Can you tell me why some characters in other universes are played by the same actors and others aren’t? In this film Dr. Strange is always the same actor but in other films of the MCU Spider-Man is played by different actors. Jenn suggested it was British cast who stayed the same and American cast who change, which would be a silly but fun gag. But one of the surprise cameos (oops) invalidates this rule.

SPOILERS

I struggle with Marvel films for many reasons, but these types, where the main characters’ powers are more obscure than super strength, or speed, or whatever, I really struggle with. I have no idea what is going on every time Dr. Strange shoots things at the Scarlet Witch and vice versa. I guess you could retort that we don’t really understand punches either, but they’re tangible. Whatever the fuck is happening here is more divorced from reality than the usual superhero stuff, so we’re left just assuming the hero will prevail due to whatever these magic things are.

Speaking of being divorced from reality, the metaverse thing isn’t handled super well. Most of the universes appear barely different and the one that is supposedly destroyed still exists. (Figure that out.) And then there is stuff between the various universes which…what?

The stunt cameos are kind of fun until the Scarlet Witch kills Captain Marvel. Does anyone else remember that Captain Marvel was literally the only hero capable of fighting Thanos only a couple of movies ago? Now the Scarlet Witch is just killing her? So is the Scarlet Witch now one of the most powerful creatures in the universe? Really?

But the cast is excellent, as always. The production values are basically unimpeachable, even with this much CGI. And this movie is shorter than a lot of them. I didn’t like it but I’m not sure I can say it’s bad.

5/10