Marvel Vs. DC: ‘Doctor Strange 2’ Makes Another Case For MCU

Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios.

No spoilers ahead!

Doctor Strange continues Marvel’s unprecedented dominance, and why DC should just try to compete with itself.

“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” released over the weekend and is on pace to have one of the biggest openings of all-time. This is despite the fact that some regions in the world are not showing the movie because of the LGBTQ character America Chavez, who makes her debut in the film. 

“Multiverse of Madness” is a sequel to 2016’s “Doctor Strange” and also follows the events of the 2021 Disney Plus show “WandaVison.”

While it’s possible that some people may have gotten superhero fatigue following 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame,” the box office numbers are remarkable considering we are still in the pandemic era.

When you think of Marvel’s continuous success, you have to also automatically compare it to DC movies.

In March 2022, “The Batman” opened to $128 million and currently has grossed $710 million. 

This film is a reboot and has no connection to movies in the DCEU. 

“Batman” is one of DC’s most recognizable superheroes, the other being Superman. “The Batman” being successful at the box office, as well as critically praised, is welcoming news for fans of DC films that have been plagued by underwhelming films the majority of the last decade. 

There have been well-received films in the DCEU such as, “Wonder Woman”, “Aquaman”, “Shazam!”, and “The Joker”. 

However, there are more films such as “Man of Steel,” “Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice”, “Justice League” and 2016’s “Suicide Squad” that did not have the same level of success that Marvel would have during the decade.

Marvel slowly built its cinematic universe through the individual stories of Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor and Captain America before letting them all assemble in 2012’s “Marvel’s The Avengers.” The team-up movie would go on to earn $1.5 billion at the end of its theatrical run.

In contrast, DC would relate 2017’s “Justice League” where only Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman previously interacted with one another previously in “Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice.” 

The Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg were all introduced during the course of the movie that left “Justice League” feeling very rushed. 

DC was trying to create its own universe, to compete with the MCU. However, the MCU had a few films to build up to a team-up film.

In contrast, DC had its superheroes team up in two years during the course of two movies, while introducing five superheroes that could have had their own solo movie.

DC has a lot more success in its live action shows such as “The Flash,” “Arrow,” “Legends of Tomorrow”, “Gotham” “Supergirl”, and “Black Lightning.” 

These live actions shows usually have no connection with what is happening with the movies. But, these shows are able to build storylines and payoffs that fans appreciate more. Although, it is possible that some shows have started to grow stale over the years. 

Marvel seems to be attempting to catch up with the live action shows, exclusively releasing shows like “WandaVision,” “Hawkeye,” “Loki,” “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” “What If…?” and “Moon Knight” on Disney Plus, which all have some relation to the MCU’s movies.

“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” may be a film that despite its box office success, may have others, not impressed with the film, sometimes outright disliking it. 

My sister, Adrienne, and I have both seen “Multiverse of Madness” separately, and we have different views on the movie. 

I personally love the movie and have it as my movie of the year thus far. To my surprise, Adrienne preferred the realistic take on “The Batman,” which is her film of the year thus far. 

While conversing more, we learned I had “Scream” as my second best movie of the year, while my sister opted for the anime movie “Jujutsu Kaisen 0” as her second favorite film of the year. 

What my sister and I did agree on though is that “Sonic 2” is a really great film, and is the third best movie of the year. 

With both Marvel and DC set to release many more movies for the foreseeable future, Marvel and DC should be able to both thrive and entertain their audience, as seen here by two people from Slice of Culture.