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In Savage Avengers, Doctor Strange has just discovered why one of his darkest enemies is absolutely essential to the overall Marvel Universe.
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Savage Avengers #23, available now from Marvel Comics.
The quest to stop the evil sorcerer Kulan Gath has led the Savage Avengers to nearly every corner of the globe, and so far they haven’t been able to turn up anything of much use. Even Conan’s recent trek through time turned up nothing useful, and now he has gone to visit Doctor Strange to discuss the matter. Strange, however, is busy meeting with his old nemesis Shuma-Gorath in the hopes of finding an answer to the current predicament. While he doesn’t learn anything particularly new about Kulan Gath, Doctor Strange has finally had an eye opening moment regarding his Eldritch enemy’s place in the universe in Savage Avengers #23 (by Gerry Duggan, Patch Zircher, Java Tartaglia and VC’s Travis Lanham).
While Conan has been neck deep in living nightmares alongside Ghost Rider, Doctor Strange has been wracking his brain to come up with a way of tracking Kulan Gath. Unfortunately, the evil sorcerer of the Hyborian Age has made himself completely invisible to all of Strange’s methods, forcing the Sorcerer Supreme to look to odd bedfellows for help. Shuma-Gorath is one of the last beings that Doctor Strange would turn to for help, but with the end of all things becoming more of a possibility every day there is no time to hesitate. Strange already knew that Kulan Gath had turned his attention towards Shuma, and as the Eldritch God appears to be on his proverbial last legs, the Sorcerer Supreme finally realizes just how important his classic foe is in the grander scheme of things.
When Shuma-Gorath first appeared in 1973’s Marvel Premiere #10 (by Steve Englehart and Frank Brunner), the unusual being proved to be a far greater threat than Doctor Strange was prepared for at the time. The ensuing confrontation cost Strange’s mentor, the Ancient One, his life, and granted the then young mage the chance to ascend to the rank of Sorcerer Supreme. Shuma-Gorath was responsible for the death of Kulan Gath as well in 1992’s Conan the Barbarian #260( by Roy Thomas and Mike Docherty). Kulan Gath had summoned Shuma-Gorath successfully alongside the witch Vammatar, but Gorath turned on both magic-users, incinerating them.
As Shuma-Gorath sits on the brink of death in Savage Avengers, Strange realizes that although Gorath is an embodiment of chaos and madness he is also one of the Multiverse’s apex predators, and with the elimination of the powerful entity, an entire rung of the mystical food chain has been removed.
Although much about Shuma-Gorath can be described as “evil,” the mystical creature is likely necessary for the natural order of the greater Multiverse to continue. There are all manner of nefarious forces that would undo reality itself, and beings like Shuma-Gorath have long been the floodgate between those other entities and total annihilation.
Although there is always the possibility that Shuma-Gorath can be resurrected in some form, that doesn’t appear to be likely considering the state he was in before he was mercifully put out of his misery. However, as it currently stands, Doctor Strange is responsible for creating a terrible power vacuum that may take all hell to fill…literally.
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