A lifetime, a thought, a single moment, can destroy the entire universe.
This sentence is a bit pretentious, which makes me think of the passage "Bodhi has no tree, the mirror is not a platform, there is nothing in the original, where to stir up dust", which is intended to show that all the Dharma is like a dream bubble, teaching people not to be delusional and clingy, in order to see clearly and prove bodhichitta.
So this issue is to talk to you about the fourth episode of Marvel's "If" animated series, the crepe at the beginning of this article, it is from the narration of the end observer, I did not expect the film to use a spiritual philosophical word to summarize the cosmological setting of "If", and the fourth episode about the blackening of Doctor Strange can be said to be the best episode of "If" at present, and even if all the albums are broadcast, the fourth episode should be the best I think, unless there is a bigger surprise later.
As an independent unit drama of the MCU, each episode is set differently for a superhero, and in the independent parallel universe, their lives and stories are different from those of the MCU main universe.
From episode 1 onwards, the female version of Captain Carter Nation replaced Captain America, and changing the soup and not changing the medicine made me very unhappy about this drama, but I also believe that the plot after that should be played flying, and sure enough, in the second episode, although T'Challa became a star lord, Thanos became an old and good person, but I also felt fine. After that, the third episode continued to step on the accelerator, playing a reunion member who was completely destroyed and reshuffled, which was a bit interesting.
In the fourth episode, it begins to really start from the hidden consciousness of the character's heart, just like in "Inception", go to the depths of other people's dream consciousness, open the other person's psychological defense safe to change your mind, rather than the hero in front of you changing to that hero, or changing the plot. Instead, Doctor Strange is still Doctor Strange, but the motivations and traumas that decided he became Doctor Strange have changed completely.
This episode is not just a superficial change of hero character design, but also a discussion of the cost of becoming a hero, whether you can afford it.
This is the story of "What if" I want to see!
If you haven't seen the first 3 episodes of "If" it doesn't really matter at all, you just have to watch "Doctor Strange", and the fourth episode is from "If" Doctor Strange lost not his hands, but his beloved, the source of his motivation to become a hero and the consequences of fermentation, where will it go.
Like the movie, Doctor Strange prepares to drive his Lamborghini to a banquet to receive the award, but he is not alone, with his girlfriend Christine next to him.
Along the way, the two talk and laugh, according to the movie, there is a car accident, and the sports car immediately rolls off the cliff, but this time Doctor Strange is unscathed, and Christine next to him is killed.
While attending Christine's funeral, the observer clicked the question with a narration: What Dr. Strange lost was not his hands, but his heart, or love.
To expand, the original movie Doctor Strange lost his hands so that he could no longer practice medicine to save other people's lives, but in fact, he lost his confidence and future prospects, but he found a larger cosmic mystery and philosophy of life in the "Magic" Academy, and Stephen became Doctor Strange, still in order to save more people.
From this point of view, the source of Stephen's becoming Doctor Strange in the animation has been misplaced, he lost his girlfriend and can still practice medicine to save other people's lives, but he can't save his girlfriend, can't face death, so that Stephen gave up practicing medicine, with full of grief, traveled the world to find mysteries and answers.
So Stephen met The Ancient Mage and King at Karma Taj Academy, obtained the Time Gem, learned magic, became Doctor Strange, and then negotiated terms with Dormammu, repeatedly scaring Dormammu to save the world.
Originally, the story of the film in this scene, as the origin of Doctor Strange, has ended, but the animation has just completed the first act and officially entered the main plot.
On a rainy night, when Dr. Strange was commemorating the 2nd anniversary of his girlfriend's death at the sanctuary, Wang suddenly ran over to Dr. Strange and said: I'm going to boil some boiling water.
It didn't matter, Dr. Strange finally couldn't resist doing something he had wanted to do from the beginning, using the Time Gem to go back in time to before Christine's car accident.
So the two went to the banquet again, but Dr. Strange drove extra carefully this time, did not overtake, and did not have any dangerous operation, but the accident still came, the car was still hit and crashed, and Christine died again.
Unconvinced, Doctor Strange continued to turn back the clock and switched paths, but the result was the same, and he was hit by a truck when he crossed the intersection.
No matter how many times Doctor Strange tried, the result was the same, Christine either died suddenly at the banquet, or was shot by robbers in the restaurant, and even if Doctor Strange did not go to the appointment, the building where Christine was located would explode.
Is there a little bit of "Death coming", "Time Machine", "Edge of Tomorrow", or even "Big Talk Westward Journey Moonlight Treasure Box" taste.
No matter how much you have the ability to change time, you still can't decide how the time course affects events.
Just as Doctor Strange was heartbroken, the soul of Master Gu Yi appeared, and she presumably had just read the Creed, explaining "what's happened, happened"—what had happened.
The ancient occurrence of this universe tells Doctor Strange that Christine's death has created the current Doctor Strange, which is called the Absolute point, for this new term, it is estimated that the first thing that jumps out against is the TVA, as long as there is time for the branch not to be solved by them?
