Characters / Marvel Comics: Stephen Strange

Doctor Strange

Alter Ego: Stephen Vincent Strange

Notable Aliases: Captain Universe, Harvestman, Iron Mage

Editorial Names: Doctor Strange: Master of the Mystic Arts, Dr. Strange

First Appearance: Strange Tales #110 (July, 1963)

A brilliant but arrogant New York surgeon, Dr. Stephen Strange's life was turned upside down when a car crash caused irreparable nerve damage to his hands, preventing him from ever holding a scalpel again. Driven by arrogance and desperation, he traveled the world in search of a cure, finally arriving in Tibet to seek the help of the Ancient One, a powerful wizard and (unbeknownst to him) the Sorcerer Supreme, the mage charged with protecting the Earth from the otherdimensional Cosmic menaces who would threaten it.

The Ancient One, finding him too proud, turned Strange down but allowed him to stay the night, letting Strange discover and foil the plot of his Deceptive Disciple Baron Mordo, so that he would learn humility and see the existence of true evil — and the need to combat it. Sensing his great magical potential, the Ancient One asked Strange to become his new apprentice, and the now humbled Strange accepted.

After years of study, he moved back to New York and engaged in many mystical adventures and fought many wicked foes, including the vengeful Mordo, the Dread Dormammu and the abominable Shuma-Gorath, who caused the death of the Ancient One, leading to Strange inheriting his title and responsibilities. As the new Sorcerer Supreme, Strange became the best and last line of defence between Earth and total destruction at the hands of its most powerful enemies.

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Stephen Strange provides examples of:

A-H

• Above Good and Evil: Morality is explicitly not a factor when a new Sorcerer Supreme is chosen. Nonetheless, Doctor Strange is determined to prevent the station and its associated power from falling into the wrong hands.
• Accidental Incantation: Referred to occasionally. Stephen often finds it necessary to warn others that it's generally not a good idea to read unknown spells and incantations out loud, having learned through bitter experience.
• The Ace: While his power has been toned down in recent storylines, Doctor Strange is historically considered one of the most powerful Marvel heroes period. The one caveat is that his enemies are usually even more so.
• Added Alliterative Appeal: Stephen Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme, resident of the Sanctum Sanctorum (and Master of the Mystic Arts).
• The Ageless: He is immortal ever since he and Death came to an understanding. Though he can still die, Death now may only come "from without," and not from within, meaning that he will not die of natural causes. Canonically he was born in 1930 and only returned to America after completing his training in the 1970s, spending decades as a mystical consultant until the debut of the Fantastic Four.
• The Alcoholic: In some depictions he was prone to alcohol abuse as a surgeon, either during or just after the car accident that ruined his hands.
• Alliterative Name: Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme and his Sanctum Sanctorum.
• All Your Base Are Belong to Us: His Sanctum Sanctorum has been jeopardized, destroyed, erased from existence, etc. almost too often to count. He always repairs the damage and moves back in.
• Alternate Company Equivalent: To DC Comics' Doctor Fate, the most powerful magic user in his universe.
• Amplifier Artifact: Strange has some artifacts which function this way and others that do nothing he couldn't do without them (though it frees up his concentration or power to use the artifact rather than his own strength) including the Cloak Of Levitation which lets him... levitate, and fly, the Wand of Watoomb, the Book of the Vishanti, the Darkhold, the Purple Gem, and anything with "-of Agamotto" at the end of it, as well as many other mystical objects.
• Amulet of Concentrated Awesome: Doctor Strange has a few, though historically the Eye of Agamotto is by far his most famous. However, he typically doesn't need them, but he will use one if the situation calls for it. He once used the Eye of Agamotto to temporarily stalemate an omnipotent Thanos.
  • Doctor Strange actually has several such artifacts, all calling on the power of various supernatural beings. In the first issue of Infinity Watch after the Infinity Gauntlet event, he was able to use them all together to match Adam Warlock while he held the gauntlet complete. It was only for a few seconds, but long enough for Strange to convince Warlock he was drunk on his own power.
• An Astral Projection, Not a Ghost: Given how often Doctor Strange uses Astral Projection, this sort of thing is inevitable. As a master of the art, he never mistakes astral forms for spirits of the deceased, and he has to make a conscious effort to render himself visible to normal sight. When he does so, other (non-mystic) characters will often refer to his astral form as his 'creepy ghost.' He uses this effect on one occasion to convince a bank robber he will be haunted forever unless he releases his hostages and surrenders. It works... apparently the "criminals are a superstitious and cowardly lot" trope is not franchise-specific.
