MovieChat Forums > Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) Discussion > Wong totally blew it

Wong totally blew it

posted 3 years ago by SlackerInc (1101)
19 replies | jump to latest

When can we retire this trope of someone giving up the keys to the kingdom because the villain threatens to kill or torture his friends? I can forgive it if it’s just some random civilian, but Wong is the freaking Master of the Mystic Arts! He has spent years training and studying and practicing being disciplined, so he can “safeguard our reality, douchebag”…and he just immediately gives up the super evil book the villain can use to destroy everything just because she waves her hands and makes his (dead?) friends spin around in the air like marionettes. 😒

[–] Costumer (1821) 3 years ago

Well, they weren't dead. We saw them after the battle. Rintrah is especially obvious.

However, I do agree with you. Given the stakes here, Wong should never have agreed to take her to the Darkhold. If we had seen some sign he had a sneaky, super secret plan to turn the situation around, even if it failed, I would be more forgiving.

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[–] SlackerInc (1101) 3 years ago

Right, I was thinking as I watched that this was exactly what was going on. But nope.

[–] acidraindrop (3055) 3 years ago

Yeah, that was a super lazy plot development. Wong of all people, I wouldn't have expected to succumb to that sort of blackmail.

[–] SlackerInc (1101) 3 years ago

Right? But they do this over and over in movies and TV shows and I'm so tired of it.

[–] Evoken (1402) 3 years ago

There was nothing he could do against Wanda and she would have gone on a total rampage had he refused.

[–] SlackerInc (1101) 3 years ago

Whereas everything was going to be OK if she got the Darkhold?!?

[–] FilmBuff (7234) 3 years ago

I saw it as a judgement call on his part. If he refused, she was going to go wild and launch a killing spree that might affect thousands, maybe even millions of people. She has the power to potentially kill everyone on earth. By giving in, he at least knew that he was placating her, and he had faith that he and Doctor Strange would find a way to stop her down the road. He was giving her a weapon that increased her power, but preventing her from using her already formidable power in the short-term, and in a situation where he had two very unfortunate choices, he chose the better of them.

[–] ExTechOp (2770) 3 years ago

By giving in, he at least knew that he was placating her, and he had faith that he and Doctor Strange would find a way to stop her down the road

Good point, and now that I think of it myself, a LOT of the time this particular trope can be justified by that exact rationale, i.e., by giving in, you're actually stalling for time so your friend(s) can gain a tactical advantage.

Luke turning himself over the emperor comes to mind -- he was fully aware that he might wind up being used as a tool against the rebellion, but he was buying time for Han & Leia to shut down the shield generator.

And one that I'll admit I should've seen as stupid was "Olympus Has Fallen," where the President convinces his aides to surrender their individual security codes to save their lives, each time getting the bad guys closer to victory. But it was ultimately a stupid move on his part because he failed to consider that the final code, his own, could be brute-force hacked without his cooperation.

The sentiment was the same, though. Capitulate to the bad guys now to buy time for the good guys.

[–] SlackerInc (1101) 3 years ago

But as someone else pointed out downthread, she didn't even know he had anything to give up. He could have just held to the position that the book was now destroyed and there was nothing he could do.

[–] FilmBuff (7234) 3 years ago

At which point she would go berserk with rage and launch a planet-wide murder spree. He told her to placate her and buy time. Either she kills everyone now, or she finds the text and kills everyone later. At least in the "later" scenario there is time in between for Strange to return and stop her.

[–] ace2 (570) 3 years ago

I think its even worse. Wong did not give up the book, she already had it. He gave up the fact that the book was a copy, and that the original spells were elsewhere. Wanda didn't know that... Wong did not have to give up that info. Also Wong and Strange repeatedly say a few lives are inconsequential in the grand scheme of the multiverse.

The fact that the book was CONVENIENTLY a copy... that was lazy writing: rolled my eyes on that one.

Also related to Wong... why didn't he just conjure up one of his portals when he fell off the cliff?

[–] SlackerInc (1101) 3 years ago

All excellent questions, and you make a great point that he doesn't need to reveal that the book was a copy.

[–] asom (6824) 2 years ago

He said that his magic doesn't work there when Wanda asked him why he didn't portal them closer.

[–] ace2 (570) 2 years ago

Good point. I guess those golden cables were not magic.

[–] ExTechOp (2770) 2 years ago

Also related to Wong... why didn't he just conjure up one of his portals when he fell off the cliff?

Portal magic doesn't work on that mountain; that's why he brought Wanda to the neighboring peak. It's also why America had to open one of her own portals back to Kamar-Taj.

[–] fc31 (5365) 2 years ago

I thought it was because the mountain was forbidden to sorcerers, also Wong did not want to go because "none survived the journey", every sorcerer been there has died, so he was hoping that part only happened to Scarlet Witch.

As for not opening a portal when he falls, he could have lost his ring. I am not seeing it on his hands after the fall.

Of course what you said could be true as well, but it seems both ways work.

[–] fc31 (5365) 2 years ago

I think the truth lies in the "None survived the journey". I think Wong was hoping the trip would kill her.

[–] SlackerInc (1101) 2 years ago

Interesting point.

[–] Aries (827) 3 months ago

OK, so he did something wong.

Cut him some slack already!