Doctor Strange

• 1. A Filler Feature

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  Doctor Strange, the sorcerer of Marvel Comics, began life with a lukewarm review from the man who edited him. In a 1963 letter to Jerry Bails, Stan Lee described a five-page filler for Strange Tales and admitted that "The first story is nothing great, but perhaps we can make something of him". Lee added that the team had rushed that first story too much.

  The feature debuted in Strange Tales #110, cover-dated July 1963. It sat in a split book shared with the Human Torch, and later with Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Its hero was an arrogant neurosurgeon who could no longer operate.

  Why did a throwaway feature outlast its modest start? Where did its odd name and stranger spells come from? And what does a surgeon with ruined hands have to do with guarding the Earth from magic?

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• 2. Name and Incantations

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  Artist Steve Ditko, who by both men's accounts originated the character, explained the name in 2008 with striking practicality. "My character wound up being named Dr. Strange because he would appear in Strange Tales." The title of the book came first, and the hero's name followed. Lee had first intended to call him Mr. Strange. He changed course because "Mr." sounded too much like Mister Fantastic. Then he remembered that Marvel had recently printed a villain called Dr. Strange, and he hoped it would not confuse readers.

  That earlier villain was Carl Strange, a criminal scientist with a Ph.D. who appeared two months before the sorcerer. He made his only appearance in the Iron Man story "The Stronghold of Dr. Strange," in Tales of Suspense #41 in 1963. Lee plotted it, Robert Bernstein scripted it under the pseudonym R. Berns, and Jack Kirby drew it. A freak lightning strike gave Carl mental powers.

  The Chandu the Magician radio program, which aired on the Mutual Broadcasting System in the 1930s, shaped Lee's approach to the magic. He had his sorcerer accompany spells with elaborate props, including the Eye of Agamotto and the Wand of Watoomb. The spells came with exclamations such as "Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth!" and "Shades of the Seraphim!" Some names recalled real mythological or religious beings, like the Biblical Seraphim. Lee has said he never knew what the incantations meant. He used them because they sounded mystical and mysterious. Ditko's pencils would soon give those invented words a world to live in.

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• 3. Ditko's Other Dimensions

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  College students of the 1960s made Ditko's surreal landscapes a favorite. He drew otherworldly realms and increasingly vivid visuals. As co-plotter and later sole plotter under the Marvel Method of scripting, he pushed Strange into ever more abstract territory. Comics historian Mike Benton wrote that the stories "constructed a cohesive cosmology that would have thrilled any self-respecting theosophist."

  Benton described readers with minds freshly opened by psychedelic experiences and Eastern mysticism. They analyzed the stories for links to Egyptian myths, Sumerian gods, and Jungian archetypes. Historians have noted that the character predicted art trends that only became established in the later counterculture of the 1960s. The imagery has been compared to the visual experiences of people who had used LSD.

  Roy Thomas, then associate editor and a former Doctor Strange writer, recalled the effect in 1971. Readers who had had similar experiences on mushrooms assumed the people at Marvel "must be heads," meaning drug users. Thomas answered plainly: "But I don't use hallucinogens, nor do I think any artists do."

  A 17-issue arc in Strange Tales #130-146, from March 1965 to July 1966, carried Ditko furthest out. In it he introduced Eternity, a cosmic character who personified the universe. Eternity was drawn as a silhouette filled with the cosmos.

  The counterculture noticed. Pink Floyd's second studio album, A Saucerful of Secrets, hides an image based on a panel from a 1967 Doctor Strange story, Strange Tales #158. The band's 1969 album More includes the song "Cymbaline," which also references the sorcerer. T. Rex mentioned him in "Mambo Sun," from the 1971 album Electric Warrior, and one psychedelic band borrowed the name Dr. Strangely Strange. The Pink Floyd panel came from Marie Severin, who drew the feature for a stretch after Ditko left.

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• 4. The Fake Letter

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  Strange Tales became Doctor Strange after issue #168, the last before Nick Fury's feature moved to its own title. Expanded to 20 pages per issue, the solo series ran 15 issues, #169-183, from June 1968 to November 1969. Thomas wrote the new stories. Penciler Gene Colan and inker Tom Palmer joined him after the first three issues.

  A planned split book pairing Strange with Iceman never came out. Instead he appeared in the first three issues of the quarterly showcase Marvel Feature, from December 1971 to June 1972. The main story there detailed the formation of the Defenders, with a solo back-up tale alongside it. A revival followed in Marvel Premiere #3-14, from July 1972 to March 1974.