• Animate Inanimate Object: Depending on the Writer, the Cloak of Levitation has the ability to move on its own and can also grasp and hold things like a second pair of hands.
• Another Dimension: Doctor Strange often travels to other dimensions with typically psychedelic visual effects. His wife Clea was born in one of them.
• Arch-Enemy: Originally Baron Mordo, but Dormammu took the job quickly, with their history being extremely personal and long-lasting; Dormammu also became an Evil Uncle of sorts after Stephen's marriage to Clea. Mephisto has also been a frequent adversary to Strange, who's been a thorn in his side for years and the latter has even battled him in his own realm. Though given who he is, Mephisto is virtually everyone's nemesis and Dormammu remains Strange's most bitter enemy.
• The Archmage: As the "Sorcerer Supreme", Strange is the Earth's most powerful wizard and the designated Big Good regarding magical dangers.
• Astral Projection: This is one of the many mystic arts that Doctor Strange has mastered. He can also pull someone else's astral form out of his/her body, though the other person usually freaks out and needs constant reassurance that everything is okay. Strange bypasses the whole "physical body left helpless" thing; his body simply can't be harmed while he's not in it. However, this is an incredibly dangerous spell that leaves the body vulnerable and is fatal after 24 hours. Strange barely even hesitates to use it◊. Inevitably, someone who sees his astral form will mistake him for a decedent, so he has to emphasize that he's An Astral Projection, Not a Ghost. Of course, he never makes that mistake himself.
• Back from the Dead: In the comics, Strange has been resurrected at least once. This is later referenced when Rick Jones consults the Doc on bringing Marlo Chandler back to life. Concerned for Rick's sanity, Strange tries to talk sense into him. Rick counters with "Who in this room has been dead before?" Wong, Strange, and Rick himself all raise their hands.
• Badass Bookworm: Not only is he a former world-class surgeon turned master of the mystic arts, he's a highly skilled martial artist to boot and is fully capable of laying the smackdown without relying on his magical powers.
• Badass Cape: The Cloak of Levitation, which allows him to fly at high speeds and can be used as a shield. It can also change shape, allowing it to take the form of a scarf or a trench coat.
• Badass Creed: In "The Oath", Stephen manages to make the Hippocratic Oath badass:
  "I have sworn many oaths in my day, to every being from Hoggoth to Watoomb. But the first oath I swore was the Hippocratic. 'I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients, according to my judgement and ability, and I will do so at any cost.'"
• Badass Longcoat: When he's not wearing the Cloak of Levitation, most often during his stint as an Occult Detective.
• Beyond the Impossible: The Sorcerer Supreme's forte. Some of his greatest feats quite literally defy mortal comprehension.
  • He faced the demon Arioch, who had the power to literally become as strong as he wished to be. Strange's solution? Just steal that ability from him.
  • Another famous instance was when he actually died in battle, so his spirit merged with Eternity, overpowered Death herself, returned to life, and won the fight.
  • Dormammu once tried to erase Strange from existence. He brought himself back.
• Big Good: One of them. When it comes to mystical issues, expect other heroes to come knocking at his door.
• Bigger on the Inside: His Sanctum Sanctorum looks like a sometimes derelict building on the outside but its inner dimensions are non-euclidean. He suggests you don't stare at some of the stranger angles unless you want your eyes to melt out of your skull.
• Bound and Gagged: He cannot use magic if his hands and voice are restrained. (Granted, getting him into this condition will not be easy...)
• Boxing Lessons for Superman: He took up the study of the martial arts as well as the mystic, realizing he needed to know how to defend himself physically.
• Break the Haughty: It’s part of his life. He lost his medical career from a paralyzing accident, and later on he ends up losing his magic repeatedly, forcing this on him.
• Breakout Character: The Doctor made his debut in, ironically, Strange Tales and soon, like his name, became the face of the series, soon got his own title, and is featured in many of Marvel's media today.
• Brought Down to Badass: In "The Last Days of Magic" due to the Inquisitor's witch hunt wiping out almost all magic on Earth, leaving him with what new spells he can either make or discover and whatever magical items he can create or scrounge up... yet he still manages to defeat the Inquisitor and his goons and is currently battling whatever happens to try and take advantage of the situation.
