Believe it or not, we've gone more than a month without the release of a Marvel movie. "Morbius" opened the 1 of April, and "Thor: Love And Thunder" isn't coming out until July. But there is a bit of fan service opening this weekend. 

BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE: Shortly after the opening credits, Doctor Stephen Strange is at a wedding, wearing a brave face as his beloved Christine marries someone else.

Then, somewhat to his relief, I suspect, bravery of a more conventional Marvel sort is needed out in the streets of Lower Manhattan. A one-eyed octopus that could have escaped from Pixar's "Monsters, Inc."

Strange quickly realizes it's actually trying to eat a teenaged girl on the bus and puts a stop to that with much flexing of wrists and assistance from Sorcerer Supreme Wong.

MONDELLO: The girl, once rescued, strikes Strange as familiar. Wasn't she in his dream the night before? Not a dream, she tells him - another universe in which he was a somewhat less reliable Doctor Strange.

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH: (As Stephen Strange) Things just got out of hand.

MONDELLO: A multiverse traveler who's being chased by a demon, the girl's name is America Chavez, which means people will spend the rest of the movie saying things like, we have to save America, and is America OK? - but never mind. 

 The film has bigger fish to fry - that octopus, for instance. So Strange, figuring he needs an ally, turns to an old pal...