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Enemies
Dark Dimension and Associates
Dormammu
First Appearance: Strange Tales #126 (August, 1964)
"Quote 1 Ego is gone! I wear his shell like the skin of a snake! Know me—For I am Dormammu! He who comes from the outer dark! He who has waited eternities to possess your frail universe! Look upon my visage and know fear! Hear my words in your soul and feel it crumble! I scream blood and murder at your weak stars! And my screams are the armies of Hell!"
Dormammu is a member of the extradimensional race known as the Faltine, and with his sister Umar was exiled for craving matter and killing their "father" Sinifer, who spawned them. Through treachery and guile, Dormammu took control of the Dark Dimension and began to cultivate worship of himself across several universes and conquering several others, which he merged with the Dark Dimension to increase his power as he is strongest there. He is responsible for the creation of Sataanish and other Hell Lords and is the power behind several demons, sorcerers and other magical villains.
The classic Marvel Dimension Lord, Dormammu is a powerful Evil Sorceror and one of the most feared and terrible entities in the universe. Wielder of truly godlike power, either a demon or something even worse, The Dread One has worked for unknown ages towards making our reality his own. He has fought Earth's Sorcerers Supreme since the days of Agamotto, but holds a particular enmity for Strange, who considers him his Arch-Enemy and will do anything to defeat him.
- Achilles' Heel: His arrogance and lack of frustration tolerance. He's far above Strange power-wise on a bad day, but Strange has had many victories just by appealing to his ego to get him to put himself in a disadvantageous position, and successfully opposing his plans hard enough and creating enough roadblocks for him is guaranteed to get him to abandon his scheme in a rage when he could have easily accounted for them had he had a little patience and tolerance for setbacks.
- Arch-Enemy: While Mordo was probably this originally, Strange eclipsed him a long time ago and Dormammu was in most senses his master anyway. The war between Strange and the Dread One is much more personal, and Dormammu is a much more formidable foe.
- Ax-Crazy: Dormammu is a bloodthirsty sadist who seeks to torture and kill for his own sick amusement.
- Black Magic: His name can be invoked by sorcerers wishing to utilise his power. In the early days Strange himself used to do this, until he found out exactly who and what he was calling upon.
- Big Bad: The main one for the whole franchise.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Dormammu is a Faltinian, from a dimension where matter does not naturally exist, and exotic energies are the equivalent of money and status symbols. He and his "co-progeny" Umar were shunned for "lusting after matter," as repulsive to Faltinians as, say, necrophilia, pedophilia and bestiality combined would be to humans. Faltinians also reproduce by fission, and find the very concepts of copulation and sexual reproduction unspeakably obscene. Dormammu shares this attitude to a degree, while Umar definitely does not (she's had a child by conventional biological means - her younger daughter was conceived by more traditional Faltine means - and has abducted the Hulk at least twice for what amounted to a booty call).
- The Chessmaster: Through his clever planning, Dormammu proves to be Strange's equal in every encounter.
- Classic Villain: A combination of Pride and Ambition.
- Conservation of Ninjutsu: Tends to work in his favor. Dormammu tends to be more of a threat if Strange has back up and more likely to screw up if Strange is on his own.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Has dished out this to Doctor Strange and entire superhero teams.
- Dark Is Evil: He has a dark appearance that fits his personality.
- Deadpan Snarker: He has his moments. His arguments with Umar tend to result in Snark-to-Snark Combat as well.
- Deal with the Devil: Frequently makes these. They tend to end very poorly for his client if they aren't savvy enough to anticipate him screwing them over.
- Demonic Possession: Briefly took over The Hood's body, until the New Avengers exorcised him out. He also does this to one of his followers once a year when he and Strange have a truce day of sorts, which inevitably burns them out. He finds this particularly amusing, since Strange can't exorcise him without their consent, and he's killing people when Strange can't stop him. This comes back to bite him in the 2023 series when Strange brings up his lengthy list of defeats at Strange's hands, shaking the follower's faith in him, and then lobs a coin of Mysterium at him, to beat Dormammu again.
- Dimension Lord: Of the Dark Dimension. This also makes him a Multiversal Conqueror, as other universes have been annexed and mystically merged with it.
- The Dreaded: He's even known as Dread Dormammu, or simply The Dread One.
- Dystopia Justifies the Means: His goal is to take over every universe and turn life and afterlife into a neverending torture camp. Fortunately he rarely comes close to achieving that ambition.
- Eldritch Abomination: Sometimes he’s described as a demon but other times he’s something else entirely. His people, the Faltinians are this without question. Extra-dimensional beings of pure magic from an ancient and dense universe who can defy the laws of physics and consume energy instead of matter.
- Eldritch Location: The Dark Dimension. Or as it’s sometimes called, Hell.
- Evil Counterpart:
- Like Strange, Dormammu is a sorcerer first and foremost, though a much more powerful one who can rely on his natural magical energy. More importantly, Dormammu's greatest flaw is his Pride, which is what Strange had to overcome to get the help and tutorship of the Ancient One. Though Strange was never as psychopathic as the Lord of Darkness, he was every bit as arrogant.
- He is also often compared to Odin, the All-Father of Asgard, and is usually portrayed as at least as powerful as he is. Whether he is less or much more is Depending on the Writer, but if Strange is not opposing Dormammu, Odin probably is.
- Eviler than Thou: Pulls this on Umar whenever he takes the Dark Dimension back from her. He also once pulled it on Mephisto.
- Evil Sorceror: A villain who uses magic.
- Flaming Hair: Or rather, a flaming crown, that encompasses his entire head.
- God-Emperor: He rules universes like a deity.
- God of Evil: The God of the dark dimension.
- The Heavy: Of most series he is in being Doctor Strange’s most prominent foe.
- Hero Killer: Strange considers Dormammu his most dangerous enemy, and the Dreaded One has nearly taken over our universe. Bonus points for when Dormammu once went into the future and actually succeeded in killing that timeline's Doctor Strange.
- Humanoid Abomination: Despite being a godlike Eldritch Abomination, his default form is his picture.
- I Have Many Names: The Dread One, The Black One, The Great Enigma, Eater of Souls, Lord of Darkness, Lord of the Dark Dimension.
- Immortal Immaturity: It's more subtle compared to some of the other examples in the Marvel Universe, but his total lack of frustration tolerance and tendency to abandon plans and schemes in a rage whenever a minor roadblock that he didn't account for or bet wrong on occurs makes him come off as a surly child throwing a tantrum because they didn't get their way.
- Joker Immunity: Dormammu has seemingly been destroyed more than once, but it never sticks. Even scattering his essence across different dimensions isn't enough to get rid of him.
- Knight of Cerebus: The Ur-Example for Doctor Strange's stories. Before him, the villains could be beaten in a single issue. Then he showed up, and provided the first threat that required a multiple issue storyline to defeat.
- Kung-Fu Wizard: Like Strange, he is a highly-trained fighter and is willing to engage in hand-to-hand combat. Strange has often managed to defeat him by playing on his ego and goading him into trying to win by killing Strange with his own hands rather than annihilating him with overwhelming power.
- Like a God to Me: Worshipped as God within the Dark Dimension and as a deity in thousands of others. Within the Dark Dimension he is virtually unstoppable.
- The Man Behind the Man: He is the power behind Sataanish and many other Hell Lords, and is frequently the patron of Baron Mordo and several other troublemakers. Was also this to The Hood.
- Oh, Crap!: Has had some instances of it. Once he tried to beg Magik to spare him, when he realized that she had absorbed the entirety of Limbo into herself to get rid of him.