• Came Back Strong: He met Death in combat, accepted the inevitability of it, surrendered to it — and became immortal.
• Can't Stay Normal: He has tried at least once to walk away from magic and become an ordinary doctor. It never sticks.
• Celebrity Resemblance: Was visually based on Vincent Price. It's been pointed out by several characters, and eventually it's revealed that his middle name is "Vincent".
• The Chessmaster: At times he cannot fight the enemy directly, so he recruits heroes and sends them to deal with the threat. In particularly jerkish moments, he neither asks their permission first nor thanks them afterward, but he'll usually apologize and explain if called on it.
  • This is taken to the extreme in a recent Defenders one-shot, where a time-displaced future Strange sends his astral projection back in time with a devastating snowball of consequences, all for the intended purpose of altering an alien's travel trajectory a few degrees.
• Clothes Make the Legend: The red cloak, blue tunic with a demon symbol, black leggings, and yellow sash and gloves carry over into almost all depictions of Strange. Alternate universe characters shown to have assumed the role of Sorcerer Supreme (e.g. Clea, Wiccan) often wear the same ensemble.
• Collector of the Strange: Over his career he has amassed a number of mystical artifacts, including several trophies that imprison old enemies. When he was forced to destroy his collection to prevent Urthona from using it, it loosed so much evil that he had to devote his complete attention to bottling it up again.
• Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: He is still drawn to resemble Price, and on occasion Benedict Cumberbatch, even before he was cast as the character.
• Combat Medic: He’s one of the earliest medical practitioners to be a superhero, though the medical part of his life isn’t given major focus.
• Comes Great Responsibility: He does have a manservant, a nice house, and no qualms about magicking up money, but this is mostly because his duties are so all-encompassing that he doesn't have time to worry about the mundane.
• Comic-Book Time: Largely averted. The 1990's series Marvel The Lost Generation established that Strange actually has been a sorcerer at least since the Sixties if not longer. See The Ageless, above.
• Conflicting Loyalties: Dr. Stephen Strange has many personal obligations. To his oath as a surgeon, to his oath as Sorcerer Supreme, to his compassion for fellow heroes, to his desire to focus on bigger problems than that of other heroes, to his friends and allies. Many of these things will line up, but when they don't, it often drives him into isolation so he won't have to directly break any of his loyalties.
• Cool Sword: In the 2016 comics, he forges his own sword, the Scalpel of Strange, to cut through dimensions. It’s additionally the first relic he made in his own name, as opposed to using relics/spells belonging to other mages/deities.
• Creepy Good: He stands out as eccentric and decidedly 'other' in the superhero community, from his wardrobe to his house and all its artifacts. People even get nervous when he decides to show up via Astral Projection. In some depictions he seems to enjoy this and find it amusing; in others, it cuts him off from his fellow humans and makes him feel lonely and isolated.
• Deadpan Snarker: Many of Strange's writers, like Roy Thomas, have Strange recurrently engage in dry sarcasm, especially when involved with more traditional superheroics. More than once he's implied that, after all the time battling monsters that want to devour the universe or corrupt the souls of humanity, he finds battling bank-robbing supervillains relaxing and finds it a happy side-effect of his time with teams like the Defenders.
• Deflector Shields: He is protected by a mystical shield that can withstand attacks from beings like Galactus, Dormammu and Shuma Gorath. Depending on the Writer, it either functions automatically or he has to summon it. He can also call up the "Shields of the Seraphim" for added protection.
• Dented Iron: Turns out that one really can't be a Squishy Wizard in Marvel. Channeling the dark arts will alter your innards and will kill weak people who try it for long enough period of time. He has methods to reduce the effects and he's tough as nails, but he still has to go through a regular routine of getting pus drained out of internal boils, ulcers treated, et cetera.
• Depending on the Writer: No one has ever been able to decide exactly how damaged Strange's hands are after the accident. Some writers give him impairments of varying severity to his dexterity, some have him regain the injuries if he begins to heal, and some say that Strange's hands are perfectly fine, and that he doesn't return to surgery due to issues more relating to his ego or morality than physicality.
