Doctor Strange

DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MOVIES

OCCULT ORIGINS
Vain, egotistic surgeon Stephen Strange lost the use of his hands in a horrific auto accident caused by his recklessness. In turn, he lost his fortune through a series of costly, complicated, and experimental surgeries and therapies in an attempt to save his livelihood. In the end, destitute and desperate, he sought a cure far off the beaten path of modern medicine.

In Nepal, after being saved from muggers by the powerful sorcerer Mordo, Strange met the person who had taught Mordo—Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme, the Ancient One, who held many mysteries of the Old World, including the potential to heal Strange’s hands. The Ancient One refused to guide Strange through the process until he relinquished his selfishness and opened his mind to a higher truth. Having done so, the doctor began to learn of the Multiverse and the ancient science of magic, as well as forbidden knowledge the Ancient One was not inclined to share.

TOOLS OF THE TRADE
A Master of the Mystic Arts, Doctor Strange has phenomenally powerful magical abilities that enable him to skillfully conjure myriad spells. Strange has been able to use his spells to bind opponents and create complex shields and barriers, among many other uses for both defense and attack. Strange is also adept at astral projection, sending his astral self away from his body and allowing him to observe events without the knowledge of those present.

Strange discovers that certain artifacts can bolster magical spells and extend their benefits. At the New York Sanctum, he is adopted by the Cloak of Levitation, a seemingly sentient cape that not only protects him but also fights for him. The doctor also makes use of Sling Rings to create portals to cross great distances and to enter other realms.

Arguably, the Eye of Agamotto provides the greatest source of power to Strange. In truth the Infinity Stone known as the Time Stone, the Eye possesses the incalculable ability to control time itself. With it, Strange can alter time around objects, locations, or other beings, moving forward and backward through their existence. It can also be used to trap enemies in time loops, as well as give Strange the ability to look forward to potential futures.

THE GENTLE ART OF MAKING ENEMIES
Strange accelerates his mystical learning by mastering the use of his astral form, but as he dips deeper into magic, he encounters Kaecilius, a former student of the Ancient One and a disciple of Dormammu, a powerful entity from the Dark Dimension. Though still a relative novice, Strange opposes Kaecilius and his followers when they reveal their plans to bring Dormammu to Earth for utter destruction. At this same time, Strange also learns of Earth’s magical hierarchy, including a trio of Sanctums placed around the globe and overseen by Masters to protect the planet from magical threats.

Later, Thanos and his mission to acquire all six Infinity Stones poses a direct threat to Strange and the Time Stone in his possession, putting Strange into conflict with Thanos’ followers Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian as well.

SEEKING AID
In his struggle with Kaecilius and Dormammu, Strange finds himself aided by Mordo, another accomplished student of the Ancient One, and Wong, a Master who watched over the Ancient One’s library in Nepal. Mordo proves himself a staunch ally until he witnesses his teacher’s use of magic she herself had forbidden and loses faith in her guidance. After Strange’s defeat of Dormammu, Wong travels with him to a Sanctum in New York City to stand at his side for the uncertain times ahead.

The Ancient One falls due to the treachery of Kaecilius, and though she wielded dark magic to further the cause of good, she dies urging Stephen Strange to continue his magical studies and become a champion for Earth.

Doctor Christine Palmer and Strange once dated, and she offers him assistance and comfort in the wake of his accident, only to be rejected by him at his darkest point. He does care for and trusts her, as later, Strange seeks her medical expertise when he—and later the Ancient One—are injured during his battles. He also reveals his magical abilities to her and apologizes for how he’d once acted.

Doctor Strange (Stephen Strange) fighting Thanos on Titan
Some dueling egos aside, in the stand against Thanos, Strange finds support and help in Tony Stark AKA Iron Man, Bruce Banner, and Peter Parker AKA Spider-Man. Strange also fights alongside Guardians of the Galaxy members Star-Lord, Drax, Mantis, and their enemy turned ally, Nebula.