- More recently, he had sold out Shuma-Gorath's location to the Empirikul cult so that they would spare his dimension. Later on Dr. Strange teleported Dormammu to a wounded, but still alive and very angry Shuma-Gorath.
- Only One Name: He is Dormammu, without surnames. Though his son Doyle takes "Dormammu" as a surname.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: If he is openly fearful of something or is willing to team up with you against a threat, then you know that the situation is dire, as Zom and Shuma-Gorath have both demonstrated.
- Order Versus Chaos: Was once chosen to represent Chaos in a game of cosmic chess against Odin, who represented Order. Though, in every other sense that was more of a straight-up battle between Good and Evil.
- Out-of-Character Alert: Some of Strange's opponents tried to distract him with illusions of Dormammu, which Stephen could recognize for saying things out of character for the Dread One, like calling Umar his brother. Shuma-Gorath committed an especially spectacular blunder at it - his illusion said Dormammu is here to reclaim the title of Strange's greatest enemy, which Shuma-Gorath took from him. Strange knew the real Dormammu would never admit being second to anyone at anything.
- Physical God: He is essentially this.
- Pride: His weakness, and one Strange is happy to exploit.
- Pure Magic Being: His essence. He is not really a physical entity.
- Reality Warper: At times, he has been shown to be capable of this on a universal or even multiversal scale.
- Sadist: This is showcased very well by his act of twisting the Dark Dimension into a never-ending hell where not even death is an escape, along with his desire to aggressively expand his sphere of influence into other realities.
- Smug Snake: A rare case of the trope overlapping with Smug Super. He is an extremely powerful and intelligent demonic entity who is more than capable of holding his own against Doctor Strange and other Marvel heroes and has diabolical plans that stretch across multiple dimensions and countless millennia... and they all tend to be beaten, because he is just that arrogant and can't deal with things not working out exactly like he wanted them to. The ease with which his pride and sense of overwhelming superiority can be used to trick him into doing things that are definitely not in his best interests helps him even less.
- Sorcerous Overlord: A dark sorcerer ruling many worlds.
- Unlimited Wardrobe: His look is more consistent nowadays, but in the beginning, Ditko drew him in a different costume every time he appeared.
Orini
First Appearance: Strange Tales #126 (August, 1964)
Orini was one of Dormammu's closest disciples. Many years ago when Orini was a young man he met and was seduced by Umar. Six cycles later she gave birth to their daughter Clea, and since she refused to acknowledge her she gave Orini the child to be raised, and Orini in turn never told Clea who her mother was. Orini rose in rank and was regarded as Dormammu's best disciple so Clea was treated as a princess. Orini was the one to alert Dormammu when Dr. Strange entered the Dark Dimension the first time. After Clea met Dr. Strange and left with him, Orini's status was diminished. Nevertheless, Orini served Dormammu faithfully even to the point of almost killing his daughter.
- Bald of Evil: He's completely bald and disciple to one of the most evil foes of Dr. Strange.
- Beard of Evil: Has grown a white beard.
- Cool Mask: Wears a triangle-shaped mask.
- Offing the Offspring: Tried to kill his daughter Clea under orders from Dormammu.
Umar
First Appearance: Strange Tales #150 (August, 1966)
Mother of Clea and twin sister of Dormammu, Umar is a Faltine trapped in humanoid form after giving birth to her daughter, a fact that left her enraged because it meant she would always be weaker than her brother. She varies between allying with the Dread One and scheming to take over his realm, and has occassionally succeeded though he usually ends up taking it back. Though not quite as evil or strong, Umar has displayed greater patience and guile and thus has proven to be just as big a threat to Strange and the universe as her dreaded sibling.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: She's the sister to Dormammu the ruler the Dark Dimension. The two of them hate each other and are constantly vying for power, and thankfully they are never able to work together for very long because that's the only thing that stops their plans to take over our universe when they do.
- Black Comedy Rape:
- The Hulk couldn't last five minutes with her, but seemingly it was the best sex he had had in a long time, because no much how much she tortured Bruce Banner he remained too calm to transform back into the Hulk. Umar was furious.
- In a later storyline she abducted Hulk again when he was in full Worldbreaker mode. This time they were both satisfied.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Umar and Dormammu are Faltinians, from a dimension where matter does not naturally exist, and exotic energies are the equivalent of money and status symbols. They were shunned for "lusting after matter," and killed their sire by turning him/her/it into cold, dead matter - the worst crime of which their people could even conceive. Umar's forays into sex, sexual reproduction, seduction and hedonism place her further along this scale than Dormammu, who found the words "mother," "father," and "grandfather" almost unspeakably obscene (he was pretending to be another Faltinian at the time, but he notably avoids mentioning Umar's daughter as such even as himself).
- Cool Crown: When she rules the Dark Dimension her head goes on fire like her brother's.
- Deadpan Snarker: She likes to snark.
- Deliver Us from Evil: Sadly averted. Giving birth to Clea caused her to be trapped in her humanoid form, and as a result she flew into a blind rage.
- Dimension Lord: Even when she isn't ruler of the Dark Dimension, Dormammu usually just sticks her in a pocket universe where she still holds absolute power, thus meeting the criteria for this trope.
- Eldritch Abomination: She would most likely look very similar to her brother, but now she's trapped in human form.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: During a brief period where Stephen was dead, Clea took up the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme. Umar thought it was a power play, much to Clea's irritation.
- Evil Matriarch: Of the Dark Dimension.
- God Save Us from the Queen!: When she rules the Dark Dimension.
- Humanoid Abomination: She seems human, but isn't.
- Lady of Black Magic: A Pure Magic Being in a beautiful human form with powerful magic of the Dark Dimension.
- Only One Name: She is Umar, without surnames.
- Pet the Dog: She does care for her daughters, if only a little - she sees Clea as a disappointment for what she perceives to be her lack of ambition, but does want her to succeed (by her own warped standards) and quietly asks, not demands, asks Strange to retrieve her infant daughter from General Strange.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Let's just say she has a really nice human form to be stuck in. This contrasts with her daughter Clea's white hair.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Dormammu's Red, insofar as she tends to be more deceitful and cerebral in her evil ways. This is partly because just she is stuck in a humanoid form though and is thus weaker than she should be, and she can still be really hot-tempered if pushed enough.
- Rogues' Gallery Transplant: Started off as a Doctor Strange villain, and still serves as his enemy, but started appearing repeatedly in the Hulk's comic when she developed her Villainous Crush.
- Shapeshifter Mode Lock: She's a Pure Magic Being locked into a physical shape.
- Sibling Rivalry: Doesn't really get along with her brother.
- Statuesque Stunner: She officially stands at 5'11"/180cm tall.
- Vain Sorceress: Non-human version.
- Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: A being even Nightmare considers a bit on the... extreme side finds the Hulk attractive and his relationship with Red She-Hulk "cute".
Other Sorcerers
Adria the Witch
First Appearance: Strange Tales #141 (November, 1965)
" How truly pleased Mordo will be with the triumph of his loyal deputy! But, if I can fathom the secret of Dr. Strange's amulet, I shall not need Mordo's good will! My power would then be far greater than his!"
A powerful witch and lieutenant of Baron Mordo. Along with Kaecilius, she sought revenge on Doctor Strange for defeating and imprisoning her master.
- Aborted Arc: Her desire for revenge against Strange seemed to be building towards another confrontation, but she vanished off panel between issues.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Despite making several major appearances in his first series, she hasn't appeared in a Doctor Strange comic since the 1970's, only making a brief appearance in a one-shot a few decades later.
- Dark Action Girl: A witch whose powerful, but not good.