• De-power: Zigzagged. His most powerful spells draw on the energy of divine beings, so he can't technically lose those unless he also loses the favor of that deity. On the other hand, Astral Projection, Psychic Powers, the ability to manipulate the magical energy of the universe, and the ability to steal another's magic through sheer force of will have been implied to be his own personal powers. He does rely heavily on artifacts like the Eye of Agamotto to help him use those abilities effectively, so his loss of the Eye and the special patronage of the Vishanti would count as a functional de-powering.
• Determinator: He will never give up on a set goal, no matter how much trouble he gets or how deep he falls.
• Deus ex Machina: Was once a meme for him, which was acknowledged in a comic where he was given the ability to intentionally invoke it. Mostly, though, he serves in the traditional sense, such as when the Fantastic Four had a surprise encounter with Shuma Gorath and Doctor Strange conveniently showed up to save them.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: His job in a nutshell.
• Discard and Draw: Has happened a few times, leading him to explore white magic, black magic, elemental magic, a bizarre discipline called 'catastrophe magic,' and others.
• Does Not Like Guns: Though when push comes to shove, he is quite willing to shoot an Eldritch Abomination with Hitler's gun. That said, in addition to the standard super-hero dislike of firearms, Strange has a more practical reason to avoid them; his crippled hands have such bad dexterity that aiming and firing a gun is extremely difficult. Using such a weapon regularly wouldn't just be impractical, but irresponsible and dangerous.
• Doppelgänger Attack: A common tactic of his in his classic days was creating numerous false images of himself and concealing his true self, distracting his opponents long enough to slip away and prepare a new tactic. Additionally, if he sensed he was about to fall prey to a trap, he would leave a copy behind to take the brunt of his foe's attack and allow them to waste their energy before revealing the deception.
• Dr. Jerk: Before he became a sorcerer, he was one of the most skilled surgeons in the world and had the clout to charge his own exorbitant fees, turn away patients who couldn't afford to pay, and walk out on colleagues. He was so hated, that the only jobs he was offered were of the Kicked Upstairs variety, which he had too much pride to take.
• Elite School Means Elite Brain: He worked as a brilliant surgeon able to perform just about any operation before becoming a superhero, so of course he graduated from the Ivy League school Columbia.
• Enemy Mine: He will work with anyone in the name of good. In one mini, he joined forces with Doctor Doom.
• Expose the Villain, Get His Job: How he became The Ancient One's apprentice. The Ancient One already knew that his current apprentice was plotting to betray him, but he let Strange discover Mordo's treachery to see what he would do.
• Expy: At first, he was a very blatant one to Dr. Erasmus Craven as a benevolent sorcerer, even looking a lot like his actor.
• Eyepatch of Power: He had one for a while as part of a retool into a "grittier" character.
• Fantastic Diet Requirement: It's revealed in Jason Aaron's run that his usual meals are made up of horribly disgusting indescribable stuff that barely qualifies as food. Unlike most examples, he utterly hates it, but his body has warped so much from a combination of his spell casting and all the dimensions he's been through that it's all he can eat. All the same,on several occasions before and after Aaron's run, he is shown eating normally. Like most of the events from Aaron's run, it has been later ignored.
• Fight Dracula: They've met several times, and fought throughout an entire arc when Strange wiped out every single vampire in the entire Marvel universe with a Chekhov's Gun from Dracula Lives!. This was due to The Comics Code banning vampires from comics for a few years. When the ban was lifted, the vamps came back.
• Find the Cure!: He has been called upon to find magical cures for ailments which are beyond modern medicine.
• Fingore: Strange's hands were badly injured in the car crash, and though they outwardly appeared to heal, nerve damage meant he could never safely operate again. Different writer-artist teams may or may not make his impaired dexterity obvious, and a few particularly sadistic ones have had his hands damaged again. Others have said that his hands have fully healed and there's nothing physically wrong with them, it's his confidence, and more specifically, his ego that was devastated.
• Flying Firepower: Often. Initially he needed his Cloak of Levitation to fly, but writers have shown him flying without it, particularly in Avengers vs. X-Men.
• Functional Magic: As Master of the Mystic Arts, he uses or has used everything on the list except Magic Music, possibly because he's never been shown to be musical; more likely because it wouldn't translate well into the medium of comic books. His film counterpart does have a memorable musical fight, though, as that's a medium that can properly show it off.
• Gentleman Wizard: Strange is generally well-dressed and polite, not to mention (obviously) a wizard.
