Scott Derrickson, the director of the original Doctor Strange movie, was originally slated to direct the sequel, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but he later dropped out because Marvel couldn’t allow him the amount of prep time he wanted. Ironically, the COVID-19 pandemic ended up giving the Doctor Strange sequel an abundance of prep time.
Derrickson has since been replaced by Sam Raimi, who effectively created the superhero movie trend that led to the MCU’s meteoric rise with his groundbreaking Spider-Man trilogy. Since Doctor Strange 2 promises to be the MCU’s first full-blown horror movie and Raimi is one of the world’s most celebrated horror filmmakers, this is an exciting prospect.
Dark Humor
Sam Raimi’s films — especially his horror films, like The Evil Dead trilogy and Drag Me to Hell — are rife with dark humor. A lot of the gruesome consequences of the gypsy’s curse in Drag Me to Hell are played for subversive laughs (including the movie’s unsettling ending), while Evil Dead II is basically a darkly comedic remake of the original.
The MCU’s movies all have plenty of humor, but the gags tend to be sitcom-light and family-friendly. Raimi can bring his pitch-black comic sensibility to the table.
Unforgettable Villains
From the terrifying unseen demonic forces in The Evil Dead to Darkman’s ruthless mafioso Robert Durant — not to mention all the iconic Spidey villains like Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin and Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock — Sam Raimi has a reputation for bringing unforgettable villains to the screen.
Although characters like Thanos and Killmonger have been individually praised, the MCU at large has been accused of having a “villain problem.” Hopefully, Raimi can help fix that problem in Doctor Strange 2.
Whip Pans
Whip pans are a kinetic filmmaking technique used by everybody from Edgar Wright to Quentin Tarantino to the MCU’s mortal enemy Martin Scorsese. Sam Raimi has employed them in such scenes as Doc Ock’s hospital massacre in Spider-Man 2 and the witch’s reanimation in Army of Darkness.
The energetic filmmaking of Taika Waititi and James Gunn has stood out among the MCU crowd, and Raimi is primed to join that club if he uses his signature whip pans.
Bruce Campbell
Sam Raimi has been working with Bruce Campbell since he started making movies. Both Raimi and Campbell got their big breaks with the low-budget cult horror hit The Evil Dead.
Since then, Campbell has appeared in almost all of Raimi’s films in roles large or small — including playing a different cameoing character in every Spider-Man movie — so fans are hoping he’ll show up in Doctor Strange 2, either as an unnamed but memorable bit part or as a major Marvel icon like Mephisto.
Shocking Violence
From the blood-soaked shenanigans of The Evil Dead trilogy to Liam Neeson’s vengeful crusade in Darkman, Sam Raimi’s films tend to feature shocking violence, which would be perfect for the MCU’s first horror movie.
Nobody is expecting Doctor Strange 2 to be rated R — Kevin Feige has said that the only R-rated MCU outing in the pipeline is Deadpool 3 — but Raimi can at least push the boundaries of the PG-13 rating.
Point-Of-View Shots
Sam Raimi often includes the camera itself in the action, like the chilling final shot of The Evil Dead from the point-of-view of the demons to the shot of the symbiotes crawling onto Peter Parker’s bed to bond with him in Spider-Man 3.
There’s not enough risk-taking camerawork in the MCU as the movies tend to play it pretty safe, but Raimi and cinematographer John Mathieson can turn that around.
“The Classic”
Ever since Ash Williams drove his friends to their fateful woodland vacation in Sam Raimi’s own yellow 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 33 in The Evil Dead, that same car — nicknamed “The Classic” — has appeared in almost all of Raimi’s movies. It reappeared in Evil Dead II and was turned into a tank in Army of Darkness, and that was just the beginning.
Aunt May and Uncle Ben drove “the Classic” in the Spider-Man trilogy. It can also be seen during an action sequence in Darkman. Raimi even included it in the Old West in his revisionist western The Quick and the Dead, disguised as a wagon. Hopefully, it’ll make an appearance in Multiverse of Madness.
Weird Tone
All of Sam Raimi’s films — including his web-slinging blockbusters — have a really weird, out-there tone. Army of Darkness sends Ash Williams back in time to the Middle Ages to fight a witch. The “emo Peter” scenes in Spider-Man 3 are certainly controversial, but they’re undoubtedly memorable — and unusual. Raimi’s involvement in Multiverse of Madness, paired with a writing credit for Rick and Morty’s Michael Waldron, suggests that fans are in for a bizarre treat.
Aside from some dazzling visual effects, the first Doctor Strange movie was a pretty generic blockbuster. The Sorcerer Supreme’s big-screen adventures need to lean into the weirdness and psychedelic tone of the comics, and Raimi could be the perfect person to do it.