- Demoted to Extra: In The Film of the Book she is merely one of Kaeilius's followers, while in the comics she was a powerful witch in her own right and managed to almost defeat Doctor Strange on her own.
- Hot Witch: Very buxom.
- High Collar of Doom: Her original outfit, while also being a Pimped-Out Dress.
- It's Personal: Wants Strange dead for imprisoning her master.
- Lady of Black Magic: A black magician who favours elegant gowns and dresses.
- Mauve Shirt: Had some personality before she vanishes off panel.
- Most Common Superpower: Very buxom.
- Sexy Backless Outfit: Wears on in her one modern appearance.
Aggamon
First Appearance: Strange Tales #119 (January, 1964)
Sorcerer Supreme of the Purple Dimension.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: He has green skin.
- The Bus Came Back: After not being seen in years he reappears during The Death of Doctor Strange.
- Sorcerous Overlord: For at least a millennium Aggamon has ruled the Purple Dimension, from which he tricks natives of other dimensions into entering his realm and forces them into slavery in his mystic gem mines.
Astrid Mordo
First Appearance: Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #86 (December, 1995)
"...He's here. The chosen one. The great Doctor Strange. Pure of heart. Noble of intention. He's here — at long last — to writhe... and spasm... and die - at Baron Mordo's feet."
The daughter of Baron Mordo, Astrid once used her magical abilities to mystically transfer her father's cancer into the body of Dr. Strange.
- Daddy's Little Villain: To Baron Mordo. Tragically, he was trying to atone for a life of wrongdoing just as she was finding her stride as an evil sorceress.
- Forehead of Doom: Her forehead is rather prominent, especially noticeable thanks to her hairstyle.
- Secondary Color Nemesis: Like her father, she dresses mostly in dark green.
Azrael
AKA: Lord Julian Phyffe
First Appearance: Doctor Strange'' (Vol. 2) #9 (May, 1975)
A powerful magician and old ally of Doctor Strange who eventually betrayed him. He was the scion of a line of wizards stretching back to the time of Cromwell. After his death in a car crash caused by Doctor Strange, Lord Phyffe was raised back from the dead by Baron Mordo as Azrael.
- Face–Heel Turn: An old ally of Doctor Strange who eventually betrayed him.
- Rapid Aging: As Azrael he can cause anything he touches to age rapidly.
Baron Mordo
AKA: Karl Amadeus Mordo
First Appearance: Strange Tales #111 (May, 1963)
"Only one man knows more secrets of black magic than I do! And he is the one who taught me years ago —- he is the master!! But the time has come for me to wrest those secrets from him! For it is I, Baron Mordo, who must be the most powerful magician of all!"
The treacherous apprentice of the Ancient One before Strange took his place, Baron Karl Amadeus Mordo has plagued the Sorcerer Supreme several times in his quest for revenge and power. He often allies himself with more powerful demonic entities, frequently Umar or Dormammu, and tends to rely on Mind Control and illusions to further his evil schemes.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: Baron Mordo. It's in the title.
- Arch-Enemy: One of Strange's biggest enemies and certainly one of the most personal.
- Back from the Dead: Twice, most recently thanks to Dormammu.
- Bad Boss: He's not a great employer. He may well kill minions for screwing up, and in a pinch will leave them behind to die.
- Bait the Dog: He played on Sara Wolfe's interest in him (after a brief Pet the Dog moment), only to betray her trust as soon as he got the chance.
- Beard of Evil: Has a goatee and is a well known enemy of Dr. Strange.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: When Baron Mordo first teams up with Dormammu, this is what he thinks has happened...but as Dormammu constantly reminds him, what actually happens is that Mordo is Demoted to Dragon. Mordo resists the idea at first, but eventually gives in, calling Dormammu master and trying to keep favor with him.
- Black Magic: His bread and butter. He often uses this against Doctor Strange.
- Boxing Lessons for Superman: While not by any stretch of imagination heroic. He did learn some martial techniques from training with the monks. It's just never brought up at all.
- Dark Lord on Life Support: At one point, Mordo contracted cancer and needs an oxygen tank. He captures Monet St. Croix's father in order to lead her to a trap and then drain her so his body can fight back the cancer.
- Deal with the Devil: Frequently, almost always biting him in the ass. More recently he's made one with Dormammu in order to both come back and have magic to use after the Imperikrul wiped it all out.
- Death Equals Redemption: In one story arc he died of cancer, redeeming himself somewhat in the process. Strange mourned for him. This being a comic book universe, it wasn't permanent.
- Deceptive Disciple: To the Ancient One.
- Driven by Envy
- Enemy Mine: Sort of, during his appearance in X-Factor vol 3. He works with the team during the Second Coming crossover to fight off the MRD, mainly because the MRD attacked him (figuring that while he wasn't a mutant, he was a threat).
- Evil Counterpart: To Strange. An extremely talented sorcerer, with his pride and arrogance rivaling that of Strange. The twist being that while Doctor Strange learning humility and morality lead him to be a better sorcerer, Baron Mordo hasn't.
- Evil Sorcerer: The original one Strange fought.
- Evil Versus Oblivion: Since he wants to rule the world, he'll step up to help save it from destruction.. on occasion.
- Expy: As Strange started off as one to Erasmus Craven, so too did Mordo start off as a copy of Dr. Scarabus, though he doesn't resemble Boris Karloff as much as Strange did Vincent Price.
- Green-Eyed Monster: In some depictions, envy of Strange's greater magical potential (or fear of losing his place beside the Ancient One) is what drove him to villainy.
- He's Back!: As of issue 12 of the 2015 series.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: He's turned good a few times, it hasn't stuck.
- Manipulative Bastard: One of his specialties. Had it not been for Doctor Strange, Dormammu would have conquered Earth years ago with how good he is at putting pieces into the right place.
- Master of Illusion: One of his specialties.
- Mind Control: His magic lets him controlling others, he uses this to his advantage.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Mordo's sheer ego means that he always has to let people know of his involvement after a certain point; during The Death of Doctor Strange, he was eliminated as a suspect even when all the evidence pointed to him because the investigators acknowledged that at this point Mordo wouldn't keep denying he'd killed his enemy unless he genuinely hadn't done it.
- The Paragon Always Rebels: Mordo was the Ancient One's best student before Strange came along.
- Psychic Powers: Goes hand in hand with his magic, but it's not on the same level as Jean Grey, Cable or even Doctor Strange himself.
- A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: It's never been clear whether he started out evil or fell to evil somewhere along the course of his magical studies.
- Rival Turned Evil: A fellow student of the Ancient One turned into one of the world's greatest threats.
- Secondary Color Nemesis: Mordo's color scheme has always been green to contrast with Strange's blue and red schemes.
- Shadow Archetype: To Strange. Their positions easily could've been reversed had Strange not had his Character Development.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: He would not hide from the murder of Dr Strange, but would boast about it everywhere. He admits as such in the "Death of Dr Strange" event.
- Villainous Incest: Baron Mordo has a daughter by his half-sister.
- Villain's Dying Grace: Twice — once to save Strange's friend Sara Wolfe and a second time to save Strange himself. He didn't survive the second one.
Cyrus Black
First Appearance: Defenders #6 (March, 1973)
Cyrus Black spent years studying and training so that he might defeat Doctor Strange. He made pilgrimages, studied at the feet of adepts, killed to obtain forbidden books, and gathered a following of men. He eventually came to the notice of Nightmare, who brought him to his dimension and gave him much greater power than he had had in the past.
- Domed Hometown: Using magic, Black created a force-field to cover a city block.
- Dream Weaver: Under the influence of his Jamaican incense, Black could dream anything to life and bestow any powers upon it so long as he believed it was real.