• Good Is Not Soft: He's definitely on the side of the angels... but he'll do whatever it takes to stop the forces of evil, no matter the cost.
• Guile Hero: His wits are just as much a weapon as his massive reserves of power. However, this is by necessity against unspeakably powerful entities. He could never hope to take them by force, so he has to use his wits, be creative, and exploit any weaknesses they might have.

I-Z

• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: He pursued medicine after his sister Donna drowned when he was a child.
• The Illuminati: He is a member of a group by that name with Iron Man, Reed Richards, Professor Xavier, and others. Zigzags the trope, since they are all heroes but they have done some morally questionable acts in the name of saving the world. Strange appears to consider his involvement with them a necessary evil.
• Indy Ploy: When written well, this is his signature ability — the creativity to evaluate the situation in an instant and turn it around with the right spell, use of his artifacts, or words.
• Instant Sedation: He has at least one generic 'Sleep' spell.
• Insufferable Genius: Oh yes! His knowing better than everyone else on medicine (before his accident) and magic (after his accident), not to mention his holding back crucial information, made him arrogant and aloof and distanced people from him and has cost him a few friendships.
• Intangible Man: Strange's astral self.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With several young heroes, but particularly with Peter Parker.
• It's Not You, It's My Enemies: He tried to opt out of New Avengers membership because Daniel Drumm had sworn vengeance on him. Luke Cage reminded him that this sort of thing happens routinely to superheroes.^note As it turns out, he was VERY correct in being worried about this, because that is EXACTLY what Drumm did in the final arc of New Avengers.
• Kung-Fu Wizard: He's a trained martial artist. Although his skills don't come close to those of fellow superheroes like Iron Fist, he can still hold his own in a physical fight.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: On occasion he will make people forget specific bits of information they're better off not knowing.
• Legacy Character: The title of "Sorcerer Supreme" is a sort of legacy position, but it is usually passed from master to disciple, not through blood relatives.
• Levitating Lotus Position: Used by Doctor Strange for purposes of study, meditation, and sometimes Astral Projection.
• Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards: At his most powerful, Strange is, by ridiculously far, the most powerful of all mainstream heroes in the Marvel Universe, such that even the likes of The Mighty Thor or the Silver Surfer would be no match whatsoever for him in a straight fight. He needs to be, since his enemies are often far more powerful than even that.
• Literal Split Personality: He once created two personas from himself: businessman Vincent Stevens and magician Strange. Both eventually turned on Strange and were destroyed.
• Living Lie Detector: Strange's talisman, the Eye of Agamotto.
• Logical Weakness: He's limited by his physicality: he uses his hands and voice to cast nearly all of his spells, and he can get tired, hungry, or distracted like anyone else.
• Magic A Is Magic A: Attempted, but never successfully established for any length of time. The limits of what magic is capable of and what Strange himself can do vary greatly from writer to writer and arc to arc, perhaps even more than usual for comics.
• Magical Gesture: Spell-casting for Strange involves special hand positions. He often uses the mano cornuta or "horns" gesture made by folding the two inner fingers down. Currently provides the page image.
• Magical Incantation: Usually, but not always, required for him to work magic. More complicated spells seem to require longer incantations, which often rhyme.
• Manly Facial Hair: In some depictions, he has a beard and moustache. Stark says they're "Awesome Facial Hair Bros".
• Mark of the Supernatural: A streak of white hair at each temple. Originally a sign of age, but increasingly they seem to indicate that he commands arcane power.
• Martial Pacifist: Despite his skill in martial arts, and magic. He prefers talking to fighting if it can be avoided.
• May–December Romance: What his relationship with Clea appears to be.
• The Mentor: A past incarnation of him mentored Magik of the X-Men. He's the go to mentor of the mystic arts in the Marvel universe as the most renown wizard.
• Merlin and Nimue: His wife Clea started her relationship with him as a student. Eventually they broke apart but he's taken on many apprentices since, most of whom were young women. This garners a lot of snark from outside observers, but it's shown as a sign of character development when they remain platonic. Deconstructed with the same flaw that broke apart his relationship with Clea, his pride leads him to the master/student relationship because he likes being the most knowledgeable person in the room. Apparently, he has gotten over this since he and Clea are currently back together in a far more equal footing.
