The Scarlet Witch called him out on this truth during Multiverse of Madness, and fans are starting to notice just how rash Strange is with his magic, especially after the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home. Frequently indulging himself in a pattern of egotistical, heedless behavior, Strange’s feud with Wanda brought his carelessness to a boiling point that’s been building for years.
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Doctor Strange
Strange’s arrogance was his biggest issue and most defining personality trait in this debut film, and it nearly rendered him un-trainable. The Ancient One had to go to extremes in order to make Strange listen, because his inflated ego kept him from following the rules and traditions Kamar-Taj had maintained for centuries.
Strange helped himself to books that were off-limits, used the Time Stone, although it was forbidden, assumed he knew better than the people he was asking to fix him, and even made an enemy out of Mordo because of his chaotic, disrespectful actions. Overall, though the character and film had fans intrigued, Doctor Strange exemplified just how arrogant Strange can be.
The Infinity Saga
When Avengers: Infinity War was released, a few years had passed since Doctor Strange hit the big screen, naturally leading audiences to assume that Strange had matured over the years, off-screen. There wasn’t much character development for him, though, and a lot of fans actually speculated that Strange wanted to kill Tony Stark on purpose, given how many future outcomes he assessed while coming up with a game plan.
Strange said he saw over 14 million possible scenarios, yet there was only one sequence of events that would lead to the Avengers beating Thanos. Fans weren’t convinced by this, and felt as if Strange was intentionally ridding the world of Tony, because of how dangerously arrogant the billionaire could be.
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Although Strange’s questionable decisions during the Infinity Saga are based heavily on speculation, his negative impact on the world in Spider-Man: No Way Home is undeniable. In fact, Strange was so irresponsible with his magic in this movie, audiences were suspecting it was actually a villain pretending to be Doctor Strange before the film was released.
Strange’s desire to help Peter Parker does make sense, given all that they’ve gone through together. However, Strange openly admitted to using magic for personal gain in the past, to erase memories from people’s minds after parties that got out of hand.
Strange didn’t fully explain the spell he was planning to use, either, which is why Peter kept changing it mid-cast. When Peter learned the truth about the spell, he was obviously panicked, because he was about to be wiped completely from the minds of his loved ones.
Had Strange bothered to explain things to Peter before diving right into the magic, there likely wouldn’t have been any trouble at all. Strange would’ve had time to write it out correctly, and the web-slinging teen wouldn’t have asked to make so many changes before it was too late. The biggest issue with this is that Strange blamed the entire situation on Peter and refused to take accountability for his lack of communication, even though Strange was the one omitting information from a kid in need.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Near the end of Multiverse of Madness, Strange was reckless yet again with his magic use. He got away with dreamwalking into a corpse and forcing the Souls of the Damned to attack Wanda. He used the Darkhold and was corrupted, just like Wanda was, and his time on Earth-838 caused an incursion, as confirmed by the film’s post-credits scenes. Yet somehow, despite the events of Doctor Strange 2 and his previous track record, Strange is still being framed as a hero.
Wanda Maximoff finally called him out on his hypocrisy when Strange confronted her for the first time since the Westview incident, saying that when she breaks the rules she’s demonized, but when Strange does it, he’s praised as a savior. Obviously, Wanda has made mistakes, but she always ends up taking responsibility for her actions, even if it takes a while for her to get there. Wanda’s decision to do the right thing at the end of the film exposed how careless Strange is, by showing that even someone as far gone as the Scarlet Witch can admit when they’ve done something wrong.
Strange, however, is consistently arrogant, reckless, and never truly takes accountability for his faults. All in all, people get hurt or suffer serious consequences whenever Strange gets involved. The Multiverse of Madness post-credit scenes seem to be sending Strange down a darker path that will hopefully force him to change his ways, or at least learn some humility.
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