- Evil Sorcerer
- Hand Blast: Fires bolts of bedevilment from his hands.
Demonicus
First Appearance: Strange Tales #128 (October, 1964)
"For years I have stayed in hiding, increasing my knowledge – and my power – but now I need hide no longer – now my power is greater than that of Doctor Strange! And I shall prove it by defeating him!!"
Demonicus was a sorcerer from New York. When Dr. Strange was alerted to his existence, he captured Strange using the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, but Strange escaped and defeated him, ordering him to renounce the mystic arts. Later, Demonicus became a disciple of Baron Mordo.
- Demoted to Dragon: Originally attacked Dr. Strange on his own, but he was later reduced to being Mordo's apprentice.
- Evil Sorcerer
- No Name Given/Only Known by Their Nickname: Demonicus' real name has never been revealed.
Dream Weaver
AKA: Barbara Robb
First Appearance: Doctor Strange (Vol. 2) #32 (September, 1978)
Magic user that can alter reality, manipulated by the Dweller-in-Darkness into going after the Book of the Vishanti kept by Dr. Strange.
- The Bore: She managed to bore Strange and Clea to sleep and forced Strange's dream self to bring her the Book of the Vishanti.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: When she attempted to read the book, the power overwhelmed her and Strange wiped her memory of all that had happened and returned her to her apartment.
- Secondary Color Nemesis: She dresses in green and her hair is purplish-pink.
- Statuesque Stunner: She stands at 5'9"/175cm and is quite pretty.
General Strange (Unmarked Spoilers for Doctor Strange (2023)!)
AKA: Stephen Strange
First Appearance: Strange Tales (Vol. 1) #110 (April, 1963) as Doctor Stephen Strange. Doctor Strange (Vol. 6) #5 (September, 2023) as General Stephen Strange.
A rogue, unstable aspect of Stephen Strange created as a phylactery for all his trauma and rage from fighting in the War of the Seven Spheres for five thousand years. Upon Stephen's assassination during The Death of Doctor Strange, "General Strange" was able to break free from his prison to continue his mad, vengeful campaign.
- Card-Carrying Villain: Of the Necessarily Evil variety - he freely admits that he cast his humanity aside thousands of years ago, and what he does is appalling. He even revels in it a little. However, he deems it necessary to win the war.
- Corrupted Character Copy: The first major Myth Arc and its main antagonist strongly mirror the War Doctor as seen in Doctor Who episode "The Day of the Doctor". Like the War Doctor, General Strange is a previously unseen incarnation of the protagonist was forced to betray his principles and fight in a (offscreen) cataclysmic war he wanted no part of, becoming The Dreaded for being responsible for the deaths of untold numbers of people across countless worlds. But while the War Doctor retained his compassion and hoped to end the Time War by annihilating Gallifrey and the Daleks with the Moment, General Strange was driven completely mad by his experiences and seeks to expand and end the War of the Seven Spheres once and for all. The War Doctor is also haunted by the number of children who died on Gallifrey at the end of the Time War, while General Strange is willing to weaponize children's souls as his army against the Trinity of Ashes. In the end, both the War Doctor and General Strange are given a chance to atone and heal with the help of their counterparts.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He plans to turn Earth into his war camp and the souls of its people into weapons for the war he wishes to wage. But even after thousands of years of bloody war, he still adores his beloved Clea. He lets his guard down around her as she feigns love for the war-hound General Strange has become before she tries to assassinate him. He doesn't actually mind the assassination attempt, finding her ruthlessness something else to love about her. She finds him utterly appalling.
- Even Evil Has Standards: While it's framed more as a taunt, he's horrified when he sees that Doctor Strange has borrowed power from the Trinity of Ashes, and says it took him a century before he discarded his humanity.
- General Ripper: What's worse is that he's one of these and a powerful magician with thousands of years of combat experience.
- Great Offscreen War: The War of the Seven Spheres remains largely unseen. His flashback origin issue is more concerned with Strange's growing fatigue and the dirty business he had to engage with for the Vishanti, including having to execute turncoats. Any instances that would make the conflict look even remotely glorious aren't focused on.
- Heel–Face Turn: After the empathy graft, whereupon Strange ends up treating him as less a rampaging monster needing to be put down, more as a terribly traumatised patient in need of healing.
- Human Resources: Partway through the war, he starts using his dead enemies for parts to get his soldiers back on their feet quicker. Many years later, showing his further decline in the horrors of war, he tells his subordinates to take the living prisoners apart for this purpose.
- I Have Many Names: He recites this trope word-for-word before recounting his many titles to the terrified crowd before him: War-Hound of the Vishanti, Butcher of the War of the Seven Spheres, the Bloody-Handed Bastard of the Screaming Labyrinths, Friendkiller, Peacebreaker, and Orphan-Lord.
- Invincible Villain: General Strange is virtually invincible in a straight fight. Boasting power beyond Strange and Clea combined, mastery of every known killing tool known to man, and thousands of years of experience in killing and deception, Stephen loses handily even after borrowing power from the Trinity of Ashes. In the end, Stephen vanquishes his foe not through might but through kindness, using psychedelics to subdue General Strange long enough to restore his conscience and give him a path to healing.
- Literal Split Personality: General Strange is the portion of Stephen's life where he fought for thousands of years in the War of the Seven Spheres. Driven mad at betraying every virtue he held to win, he's dead set on finishing his war once and for all by any means necessary. The Vishanti are so terrified of what they created that they trapped the General in a crystal while creating a version of Stephen from before he experienced the War of the Seven Spheres and returning him to Earth.
- My God, What Have I Done?: After Doctor Strange grafts some of his conscience and empathy onto his soul, restoring something lost millennia ago.
- Powered by a Forsaken Child: His plan to do war with the Trinity of Ashes involves taking the souls of children and turning them into nigh-unstoppable mystical warriors with a spell so complex that it takes everything Stephen has to undo it, needing Clea to protect him while he undoes the enchantment.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: General Stephen Strange abandoned his typical blue tunic in favor of a red, black, and white attire to show how he's been scarred by five thousand years of war.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: When the Trinity of Ashes sued for peace, their biggest condition for their surrender was "the general" being locked up so that he could never menace them again. The Vishanti found this a convenient demand as they could rip this part of Stephen out of him so that the rest of him could continue functioning as the Sorcerer Supreme with none of baggage of being a Shell-Shocked Veteran.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: General Strange, who is thoroughly traumatized from fighting a magical war across existence for thousands of years, to the point that he's lost his empathy, compassion, and conscience in an effort to end that war. He's beaten by being doused with psychedelics developed by the Freaky Doctor Zee for the purpose of treating war veterans, and while stunned, Strange performs a mystical operation, grafting some of his conscience and sense of empathy onto the General. The result is a broken man.
- The Unfettered: General Strange enters the story by acting as a Vigilante Man killing major sorcerers and magical entities left and right for an unknown purpose. This is all to end the Forever War the Vishanti trapped him in and take revenge of the current Dr. Strange who stole his life. To this end, General Strange is willing to weaponize the souls of children and murder anyone unfortunate enough to stand in his way.
Iskelior
First Appearance: Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #58 (August, 1993)
Iskelior was from Lixos, an island off of Greece. Her father was rich in the ways of the mind—persuasion, wisdom, healing, etc. People came to her father, craving his power, but he refused to follow their politics or forsake his humanist nature. When "the attack came," her father cast a spell shrouded in antiquity, sending Iskelior to an extra-dimensional realm of refuge.
- Gorgeous Greek: Her nationality is greek and quite attractive.
- Hot Witch: An attractive greek magician.
