10 Movies That Tried To Subvert Expectations (But Still Sucked)
7. Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness
This one was particularly unfortunate.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has often been criticized for being too repetitive, and it's important, especially in this troubled era of the wider franchise, that films take risks and break the mould, but, once again, they need to break expectations in a way that feels earned. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, a mostly unsuccessful MCU flick, completely failed to do this.
What's frustrating about this one is that, in making an Avenger the main villain, this sequel did do something really bold, and this could've been a great twist. The trouble is, they chose the wrong character to do it with - that being Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen).
Just a year before this, Wanda had headlined the excellent Disney+ show WandaVision, in which she underwent a powerful character arc of healing from her trauma. In this movie, she's a mass-murdering maniac who's once again unable to let go of the past. Did all of that past character development mean anything at all? Apparently not.
Wanda's motives were also beyond ridiculous. She's trying to kill a girl with multiversal-travel abilities in order to take her powers and go to a reality where she can be with her children from WandaVision. Those kids weren't real, and she should've understood this!
As such, even if this sequel did something undeniably brave, it did so in a way that gave audiences, past MCU stories, Wanda's character, and poor Elizabeth Olsen (who deserved so much better) the finger in the most insulting way.