This absolute point also violates the previous "Reunion 4" in which Gu Yi Mage himself proposed that the same cosmic time branch can change the original historical process.
So this is also more proof that "What If" as an independent unit drama, not only redefines the character and plot, but also re-explores the new universe setting in Marvel.
Master Gu Yi wanted to dissuade Doctor Strange from choosing to let go of the past and face the future, but Doctor Strange obviously couldn't listen to this sermon, and firmly believed that there would always be a way to resurrect Christine, but he had not been able to finish reading the Dark Law Book about time, that is, the one that Dr. Strange studied the Time Gem in the original movie.
After much disagreement, Doctor Strange still insists on abusing the Time Gem to find the source of the Dark Magic Book, and Gu Yi can only use magic to try to crush Doctor Strange.
As soon as the picture turns black, Doctor Strange arrives in a mysterious rainforest, where an even more mysterious monk silently guides him, and then Doctor Strange sees a huge temple similar to ancient Egypt.
After passing a test, Doctor Strange meets the monk again, and Doctor Strange claims that he is looking for a mage named Camustro, who only knows how to break the absolute point.
This monk immediately transformed into a Gotham riddle man, saying that the person you are looking for may or may not be there, which is really a model of listening to the words of the king and listening to a seat.
Camustro here is the original author of the book of dark magic of time, and although the monk says that his name is Auberge, he is only the administrator of the Mustro Library Museum, but in the comic, Auberge is another alias of Camustro.
Therefore, Aubenger will also have such a great power, directly open the door, lead Doctor Strange into the library loft, and let Doctor Strange soar in the ocean of knowledge of books.
Soon Doctor Strange finds a magic book that manipulates time, where he learns one of the dark magic spells that is, in order to break through the absolute point, he needs to absorb enough energy from the souls of other creatures to resurrect a dead soul.
So Doctor Strange summoned the cross-dimensional creature Shuma Glass, the one that Captain Carter fought against in the first episode of "What If".
But Doctor Strange was not yet Schuma Glass's opponent and was nearly devoured, but Auberge saved him and tried to persuade Doctor Strange whether it was worth it.
Doctor Strange continued to do his own thing, starting with the soul of the small creature, and then eating more and more, which also included a dragon, and then Doctor Strange directly transformed into the shape of a red-faced demon, understanding everything, the big Marvel powder time.
And the observer is muttering to himself, I have the ability to intervene to save the universe, but I just don't want to talk nonsense because I'm an observer.
After centuries, Doctor Strange did not know how many biological souls he had sucked, and finally it was Schuma Glass's turn, and this time Doctor Strange successfully absorbed its energy and became the Dark Supreme Doctor Strange.
After Doctor Strange retreated out of the mountain, he found that Obenger had reached the time of his death, and Dr. Strange wanted to use the Time Gem to restore Obenger's youth, but was prevented by it, Obeng followed the rules of the passage of time, and death was an inevitable thing.
But Doctor Strange still disagreed with this kind of obedience to death, when Obenger said that in fact, there was another Doctor Strange in this universe, who chose to let go of Christine's death and face the future calmly.
Some people here will question why Auburn knew that the Strange Doctor was at risk of blackening, but still chose to help.
There is a theory that Obenger is trying to find an heir with superb mana to guard and manage the library, but I think it seems a bit far-fetched, because Dr. Strange has shown blackening by sucking the souls of other creatures, and in the end Obanger has no intention of passing on the library to Doctor Strange.
My understanding is more Buddhist, Obenger is a monk shape, with oriental thinking to understand, the master monk generally to others, more with teachings and facts to let them feel and experience, rather than directly intervene or prevent, even if the other party chooses to be wrong again and again, then the final result is also to bear by themselves.
In fact, Obenger's personality is a bit like the setting of The Ancient One Mage in the original movie, when Dr. Strange went to Karma Taj Academy, Master Gu Yi was also a mentor to let Doctor Strange understand the mysteries of the universe and life, and even used his own death in the film to let Doctor Strange understand the deeper truth of life and death.
It's just that the original movie Doctor Strange was relieved, and the doctor strange in the animation still chose not to accept, here is a more personal over-interpretation, everyone noticed that Obenger's eyes are a red and a blue, which makes me think of the red and blue pills in "The Matrix", want to continue to stay in the obsessive lie, or have the courage to face reality, you choose yourself.
After Obenger's death, the picture shifts to another sober Doctor Strange, who used magic to split Doctor Strange in two when master Gu Yi and Doctor Strange met, and split two timelines in the same universe.
The good Doctor Strange, on that rainy night, chose not to use the Time Gem to revive Christine and became the upright Doctor Strange in the original movie.
And when the blackened Doctor Strange is getting stronger and stronger, the universe is slowly being decomposed, and if The Blackened Doctor Strange wants to truly resurrect Christine, he also needs to absorb the good Doctor Strange in order to fully exert his mana.
