One scene in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will be the talk of the town for weeks. If you have seen the trailer, you already know it. This isn't the moment when Karl Mordo approaches Stephen Strange. This is a group of heroes in a different reality than the one audiences have seen in the movies so far, and it has lots of cameos.

Fans of the comic book series have seen versions of this moment many times. It is the kind of moment that could either set up 100 more films and shows or remind you of how much intellectual property Disney has. Or both. It is a narrative tool meant to illustrate superheroes coming together to save the universe, but the scene is also a chance to tease, say, the next big reboot or wink at the Disney+ show What if? It's fan made real. If you're not interested in knowing anything, stop reading now.

Without the multiverse, this wouldn't be possible. One Doctor Strange movie could have multiple Doctor Stranges, and the Wanda from WandaVision could try to skip to a time when she joined children, because WandaVision opened the door to multiple realities. I amWhew! Disney now owns more of the toys from the Fantastic Four and the X-Men than it did two decades ago, which is the reason for Strange's appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Fans dream of this stuff. Who doesn't want Professor Charles X to have some moral authority? Everyone wonders who would win if the two characters got into a fight. A not insignificant subset would suggest they kiss and make up. Disney has a lot of franchises and they intend to use them. Kevin Feige promised as much as he could. The meeting between Doctor Strange and the Illuminati is just the beginning.

Multiverse of Madness is not the only way that feels like fanfic. The choices are also the style. Sam Raimi, the man behind The Evil Dead and Spider-Man, directed Madness, a film that was filled with horror. It's a genre mix. It has a helluva appearance for Dead fans. It all feels like watching a movie in another universe with Danny Elfman's score and Trent Reznor's territory. It makes Madness fun in a way that Eternals wasn't. It can feel like a kitchen-sink. Wanda could also be in this mix, but that is another story.

For a while now, fans have lived in a world with many different multiverses, and they could keep Iron Man, but write their own story if they wanted to meet the X-men.