news culture Doctor Strange 2: Did Disney and Marvel steal the idea from Sword of Symphony developer?
Several viewers have had the pleasure of spotting Doctor Strange in theaters, the MCU’s latest film, The Multiverse of Madness. Aside from the film’s intrinsic qualities, many gamers noticed odd similarities between a specific scene and an independent developer’s game, Sword of Symphony.
David versus Goliath
Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness has been a hit since its release on May 4th. With both public and critical success, Sam Raimi makes a successful return to the superhero world fifteen years after the release of Spider-Man 3. If the Disney and Marvel teams can be proud of the result achieved, The recent discovery by some viewers might tarnish the image of these giants a bit. In fact, one of the film’s final sequences would heavily hint at the developer’s work Stephen desertknown on the net for his project Sword of the Symphony.
Without going into too much detail to avoid unnecessary spoilers, this sequence shows a fight in which opponents clash with musical energy. An idea that seems straight out of the imagination developed by Stephen Ddungu for his inspirational action RPG Kingdom Hearts and his musical combos. Since the striking resemblance came to light, many netizens have commented on the case and offered their support to the indie developer.
just reminded me of the symphony fight in dr. weird and the multiverse of insanity and honestly I hope this kid can find a really good lawyer to take his case because my god the resemblance is striking pic.twitter.com/eOpSnrHZkx
— devon of nine (@dynamofire) May 15, 2022
In the multiverse of sadness
Stephen Ddungu used the media coverage of the case to comment and share his point of view. According to him, this alleged plagiarism is more than likely due to several elements:
I think given the timing of Doctor Strange 2 development it’s very likely that they (Disney and Marvel) added their musical fight scene because of my Sword of Symphony project while the game was going viral in August 2021 that it was retweeted from Disney’s then-vice president of games, and that they left in November 2021 (after filming wrapped in April 2021) to shoot this footage (…). Also, I know that the idea of musical battles or using music as a weapon is anything but a new concept. But I think the way I use it is original, which explains the game’s popularity (…). I’m just saying that Marvel could have taken a more original approach to musical battles, but instead they’ve finally achieved something that a lot of people have equated with my work.
According to the developer, the timing and the very similar elements therefore explain the likelihood that Marvel stole his idea, as well as the fact that many viewers share his point of view. Stephen Ddungu still seems to keep his composure and remains calm in the face of the giant’s alleged deeds. He even assured that he was willing to work with Marvel. For their part, Marvel and Disney have not yet commented on this case.
To support Stephen Ddungu’s project, this is possible via his patreon right hereand keep following the progress of Sword of Symphony the game’s Twitter account.