Kaecilius
First Appearance: Strange Tales #130 (December, 1964)
"God, Strange… You really do like to hear yourself talk. You are correct, of course. This has been such fun, but the game has run its course. I will make my faithless master, Baron Karl Amadeus Mordo, squeal with all the agonies of the Purple Dimension, and then I will kill you again, with your own power."
Kaecilius was a disciple of Baron Mordo. He often served as field agent or deliverer of messages, and occasionally acted as a channel for Mordo or Dormammu's power.
- Adaptation Expansion: A minor character in the comics, he's promoted to lead villain in the film.
- Composite Character: His film version took more from Baron Mordo than from his comic counterpart.
- The Dog Bites Back: When he got abandoned by Mordo, he murdered Dr Strange and set Mordo up for it.
- The Dog Was the Mastermind: Is behind the Death of Dr Strange event.
- Hand Blast: His primary attack.
- Laser-Guided Karma: At the end of Death of Doctor Strange, he has the hands and soul and thus the power of Doctor Strange. He's warded to the eyeballs, meaning no magical attack can touch him. The temporal fragment of the younger Strange, much colder and more ruthless than his mellowed out older self, figures out a loophole. The wards don't protect against a healing spell. Which only requires a soul, living flesh, and compatible biomass. That's right, young Strange effectively healed Kaecilius to death, using his body as fuel to regrow his older self's body. Slowly. His older self is horrified by this.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: Of Mordo's followers, he's definitely the odd man out. He can't really compete with the likes of The Demon and Adria the Witch in terms of power or skill, which is why he mainly sticks to serving as a channel for their lord Dormammu.
- Ret-Canon: When reintroduced in Jane Foster: Valkyrie, he has the same black eye-marks his MCU counterpart had.
- Time-Passage Beard: Inverted. Originally he had a mustache, although when he returns during Jane Foster's series, he's shaved it.
- Willing Channeler: Channels the power of his masters so while he goes in their stead.
Kulan Gath
First Appearance: Conan the Barbarian #14 (March, 1972)
"Fools! Flee this place, intruders— Flee, if you value your pathetic, worthless lives! I have dominion over this land— Total dominion of both the land and its people! And soon, I will command more still— The very power of the Earth itself! Do not challenge me, fools, on pain of death! Simply go— And darken my realm... Nevermore!"
A power-hungry sorcerer and generally an enemy of Conan the Barbarian, he is the primary antagonist of the Savage Avengers comic, which involves Dr Strange and Conan being teammates.
His character folder can be found here.
Mister Rasputin
AKA: Pavel Plotnick
First Appearance: Strange Tales #145 (March, 1966)
Believing himself to be descended from the famous Gregori Rasputin (unproven), Pavel Plotnick sought to conquer the world and trained in unspecified dark magic.
- Evil Sorcerer: Trained in dark magic and attempted to conquer the world.
- Historical Character's Fictional Relative: Believes himself to be descended from the famous Gregori Rasputin.
- Mage Marksman: Dr. Strange challenged Plotnick to a magical duel, but before he was defeated, Plotnik shot Strange with a gun.
Nicodemus West
First Appearance: Doctor Strange: The Oath #1 (October, 2006)
West was the doctor who operated on Doctor Strange's hands after his car accident. He wound up following in Strange's footsteps and was taught by the Ancient One in the mystic arts, but sought to use his teachings for medical purposes rather than magical.
- Affably Evil: Apologises for failing to fix his hands upon meeting Stephen, despite said event happening decades prior, and Stephen having long moved past it.
- Anti-Villain: Uses his skills and connections to help people around the world. His only real act of villainy was trying to kill Wong.
- Badass in a Nice Suit
- Good Powers, Bad People: He doesn't start out bad, learning magic with the intention of curing people.
- Healing Hands: Puns aside, he is able to cure a sick girl in Tibet just by laying his hands on her.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Steals the elixir of life from Stephen, almost killing Wong and Stephen in the process, with plans on destroying it so as to, as he claims, prevent humanity from abusing its power. Stephen calls him out on this, claiming he's really doing it so as to please the pharmaceutical companies. He admits it's a little of both.
- MegaCorp: Heads a very successful pharmaceutical company.
- My Greatest Failure: Considered his botching of Stephen's hand surgery this. After reflection, however, he deduces that had he not botched it, Strange would have never have become the Sorcerer Supreme, and he'd have never learned the mystic arts as well. He still takes the time to apologise to Stephen when they first meet though.
- Later considers it to be the death of Reginald Pavlish, whose death at his hands causes him to swear off magic. Until Stephen gets in his way, that is.
- Small Name, Big Ego: He genuinely thinks that he's a match for Strange - who, once it no longer suits him to pretend to be trapped, promptly thrashes him, referring to him as a "rank, arrogant, amateur." He then reckons, with a little more justification, that he can beat an injured Strange in hand to hand combat, with magic turned off. Strange being a Kung-Fu Wizard, just kicks the hell out of him with his bare hands.
- Villain in a White Suit: Fitting for a White Mage, he wears a nice white suit.
- White Mage: A rare villainous example.
- White Magic: Never uses any overtly evil magic, and was trained in the mystic arts by The Ancient One.
Salomé
AKA: Semiramis
First Appearance: Marvel Comics Presents #146 (January, 1994)
Salome was once a member of the Blood who joined Zarathos' cause to become the Fallen; however she later rebelled and went after her own pursuits. At one point she was also known as the Sorceress Supreme of this dimension and the first from Earth, by her own account. When the Fallen came back to aid Zarathos, she went out on her own to defeat the current Sorcerer Supreme, Dr. Strange, and reclaim her title.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: Her skin appears to be navy blue and grayish blue.
- Hot Witch: A Sorceress that's not unattractive, even with the blue skin.
- Lady of Black Magic: Sorceress Supreme, able to cast powerful green flames via a mystic dance.
- Statuesque Stunner: She's officially 6"/183cm tall, and not bad looking at all.
- Teleportation: Salomé is a teleporter.
- Winged Humanoid: She can fly via her largely leathery wings.
Shadowqueen
AKA: Shialmar
First Appearance: Doctor Strange (Vol. 2) #43 (July, 1980)
Shialmar, the Shadowqueen was the queen of the otherdimensional realm known as the "Realm of the Shadowqueen". Shialmar did some terrible, villainous things as a servant of the demon race known as the N'Garai. But Doctor Strange was able to exorcise the evil from Shialmar's soul. She died afterward, having been given a chance to change her ways.
- Statuesque Stunner: She's listed at 5'11"/180cm tall.
Shazana
First Appearance: Strange Tales #133 (March, 1965)
A powerful enchantress and enemy of Dr. Strange.
- Cain and Abel: The Cain to her sister's Abel.
- Secondary Color Nemesis: Her outfit is mostly green and purple.
- The Usurper: She usurped her benevolent half-sister Nazara as ruler of the Drakos dimension until she was defeated by Dr. Strange.
Sise-Neg
First Appearance: Marvel Premiere #13 (October, 1973)
"Time turns and begins again with me! When you remember this, think not of the man called Sise-Neg - but the God called Genesis!"
A sorcerer from an alternate 31st century who sought to increase his power and become a god by travelling back in time.
- Bald of Evil: Is completely bald.
- Biblical Bad Guy: His trip takes him to Sodom and Gamorrah, where, drunk on his power, he gets irritated by the locals and destroys both cities.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: On his jaunt, Sise runs into Shuma-Gorath when it arrives on Earth. He banishes it.
- Drunk with Power: A side-effect of absorbing too much power is Sise gets a pretty high opinion of himself, and a short temper.
- Flying Face: Turns into one as he gets more powerful.