  In that run, writer Gardner Fox first alluded to the entity Shuma-Gorath in issue #5. Writer Steve Englehart and artist Frank Brunner fully imagined the creature after taking over with issue #9. The two met over dinner every two months to plan the stories. Their run became known for psychedelic visuals and plots. In issues #8-10, from May to September 1973, Strange is forced to shut down the Ancient One's mind, which causes his mentor's death.

  A multi-issue storyline about the sorcerer Sise-Neg, whose name is "Genesis" spelled backward, nearly got the pair into trouble. Sise-Neg travels back through history collecting all magical energy until he reaches the beginning of the universe. He becomes all-powerful and creates it anew, leaving Strange to wonder whether this was the original creation. Stan Lee saw the issue after publication and ordered a retraction stating that this was not God but a god, to avoid offending religious readers.

  According to Brunner, he and Englehart answered by concocting a fake letter from a fictitious minister who praised the story. They mailed it to Marvel from Texas. Marvel unwittingly printed the letter and dropped the retraction.

  Rising readership then turned the Marvel Premiere series into a second ongoing title, Doctor Strange: Master of the Mystic Arts. It ran 81 issues, from June 1974 to February 1987. Englehart's final story sent Strange back in time to meet Benjamin Franklin.

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• 5. From Surgeon to Sorcerer

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  Stephen Vincent Strange was born in Philadelphia and raised in New York City. He attended New York College as a pre-med student, entered medical school at Columbia University, and completed his residency at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. His success there made him arrogant. He earned a reputation for handling the most complicated operations, yet he was self-centered and greedy. He treated only patients who could pay his exorbitant fees.

  One night, while he was speeding in his car, a terrible accident shattered the bones in his hands. The nerve damage left his fingers trembling uncontrollably, and he could not perform surgery. Too vain to accept a teaching job, he spent all his money on expensive treatments that failed. Broke and shunned by his colleagues, he became a drifter.

  In a bar, Strange overheard two sailors discussing a hermit in the Himalayas called the Ancient One, who could heal any ailment. He did not believe in magic, but he spent his last money to find the old mystic. The Ancient One refused to help him because of his arrogance, though he sensed a good side and tried to bring it out.

  The turn came when Strange discovered that the Ancient One's disciple, Baron Mordo, was trying to kill his master and take his power. Mordo shackled Strange with restraining spells that kept him from attacking or warning anyone. Strange then selflessly accepted an offer to become the Ancient One's apprentice, hoping to help the old man. The Ancient One was pleased by this sincere change of heart and freed him from the spells. He explained that he had known about Mordo's treachery all along. Strange soon became Mordo's most enduring enemy.

  After his training, Strange returned to New York City. He took up residence in the Sanctum Sanctorum, a townhouse at 177A Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village, with his friend and valet Wong. There he met the entity Nightmare and then Dormammu, a warlord from the Dark Dimension who wanted to conquer Earth. A nameless girl later called Clea helped Strange, and she was eventually revealed to be Dormammu's niece. When Strange helped a weakened Dormammu drive the rampaging Mindless Ones back into their prison, he was allowed to leave the Dark Dimension unchallenged.

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• 6. Relics and Books

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  A book written by unknown authors holds the greatest known store of white magic on Earth. This is the Book of the Vishanti, which contains spells of defensive magic and cannot be destroyed. Its counterpart, the Darkhold, holds all the black magic in the Marvel Universe and is also indestructible. A single page of either book can be destroyed only if its balancing spell in the other book is destroyed as well. Even then, the Vishanti must allow it. The Vishanti are a collective of three powerful beings: Agamotto, Oshtur, and Hoggoth.

  Benevolent spells can still be dangerous. A young, inexperienced Strange once tried to resurrect his dead brother Victor with the spell known as the Vampire Verses. Years later Victor became the vampire Baron Blood.

  The book's first known owner was the Atlantean sorcerer Varnae, who lived around 18,500 BC. The Babylonian god Marduk Kurios came next and set a griffin to guard it. The Ancient One traveled back to about 4000 BC, defeated the griffin, and returned to the 20th century with the book. He kept it, despite a brief loss to the dark wizard Kaluu, until he judged his student worthy. Strange keeps it in his library in Greenwich Village. He briefly lost it when he destroyed his home to keep the alien wizard Urthona from taking his artifacts. Agamotto saved it by moving it to his own realm.

  The blue Cloak of Levitation, with minor abilities and spells woven into it, first appeared in Strange Tales #114, cover-dated November 1963. The red cloak that Strange usually wears arrived in Strange Tales #127, cover-dated December 1964. Both were bequeathed by the Ancient One. The cloak lets its wearer fly and can alter its shape, often acting as another set of hands when Strange's body is incapacitated. When it is damaged, only the ally Enitharmon the Weaver can repair it.

