Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness premiered at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on May 2, 2022, and was released in the United States on May 6, as part of Phase Four of the MCU.

After acquiring the Darkhold and becoming the Scarlet Witch, Wanda believes that taking Chavez's powers and traveling through the multiverse will allow her to reunite with Billy and Tommy, the children she created during her time in Westview.

[43][44] Also appearing in the film are Sheila Atim as Sara, a Master of the Mystic Arts,[45] and Adam Hugill as the voice of Rintrah, a minotaur-like being from R'Vaal who is a student at Kamar-Taj.

[49] Bruce Campbell, a frequent collaborator with Raimi, briefly appears in both the main film and post-credits scene as the vendor of an Earth-838 food stall called Pizza Poppa.

[9] Feige and Derrickson officially announced the sequel at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2019, revealing the title to be Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and confirming a release date of May 7, 2021.

[66] Barlett said she had developed the film alongside Derrickson, Feige, and other Marvel Studios executives Louis D'Esposito, Eric Hauserman Carroll, and Palmer for around a year, a process she felt was fun and exciting, and called the creative team scholars of the comic books.

[71][72] Cargill explained that he and Derrickson conceived a story that went in a different direction from what Marvel wanted,[73] and the pair had not yet written a draft of the screenplay so the final film would not be derivative of their work.

[86][88] Palmer said Waldron's work introducing the multiverse in Loki allowed Marvel Studios to "jump into telling a good story" without having to re-explain those ideas for the audience, and helped bring "a lot of heart to [the] sci-fi concepts".

[89] Waldron also used his experience from writing the series Rick and Morty (2013–present), which helped him "introduce these big sci-fi concepts in ways that were digestible, palatable to the audience and without getting them bogged down in the boring details".

[23] After a planned appearance by Cumberbatch in WandaVision was removed late in the development of the series, rewrites to the Multiverse of Madness script were required which Feige described as a "wonderful combination of very dedicated coordination, and chaos".

[96] While writing his first draft, Waldron felt the film needed to "get drunk [and] find the madness in the multiverse" by introducing alternate universe versions of known Marvel characters.

[77] Olsen shot for three weeks before pandemic restrictions increased near the end of December due to a surge of COVID-19 cases in the United Kingdom, with another lockdown in England announced from January 6, 2021.

[125][126] The scenes of Scarlet Witch massacring the Illuminati were shot at the British Museum of London, with Marvel using CGI to add a new room with a glass entrance and a few statues for the background.

Jett Klyne and Julian Hilliard, who respectively portrayed Wanda's sons Tommy and Billy in WandaVision, were reportedly on set at the farm,[132] and were confirmed to be in the film in April 2022.

[140] The film's teaser trailer was released in late December and confirmed the involvement of Michael Stuhlbarg as Nicodemus West, reprising his role from Doctor Strange.

Waldron considered including Namor, a member of the Illuminati in the comics, but Marvel Studios did not allow the character to appear in any MCU projects before the film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), in which he was played by Tenoch Huerta;[153][159] Waldron's first draft also included an Earth-838 counterpart of Evangeline Lilly's Hope van Dyne / The Wasp as a member of the Illuminati, who would have been killed by Wanda clapping her hands to kill her.

Waldron said they wanted to include her in the film but felt they needed to resolve Strange's relationship with Christine Palmer first, so the character's introduction was saved for the mid-credits scene to set her up as a potential new love interest in a future story.

[181] Inverse's Alex Welch felt it was a "suitably psychedelic teaser, full of revelations and fun moments that should leave Marvel fans gobsmacked", and suggested the film would tie together "many of the multiversal threads left hanging" from No Way Home, WandaVision, and the first seasons of Loki and What If...?.

[182] Writing for Decider, Alex Zalben believed the film was a "direct result" of What If...?, which "instantly mak[es] the animated series far more important than Marvel fans might have originally realized".

[184] Daniel Chin of The Ringer felt the trailer had "creepy imagery" and that it was "expected to separate itself from other Marvel projects even further by weaving in horror elements", while also noting how the film won't have to introduce the multiverse, and can instead explore it even further, and also how it'll be the "first real attempt to blend existing story lines from its Disney+ series with its big-screen properties", while he thought made it the "first major crossover event in Phase 4".

[189] Many commentators noted the revelation of Patrick Stewart's involvement in the trailer and the implication he could reprise his X-Men role of Charles Xavier / Professor X,[144][16][190][145] which led to speculation that Multiverse of Madness would introduce the MCU version of the Illuminati.

It also partnered with Mori Building Company, a Japanese urban landscape developer, which turned its café and menu into an interactive photo op experience to promote the film.

[199][200][201][202] Three episodes of the series Marvel Studios: Legends were released on April 29, exploring Doctor Strange, Wong, and Scarlet Witch using footage from their previous MCU appearances.

[211] In April 2022, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that the film would not be released in Saudi Arabia due to the inclusion of America Chavez, a gay character, given the region's censorship of LGBTQ references.

[212] Nawaf Alsabhan, Saudi Arabia's general supervisor of cinema classification, said the film had not been banned from the country but revealed that Disney was "not willing" to grant their request of cutting "barely 12 seconds" of a scene in which Chavez refers to her "two moms".

[214] Cumberbatch was disappointed by the countries' decisions to not release the film, saying: "We've come to know from those repressive regimes that their lack of tolerance is exclusionary to people who deserve to be not only included, but celebrated for who they are and made to feel part of a society and a culture and not punished for their sexuality.

[220] According to Samba TV, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was watched by 2.1 million U.S. households within its first five days of being available on Disney+; this was comparable to the viewership of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) and Eternals (2021).

The website's critical consensus reads, "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness labors under the weight of the sprawling MCU, but Sam Raimi's distinctive direction casts an entertaining spell.

David Ehrlich of IndieWire felt that Doctor Strange's character had been diluted and offered a mixed view on Raimi's impact,[240] while Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com criticized the film's characterization and excessive reliance on CGI, labeling it a "Frankenstein movie".

[241] Overall, while Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness received praise for its unique direction under Raimi and strong performances, particularly from Elizabeth Olsen, the film's heavy reliance on CGI, its plot complexities, and issues with character development left some critics divided.