• Mighty Whitey: It takes Strange only a short time (an indeterminate handful of years) to surpass all The Ancient One's other students. Some writers retcon him into the Chosen One and claim the master was aware of his potential long before he actually came to Tibet. Mordo, the master's second-best student, was also Caucasian, hailing from somewhere in Transylvania.
• Mind Rape: The Eye of Agamotto, used as a weapon, will forcibly show someone the truth, with devastating results. Strange used it to subdue the rampaging Scarlet Witch during her breakdown. He has also used the Images of Ikkon to send Galactus into a Heroic BSoD (by projecting images of the billions (if not trillions) of sentient beings he's killed into his mind).
• My Greatest Failure: He blames himself for certain events which went down on his watch (particularly House of M and its aftermath), believing that the Sorcerer Supreme has that office to prevent exactly that sort of thing.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling: Strange's presence is one of the standard indicators that something big is going down in the Marvel universe. He may not do anything about it, but he'll know.
• Mystical High Collar: A large red one is part of his distinctive costume.
• Mythology: Strange comes with his own assembly of arcane deities and supernatural entities from whom he draws power.
• Neutral No Longer: His backstory. The clear and obvious existence of evil magic is what convinced him that 1) Magic is real, and 2) Good people need to learn magic too, so they can fight back.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: One of the reasons he's not used as often as other heroes outside his own series: Doctor Strange can, potentially, do ANYTHING. He's basically only limited by the power of his imagination, so pretty much any plot could easily be solved by him, eliminating any drama.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed:
  • Steve Ditko's Strange looks a lot like Vincent Price (once he lost the Asian features), something most artists afterwards don't seem to realize.
  • Stuart Immonen's version in New Avengers looked a lot like Tom Selleck — likely influenced by Strange's 1980's depictions, who likewise looked like Selleck.
• Not That Kind of Doctor: Anymore. He's kept up some of his medical skill, though how much varies from writer to writer, and he still thinks of himself as a physician.
• Obnoxious In-Laws: He takes this to new levels: his wife Clea is the daughter of his foe Umar, making her and her brother Dread Dormammu his mother-in-law and uncle-in-law respectively.
• Occult Detective:
  • Strange occasionally takes on this role. More than one plot has centered around him investigating supernatural problems brought to him by clients.
  • As one advertisement once said, "If he has to make a house call, you're already in trouble."
• Oh, My Gods!: He has a lot of occult deities to call upon, particularly the Mother/Father/Child trinity of Oshtur (the Omnipotent, and elder goddess and sister of Gaea), Hoggoth (the Hoary, an elder god that long outlived his worshippers) and Agamotto (the All-Seeing, who was born mortal and ascended, becoming the first Sorcerer Supreme and inventing many forms of sorcery along the way), known collectively as the Vishanti.
• Older Than They Look: According to Marvel: The Lost Generation, Strange's origin story predates the Fantastic Four's by decades; in other words, he has not been subject to Comic-Book Time, and his origin actually did happen in the 60's, or likely even earlier. Thanks to his magic, he looks much younger than he is.
• Papa Wolf: Threaten him and he'll shrug it off. Threaten someone he loves and he'll take you apart. At times this has turned very disturbing. Such as when he basically banished a thief to hell after the idiot stole an elixir meant to heal a dying Wong.
• Patron God: Strange derives many of his spells and magical powers from the Vishanti, a trio of extradimensional deities of unfathomable power. It's through their patronage that he's able to obtain relics like the Eye of Agamotto, which grants him telepathy, the ability to see through illusions, and playback recent events for investigative purposes. In addition, he invokes their name in his spells, such as the Hand of Hoggoth or Oshtur's Lance.
• The Perils of Being the Best: Strange owes his long tenure as Sorcerer Supreme to the fact that the few who are actually skilled enough to challenge him also tend to be wise enough to realize how badly it would suck to actually have his job, which entails fighting potentially world-destroying threats on a daily basis. Strange once faced a challenge from a young man who was convinced that he was ready to become the Sorcerer Supreme and, not wanting to hurt the kid, allowed him to think that he'd won... then gave the lad a simulation of all the shit he deals with on a normal day. The poor sod lasted only a few minutes before freaking out and begging Strange to take the job back.
• Pimped-Out Cape: One of the most famous examples, though it's the high collar with its two winglike projections which is really his icon. It is also sort of sentient, and can appreciate complements.