STRANGE TALES
Following his months of training at the Ancient One’s compound in Nepal, Strange entered into a series of skirmishes with Kaecilius, Dormammu’s agent on Earth, and his followers. This included an invasion of the New York Sanctum, where Strange witnessed the death of that Sanctum’s guardian at Kaecilius’ hands. During the fight that followed, Strange would be saved by the Cloak of Levitation but was badly wounded by Kaecilius’ follower, Lucian.

Strange transported himself to Metro-General Hospital, where he enlisted Christine Palmer to operate on him while he simultaneously battled Lucian in the Astral Plane—and revealed his Astral Projection and newfound magical abilities to Christine in the process. In the wake of this, Strange felt regret at having had to kill Lucian to survive their battle, while learning from the Ancient One that he was the New York Sanctum’s new Master.

In the midst of this, Strange confronted the Ancient One over his discovery of her secret use of the Dark Dimension’s essence to prolong her life, something Mordo refused to believe until the Ancient One herself confirmed it when the trio battled Kaecilius in the Mirror Dimension.

When the Ancient One was mortally wounded during another clash with Kaecilius, Strange—though unable to operate himself due to his injured hands—assisted Christine Palmer and Doctor Nicodemus West in their attempts to save her, but she succumbed to her injuries. Before the Ancient One died, she spoke to Strange in the Astral Plane, telling him she saw infinite possibilities for his future and that while he could heal his hands and return to his life as a surgeon, he had the potential for so much more.

Armed with the Eye of Agamotto, the Cloak of Levitation, and his ever-growing mystical knowledge and abilities, Strange, alongside Mordo and Wong, attempted to stop Kaecilius from destroying Hong Kong Sanctum, using the Eye of Agamotto to reverse time when Kaecilius was successful.

With Kaecilius’ formidable power allowing him to continually subvert Strange’s attempts to stop him, Strange took the fight directly to Dormammu. Confronting the powerful entity in his Dark Dimension, the doctor enacted a clever ploy using the Eye’s time-twisting powers to trap Dormammu and himself in a time loop. This forced Dormammu to retreat and abandon his schemes to annex Earth into his dimensional holdings and take Kaecilius and his followers with him in the process. However, Mordo, disillusioned by what he learned about the Ancient One before she died, left to walk his path.

Back in the New York Sanctum, he was now Master of, Strange, aided by Wong, set about learning all he could to contribute to his new-found position as Earth’s Master of the Mystic Arts. This included keeping track of otherworldly visitors to the planet and, if possible, their purpose there. This mission brought him into contact with Thor and his brother Loki when they sought their father Odin on Earth, a quest to which Strange was able to impart some assistance, sending them to their father’s side.

Later, Doctor Strange enlisted the help of Tony Stark after the Hulk crashed into the New York Sanctum. Having transformed back into Bruce Banner, he informed Doctor Strange of the dreaded tyrant Thanos’ accelerated drive to collect all six Infinity Stones—including the Time Stone housed within the Eye of Agamotto. Strange and Stark both took an immediate dislike to each other, but when Thanos’ lackeys arrived in the city, the two men, joined by Wong and Spider-Man, fought side-by-side to block the aliens’ march of destruction. Despite their strong opposition, Strange was captured and removed to the aliens’ spaceship, though both Iron Man and Spider-Man were able to sneak onto the ship before it left Earth’s atmosphere.

Doctor Strange (Stephen Strange) and Spider-Man (Peter Parker)
Strange’s protective spells kept the Eye from being seized and opened, leading Thanos’ follower Ebony Maw to torture Stephen to get him to lift the spell. Rescued by Iron Man and Spider-Man from Maw’s clutches, Strange traveled with his new allies to Thanos’ homeworld of Titan, warning Stark that he would not hesitate to sacrifice Stark or Parker if it meant protecting the Time Stone. On Titan, the trio met several members of the Guardians of the Galaxy, and the combined group drafted a plan to waylay Thanos upon his arrival. In addition, the doctor used the Time Stone to look at many millions of possible outcomes to their conflict with Thanos, but only a single one showed them achieving victory.

