The conceit is that the movie universe and the comic universe are both part of the larger multiverse, alongside literally every other Marvel project that wasn’t part of the main comic book continuity. Every What if…? is in it’s own numbered reality, alongside stuff like the Lou Ferrigno Hulk TV show (Earth- 400005), the 1989 and 2004 Punisher films (Earths-58627 and 58732, respectively) and the Japanese live action Spider-Man where he piloted a mecha (Earth-51778). The MCU used to be 199999. Changing it to 616 would imply that it’s not part of the same multiverse as the comic books.
I’m gonna pretend it’s a labeling issue. They both call themselves 616, but call each other something different.
The numbering system the hardcore fans are familiar with is the Marvel comics (616) universe’s numbering system, but other universes have different numbering systems.
The only odd bit to that, as pointed out by someone earlier, is why pick a number like 616 as your universe’s number? You’d think your universe would be numbered 1?
Unless they actually are coordinates?
Methinks we overthink this.
The number 616 didn’t originate in 616.
I’ve seen a version of this as an internet meme: during the initial conversation in the orchard Strange basically says “Hey, how about instead of murdering her and taking over another Wanda, we train America to use her powers and she can send you to a universe whose Wanda had died?” and Wanda says “Yes, let’s do that.”
But that falls under the “But then we wouldn’t have a movie” clause.
Resurrecting, because I just got finished watching.
I’m curious about that third eye that Sinister Strange and Dr. Strange had. To me, it seemed heavily implied that it was a result of using and being contaminated by the Darkhold. So why didn’t Wanda have one?
[Also, in response to an early remark about not hearing the line “things got a little out of hand”, I heard it, but it was Xavier quoting the 838-Strange after destroying a universe. And now I’m wondering if the universe 838-Strange destroyed was the one Sinister Strange was in.]
That’s been the popular conjecture.
Maybe she had one, you just couldn’t see it under her fancy forehead guard?
In the comics, the third eye is a manifestation of the Eye of Agamotto, and is associated with the Vishanti, the patrons of the Sorcerer Supreme. They could, of course, be changing this for the MCU, but it might also be a fake-out: the third eye didn’t come from Strange’s exposure to the Darkhold, but rather to his brief exposure to the Book of Vishanti, before Wanda incinerated it. Presumably, Sinister Strange had a similar exposure before he became corrupted by the Darkhold.
They make pretty much exactly that suggestion to Wanda in the movie, and she refuses. Her justification is something along the lines of, “What if they get sick, and the only cure is in another reality?” Which is (intentionally) a weak justification, but Wanda’s at the point where she’s obsessed with the idea that only she can protect her kids, and won’t accept a solution where she has to rely on any other person to keep them safe.
Plus, she’s under the influence of the Darkhold, which is probably making her reject any course of action that doesn’t involve her personally gaining more power.
I think that’s exactly the point. Haven’t the comics had multiple multiverse collapses already? By separating, there’s no question of why multiverse events in the comics don’t affect the movies and vice versa.
Including other Wandas which is certainly an important jump in how broken she is by the time of the movie.
I think just one, actually - the Secret Wars storyline from 2015. Which ended with the multiverse being reconstructed and nobody in it (with a handful of significant exceptions) remembering what happened. So they could say (from the perspective of the comics) that the MCU got destroyed and remade along with the rest of reality, we just didn’t see it happen. But I think Secret Wars is one of the potential films on Marvel’s long term slate, so yeah, there could be continuity issues if both Marvel universes have a multiversal collapse story, and it’s not the same multiversal collapse.
But in all those universes isn’t there one where the native Wanda got struck by lightning or hit by a lorry or something and those boys really need a mom? Why couldn’t our Wanda hook up with one of those timelines or whatever?
Because then they’d need to change her name to The Scarlet Rick.
Because she’s not a compassionate person - she’s a selfish one. She wants to find a set of twins that are already in her dream scenario (literally - because dreams are an alternate universe), and slide right into the role of their mother.
That’s what made me think of it. I remembered when Rick and Morty buried their doppelgangers in the back yard and replaced them.
I just watched it last night. It was a lot of fun. I liked how they handled the characters. Scarlet Witch was insane in an understandable way and redeemed herself in a credible way, by realizing that her alternate selves are people too.
Dr Strange keeps balancing on the edge of good vs evil. Interesting character development. I like how the movie showed us other versions who lost it.
I like the concept of America, but this movie really only works as bare origin story for her. Not enough character development. Please give us more!
I liked the Sorcerer Supreme side story, ending with Dr Strange finally showing the proper deference.
I expected more multiverses in the movie and more cross-over with Loki. The story they told worked, though.
They could do the land shark story.
When Strange calls his cloak to him, just after Christine frees him (after Wanda kills everyone else), America looks at the cloak and says “She fixed it for you” as I recall
Finally watched this the other night and thought it was awful. The girl playing America Sanchez was awful. Truly detracted from every scene she was in. I have no idea how they possibly chose her to play such a central character over millions of other much much more capable young Latina actresses.
Doctor Strange is a good supporting character but this movie really drove home how poorly all of the lingo and language of Sorcerer Supreme translates to the screen. It was cringy every time.
I also think Doc Strange is one the the top examples of “superhero power creep”. He may as well be a god in the MCU.
On the plus side I thought it was a very colorful movie with good effects and audio. Looked and sounded good on my 65” OLED.
Isn’t that also where the notion of an ‘incursion’ originates?