The Untold Truth Of Doctor Strange

Doctor Strange inhabits a unique place in the Marvel Universe. If it's accurate to call him a superhero, then he's a very specific kind of superhero: He doesn't patrol the city for muggers or bank robbers. He fights demons and warlords from other dimensions. He wrestles with the physical manifestations of otherwise abstract concepts, like Eternity and Death. In times when his popularity has diminished too much for the character to support a solo title, he's usually acted as the go-to guest appearance for mystical stories in otherwise magic-less titles — the magical consultant to the likes of Fantastic Four and Spider-Man.

Doctor Strange has left huge footprints on the cultural landscape, and he was doing it long before Benedict Cumberbatch signed any contracts with Marvel. He was a favored figure in the psychedelic and Steve Ditko's crazy extra-dimensional landscapes in "Strange Tales" were interpreted by some more as drug-aided perception than as mystical journeys. The sorcerer has been mentioned in numerous rock songs and inspired album covers. Considering that, it's downright strange (pun intended) to think that there have been times in between Steve Ditko's conception of the character and now that even some comics fans would respond to the name "Doctor Strange" with something like, "Doctor Who?" (again, pun intended)

Here's the untold truth of Doctor Strange.

In 1986, after six successful studio albums, Christian singer Amy Grant released a greatest hits compilation titled "The Collection."

Four years later, Jackson Guice decided Amy Grant could look a lot like a vampire. 

"Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme" #15 included the second part of a five-part story, "The Vampiric Verses." Jackson Guice's cover art for the issue included a red-tinted face that bore a striking similarity to the picture of Amy Grant gracing the cover of "The Collection." 

The similarity did not go unnoticed. Amy Grant's managers brought Marvel Comics to court soon afterwards. Their complaint cited the comic's connections to "witchcraft and the occult," and how associating Amy Grant with such a comic could do "irreparable injury" to her reputation among Christian fans. 

Marvel Comics and Amy Grant settled in 1991, and the settlement was sealed by the court. We don't know what was agreed or what, if any, damages were paid. However, if you look up "Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme" #15 on Marvel Unlimited or Comixology, you will find an empty, red background replacing Amy Grant's borrowed face.

In 2012, when the New York Post tried to interview Steve Ditko — co-creator of Spider-Man as well as Doctor Strange — he said very little. But according to The Post he did answer "No," when asked if he had ever received any money for any of the Spider-Man films that had been released up to that point. 

A later attempt at an interview may suggest either Ditko wasn't being completely honest, or he may have received money for another comic book character.

In 2016, Abraham Riesman staked out Steve Ditko's Manhattan studio, hoping to get an interview for Vulture even though the reclusive artist hadn't willingly given an interview since 1968. According to Riesman's story, he failed. The best he managed was to get Ditko to answer his studio door, which Ditko promptly shut again after shaking his head in what Riesman describes as "what I assume was disgust."

But before that, Riesman says he spoke to a number of other people with offices in the building. One unnamed woman told Riesman that about 10 years prior, she had mistakenly received a piece of Ditko's mail and had opened it before she realized it wasn't for her. She said that a check was in the envelope — a check from a movie studio — and that she realized it wasn't hers because it had "too many zeroes." She told Riesman when she gave the mail to Ditko, he took it and said nothing.

If the story is true, then it could mean an undisclosed agreement exists between Ditko and either Sony or Marvel Studios. And if Ditko was being honest about not receiving money for Spider-Man's films, there aren't a lot of other candidates beyond the Sorcerer Supreme. 

One of the first things we learn about Stephen Strange in the 2016 film is that he has an encyclopedic knowledge of modern music. It shouldn't be a surprise, since Doctor Strange has a long history of inspiring the world of rock. 