  In Strange Tales #115, in an eight-page story titled "The Origin of Dr. Strange," Lee and Ditko introduced the Eye of Agamotto. Ditko drew on the Eyes of Buddha, a Nepali symbol meant to protect its wearer against evil. The Eye is commonly said to be the amulet on Strange's chest, though the Eye itself resides inside it and is released from time to time. Its light negates evil magic.

  The Orb of Agamotto rests in a room of the Sanctum called the Chamber of Shadows, usually in a display case with three curved legs. This scrying crystal ball can detect the use of magic anywhere in the world and shows Strange where it happened. Exceptionally powerful forces such as Umar have blocked it. In the film Thor, the Orb is briefly visible in Odin's Trophy Room in Asgard.

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• 7. The Sorcerer Supreme Title

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  The Ancient One, a long-lived Tibetan mystic, held the office of Sorcerer Supreme before Strange. The holder is responsible for protecting Earth and the known universe from supernatural and magical threats. The role also keeps alternate dimensions, such as the Dark Dimension, from spilling into ours and causing cataclysmic mergers that would end life.

  In the 1980s the title was already shaky. The Master of the Mystic Arts series ended on a cliffhanger when a battle heavily damaged the Sanctum. Strange lost his entire collection of mystic books and other artifacts, which left him considerably weaker. Several protective spells against vampires and the serpent god Set expired. A new series, Strange Tales vol. 2, shared with the street heroes Cloak and Dagger from April 1987 to October 1988, resolved his quest to recover his power.

  In Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme #48-49, from December 1992 to January 1993, Strange lost the title outright. He had refused to fight a war on behalf of the Vishanti, the entities who empower his spells. He found new strength in chaos magic and a magic construct he used as a proxy. He regained the title in issue #80, cover-dated August 1995.

  The 2000s brought a deeper doubt. After the 2006 "Civil War" storyline, which he sat out, Strange joined the Illuminati and let the New Avengers use his home as a base. Doctor Doom then manipulated the Scarlet Witch into eliminating most of the mutant population, and Strange failed to recognize Doom's hand in it. He later used dark magic against an enraged Hulk and again to save the New Avengers from the Hood's army. Feeling unworthy, he renounced the title, and the Eye of Agamotto passed the mantle to Jericho Drumm.

  Drumm, now called Doctor Voodoo, sacrificed himself to stop Agamotto from reclaiming the Eye. A guilt-ridden Strange rejoined the New Avengers and offered Wong to act as their housekeeper. Strange relinquished the title in a 2009 storyline and reclaimed it in a 2012 story, after he proved willing to protect the world even without it.

  The office kept changing hands. During the "Blood Hunt" storyline, Doctor Doom took the position from Strange. He had been given part of Strange's power to disperse the Darkforce cloud and end a vampire invasion of Earth. A self-titled series set for December 2025 was to make the Scarlet Witch the next Sorcerer Supreme.

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• 8. Many Strange Selves

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  In one "What If?" story, Mordo heals Strange's hands with dark magic before he ever meets the Ancient One. Strange becomes Mordo's student and a disciple of Dormammu. Forced into a battle between Dormammu and the Ancient One, he rejects evil and helps banish the wicked sorcerer. In another, he never overhears the conversation that reveals the Ancient One, and Mordo becomes Sorcerer Supreme.

  The Ultimate Marvel universe offers two Stranges. Stephen Strange Sr. married his former student Clea, and they had a son. The son, Stephen Strange Jr., supports himself as a new-age guru to the rich and famous. The public calls him "Dr. Strange," though he holds no medical degree or doctorate. In Mutant X, Stephen Strange became Man-Thing. In the Larval zooniverse, the talking animal version is Croctor Strange, an anthropomorphic crocodile. In the Marvel Zombies universe, he is one of the last heroes to be turned.

  On screen, the character was first portrayed by Peter Hooten in the 1978 television film Dr. Strange, in which he was a psychiatrist. Another project, Doctor Mordrid, began as a Doctor Strange adaptation, but the studio's license expired before production began. The main character was renamed and his origin slightly altered. Jack Kirby worked on early concept art for it.

  Since 2016, Benedict Cumberbatch has played Stephen Strange in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That version is a successful, wealthy neurosurgeon who is injured in a car accident, travels the world for answers, and lands at Kamar-Taj to become a Master of the Mystic Arts. The comics noticed. In The Unbelievable Gwenpool #3, Strange learns that Cumberbatch has been cast to play him in Gwendolyn Poole's universe, where Marvel heroes are comic characters. He remarks that he "could see that." The next film listed for Cumberbatch's version is Avengers: Doomsday.

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