• Post-Victory Collapse: Extreme magical exertion is hard on him, and the effort required to win a battle can bring on anything from momentary dizziness to coma.
• Power Floats: He has no difficulty sitting cross-legged on about four feet of empty air, even without his Cloak of Levitation.
• Pride: When he was a surgeon, he was also an arrogant Jerkass who knew exactly just how good he was. He got better, but he's not totally immune from it either.
• Pride Before a Fall: His backstory. He's come a long way since, though Pride still seems to be his besetting sin.
• Primary-Color Champion: Strange's outfit is almost a blue tue tunic, a yellow belt, and a red cape with gold lining and clasp.
• Progressively Prettier: He started as a somewhat gaunt older man with slanted eyes, progressed into a conventionally-handsome Western man, transformed into something that was almost Bishounen, and eventually settled as an ordinary-looking (but still more attractive than average) man in his mid-forties.
• Prophecies Rhyme All the Time: Strange's longer spells must rhyme - and in the early years, they all scanned to the first few lines of "Battle Hymn of the Republic".
• Psychic Powers: Strange has telepathy, telekinesis, and various others psychic abilities. He's actually on par with even the likes of Moondragon, who is an even more powerful telepath than Professor X, though the latter might be more experienced and skilled. He once even bested Moondragon while she was in possession of the Mind Gem.
• Reality Warper: He's not the Sorcerer Supreme for his parlour tricks. For him, weaving the fabric of reality to his whim is as simple as it would be to tug a bit of loose string off his cape. Doctor Strange has done remarkable things with the fabric of reality and can give beings like Mephisto, Galactus, Thor and Silver Surfer a run for their money. That being said, his powers do get toned down in more modern storylines.
• Red Baron: The Sorcerer Supreme; the Master of the Mystic Arts.
• Scars Are Forever: Depending on the Artist, Stephen's hands may still be heavily scarred, with the implication that he wears his gloves to hide them.
• Science Wizard: Before he became the Sorcerer Supreme, Strange was a renowned surgeon. He still occasionally consults on medical issues and as of 2019, his hands have been restored allowing him to practice surgery again while fighting mystical threats.
• Secret Identity: For a brief period, he had a different appearance as "Doctor Strange" and a civilian identity known as "Stephen Sanders", but he eventually let it lapse. The Weirdness Censor seems to keep most persons from realizing he's more than a harmless New Age kook.
• Secret-Keeper: As a member of the Illuminati. For a time they were the secret custodians of the Infinity Gems (he had the Soul Gem). Then he was summoned by Black Panther to be party to his secrets — incursions, the Great Destroyer, and the very real possibility that he'll have to destroy alternate-universe Earths if he wants his own to live.
• Secret Test of Character: When Strange sought the help of the Ancient One to heal his hands, the latter sensed his selfish motives and refused, though he proposed that Strange become his student and find the cure within himself. Strange called him a fraud and would have left right then if not for a sudden blizzard. While confined to the building, Strange discovered one of the other students, Mordo, plotting to kill the master. When he tried to warn the Ancient One, Mordo cast a spell on Strange that rendered him unable to speak of this. Strange then decided to become the Ancient One's student, thinking that by learning magic, he would be able to stop Mordo. The Ancient One then revealed he knew about Mordo's plans all along and accepted Strange as his apprentice, now knowing he was capable of acting selflessly. Subverted in the same story, as the Ancient One made the offer a second time (and Strange accepted) once he knew all the facts.
• Ship Tease: There have been hints of sexual attraction between Strange and Ms. Marvel (mutual), the Scarlet Witch (his side), and Dead Girl of X-Statix (sort of mutual but mostly her side).
• Shoot the Dog: There is nothing he wouldn't do to protect the Earth and those he loves. Case in point...
  • He murdered the Ancient One to prevent Shuma-Gorath from entering their world.
  • He destroyed his home and all of his treasured artifacts to prevent Urthona from using them. And then was forced to go on a canine shooting spree under the instruction of Kaluu, culminating in his own suicide after defeating Shuma-Gorath again.
  • In Hickman's New Avengers, Strange erases Captain America's memories to get him out of the group and open the possibility of darker solutions to their current problem.
• Sliding Time Scale: One of the few characters in the Marvel Universe who is immune. According to Roger Stern and John Byrne's Marvel: The Lost Generation limited series, his origin actually did happen in the Sixties, or perhaps even earlier.
