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The Death of Doctor Strange revealed how far the Sorcerer Supreme was willing to go to prepare for his potential demise and protect the world
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for The Death of Doctor Strange #1, available now from Marvel Comics.
Doctor Strange has stood firm as its foremost guardian against any and all malicious, mystical menaces that would do it harm. for decades. Unfortunately, that time has seemingly come to an end with The Death of Doctor Strange #1. However, Strange took certain precautions for this very happenstance, with an ultimate backup plan is right out of Batman’s playbook.
After an unexpected guest comes to knock on the front door of the Sanctum Sanctorum. Almost as soon as he has answered, Doctor Strange is viciously assaulted by an unseen assailant, and this life is taken with a dagger plunged deep into his chest in The Death of Doctor Strange #1 by Jed MacKay, Lee Garbett, Antonio Fabela and VC’s Cory Petit.
The end of Strange’s life is felt worldwide by those in tune with the supernatural, and his closest allies quickly gather around his corpse, unsure of what to do next. Without a Sorcerer Supreme safeguarding the world’s dimensional boundaries, the world is in tremendous peril. But in the midst of their mourning, a shining beacon of hope comes stepping through the door just when they need it most. As it turns out, Strange’s death seems to have summoned a younger version of Doctor Strange from his early days as a Master of the Mystic Arts.
This Doctor Strange hails from his earliest days, with the blue-and-yellow costume that he wore shortly after Stan Lee and Steve Ditko created him in 1963’s Strange Tales #110. That is all but confirmed when this Doctor Strange asks his stunned audience what year it is, making it perfectly clear that the Master of the Mystic Arts has gone to great lengths to ensure Earth’s protection. Inspired by the immortal Koschi the Deathless, a young Strange seems to have hidden some aspect of himself in a mind-bending astral plane to deal with the events surrounding his death.
While plenty of superheroes and teams have made plans for what should happen after their deaths, this particular plan has a lot in common with one of Batman who can famously handle almost anything that comes his way with enough prep time. Batman created the Batman of Zurr-En-Arrh, a back-up personality that was inspired by a zany Silver Age adventure. After his mind was compromised in 2008’s Batman #678, by Grant Morrison and Tony Daniel, this unhinged, violent Batman carried on teh Dark Knight’s mission while Bruce Wayne’s primary persona was out of commission.
While it’s not clear precisely where in the timeline this Doctor Strange hails from, his very existence as a precaution speaks volumes about how seriously the recently deceased hero took his job as Sorcerer Supreme. This action will likely strengthen the magic barriers that Strange’s presence was holding up. If anyone can bring Strange back to life, it would likely be the Master of the Mystic Arts himself.
But as this Strange says, time is of the essence, so he likely won’t be sticking around for long. In all likelihood, this Strange will just have enough time to figure out who killed his future self and help name his successor before returning to parts unknown.
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