Warning: the article contains spoilers for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Now that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is in theaters, fans are comparing and contrasting the Marvel movie to last year’s DC effort, The Suicide Squad.
One person’s post on Twitter has proved to be a kind of Rorschach test amongst fans, with some saying the comparison of the two movies is negative, while others argue it is a compliment. Warning: spoilers to follow for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
“#MultiverseOfMadness is the ‘The Suicide Squad’ of Marvel,” was the remark in question.
Right off the bat, there seemed to be some confusion over just which Task Force X movie the original-poster was even talking about. Many were quick to point out that the intended comparison wasn’t between Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and the critically-hated 2016 effort, directed by David Ayer, called Suicide Squad. Instead, the user was comparing the Doctor Strange sequel to James Gunn’s similarly-named, but much more critically hailed sequel, The Suicide Squad (emphasis ours).
But just what do the two movies have in common, anyway? Besides both films being helmed by directors who know a thing or two about the horror genre — with Gunn helming the excellent 2006 film Slither and Raimi being the creator of the macabre Evil Dead franchise — there’s a particular scene in each movie that bear a striking resemblance.
As one Twitter user explained, there’s a scene in which Elizabeth Olson’s Wanda Maximoff ruthlessly kills off the members of the Illuminati one by one, soon after we are introduced to them, including blowing up the head of Anson Mount’s Black Bolt. The quick succession of ultra-violent shots are somewhat reminiscent of a similar scene unfolding at the beginning of The Suicide Squad, during which various members of Task Force X get brutally gunned down, including Pete Davidson’s Blackguard, who gets his head blown off after ratting the team out.
Other Twitter users seemed to be calling the Marvel Cinematic Universe fanbase pansies for even classifying the scenes in Multiverse of Madness as gore, since the PG-13 rated film arguably pales in comparison to the kind of blood and guts we see in the R-rated The Suicide Squad.
Still other fans agreed with the comparison, in the best possible way, praising both films as great movies.
As an aside, both films also have a giant tentacled monster with one eyeball that wreak havoc on a city.
Decide for yourself if the comparisons are warranted by checking out Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in theaters now. And you can check out The Suicide Squad on HBO Max.