- Godhood Seeker: Sise-Neg sought to become the new power behind all reality. Unlike most examples of this one, he succeeds, but it all works out fine.
- In Their Own Image: His goal was to rewrite reality to his own desires. By the time he got to the point where he could, he changed his mind, figuring everything was already fine anyway.
- Meaningful Name: It's "Genesis" backward, and broken up with a hypen.
Stygyro
first Appearance: Doctor Strange (Vol. 2) #17 (May, 1976)
Stygyro was a magician and enemy of Doctor Strange.
- Bed Trick: Stygyro took the shape of Benjamin Franklin and seduced Clea. Clea intended to marry Franklin, but Strange uncovered his disguise and Stygyro was defeated.
- Complete Immortality: Stygyro is from ancient Atlantis before the Great Cataclysm happened.
- Wizard Classic: Looks like a very classical wizard, with a beard, hat and robes.
Tiboro
First Appearance: Strange Tales #129 (November, 1964)
"I suspected that my activities would attract your attention! I hoped to go on without your interference! But, now I must deal with you before I continue!"
Ruling in South America many ages ago Tiboro was the absolute monarch of the Peruvian tribe. At some point he was banished to the Sixth Dimension and the civilization he ruled fell apart. To maintain his link to Earth he buried an object called the Screaming Idol. When the Screaming Idol was discovered it was brought to a television show called The Twelfth Hour. When the archaeologists who discovered it disappeared into the idol, Dr. Strange investigated the event and discovered Tiboro`s hand in it, challenging him to a battle.
- Bullying a Dragon: He decides to take out his fear of General Strange out on a profoundly upset Doctor Strange - who promptly snaps and demonstrates how effortlessly he could kill Tiboro if he ever felt like it, and how profoundly tempted he is to do so after Tiboro's part in his murder.
- Dimensional Traveler: Can create portals between his realm and Earth.
- Hand Blast: Can attack others with powerful energy blasts.
- Life Drain: Can siphon life force from people.
- Mind over Matter: Within his own realm he had complete control of all inanimate matter.
- Sorcerous Overlord: Was absolute monarch of a Peruvian tribe and become ruler of the Sixth Dimension after he was banished there.
Urthona
First Appearance: Doctor Strange (Vol. 2) #79 (July, 1986)
Urthona is a powerful sorcerer from the planet Gevaltu. His desire to become Sorcerer Supreme over the entire universe led him to try and take the life of Doctor Strange.
- Humanoid Aliens: Other than shape, he's not very similar to humans at all.
- Wizards from Outer Space: A rare sorcerer alien who is from a different planet, not Another Dimension like many of the extraterrestrial threats.
Xander
First Appearance: Doctor Strange (Vol. 2) #19 (July, 1976)
Xander the Merciless was a sorcerer in service to the Creators, a group of magicians who sought to replace the stars with their own mystic energies.
- Amulet of Concentrated Awesome: The Star-Stone was his main source of power. Losing it to strange hit him hard.
- The Bus Came Back: After being absent for decades in real time (his last appearance in a Marvel book was in Roy Thomas's Dr Strange run in 1977), Xander makes his return in the Jed MacKay Black Cat solo series in 2019.
- Glass Cannon: How Xander lost his original battle with Dr. Strange. Xander's relendless attack strategies got Strange playing defense for most of their fight. When Xander tried concentrating on a stronger spell, Strange decided to avoid using magic and to simply punch Xander in the face. Xander was knocked out with a single punch.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: He was reduced to using what little magic he had left for petty crimes after Strange defeated him.
- Wizards from Outer Space: On one occasion Xander is referred to as an "alien". While his masters, the Creators, are human sorcerers from Earth, they do have access to a number of dimensions which suggests Xander may not be from Earth.
Hell Lords and Fallen Angels
Hell Lords and Fallen Angels
Angels
Head Accountant T. Hothrun
First Appearance: Doctor Strange (Vol. 5) #2 (August, 2018)
A divine being whose job is to balance the books and keep things in order. He targeted Strange specifically because he was using too much magic.
- Celestial Bureaucracy: His department is essentially the IRS of the price that using magic is repeatedly stated to incur. He's introduced basically auditing the Ancient One and Strange and freezing their assets.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Operates on this. At least, his own understanding of this.
Afterlife
First Appearance: Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #88 (March, 1996)
An angel from heaven with the ability to absorb the pain and suffering from human souls. It was actually trapped between heaven and Earth and was unable to settle in either, becoming a monster who lived off the life force of the living.
- Angelic Abomination: Time in the Realm Between morphed Afterlife into a distorted, eldritch monster.
- Angels, Devils and Squid: In a universe which contains plenty of the latter two, as well as many other deities, Afterlife stands out as being one of the few overt references to the Judeo-Christian God in Doctor Strange. Eventually becomes an Angelic Abomination.
- Fallen Angel: Sort of. It came from heaven to Earth intentionally, but is now unable to return.
- Our Angels Are Different: Oh, are they ever.
- One-Winged Angel: Its true form looks downright Gigeresque.
- Winged Humanoid: To human eyes, appears as a golden, androgynous youth with red and orange wings.
Fear Lords
Fear Lords
Elder Gods
Elder Gods
Many-Angled Ones and Servants
Many-Angled Ones and Servants
Other Entities
The Author
First Appearance:' Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme #7 (April, 2017)
A powerful extradimensional entity that created a book containing words that can alter reality in a manner similar to magic. It came to Earth during ancient times to feed on the planet's power and then left, accidentally leaving the book behind.
- Badass Fingersnap: The main way it exerts its power, and it has a lot of hands to do it with.
- Sufficiently Advanced Aliens: It dismisses magic. Apparently it's book is just extremely advanced technology that magic users have an affinity to. It's also a casual traveler of the multiverse.
Baroshtok
First Appearance: Strange (Vol. 2) #2 (December, 2009)
Baroshtok was a extradimensional entity and caretaker of an uninhabited dimension that Dr. Strange had unwittingly used to transport items using a particular vanishing spell.
Mister Misery
First Appearance:' Doctor Strange (Vol. 4) #8 (May, 2016)
" I want you to know I take no joy from this. Pleasure, yes. An immense amount of pleasure. But no joy."
A villain who made his debut in the 2015 Dr. Strange comics. He is the living embodiment of all the bad karma Dr Strange took from using magic over the years.
- Anthropomorphic Personification: The living embodiment of all the bad karma Dr Strange took from using magic over the years.
- Enemy Mine: Actually became a Organic Armor for Strange in his fight with the Empirator because he wanted to make sure he survived to whatever he'd do to him next.
- Godzilla Threshold: Zelma Stanton was under attack from the imperacle army, and didn't see any other way to survive but to unleash "the thing in the cellar".
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Saved Strange from the Empirator because he wanted to be the one to bring down Strange.
- Sadistic Choice: He possessed Wong and tried to make Strange kill him.
- Yandere: It wants its creator to love it, at any cost.
Nebulos
First Appearance: Strange Tales #161 (June, 1967)
Nebulos is an extra-dimensional entity and the Lord of the Planets Perilous. He is exceptionally dangerous due to his Staff of Polar Power, which can siphon a seemingly unlimited amount of evil magical energy.
Despite only appearing for a single story arc in the The '60s, he remains one of the most powerful foes Doctor Strange has ever faced, requiring the intervening of the Living Tribunal to destroy him for good.
- The Bus Came Back: Returns in The Best Defense as the villain behind everything.
- Eldritch Abomination: His more human like face and limbs only add to his uncanniness.
- Godzilla Threshold: Alongside Zom, Nebulos is one of the few entities whom the Living Tribunal has personally fought. Strange can only stand back and watch as he shields himself from the energy their battle exerts.