Perhaps the group most inspired by the Sorcerer Supreme — at least judging by the covers, the song titles, and the lyrics — is Pink Floyd, who used interior art from 1967's "Strange Tales" #158's "The Sands of Death" on the cover to their 1968 album "Saucerful of Secrets." Look closely and you can see both Doctor Strange and the Living Tribunal on the cover. They mention Strange by name in "Cymbaline" from "Soundtrack from the Film More" released the following year. 

On September 28, 2016, Benedict Cumberbatch strengthened the connection between his Marvel role and Pink Floyd when he sang "Comfortably Numb" onstage with David Gilmour.

It doesn't stop with Pink Floyd. T. Rex mentioned Doctor Strange in "Mambo Sun" on the 1971 album "Electric Warrior." In 1965, Jefferson Airplane, The Charlatans, the Great Society, and others appeared on a handbill for a concert they called "A Tribute to Doctor Strange."

But the prize for the most longform Doctor Strange tribute has to go to Al Stewart. Among Stewart's many albums are 1974's "Past, Present and the Future" and 1975's "Modern Times." The cover of the 1974 album shows Doctor Strange leaping into a portal. The cover of the 1975 album shows him appearing in a flash of light before a mansion.

Before Marvel's Netflix heroes took the name "The Defenders," there was a much different team with an ever-shifting line-up. But while the ranks of the team changed often, there were a few stalwarts who were almost always there, and for years Doctor Strange could be counted among them.

Ironically, while a '70s "Defenders" comic without Doctor Strange seemed almost unthinkable, the truth is Roy Thomas originally didn't want him for the team. 

Thomas wrote a two-part "Titans Three" story in "Sub-Mariner" with Namor the Sub-Mariner, Hulk, and the Silver Surfer. In a 2013 interview with Back Issue!, Thomas said he wanted the Titans Three line-up for "Defenders," but Stan Lee hadn't been thrilled with the "Sub-Mariner" story because he wanted to be the only person who wrote Silver Surfer. He suggested Thomas use Doctor Strange instead. 

That's precisely what Thomas did and in 1971's "Marvel Feature" #1, the world met the Defenders for the first time. Doctor Strange, though initially there as a substitute, would become as irreplaceable to the Defenders as Captain America was to the Avengers.

Apparently Lee's Surfer-exclusive edict didn't last too long because after two more issues of "Marvel Feature" and the first issue of "Defenders," Silver Surfer joined the team in "Defenders" #2.

In 1978, Universal released a television movie entitled "Dr. Strange" —n ote the abbreviation, unlike 2016's fully spelled out "Doctor."

The adaptation chose to depict Strange (Peter Hooten) as a psychiatrist, not a surgeon. However, it proved surprisingly faithful to its four-color predecessor in several other ways. Morgan Le Fay (Jessica Walter), Clea (Anne-Marie Martin), the Nameless One (voiced by David Hooks), and Wong (Clyde Kusatsu) all make key appearances.

The plot begins with Thomas Lindmer (Sir John Mills), a magic wielder who seems to be the Sorcerer Supreme. When he sees the return of Morgan Le Fay in his dreams, he knows he is not powerful enough to defeat her. Instead, he must pass his powers on to Strange. Demons, attempts at seduction, and a stubborn ring all come into play with only slightly above-average 1970s television special effects.

Stan Lee himself spoke fondly of the effort, telling Comics Features Magazine (via Fangoria) that it was the Marvel TV property he was most closely involved with during production. He compared the final product favorably to the "Incredible Hulk" TV series.

Doctor Strange has likely attended some super awkward and fairly dangerous family reunions in his time.

Why?

Well, it seems love makes us all do some strange (haha!) things. In Stephen's case, that meant marrying a woman whose family reviled him. In fact, after he tied the knot with Clea, he counted several beings who had tried to kill him multiple times amongst his new in-laws.

The most well-known of these, Dormammu, is Clea's uncle. While Clea often worked with Doctor Strange against her uncle's machinations, the Dark Dimension villain reserved his animosity predominantly for the Sorcerer Supreme. He held Clea captive sometimes, but he always tried to kill Strange.

