I honestly can't think of a single thing other than explored his relationship with Christine

The visuals are certainly brilliant. Both films had very interesting visuals so it's difficult to judge them against each other.

Spectacle was definitely better.

I think the most improved thing though was how magic itself was utilised and visualised. The range of magic, and the way it was shown to us, was infinitely more interesting in MoM.

"the visuals are brilliant" the visuals in question:

Yeah the third eye cgi is shocking. No denying that.

@TheD00dlebug Agreed.

The villain, Scarlet Witch was light years better than Kaecilius and this film actually showed the heroic nature of Doctor Strange while every other appearance of the character after the first film present him as just doing his job.

In Ragnarok, he only helped Thor because he wanted to get Loki off Earth as soon as he recognised he was there, in Infinity War he outright tells Iron Man he will let him and Spider-Man die if it protects the Time Stone and then gives it to Thanos because he knew he had to doom the universe for five years in order to make Tony desperate enough to sacrifice himself.

Later in No Way Home, while Peter is trying to save the villains' lives, Strange is only interested in getting them back to their universes to make sure his is stable and if they die when they get there it is sad but not it is not worth the effort saving them. I don't dislike Strange in these appearances because this is how he is characterised but it is worth mentioning that his time loop sacrifice in the first film and protecting America Chavez are the only times he acts like a superhero and not a manager or supervisor at work.

@Ra30990 It's also worth mentioning that Most Versions of Dr. Strange also Believes in the Hippocratic Oath that no matter what you shouldn't Kill while the MCU strange doesn't seem to believe in it until this movie. The 616 Comic Strange wouldn't Sacrifice his Tony or MCU Tony or in order to defeat Thanos or even not saving the NWH Villains because he's believe that a bridge too far. MCU Strange however finally did something that 616 comic Strange would have done a long time ago and try to save both America And Wanda.

@IronWidowMaikuB He does also follow his hippocratic oath in the first film, after he kills a Zealot in self-defense and the Ancient One offers him the position of Master of the Sanctum Sanctorum he refuses the title saying "when I became a doctor, I took a vow to do no harm and I have just killed a man, I'm not doing that again!". I actually think the characterisation in Multiverse of Madness works better as just a sequel to Doctor Strange than it does an episode in the MCU.

@IronWidowMaikuB He does also follow his hippocratic oath in the first film, after he kills a Zealot in self-defense and the Ancient One offers him the position of Master of the Sanctum he refuses the title saying "when I became a doctor, I took a vow to do no harm and I have just killed a man, I'm not doing that again!". I actually think the characterisation in Multiverse of Madness works better as just a sequel to Doctor Strange than it does an episode in the MCU, although he does essentially become master of the sanctum even if he does use the title.

Because the first film was an origin story it had to be more grounded. MoM goes further by becoming more like the comic book. You get way more weirdness and reality hopping with Doctor Strange 2. He jumps into a dead version of himself while trapped in an alternate earth using a darkhold book while his dead body is flying on demon wings made of imprisoned souls on his way to confront a Scarlet Witch within a Darkhold Castle.

Yeah I'd say MoM succeeded in pushing the strangeness more than the first film.