Near the film's end, Doctor Strange and his darker, more sinister variant engaged in a perfectly pompous battle of wits to the tune of classical music.
The concept of combining Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5 in C minor" and Bach's "Toccata And Fugue in D minor" into a track titled "Lethal Symphonies" sounds like a composer's dream.
Though a wildly fun piece by composer Danny Elfman that likely left music aficionados salivating, the scene's inclusion felt incredibly random. Such a track could've appeared in nearly any Marvel movie. Here, it comes across as little more than a cool idea someone had.
According to Elfman, the musical fight was a late addition from director Sam Raimi. Elfman admitted he didn't initially understand what Raimi wanted.
"I said, 'Sam, honestly, I have no idea what the hell you're talking about. It doesn't make any sense to me at all,'" Elfman told ComicBook.com.
Perhaps, the battle was supposed to highlight Strange's higher intellect and former life as an elite member of society. But it felt odd that this battle relied so heavily on specific musical notes.
Strange needed to have a deep knowledge of sheet music in order to succeed in this battle against himself and that's never been established in the Marvel Cinematic Universe other than the glimpse of him owning a piano in 2016's "Doctor Strange." Are we to presume that the Master of the Mystic Arts and one of the world's previous best surgeons was also a skilled musician?