Doctor Strange 2 Gets PG-13 Rating With Horror-Teasing Description

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has officially been rated PG-13 with a description that teases horror elements. The upcoming MCU movie is the second in the Doctor Strange series and continues the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, which also starred Benedict Cumberbatch’s Stephen Strange. Directed by Sam Raimi in his return to the superhero genre, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is set to hit theaters on May 6.

At one point, when it was still to be directed by Scott Derrickson, the filmmaker behind the first Doctor Strange and horror films like Sinister, Doctor Strange 2 was intended to be the MCU’s first scary movie. The studio backed off that stance and Derrickson eventually left the project due to creative differences, but the suggestion has continued to follow it under Raimi’s stewardship, given his history with the Evil Dead franchise. While it certainly wouldn’t be a full-on horror project, viewers have speculated that some elements of the genre would still be worked into its multiverse plotline, something that seemed to be confirmed by the first Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness trailer.

Now, the Marvel movie’s official MPA rating offers new evidence pointing in that direction. Unsurprisingly for the family-friendly franchise, Doctor Strange 2 has been rated PG-13, but the description claims this is due to “intense sequences of violence and action, frightening images and some language.” While superhero movies are no strangers to violence and action, singling out frightening images suggests that some sequences do indeed lean on Raimi’s past as a horror filmmaker.

While Marvel Studios would have to get a lot braver to make a true horror movie, thereby shrinking that project’s intended audience away from their billion-dollar-blockbuster norm, Raimi is an inspired choice to push some experimentation with scares in Doctor Strange 2. While his Evil Dead films have some harrowing moments, they also cultivate a mixture of horror and silliness that, when tilted further in the latter direction, could provide the right level of thrill-ride frights for a superhero story. His style certainly seems a more natural fit than Derrickson’s, whose horror projects delve much deeper into straight darkness than would be palatable to a mainstream viewership.

Indeed, 2004’s Spider-Man 2 could provide fans with a good reference for what to expect from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. While not a horror movie, the Doctor Octopus hospital scene has often been championed as a perfectly executed scary sequence, and remains one of the beloved film’s most memorable moments. Doctor Strange 2 looks to lean much more heavily on creature imagery, but if Raimi delivers one or two scenes as frightening as that one, horror fans should leave the theater satisfied.