That would make those Dark Dimension high holidays difficult enough, but the list of hateful in-laws doesn't stop there. Orini, Strange's father-in-law, was Dormammu's most fervent disciple. As a result, he too targeted the Sorcerer Supreme for death multiple times. It was only Orini's death at Dormammu's hands that story Orini from trying.

Finally, there is Umar, Strange's mother-in-law. She eventually softened on her son-in-law, mainly because any attempt to hurt him hurt her daughter as well. In this family, however, that seems to be as close as you can get to a warm welcome. Unfortunately, a lot of that almost goodwill is undone because Umar dates Baron Mordo. As can undoubtedly be guessed, Mordo would, of course, also like to kill Stephen Strange.

Doctor Strange made his Marvel Comics debut in July of 1963. As in the MCU film, he trained under The Ancient One, the then-Sorcerer Supreme. However, unlike in 2016's "Doctor Strange," the Ancient One lived past the conclusion of Stephen's training.

In fact, the Ancient One lived on for quite some time. It would be nearly a decade, almost to the month, before the Ancient One died in "Marvel Premiere" #10. Therefore, Strange spent nearly his first decade without the title that is his most common "nickname" now.

In a horrible bit of irony, Strange himself cast the killing blow. Unfortunately, the Doctor had no choice. Only by the Ancient One's Death could Shuma-Gorath — who may look familiar to "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" viewers — be banished from Earth.

Before Strange gained the title of Sorcerer Supreme through his mentor's tragic Death, Stephen went by both "Master of Black Magic" and "Master of the Mystic Arts."

As heroic as he is, Doctor Strange has a history of going bad in alternate worlds. Worse, when he does so, he tends to doom that world.

Audiences who've already seen "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" will recognize the Doctor Strange corrupted by the Darkhold as a prime example of this. By using that cursed book, he rendered his world a lifeless husk. Worse, it is unraveling in slow motion, pieces of buildings or cars splitting off from the whole to be sucked into a swirling black void.

Before that, "What If...?" on Disney+ showed a Strange who became so overzealous in his attempts to prevent Christine Palmer's death that he lost himself. The Watcher had no choice but to seal the ravaged world in a protective bubble and strand Strange there as the one person overseeing it, keeping a handle on its possible devastating power.

The comics, however, have been doing it for years. There was the Doctor Strange of Earth-10011, seen primarily in 2010's "Thanos Imperative" series. He fell under the sway of a being known as the Many-Angled Ones. Corrupted by this living nightmare, Strange helped that Earth's Mar-Vell destroy Death and attempt to spread their realm to other Earths. On Counter-Earth, Doctor Strange seemed mostly like 616's Strange. However, after killing Baron Mordo, he changed. He donned a mask, began to call himself the Necromancer, and eventually destroyed his own Earth while trying to conquer it.

It turns out years of wielding incalculable power and transferring all manner of energy through his body had some unexpected consequences for Doctor Strange. Amongst them is that it completely remade his digestive system.

Now the Sorcerer Supreme's insides are unrecognizable compared to that of the average human being. As a result, his extravagant surf and turf dinners and comfort snacking days are long gone. Instead, Stephen needs something decidedly less pleasant to fuel him.

His meals now consist of the disgusting and dangerous. Rotten food, poisonous plants, and creatures no one else would ever consider eating fill his plate. Additionally, as he warns one guest, his manner of eating is equally unpleasant. Evidently, with the new diet comes a sacrificing of many, if not most, table manners.

Even worse than the look and smell of these meals is the reality that even they aren't enough. Doctor Strange needs to eat these things to continue to be the Sorcerer Supreme. However, every morsel takes its toll on him. He's eating to stay alive and stay a hero, but the diet will almost certainly destroy him over time. There is no solution for Strange that doesn't see him unraveled by the damage his vocation has wrought on his internal organs.