- Most Definitely Not a Villain: Lord of the planet Perilous, is empowered by evil energy, and looks like something that would give Lovecraft nightmares. Must be a good guy. To elaborate, Nebulos contacts Strange and gives him the Staff of Polar Power in order to absorb the evil energy from Baron Mordo. Not until it's too late does Strange find it suspicious that this mysterious entity would give him such a powerful item or wonder why it might want evil energy to begin with.
- Our Gods Are Different: Very different than any god presented in Marvel and just as twisted.
Other Enemies
Alaric
First Appearance: Doctor Strange (Vol. 2) #31 (July, 1978)
Alaric was a mystic who obtained the Sword of Kamuu and set out to kill Sorcerer Supreme with it to become immortal.
- BFG: Wields the Sword of Kamuu.
- Immortality Seeker: Obtained the Sword of Kamuu and set out to kill Sorcerer Supreme with it to become immortal.
- One-Shot Character: Only appeared once, and after being sealed by Strange and Clea, has never come back.
- One-Steve Limit: Alaric is also the name of an Asgardian.
Aarkus
First Appearance: Marvel Mystery Comics #13 (September, 1940)
See Invaders: WWII Recruits for more info.
City of Dreams
First Appearance: Marvel Fanfare (Vol. 1) #41 (December, 1988)
An extradimensional dreaming giant, it could manifest creatures from its dreams and send them into other dimensions to appear before inhabitants of those dimensions, targetting powerful beings. After its dream creatures had lured its victims to its own dimension, the City read its victim's mind, then created illusions appropriate to the victim to attack them until they surrendered or were defeated.
- Genius Loci: The giant appeared to Strange as an ancient and apparently abandoned city.
Dracula
First Appearance:' Suspense #7 (November, 1950)
" You will obey me in all things. You have no choice — For I am the lord of vampires. Forget your former life. You belong to my nation now."
The Harvestman
First Appearance: Strange (Vol. 3) #1 (May, 2022)
An emissary of Death, who has been employed to stop people coming back from the dead. He made his debut in Strange (2022).
- Almighty Janitor: Wong speculates he was set up to keep death relevant, to counter the Death Is Cheap status the current Marvel 616 universe has reached with the resurrections all the heroes are getting. Unfortunately, he ends up an enemy of Clea, who believes people should be resurrected.
- Malevolent Masked Men: This is the first impression he gives off.
- Resurrected for a Job: Is implied to be someone who died that Death itself resurrected as an enforcer. It's eventually revealed that he's Stephen himself after his move recent death.
- Sinister Scythe: He wields a scythe, as part of his Grim Reaper image.
House of Shadows
First Appearance: Strange Tales #120 (February, 1964)
The House of Shadows is actually an extra-dimensional entity and a minor Dr. Strange foe. It takes the form of various haunted houses, mists, etc. It can trap people inside it and banish them to other dimensions.
See Moon Knight: Supporting Characters
The Imperator
First Appearance: Doctor Strange (Vol. 4) #1 (October, 2015)
"Do you feel that? That is the strength of science. Since I was orphaned as a child, I have devoted myself solely to the study of that sacred power. I learned to channel the white-hot fire of the supernova. The speed of the comet. The quantum might of the supermassive black hole. I baptized myself in the waters of super-science so I might be reborn. Reborn as the cure for cancer. The cancer that is magic. The disease that is you, Doctor Strange."
A new foe of Strange's and leader of the Imperkrul who's determined, with his army of robots and monstrous magic sniffing warhounds to wipe out all magic in the multiverse.
- Anti-Magic: Is able to neutralize and outright destroy magic by attacking its source. The technology of the Empirikul is somehow able to erase magic wherever they invade by doing this.
- Anti-Magical Faction: In charge of one known as the Emperikul, which has a reach that spans multiple realities.
- Big Bad: Of "The Last Days Of Magic" arc.
- Church Militant: The Emperikul. Also an Anti-Magical Faction.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: For all his ultra-tech, the Imperator sure likes to use iron maidens, meat hooks and burning at the stake.
- Death by Irony: Or rather defeat by irony. His entire path began due to his parents sacrificing themselves to save him from being sacrificed to Shuma-Gorath. He's defeated by Dr. Strange's former patients willingly sacrificing their own health and well being to save the universe's magic.
- Deal with the Devil: He spared Dormammu and the Dark Dimension, when Dormammu made a deal with him. Dormammu gets left alone while the Imperator gets the location of Shuma-Gorath, the being he hates the most.
- Eye Beams: The Imperator's main power is shooting green lasers out of his eyes.
- Eye Scream: Strange blasted out the Imperator's eyes with dust from the Ancient One's corpse. After his imprisonment, Strange just wrapped a bandage around his face to cover the damage.
- Fantastic Racism: Sees all magic users as an infection that needs to be cleansed.
- Fate Worse than Death: Is made into Stephen's new "thing in the cellar" to take all of the pain and suffering caused to him by his use of magic.
- Freudian Excuse: His parents lived in a dimension that worshiped Shuma-Gorath and gave up their lives to save him from being sacrificed to him and was raised by machines.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Of the first four issues of the 2016 run.
- Hero Killer: He and his army have murdered several Sorcerers Supreme and fully believes he's doing the right thing.
- Irony: The Imperator and his Eyebots speak of science with religious reverence, describing it as "holy" and magic as "blasphemy". When we see his backstory, the Blood Monks who executed his parents and instilled in him his hatred of sorcery spoke of magic in similar reverence and called science blasphemous.
- Kill It with Fire: The Imperator regularly kills Sorcerers Supreme with witch burnings and intended to give every Earth sorcerer one of these.
- Knight Templar: Is determined to wipe out all magic and magic users.
- Jerkass Has a Point: In his own words, he can't blame demons for being demons, and the people who get their power from serving them are more deserving of his wrath. Too bad he doesn't consider that magic can be used for good, or whether people have any choice in serving evil.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Is punished by being chained up and forced to be a living battery for Dr. Strange's magic after killing countless people in a quest to wipe it all out.
- Machine Worship: Played with. It's not machines he and the Imperkrul worships, it's science itself.
- Mage Killer: He is so proficient in his craft that he nearly wipes magic out of existence altogether.
- Magic from Technology: Some of his superscience is so advanced it's almost magical, harnessing the powers of black holes, super novas and other phenomena.
- The Magic Goes Away: The Empirikul cult's method of dealing with "evil". They have superscience that can drain magic out of a dimension and turn that world into a grey, sterile environment.
- Magic Versus Science: Is attempting to wipe out magic with Science.
- No-Sell: Brushes off Strange's attack of dumping New York's collected despair on him by stating he's felt despair his whole life and is motivated by it.
- Not Worth Killing: Initially he does this with Monako. He thought that the old wizard was a washed-up has-been and not worth the time or effort, even though Monako was standing right beside him. This comes back to bite the Imperator in the ass, though he does murder Monako in retaliation.
- Punny Name: "Empirikul" is a different spelling of the scientific term "Empirical" meaning concerned with, or verifiable by observation or experience. However, while the Imperator has witnessed terrible things from magic, he's unable to look at the good things magic brings to the world.
- Savage Wolves: His Witchfinder Wolves.
- Shout-Out: His being shipped off-world by parents seeking to save him from a conformist society is a homage to Superman, when Krypton was written as a sterile unloving world.
- Weak to Magic: The Empirikul are weak against magical attack, even harmless magic like Ancient One's corpse dust is devastating to them.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: He's not looking to conquer or destroy other worlds, instead he believes himself a good man who wants to purge the universe of evil. Unfortunately he thinks that magic is the worst evil and wants to kill anything magical. Dr. Strange actually sympathized with him a bit, had Imperator stood down or just restricted his hunt to demons and evil wizards - Strange would have left him alone.
