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbusters and Disney+ television shows, and the first to let the idea of the multiverse truly flourish. After years of the franchise incrementally teasing the idea of the onscreen Avengers crossing over with other universes, Multiverse of Madness ambitiously kicks that door wide open, and it does so in a unique and decisive fashion. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is unpredictable, inventive, and undoubtedly mesmerizing — and the MCU is better off for it.
