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As Marvel’s Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Strange is one of the most powerful Avengers, but even he suffered humiliation at the hands of his worst enemy.
As a result of his sacred vow to protect the Earth from mystical threats, Doctor Strange has earned the ire of some very powerful foes over the years, including the demonic Mephisto and the supernatural gangster known as the Hood. However, none of these mystical menaces have been as persistent or as deadly as Dormammu, a being of pure dark magic that rules over the apply-named Dark Dimension and wants to add Earth to his empire.
Although Strange has managed to thwart Dormammu’s machinations time after time, there have been moments when the Dread One’s ruthless cunning has caught the Sorcerer Supreme off-guard. During one such encounter, the Lord of the Dark Dimension managed to seize control of the doctor’s body, forcing the sorcerer’s soul to take refuge in a thoroughly humiliating vessel to survive.
During their first encounter in Strange Tales #127′ (by Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, and Sam Rosen), Dormammu entered into a pact with Strange after the young sorcerer helped him reclaim control over his renegade servants, the Mindless Ones. Although this agreement prevents Dormammu from threatening the Earth as long as Strange is alive, the fairly vague nature of the pact has allowed the Lord of the Dark Dimension to resume his would-be conquest of Earth by exploiting loopholes in the wording of the contract. During an attempt that involved his servant Baron Mordo traveling back in time to World War II, Strange, with the help of Nick Fury and the Howling Commandos, managed to scatter Dormammu’s essence across space and time, seemingly destroying his old nemesis once and for all.
Dormammu managed to survive this ordeal, however, and his shattered essence lingered throughout the cosmos. Fortunately for Dormammu, Strange’s essence was similarly shattered after he allowed the Old One Shuma-Gorath to possess his body as part of a dangerous plan to destroy the eldritch abomination while it was trapped within a mortal body. During Dr. Strange’s long and exhausting recuperation, a piece of Dormammu’s essence attached itself to one of Strange’s, finding sanctuary in the darkness of the sorcerer’s soul. Already in a weakened state, Doctor Strange has no idea that Dormammu is inside of him until it’s too late.
Patiently waiting for the right time to strike, Dormammu makes his move in Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #1 (by Peter B. Gillis, Richard Case, Randy Emberlin, and Bob Sharen). After tricking an exhausted Strange into sending his astral form out into New York with an illusionary call for help, Dormammu takes control over his old rival’s body, leaving Strange trapped in his astral form. Having learned from experience that the doctor is too dangerous to leave alive, Dormammu attempts to capture his astral form with the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak. Forced to flee into the sewers, an exhausted and fading Strange is forced to take refuge in the body of a sewer rat.
Although Doctor Strange does manage to reclaim his body from Dormammu with the help of his long-time love interest and fellow sorcerer Cleo (who happens to be Dormammu’s niece), this humiliating encounter stands out as one of the lowest points in the Sorcerer Supreme’s career. Strange is one of the most powerful magic users in the Marvel Universe, having achieved complete mastery over almost every form of existing magic, to the point where he can wield ancient and dangerous artifacts like the Eye of Agamotto. Although Strange was admittedly in a state of physical and mental exhaustion thanks to his recent battles with Urthona and the Old Ones, the ease with which Dormammu tricked him is unsettling, to say the least.
Doctor Strange’s brief tenure as a rat is a chilling reminder of how easily the magic that the Sorcerer Supreme wields can be used against him. It also serves as a chilling example of Dormammu’s inexhaustible patience and persistence, as not even the complete disintegration of his essence could stand in the way of his ambition.
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