- The Witch Hunter: His magic hunting monsters are even called "Witchfinder Wolves".
- Villains Want Mercy: When the captured Imperator realizes what Strange is going to do to him, he pleads for Strange not to do it and implies he's willing to change his ways. It doesn't work.
- Zerg Rush: With a dwindling stock of magic and some minor magical tools, Earth's sorcerers were able to massacre Empirikul with ease. Too bad they have tons of robots and clones on hand.
Silver Dagger
Isaiah Curwen
First Appearance:' Doctor Strange'' (Vol. 2) #1 (March, 1974)
"Shut up! You have been judged! The sentence is death! ... Beg not for your miserable life — beg instead for mercy on your soul!"
A former Catholic Cardinal who has devoted himself towards eradicating magic, which he considers Satanic. He's an enemy of both Dr. Strange and Werewolf by Night.
- Badass Preacher: A Cardinal trained to fight werewolves, demons, and sorcerers.
- Church Militant: Leads The Sword of the Lord, a group of fanatics with similar beliefs.
- Eyepatch of Power: Has an eyepatch covering his left eye.
- Hunter of His Own Kind: Uses magic to destroy other magic-users and even wielded the Eye of Agamotto for a time.
- Knight Templar: A Cardinal who considers magic Satanic and vows to eliminate it. Of course, he may have a point in some forms.
- Purple Is Powerful: His suit is dark purple.
- Silver Bullet: Often uses these as well as silver daggers.
- Sinister Minister: A former cardinal turned murderous witch hunter.
- The Witch Hunter: Making him an enemy of Dr. Strange.
The Three Mothers
The Wyrd (left), the Crawling (middle), the Crown (right)
First Appearance: Death of Doctor Strange #2 (October, 2021)
A trio of inter-dimensional mothers who travel the cosmos for magic to feed their monstrous infant, the Peregrine Child. They are comprised of the Wyrd (a magical chanter), the Crown (a warrior woman) and the Crawling (a Worm That Walks creature).
- The Hecate Sisters: A trio of magical women.
Victor Strange
First Appearance': Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #10 (August, 1989)
Stephen's younger brother, who didn't get along with his sibling for a variety of reasons. One day, Victor was struck by a car and Stephen had him cryogenically preserved in the hopes of finding a way to heal him. On becoming Sorcerer Supreme, Stephen decided to try and use magic to restore his brother, only to inadvertently turn Victor into a vampire.
- And I Must Scream: He's an intangible, imperceptible ghost stuck alone in a mirror dimension to watch all the happenings in the world.
- Back from the Dead: Feeling he was too dangerous to live, Victor staked himself, and it stuck... for two decades.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Like most narrators and horror hosts he speaks directly to the audience. He's directly compared it to Deadpool, but isn't confident of who he's talking to, attributing it to his sanity degrading in isolation.
- Create Your Own Villain: Stephen casting any and every spell he could think of on his little brother. Frankly it's amazing it just turned him into a vampire.
- Go Mad from the Isolation: He's not sure if his isolation or desire for revenge is doing worse for his sanity.
- Horror Host: Of various horror or otherwise supernatural themed books like Strange Tales Infinity Comics and the Crypt of Shadows one-shot.
- Hybrid Monster: On his revival at least he's part-vampire, part-ghost, and possibly a few other things.
- Vigilante Man: For a time, he took up hunting criminals, including those who weren't actually committing crimes.
- The Watcher: Just not a good one. One of the benefits of being stuck in a mirror is he can see nearly everything that goes on, and this has given him a lot of knowledge, including that of many heroes' identities.
Zom
First Appearance: Strange Tales #156 (February, 1967)
Created "long ago" by entities unknown, Zom is an ancient and terrible demon whose sole mission is to destroy everything, and whose rampage was only stopped by an alliance of powerful magic users whose ranks included even Dormammu and Umar. The alliance sealed him away but Strange released him on the advice of the Ancient One to help him win his battle with Umar; Zom proved to be an even greater threat and even Eternity was no match for him, but eventually he was defeated and a small piece of him was kept by Strange as a keepsake, though that too has recently been destroyed after Strange foolishly relied on its power, an act that caused him to resign as Sorcerer Supreme.
- Always a Bigger Fish: The theme behind its original story arc; Zom was brought in to defeat Umar but went out of control and managed to defeat Eternity, but it was made clear it was no match for the Living Tribunal.
- Attack Animal/ Living Weapon/ Lost Superweapon: Zom isn't a natural creature, but rather was created as a sort of Doomsday Device.
- The Berserker: Zom, but especially those who draw on its power as its sheer fury overwhelms them. Clea was able to successfully invoke it to undo one of Dormammu's spells though.
- Big Eater: The zomling that formed when a little of Zom's essence escaped from the jar.
- The Corrupter: To Strange at least.
- Deal with the Devil: Strange chose to utilise his power during World War Hulk and subsequent story arcs as a last-minute desperation move. This was a bad, bad idea....
- Demonic Possession: ....because it tended to result in this. Eventually, Strange even exiled himself from Earth and temporarily resigned as Sorceror Supreme because he was unable to control himself.
- Demon Lords and Archdevils: But unlike other virtually omnipotent demonic entities Zom isn't very clever, and although apparently more powerful as such than any of them, he cannot use it for a lot of versatile purposes.
- The Dreaded: Scares the hell out of Umar, and even Dormammu does not hide his fear of him.
- Eldritch Abomination: Not exactly tentacle-y or reality-violating, but he is a universe-wrecking threat who is impossible to reason with.
- Enemy to All Living Things: He is this to everyone; nothing he faces is his friend.
- Enemy Mine: Dormammu, Umar, Eternity along possibly several other powerful magic users and cosmic beings once regarded Zom as such a threat they worked together to contain it.
- Enemy Within: He became this for Strange when Strange resorted to using his power during and after World War Hulk.
- Evil Is Not a Toy: Something Strange needs to remember.
- Genius Bruiser: It has mastery of several spells that even Strange has trouble dealing with, so it is an accomplished Evil Sorceror. However, he is such a Brute personality-wise that he can come across as Dumb Muscle.
- Godzilla Threshold: Strange only pulls him out of the bag when he feels the situation has crossed this. The first time was against Umar. The second was against Hulk.
- The Juggernaut: The trope namer isn't anything that he has to worry about, but this is, at the end of the day, what he is: a rampaging bestial horror of universe (and quite likely multiverse)-ending power. Unless you're at the absolute top tier of the Marvel Universe, there is nothing that you can do to him.
- Literally Shattered Lives: How Strange originally managed to defeat it; turned out to be a case of From Bad to Worse as now its evil was spreading everywhere and the Living Tribunal threatened to destroy the universe to stop it if Strange didn't clean up his mess.
- Made of Evil: Extremely evil from creation.
- Magic Hair: His hair is basically a magical shield that hides its presence from sorcerers.
- Mundane Solution: Dr. Strange defeats the zomling by sucking it up in a vacuum then emptying it back into Zom's jar.
- Omnicidal Maniac: Its sole purpose for being is to destroy everything.
- Physical God: When you require a goddamn multiversal judge to stop your rampage, you've more than earned this title.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: It took the combined efforts of Eternity, Dormammu, and assorted other mystical entities to seal him up. When fighting Hulk the second time, it stated that it was only Doctor Strange restraining its full power that allowed Hulk to win the first battle. And this was a Hulk angry enough to overcome the full multiversal-scale power of The Sentry.