When Thanos arrived, the group’s attempt to get the Infinity Gauntlet off of his hand failed, and Thanos, possessing four of the six Infinity Stones, put up strong resistance to Strange’s magic.

Doctor Strange (Stephen Strange) fighting Thanos on Titan
When Iron Man was beaten in battle by Thanos and about to be killed, Strange stopped him, sacrificing the Eye of Agamotto to the alien warlord to save Stark’s life, despite Stark’s protests. With the Time Stone in his possession, Thanos left Titan to travel to Earth and secure the last remaining Infinity Stone he sought. His success in the endeavor was soon evident to the heroes still on Titan when many of them—along with half of all life throughout the universe—began to crumble into dust. As Doctor Strange felt himself begin to disintegrate away into nothingness, he comforted Tony Stark about the sacrifice he’d made, explaining that there was “no other way.”

DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE COMICS

As Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Strange wields arcane spells and mystical artifacts to defend the planet against malevolent threats.

WITH THESE HANDS
Recognized the world over as one of the most brilliant neurosurgeons, Stephen Strange’s arrogance and self-centered nature grew alongside his skill until his ego far outweighed his career, proceeding to close himself off from only the most wealthy and influential patients. Everything changed for the man one fateful night when a near-fatal car crash left Strange with severely damaged nerves in both hands and a diagnosis of never being able to operate again.

Knowing his reliance on his medical abilities to support his affluent lifestyle, Strange began to seek a source of healing for his hands until the quest drained him of his resources and he faced a dark and uncertain future. Having crossed off all grounded cures from his list, he followed a path of rumor and legend to Tibet for a more esoteric shelter. There, high in the mountains, he met the Ancient One, a master mystic, and caught his first glimpse of a much larger universe.

Strange embarked on a journey to learn the art of magic under the Ancient One’s tutelage when he realized that the art of medicine would remain closed off from him forever. The former medico excelled at his lessons and grew to be as adept at spells and sorcery as he once was at surgery. The Ancient One saw in Strange a most gifted pupil and after years of schooling him, presented him with powerful artifacts with which to protect the Earth from many and varied menaces.

Returning to the West, Strange set up a new practice in New York City and settled into his destined role as a sage, an occult advisor, and a Master of the Mystic Arts.

MAGIC MAN
Doctor Strange’s powers and abilities originally stemmed from tapping into otherworldly entities and planes, chief among them the Vishanti, a triumvirate of powerful beings who granted magic-users temporary access to their essences through spells. Strange called upon the Vishanti throughout his early years as a magician to aid in his battles against various forms of magical danger and creatures, culminating in him receiving the title of Sorcerer Supreme when the Ancient One relinquished it upon his death.

As his career advanced, Strange lost and regained both his title as Sorcerer Supreme and his connection to the Vishanti several times due to injuries or extreme challenges to his authority. During these times, he sought other forms of sorcery to wield, including so-called catastrophe or chaos magic, blood spells, and demon possession. Ultimately, the doctor has found himself returning to more traditional wellsprings of magic after bouts with darker forms, each dalliance with the dark inevitably impacting him one way or another.

Strange’s primary artifact is known as the Eye of Agamotto, an amulet endowed with the might of the being it was christened for and the ability to impart powers of light, truth, and planar travel, among others. In addition, the doctor also makes use of his Cloak of Levitation to fly and maintains a sprawling library of mystical tomes in his New York home. Recently, he’s taken up the ancient Axe of Angarruumus for both offense and defense purposes.

DIRECT OPPOSITION
A man in Stephen Strange’s important position is sure to create many enemies, and so it is expected that the Sorcerer Supreme may claim some of the most terrifying foes of any champion. Baron Mordo became Strange’s first opponent when the two studied simultaneously under the Ancient One and Mordo proved he cared more for selfishly gaining power than for helping others. As Strange learned to let go of his ego he saw the same darkness in his fellow student and warned their teacher of it. Mordo swore eternal enmity against Strange and went on to transform himself into the doctor’s longtime foe.

