When director Sam Raimi delivers upon his patented flourishes, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness works as an entertaining superhero horror movie, yet Marvel’s insistence on world building synergy storytelling robs this latest strange tale of its identity.

Doctor Strange has become the go-to MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) supporting actor, even in his own movie. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness again has the sorcerer hero (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) playing second fiddle to other characters whose narratives are priority.

This latest Marvel movie features two such characters: America Chavez (Xothicl Gomez) a superpowered teenager from an alternate universe who can jump between multiverses; and Wanda Maximoff aka Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), the mentally wounded Avenger whose storyline in Disney Plus series WandaVision finds its crescendo here.

For those who don’t bother with the small screen Marvel experience, it is hard to buy into the stakes both characters bring to the table. Wanda needs Chavez’s power to transport to a multiverse where her variant is the mother of two boys, a domestic situation the sorceress conjured in the WandaVision series. Chavez, lost in the multiverse, is trying to find her way back home.

Olsen is rather good as the psychologically scarred hero/villain whose pursuit for a life more ordinary means the destruction of anything in her way. Gomez is almost forgettable as Chavez, and her presence feels like it fulfils an “inclusion” quota as her character is gay, a supposed act of progression on Disney’s part.

Stuck in the middle is Doctor Strange. The best moments in …Multiverse of Madness arrive when the films’ story focuses on Strange, with the character suiting director Sam Raimi’s (Evil Dead) penchant for things creepy and monstrous. Cue scenes featuring giant squid monsters and a zombie incarnation of Doctor Strange complete with a cape made of ghouls. Great too is a scene within a multiverse variant that features big-time guest stars in their MCU debuts, with one piece of casting sure to excite many Marvel fans.

What Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness represents is an uneven balancing act between Marvel and their vision board style of filmmaking, and a true visionary in Sam Raimi whose tailormade talent for the Doctor Strange source material shines bright, but all too brief. If only we can get the multiverse cut where Raimi is calling the shots all the way through.