Doctor Strange

"By the power of Agamotto!"

- Dr. Strange

Doctor Strange is one of the many heroes of Marvel Comics and the feature hero of his own series Dr. Strange as well as a regular part of The Defenders. Unlike most heroes Doctor Strange deals with universe threatening events rather than petty crimes or even world threats. He is titled the Sorcerer Supreme, a title which comes with the duty of protecting the universe against invading forces of evil from other realms. Doctor Strange was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.

Origin
Stephen Strange was originally a surgeon in Boston New York. He was considered a world class surgeon and known for his skill as a life saver. Strange's services did not come cheap meaning he worked exclusively for rich patients. With his fame and skill Strange developed a massive ego that made him rather difficult to work with for other doctors and hospital staff, he was tolerated almost exclusively because of the revenue he brought to his hospital for patients willing to pay top dollar for his help. One day Strange was involved in freak auto accident. A trip to the hospital manged to save his life however glass from the crash had damaged his hands' nerves and the injury prevented him from using his skills as a surgeon.

Strange was particularly bitter not only from losing his trade but because he considered the surgery he got to be butchery compared to what he could have done. The fact that Doctor Strange could not operate on himself and suffered because of it was a particularly bitter irony for him. Though he was offered a generous pension from his hospital and a spot on the staff as a consultant his pride would not allow him to accept it and he went on an indefinite sabbatical. Strange spent his remaining money trying to find doctors as good as himself to cure him however all such pursuits only succeeded in diminishing his funds until he was boarder-line broke and because of his previous treatment of his colleagues he had no one to turn to for help.

One day Strange heard tell of a mystic who lived in the mountains of Tibet as a hermit. The hermit was referred to as 'the Ancient One'. The tales went that the Ancient One had preformed many miracle cures of fatal and otherwise irreversible conditions. After checking around Strange became convinced that such a person did in fact exists, however those with tales to tell of their experiences stated they had gone through much hardship to find him and were not allowed to be told where precisely in Tibet he was. Strange spent his remaining money on a plane ticket to Tibet to the mountain range said to be home to the Ancient One's sanctuary and wandered for weeks in the harsh snows. Though he eventually ran out of rations and supplies Strange was prepared to die in the snow looking rather than go back to civilization a broken man. On the last of his strength Strange found the monastery and made his way inside.

Strange was initially turned away by a man called Mordo who was the apprentice to the Ancient One. Strange pleaded to be allowed to see the Ancient One however Mordo had no sympathy for Strange and bayed him leave, however the Ancient One felt the presence of Strange and sent word to Mordo to allow the visitor in. Strange started by saying that he had heard the Ancient One was a miracle healer but before he could continue the Ancient One finished his story for by reading Stange's mind much to the doctor's astonishment. The Ancient One told Strange he would consider teaching him how to cure himself but to do so would require Strange to serve him and Mordo in the monastery as a man-servant. Strange while hesitant to lower himself to such a level was desperate to be cured and agreed.

Shortly after agreeing to become a man-servant to the Ancient One and Mordo Strange overheard Mordo practicing a spell and plotting to kill the Ancient One to acquire his power and title for himself. Strange though some-what resentful of the Ancient One for reducing him to a man-servant still did not want him dead and tried to report Mordo to the Ancient One, however Mordo had seen Strange and quickly cursed him robbing Strange of his ability to speak.

Strange still tried to warn the Ancient One of Mordo's plot but found himself unable too. Going before the Ancient One and unable to speak Mordo claimed Strange was mad and dumbstruck as he causally slipped passed him and got ready to strike the Ancient One while Strange's frantic yet silent gestures held the his attention. Much to both Mordo and Strange's surprise though the Ancient quickly layed the same curse of silence upon Mordo preventing him from using his spell and quickly used his own magics to discipline Mordo. The Ancient One revealed he had known for some time Mordo's murderous intentions and he had accepted Strange to see if he would make a good disciple to replace Mordo. By attempting to stop Mordo even with the risk it posed to him Strange had proven trustworthy and noble just as Mordo's betrayal had proven him ambitious and treacherous.

Mordo was outraged at being out played by his master and that a normal man was to be given training on par with his but with a wave of his hand Mordo was banished from the monastery by the Ancient One and the curse upon Strange was lifted allowing him to speak once again. As of that day Strange was trained to replace Mordo as the Ancient One's apprentice. Long after receiving the training to psychically repair his own hands doctor Strange stayed to learn the ways of the mystical arts as the Ancient One's devoted disciple.

Sorcerer Supreme
The Ancient One would eventually reveal that Strange was being trained as his replacement and his death was drawing nearer and nearer by the day. Though Strange did not look forward to his master's death he knew his duty was to honor him by taking up his title as Sorcerer Supreme upon his death. Strange had fallen in love with an extra-dimensional sorceress named Clea, however Clea was the niece of a powerful reality conquering tyrant called Dormammu. Clea was just as opposed against Dormammu as Doctor Strange and the Ancient One but the Ancient One insisted that Strange break off his relationship with her that Dormammu would certainly use her as a link to get to Strange.

