The ‘Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness’ Controversy, Explained

Marvel’s latest film, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, has audiences debating whether the film deserved its PG-13 rating, as concerned parents and squeamish viewers propose that the film is too scary.

Marvel films are famous for appealing to the broadest audience possible, sanding off the edges of their stories, crafting a world of wish fulfillment and power fantasies, where superhumans rarely face the consequences of their actions.

But now, with the all-purpose storytelling tool known as the multiverse, Marvel is finally free to kill off characters, without committing to the bit – when everyone is a variant, they’re all replaceable.

Warning – Spoilers Ahead

Hence, a particularly gory scene in the film took audiences by surprise, as Marvel introduces “the Illuminati” (kind of like Mensa, for Avengers), which features variants of Captain Marvel and Captain America, reintroduces Patrick Stewart as Professor X, and introduces John Krasinski as Mr. Fantastic.

Amusingly, Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda, who has finally broken bad, casually slaughters every single one of the Illuminati, in a shockingly violent scene – at least, for Marvel. Exploding heads, spliced spines, and spurts of blood; it’s campy, schlocky, sure, but completely unprecedented in the sanitized landscape of the MCU.

Hence, a Twitter thread warning fellow Marvel fans about the scene quickly went viral, as film buffs laughed at the idea of sheltered Marvel fans trembling at the sight of fake blood.

Parents weren’t too happy about the scene either, while Variety questioned how the film managed to secure a PG-13 rating.

The truth is that Multiverse of Madness is no more violent and scary than blockbusters past – Avatar, E.T., Indiana Jones, and Jurassic Park contain violent scenes that are far more disturbing than the sight of Scarlet Witch popping heads.

Indeed, The Batman shares the same rating as Multiverse of Madness, and its visceral depiction of violence is far removed from the cartoonish bloodlust of director Sam Raimi.

So, why the controversy?

Speaking as a parent of young children, I think that Marvel has brought this controversy on itself. Marvel Studios has, essentially, trained its dedicated audience to only expect violence that is devoid of consequence, with only the slightest traces of blood, and certainly no meat chunks.

Some parents aren’t going to look into the details of the film – they’re going to see the Marvel logo and assume that fight scenes will amount to two superheroes tossing glowing globs of energy at one another (of course, there’s plenty of that too).

But the violence and “horror” in this film echoes that of Hocus Pocus, or perhaps a well-decorated Halloween house in suburbia. While older children will probably find this movie fun, younger children might well find the now-infamous scene frightening (although, this generation has certainly witnessed more disturbing sights on YouTube).

I’m not sure what to make of the viral Twitter thread, which seems to be full of young adults, warning each other of the trauma-inducing nature of a scene where Mr. Fantastic gets sliced into stretchy strands of spaghetti.

But the controversy marks an interesting point for Marvel, where years of infantilizing their own audience, and diluting the most interesting aspects of the comics, has produced some strange expectations.