I must respectfully disagree with one assertion that you make in this review, which is that the MCU has set a standard that all magic is just sufficiently advanced technology. There is no technology involved when, in Ragnarok (terrible a film as it was), Thor summons lightning without Mjolnir. The office of Sorcerer Supreme leads a groups of sorcerers who protect the Earth from mystical threats (as defined in Dr. Strange). Wanda wields chaos magic and can “re-write reality at will”, which is completely magical in nature (witchcraft and not sorcery, as we learn). I think you’re leaning on Thor’s original explanation from his first film that he comes from a place “where they are one and the same,” and, while we may be able to argue that about Asgard (though I would push back on that argument), it’s been shown to not apply elsewhere in the MCU. To the contrary, I see the juxtaposition of magic and science as a sort of fascinating throughline that is being played out in recent films.
I must respectfully disagree with one assertion that you make in this review, which is that the MCU has set a standard that all magic is just sufficiently advanced technology. There is no technology involved when, in Ragnarok (terrible a film as it was), Thor summons lightning without Mjolnir. The office of Sorcerer Supreme leads a groups of sorcerers who protect the Earth from mystical threats (as defined in Dr. Strange). Wanda wields chaos magic and can “re-write reality at will”, which is completely magical in nature (witchcraft and not sorcery, as we learn). I think you’re leaning on Thor’s original explanation from his first film that he comes from a place “where they are one and the same,” and, while we may be able to argue that about Asgard (though I would push back on that argument), it’s been shown to not apply elsewhere in the MCU. To the contrary, I see the juxtaposition of magic and science as a sort of fascinating throughline that is being played out in recent films.