The highly anticipated "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" released Wednesday in France (May 6 in the United States) propels the "Sorcerer Supreme" played by Benedict Cumberbatch into a series of colorful, disturbing and bizarre new dimensions, with the help from teenage superstar America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez).

The film is an exploration of the "multiverse", a complicated concept born in Marvel comics which assumes that an infinity of worlds coexist with ours, each with its own version of the superheroes, their enemies and their specific plots.

The idea was already at the heart of "Spider-Man: No Way Home", a hit of the last holiday season, where different versions of the Spider-Man come together to fight the villains together.

“Oh yes, we opened the door wide,” Benedict Cumberbatch mischievously launched during the presentation of the film in Los Angeles this week.

"And I'll tell you one thing. It's beautiful, it's very, very beautiful," he added.

Until then, the Marvel saga started in 2008 with "Iron Man" had brilliantly succeeded in making the mysteries of comics and their myriad of characters accessible to the general public.

By plunging into this convoluted multiverse, doesn't Doctor Strange risk losing the spectators this time?

The second feature film dedicated to the "Master of the Mystical Arts" is full of references to previous films, but also to Marvel series broadcast on Disney + like "WandaVision" and "Loki", which may only be understood by insiders.

"Bazaar"

Some Hollywood critics are beginning to think that the multiverse excursions and time travel staged in earlier films sound a little too much like marketing gimmicks meant to artificially prolong the saga.

The Marvel universe already has its share of "bizarre characters and improbable events in practically infinite quantity", notes John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter, for whom there is no need to add to that parallel worlds to relaunch the universe. 'plot.

For Variety magazine's Owen Gleiberman, "even the most avid comic book fans have to make an effort to follow" all the convolutions of the franchise.

The new Dr. Strange offers "a rather attractive mess but it's still a mess all the same", he writes.

But recent events have taught Hollywood watchers never to underestimate the capabilities of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The saga has been able to maintain public interest in more than twenty interconnected films, as evidenced by the resounding success of "Avengers: Endgame" in 2019, which collected a total of nearly $ 2.8 billion.

"Marvel is currently the symbol of success in Hollywood. That's why nobody flinches anymore when we see theatrical debuts at 150 or 200 million dollars", explains Jeff Bock, analyst for the specialized firm Exhibitor. Relationships.

Despite some mixed reviews, so far 'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' has gotten pretty decent reviews and there's no sign that future Marvel movies will abandon the possibilities, both narrative and commercial, offered by the 'multiverse'. .

"We are opening a box. And there will be a lot of opportunities to tell stories from that," said Elizabeth Olsen, who returns to the film as Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, the central character of the film. "Wanda Vision" series.

"I can't wait to see what we're going to do with it," she added.

The heroes should soon find out what awaits them as Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios and great conductor of the Multiverse Waltz, assured last week that plans for movies for "the next decade" are well underway.

© 2022 AFP