Perhaps the greatest and most powerful of all of Strange’s enemies is the dreaded Dormammu, a magical entity from another dimension whose lust for power and rulership over Earth’s plane placed him in direct opposition with the Sorcerer Supreme on multiple occasions. Strange has managed to defeat Dormammu at almost every turn, but sometimes by the skin of his teeth, owing to the Dread One’s near-omnipotent might on his plane and his deft manipulation of earthly lackeys and sycophants.

Doctor Strange’s other enemies include the sorcerer Yandroth, the demons Nightmare, and Shuma-Gorath, the Earth despot Doctor Doom, and Umar the Unrelenting, the sister of Dormammu.

ALLIES AND AFFILIATES
Though a loner by choice, Strange has opened his heart and home to a precious few he can call friends. Chief among these individuals is Wong, a seemingly simple servant on the surface, who is in fact a martial arts master and accomplished scholar. Wong tends to Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum, a stately mansion in New York’s Greenwich Village, protecting it and its master from outsiders while advancing his skills. Together, Doctor Strange and Wong have traveled the dark and light together as employer and employee, but also as brothers.

During Strange’s initial forays into the Dark Dimension and his earning of Dormammu’s wrath, he met a young woman named Clea who would become not only his student and partner but also his beloved. Eventually, Clea left Strange’s side after many adventures to ascend to the rulership of the Dark Dimension, but the two have found each other again and again to renew their bonds in even the most strident situations.

After a short period of non-activity as a sorcerer, Strange came in contact with two individuals who would shape an important corner of his life, Namor the Sub-Mariner and the Hulk. Together, the three men -- joined soon after by the Silver Surfer as well-formed the basis of an experiment in teamwork known as the Defenders, a group of heroes formed by Strange to address missions on a sporadic basis and without any formal structure. Many versions of the Defenders followed the original “non-team,” with Strange at the forefront of a good number of them as “members” came and went as they would.

Doctor Strange and Hulk (Bruce Banner)
Strange also allied himself with a phalanx of supernatural champions called the Midnight Sons, as well as took part in a secretive conference of some of Earth’s most intelligent and well-reasoned champions. These Illuminati came together only under the most extreme of circumstances until torn apart by internal strife and disagreements. Strange himself questioned his participation in the group on several occasions and though he called some of its members friends, never fully warmed to its intended purpose.

Though he only briefly dallied with the idea of operating as a traditional “superhero,” Doctor Strange’s ties with the ranks of costumed and codenamed champions around the globe have been fairly strong. In particular, his many team-ups with Spider-Man have produced a lasting friendship, and his relationship with the Avengers led to actual membership for the doctor in more recent times. More often than not though, Strange has mostly gone it alone, knowing well that his expertise as a singular mystical warrior makes for a sometimes lonely path.

THE CHRONICLES
Stephen Strange’s list of accomplishments and adventures stands as a testament to his diligence as Earth’s magical protector, some of them even crossing over into the realm of legend.

When the infamous Dracula, Lord of the Vampires, became too powerful and cast his shadow over the planet, Strange assembled a spell dubbed the Montesi Formula and cast it to seemingly destroy every vampire on the earthly plane. Later, the doctor heeded the call of the Vishanti to become a soldier in the War of the Seven Spheres, a conflict he fought for five thousand years in another reality, yet which only transpired over several months on Earth.

During a reunion with the original Defenders, Strange and his allies unknowingly transformed themselves into a totalitarian regime called the Order until the threat of a new ploy by Strange’s old adversary Yandroth forced them to reclaim their proper attitudes and defeat the sorcerer. Following that adventure, the doctor took possession of the powerful Soul Gem as a member of the Illuminati and joined forces with a small group of Earth’s heroes to rid the world of the rampaging Hulk once and for all. When later the Illuminati assembled once again, Strange tested his abilities against a series of Incursions by other universes until the prime universe dissolved after one such encounter and was remade by Doctor Doom as his “Battleworld,” complete with Strange as the patchwork world’s sheriff.

Returned to his proper status as Sorcerer Supreme in the wake of Doom’s defeat and the remaking of the universe, Doctor Strange continues his vigilance for supernatural threats and menaces to Earth while he hones his mystical abilities to fight them.