At this time, the good Doctor Strange was also reminded by Master Gu Yi that the real thing that could save the world from being annihilated by Doctor Strange was Doctor Strange himself.
Soon The good Doctor Strange was taken to the time and scene of Christine's car accident at that time, the two Doctor Strange staged a wonderful mage duel for us, the animation of the imagination here got a strong visual presentation, there are mana duels, double cloak tearing, as well as psychological illusion tests, dynamic and static combined rhythm grasp in place, if these fight scenes can be a live-action version of the how spectacular, but also more burning money is right.
In the end, as Doctor Strange had hoped, he devoured the good Doctor Strange, at which point he resurrected Christine despite the disintegration of the world, thus bringing his universe to the point of collapse.
At this time, Christine, as a member of the universe, is also being slowly decomposed, and Christine, who is so miserable, is resurrected again and again, but also experiences death again and again, this time to watch herself and the world disappear in a very sober and fearful situation.
At this time, Doctor Strange finally regretted that he had only wanted to save his loved ones, but he was swallowed up by this blind and unconscious love, thus violating the rules of the universe with his powerful mana, and making his entire universe pay for his faults.
In the end, Doctor Strange begs the observer to save and restore his universe, and the observer can only calmly watch, because if it is repaired, it will inevitably cause more unknown risks, resulting in the suffering of other universes.
In this way, Doctor Strange's universe continued to collapse, and finally became a diamond point, and Doctor Strange watched as Christine was completely annihilated in his arms again, and he was locked in this crystal all the time, remorseful.
After watching the fourth episode of "What If", I felt that this can be expanded and enriched into a feature film, as a derivative of "Doctor Strange", a case and reflection on the superhero's superpowers.
Maybe this is the precursor to Doctor Strange 2, because Kevin Feige has revealed that Doctor Strange 2: Crazy Multiverse will be a very dark marvel movie, of course, half of what he says is good.
There is also the latest "Spider-Man: Heroes Of No Return" in Doctor Strange, which also allows us to peek out from this episode, whether it is the Doctor Strange, there may already be signs of blackening, you can go back to my preview analysis.
In any case, the blackened Doctor Strange in the fourth episode is actually the same as the core theme discussed in the entire series of "Wanda's Vision": that is, how the superhero faces the trauma of losing love, and how the real loneliness and tragedy of the anti-hero characters brought about by these griefs can digest themselves.
In "Wanda's Vision", Wanda, facing the death of her lover's vision, is eventually controlled and overwhelmed by grief, thus creating a self-deceptive hexagonal paradise that only she and the illusion.
What if such an encounter were replaced by the more powerful Doctor Strange? The animation in this episode shows the audience the horror of the emotional power behind the superhero being crushed.
Compared with the regular positive ending of "Wanda's Vision", the ending of the fourth episode of Doctor Strange is more precious and worthy of reflection.
This episode also allows us to appreciate once again that superheroes are also ordinary people, and their emotions as human beings do not have super control and rationality than we do, on the contrary, when a person has superpowers to change and comfort his collapsed emotions, he will often make unexpected and dangerous moves, thus implicating the whole world.
At the same time, it also allows us to see a more realistic exploration of the time gem, if you had the opportunity to resurrect the person you loved most, how much would you choose to sacrifice?
Speaking of which, why does such a concept, similar to the Theme of the Black Mirror Edition, only appear in a 30-minute episode of a unit drama? Perhaps feature films may continue for a longer period of time in order to attract more diverse audiences, mainstream and more family-friendly values.
I'm starting to look a little bit forward to the direction of the next few episodes of "What If", if such a small story becomes more and more exciting, the Easter eggs that are not there are actually not important at all.
In the trailer screen, we can also see that the blackened Doctor Strange will continue to have pictures, so it should be that all the stories will be linked together in the end to fight against a mysterious villain, and the observer who has always pretended not to interfere is likely to interfere.
And although "What If" is said to be a unit drama, Marvel has included "What If" into the MCU map, and we have felt the big Easter egg opened by the multiverse in the last episode of "Rocky", so will the animation directly turn into a live-action screen at the last moment of the last episode of "If", and connect some key plots into the MCU?
Well don't guess, don't guess.
At the end of the video, I once again respond to the fact that everyone has been urging "If", but the reason why I broke the "If" album is actually very simple, because personal energy and time are very limited, I have no team, and I also have more wonderful and interesting film and television analysis I want to share with you, so the "If" album decided not to update every issue.
But in fact, if everyone is interested, "What if" is good enough after the album, I will continue to talk. But no matter what, I will not give up on other film and television works, and the pits I dig will be slowly filled! I will still insist on doing what I want to do film and television analysis to share with you.
The 4th episode of this issue of "What If" will be shared with you here, and you are welcome to share your impressions with me in the message.