When Dr. Strange refused to stop seeing Clea The Ancient One warned him that as long as he continued to fraternize with Clea he was not welcomed to continue his training as Sorcerer Supreme, a condition Strange was prepared to accept and bid his master farewell. As the Ancient One had warned Clea was used against her will as a pawn for several schemes by Dormammu to allow him back doors into the universe to seize it as his own but Dr. Strange foiled them one by one. After saving Clea from the prison of her mother Umar, Dormammu's sister, he brought her back to his realm, however The Ancient One was waiting for them and immediately bound his apprentice and banished Clea back to her universe.

The Ancient One knew his death was nearing and could no longer allow Strange to wait to figure out the danger of having Clea around and so he separated the two himself. Strange was outraged at the separation, however after the Ancient One's death he was left with no choice but to take up his master's title. Strange and Clea both loved each-other however Clea refused to return to Strange's universe agreeing that her presence would only serve to endanger Stephen and despite her love for him broke up with him. Strange would remain bitter and depressed for years about losing Clea but eventually re-devoted himself to his work protecting the cosmos.

Threats
Strange's main enemy has always been Dormammu who rules over the Dark Dimension and seeks to absorb all other dimensions into his own. Dormammu would take on as his emissary Mordo, re-tilting himself 'Baron Mordo' as Dormammu's harbinger. Baron Mordo and Doctor Strange have fought together many times as rivals with the same training for the fate of the universe with Mordo's victories pivotal to his master's schemes. In addition to Mordo and Dormammu, Umar has masterminded many schemes against the Doctor, some in conjunction with her brother, others for her own personal ambitions or spite.

The extra-dimensional horror known as Shuma-Gorath was an entity banished by an ancient sage called Sise-Neg and kept at bay by the Ancient One from devouring reality and throwing magic out of balance on a cosmic level and so once the Ancient One died Shuma-Gorath renewed his efforts with Doctor Strange left to carry on the fight against the creature. Doctor Strange joined forces with the Defenders, a group devoted to protecting the planet and universe from the forces of evil. Among the Defenders Doctor Strange was considered one of the most active members but as such lesser villains like Galactus and Ultron were also made into threats he had to deal with.

Strange occasionally fights street thugs, bank robbers and lesser super-villains such as the Kingpin or Magneto however he considers such fights to be little more than quaint distractions and usually leaves them to other superheroes such as Spiderman or the X-Men.

Allies
As stated Strange and Clea are very close and he keeps up to date of Clea's efforts in the Dark Dimension to fight Dormammu. Strange was assisted by another monk mystic named Wong, who was a skilled martial artists and sage. Since Wong's mystical arts were only rudimentary compared to Strange he served more as a bodyguard than peer magician and helped maintain Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum as a sort of live-in butler. Wong was also key for helping set up rituals and protecting Doctor Strange's body whenever he was astrally projecting.

As a member of the Defenders, Doctor Strange is friends with other Defenders such as The Silver Surfer, Daredevil, Nick Fury and the Hulk. Strange is also close friends with The Immortal Iron Fist, Spider-Man and the Scarlet Witch. Though he occasionally fills in for the Avengers he considers any task less than world shattering as being best left to local heroes.

Doctor Strange and Namor, the Sub-Mariner are vitriolic best friends. Namor first met Strange after being possessed by him and has been soured to him ever-since, Strange on the other-hand saw the experience as nothing personal; the two snipe back and forth at each-other regularly however this does not affect their trust in each other and the two are very close.

Powers
Strange knows every spell native to his own dimension and several that go beyond it. His powers while great are not inexhaustible and draw on his own spiritual energy, which can be depleted if overused. When pushed to the brink of his own limits Strange invokes the Eye of Agamotto, a medallion passed from one Sorcerer Supreme to the next. With the Eye of Agamotto Strange's power is limitless however since abusing such forces can lead to attracting all manner of creatures to his reality Strange makes sure not to use the Eye unless needed for an important matter. Strange can use psychic powers such as telekinesis, telepathy or mesmerism without depleting his powers and without any help of the Eye of Agamotto.

Upon meditating Doctor Strange can leave his own body and astrally project across the globe, to other planes of existence, enter the minds or bodies of others or even travel through time. While astral-projecting Strange's motionless body is protected by several mystical barriers and wards to prevent his body from being psychically or mystically ravaged such as being possessed by anyone other than Strange himself however in such a state it is prone helpless to physical threats unless he returns to it.

Strange's power can be made to be used for nearly anything such as time-travel, exorcisms, energy projection, flight or transformation and the limits of them are only tested when going up against beings of similar or greater spiritual strength that might exhaust them. In his capacity as Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Strange has a sixth sense that alerts him if reality is tampered with or a creature from beyond claws it's way into the universe and he is made aware of the issue even if he is not specifically looking for it. Due to witnessing many other misuse their powers and seeing overuse of magic lead to karmic consequences, Strange has made a habit of trying to use his powers in creative and innovated ways. Strange is less likely to defeats a foe through shear power than to do so through exploitation of fundamental principals of reality. Aside from poking holes in the laws of physics Strange is also prone using psychology to talk his foes into submission, most famously he made Galactus realize the weight of all those on the planets he had eaten.

Quotes
"Yes but everyone on earth will live. Pain is an old friend."

- Doctor Strange facing Dormammu in the Doctor Strange movie

"A true Defender never raises arms against an innocent, no matter how much they threaten you--"

- Doctor Strange

"We shall have no violence here is that clear."

- Doctor Strange