The Marvel cinematic universe takes another leap forward this Friday with the release of Doctor Strange, their 14th film. With its mystical themes, psychedelic imagery and relatively obscure main character, the film is one of their biggest risks the Marvel cinematic universe (MCU) has taken since initiating this multiphase, interwoven universe back in 2008.

Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is an arrogant and talented surgeon with a photographic memory and a penchant for rattling off trivia about ‘70s music while operating on his patients. When a car crash damages his hands, he is forced out of surgery and into sorcery—yes, sorcery. In his search for physical healing, he finds a school of sorcery, or, as his maybe-kind-of love interest Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams) calls it, a cult. After a brief existential crisis on the nature of science, Strange embarks to master the mystic arts and somewhat reluctantly saves the world.

MCU has actively shied away from magic since its inception. They’ve altered or eliminated all existing magic in the transition from comics to film, choosing to beef up the science instead. Even the seemingly inexplicable (like Thor, God of Thunder) is attributed to advanced alien technology. When Doctor Strange, an actual spell-casting magician, was announced as the next addition to the universe, many wondered whether magic would finally make its MCU debut. Now we have our answer, and it’s somewhere between “kind of” and “not really.”

“Doctor Strange” incorporates mystical elements that are loosely grounded in astrophysics. There’s no technobabble, but more scientific terms like “energy” are used instead of “magic.” As a result, Marvel Studios inched just a hair further into the gray area between science fiction and fantasy.

To learn just how much science was incorporated, I spoke with the film’s science consultant, Adam Frank, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Rochester.

“The open question here is a philosophical question—not necessarily a directly scientific one,” Frank said.

He noted that a full-on scientific approach would have been damaging to Strange’s character, who debuted in magic-filled Marvel comics in the 1960s. Instead, Frank drew on theories of consciousness and the question of how our complex and deeply subjective perceptions of the world can be explained by our universal atomic structure. This philosophy is a thematic undercurrent in the film. While never explicitly discussed, it helps the film justify its stance on magic. If we don’t yet understand all our science, couldn’t magic just be science we don’t understand?

Frank also drew on multiverse theory, or the idea that our universe may be one of many universes that exist side by side. The plot of “Doctor Strange” hinges on this principle. The main characters often jump between dimensions through conjured portals. This concept is “the one place where the story touches perhaps on actual science,” according to Frank, since each universe in the multiverse could, in theory, have different physical laws. In particular, a certain “dark dimension” is central to the conflict in the film. It is a universe without time, which is alluring to certain characters but raises the fascinating issue of whether human life is meaningful without time.

Since the film was announced, it has come under fire for its whitewashing and erasure of Tibet. The Kamar-Taj sorcery school in the comics is located in Tibet, but since Marvel relies heavily on the Chinese market, the company decided to move the setting to Nepal. In the comics, Tilda Swinton’s character, the Ancient One, is a Tibetan man. In the film, she is a woman described as Celtic. When prompted to explain this decision, a Marvel spokesperson expressed the desire to escape the racist portrayal of the Ancient One in the comics, as if the only way to buck racial stereotypes is to make everyone white. The situation has turned into a web of contradicting statements by multiple parties, including director Scott Derrickson and writer C. Robert Cargill, with each statement becoming more questionable than the last. Marvel Studios has so far failed to acknowledge these “Doctor Strange” decisions as problematic, which is incredibly disheartening, in the face of the abysmal Asian representation in Hollywood.

The film itself is the standard good quality PG-13 science fiction/fantasy action blockbuster we’ve come to expect from Hollywood. It’s well-acted and visually appealing but formulaic. Despite several LSD-inspired trips through the multiverse and the kaleidoscopic rearranging of New York streets, there was nothing I hadn’t seen before. The Kamar-Taj is very Jedi, complete with a rogue student as the villain. The visually badass villain Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen) is given minimal depth, which is a shame given Mikkelsen’s talents. The redemption arc of douchebag-turned-superhero is very Batman or Iron Man, to the extent that I was left wondering how many more times I would be expected to sympathize with a rich, white, male jerk who encounters a speed bump in his picture-perfect life trajectory. Strange talks back to everyone around him at every opportunity, getting the final word with witty quips. Perhaps the most satisfying moments of the film were the several times his mentors told him no (only for him to trick his way around their answer in the next scene, of course). Strange becomes likable by the end of the film, in part due to the brute force of the hero-building machine that is Marvel Studios.

There is still a lot to like. The third act brings a complexity to Strange and his teacher The Ancient One, with some rumination on the responsibilities of an individual with special powers and a few small plot twists that add depth to the narrative itself. The film raises deep questions about what defines humanity in several instances, and the moments of self-awareness of the eccentricity of the story are welcome and refreshing. There is plenty of humor, with the best lines often coming from the strong supporting cast like Benedict Wong and McAdams. Michael Giacchino’s score is appropriately mystical and fun. The movie was good—just not special.

In some ways, it simply couldn’t have been special. The MCU is converging on a single plotline: The search for and accumulation of infinity stones (gems imbued with incredible power) by a mysterious purple alien. All roads in the universe lead to a war over these stones, the subject of the “Avengers” movies 3 and 4, which will, as far as we know, feature ALL of the heroes of the MCU. This is part of the magic of the cinematic universe model Marvel introduced. All the movies happen in the same universe, and the characters jump between films fluidly, following skillfully woven plotlines. But this is also becoming more and more constricting for individual films. With the third “Avengers” film (“Avengers: Infinity War”) being released in 2018 and the fourth (still untitled) following in 2019 as the final currently disclosed MCU film, the production timeline is condensing. Whereas the first “Thor” and “Captain America” origin films, both released in 2011, had freedom to develop however they desired with only minor requirements, “Doctor Strange” had a greater obligation to the overarching MCU plot. In fact, Doctor Strange absolutely HAD to be brought in to serve the infinity war plot, whether there was interest in the character or not, since Strange possesses one of the stones. Under such pressure, it would be all too easy for the film to become a two-hour setup for “Infinity War,” a mere means to an end.

“Doctor Strange” is more than simply a setup, but it does struggle with balancing the MCU’s cohesive needs and its own origin story (which is kind of ironic given how Strange struggles with the decision between prioritizing his own life or the world as whole). Marvel has plans for three more first-time solo films (and three sequels for established characters) before the fourth “Avengers” film is released, which will all face this same dilemma with increasing intensity. I shudder to even think these words, but the MCU may be showing signs of buckling under its own weight.

Despite this troubling idea, the lineup of films and their cast and crew over the next few years look promising. I have hope, perhaps recklessly. Until the next MCU installment (“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” in May), I’ll be in the library listening to the soundtrack and channeling Dr. Strange’s five-minute, reading-heavy training sequence in hopes of turning myself into a genius-level Master of the Academic Arts.

See “Doctor Strange” in theaters Friday or with Social Programming Board for free on Thursday as part of their Fall Film Series.