The following contains spoilers for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, now in theaters.
It's safe to say Doctor Strange is one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's most intriguing franchises. It adds mystery and visual spectacle through its supernatural stories, which have been elevated even more with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness taking Strange and America Chavez hopping through various Earths.
Multiverse of Madness pushed them into a war with Scarlet Witch, who went on a bloody rampage to harness America's portal-jumping powers, creating another buccaneering adventure filled with action and comedy. However, this movie reinforced a major flaw from its predecessor, and in the process, a major sacrifice highlighted how big the series' diversity flaw really is.
Now, in the first Doctor Strange, there was controversy over the Ancient One not being of Asian descent. Many saw this as whitewashing a character at a time when these popcorn blockbusters in Hollywood weren't dishing out many big roles to people of color or minorities. To make it worse, Wong wasn't really that fleshed out, coming off as a plot crutch to help Strange, while Tina Minoru and Daniel Drumm (brother of Doctor Voodoo) were given trivial cameos. This ended up being another white savior story as Strange powered up to save the Earth from Kaelcilius. However, given how Marvel has embraced representation, inclusivity and equality with Black Panther, Eternals and Shang-Chi, it seemed like Multiverse of Madness would fix this error.
It partially does with America, ironically a Latinx teen crossing borders from various realities, but again, she relies on Strange to protect her and save reality again. Sadly, Wong's tossed aside again, being tortured by Wanda into ushering her to Mount Wundagore. It's a shame because as Sorcerer Supreme, one would assume he'd have a bigger role and put up more of a fight. Instead, Wong's treated like a joke and made into a weak mage. Most of all, the person who initially destroyed Wanda's Darkhold and got killed for it is a Black woman, Sara. The sad thing is that Sara's barely mentioned by name. Given Sara's move bought Strange more time, she really deserved more prominence. If she's going to perform such a heroic act and sacrifice herself, Multiverse of Madness could have given her more screen time or personality. Instead, she had one big scene and died to destroy the book in what felt insulting and, again, like characters of color being used as Hail Mary plays.
It's disappointing, factoring in how Multiverse of Madness later made Baron Mordo the angry Black man again. He's justified in his skepticism of Strange, but yet again, Mordo's vilified while Strange -- a clear rule-breaker -- is made into the hero, a hypocrisy that even Wanda pointed out. Even when Scarlet Witch attacked the Illuminati, the movie kept forcing Mordo to be the antagonist and fight Strange rather than someone who should have been an ally and become more heroic for the threat at hand. Sadly, all these POC are filled with tropes and stigmas and honestly end up feeling gimmicky, giving the impression this supernatural realm is only ticking diversity boxes rather than genuinely exploring a cosmopolitan magical world.
Ultimately, one would think that in a world where cultures from Asia to Central America to Africa already have so much mysticism engrained, there'd be an organic way of working these characters into the story. The scene where Wanda roasted them at Kamar-Taj best summed it up, leaving fans wondering if this will be rectified moving forward. It'd add nuance to a property that has high potential to show sorcerers from all different walks of life doing more than just being fodder for white villains to trample.
See how diversity gets botched again in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, now in theaters.