  • As Sorcerer Supreme, he has eternal youth and is locked in his forties, although he's chronologically twice that age.
  • Potentially retconned after the events of Secret Wars 2015. When asked how long he's been practicing magic, he answers "about a decade."
• Stealth Pun: Strange is a literal Super Doc, being a doctor with superpowers.
• Steven Ulysses Perhero: Yes, his given name is Stephen Strange. Yes, the title is real too. Yes, that kind of doctor.
• Story-Breaker Power: Toned down recently. Besides beating cosmic entities and eldritch horrors left and right, he has sealed black holes, stopped time, merged with universal concepts, channeled the mass of or restored universes, et cetera. And he's on humanity's side.
  • On the other hand, given the things that he regularly has to deal with, being ridiculously powerful is less of a luxury and more of a requirement for survival.
  • Subverted recently. See Brought Down to Badass above.
• Super Doc: In New Avengers, he has done everything from giving an injection to delivering a baby.
• Superhero Sobriquets: Sorcerer Supreme, Master of the Mystic Arts. Luke Cage attempted to saddle him with "the Magic Avenger" when he officially joined the New Avengers. Oh, and to the "savage" Hulk, he will always be "Dumb Magician."
• Supernormal Bindings: Uses the "Crimson Bands of Cyttorak" spell to tie up superpowered evildoers, and the Hulk when he's rampaging..
• Superpower Lottery: Even when his powers are toned down, he's still one of the clear-cut winners of this in the Marvel Universe. He's a genius in a variety of fields, a talented martial artist and athlete, he's easily the greatest sorcerer on Marvel Earth and his magic and ingenuity allow him to do virtually anything he wants; even summon and merge with the gods themselves. See Beyond the Impossible for just a few examples.
• Thematic Rogues Gallery: Most of Strange's enemies are sorcerers or demons. Strange is too absurdly powerful to fight non-Eldritch Abominations or other Super Super threats, most of the time.
• Third Eye: The Eye of Agamotto. By itself it sends out a beam of light that reveals the true nature of something; when Strange looks through it, it mystically attaches to his forehead.
• Time Master: He can stop and reverse time at will.
• Time Travel: An older feat of his. He once traveled back in time to witness the birth of the Earth.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: He still thinks of himself as a physician and is adverse to using deadly force.
• Tongue-Tied: When Stephen Strange first met the Ancient One and his disciple Baron Mordo, he learned that Baron Mordo was trying to kill his mentor. Mordo cast a spell on Strange that made it impossible to reveal the truth to the Ancient One. When Strange instead asked the Ancient One to accept him as a student, the Ancient One immediately broke Mordo's spell on Strange, revealing that he had known of Mordo's treachery for some time but kept him as a student so he could keep an eye on him.
• Took a Level in Kindness: After becoming Master of the Mystic Arts when his mentor passed away and bequeathed the title to him, he mellowed out and lost most of his Jerkass qualities.
• To the Pain: A lot of his enemies enjoy describing the horrible things they're going to do to him. Some of them are foolish enough to do it before he's even securely in their grasp, giving him enough time to plot a way to escape.
• Trauma Conga Line: In recent times, Strange has had a terrible time even for his standards. There was the Imperator who decimated magic, then while everyone was trying to rebuild the magical world Strange’s rogue gallery mobilized to kick him when he’s down, then Loki stole his position as Sorcerer Supreme, then the Accountant took away his magical ability, then he had to deal with Galactus consuming magic (which threw the universe out of balance)...
• We Help the Helpless: Even heroes have to eat, and so sometimes the good Doctor will investigate cases for hire (Depending on the Writer — sometimes he simply conjures up money whenever he needs it, so we assume he does this pro bono... or perhaps for light entertainment).
• Who You Gonna Call?: He is the go-to guy for dealing with most supernatural threats in the Marvel Universe and people often come directly to him to deal with their supernatural problems. And since he's the Sorcerer Supreme, it's pretty much in his job description.
• Wizarding School: He runs one, Strange Academy, a school for magical children to learn to use their powers responsibly.
• Wizards Live Longer: Strange is functionally immortal, and his mentor lived to be over 600. In an aversion of Comic-Book Time, his origin is still set in the early sixties.
• Your Universe or Mine?: The primary tension in his relationship with Clea, and the reason it ultimately failed. (They still love each other, though).

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