Strange Facts

Are you a fan of The Sorcerer Supreme? Well, here are One Dozen Doctor Strange Facts!

1. Before the creation of Doctor Strange, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created a character named Doctor Droom in 1961. When Dr. Strange was created two years later, Stan admits he completely forgot about Drood and figured Strange was just a better version of the previous character. Despite that, Doctor Drood-renamed Doctor Druid to dodge confusion with Doctor Doom-remained a character in the Marvel Universe.

2. Seeing as how the character premiered in the series "Strange Tales", Stan wanted the character to have the word "Strange" in his name. He almost decided on "Mr." before remembering he already had a character named Mr. Fantastic. Keeping with trend of alliteration, Stan named the character Doctor Stephen Strange.

3. When writing Doctor Strange stories, Stan Lee would pull mythological names from other Marvel stories to establish Marvel's own pantheon of mystic beings. For example: One of Strange's most used spells is "The Crimson Bands of Cyttorak". Cyttorak is the ancient being trapped within The Juggernaut's crystal.

4. Due to Stan's writing and Steve Ditko's surreal and vivid landscapes many readers assumed the two were high on drugs as college students claimed to have similar visions when under the influence. Writer Roy Thomas later clarified that nobody at Marvel did drugs. Stan Lee has recalled on several occasions how during trips to college campuses, students would ask him which religion or mythology he was borrowing from, but Stan insisted he wasn't drawing inspiration from those sources. Just as his version of Norse mythology was not directly based on it's source material.

5. Doctor Strange has been a member of many Marvel teams such as the original Defenders, The Illuminati, both The Avengers and The New Avengers, and The Midnight Sons with characters like Blade and Ghost Rider.

6. In the 1970's, Steve Eaglehart and Frank Brunner wrote a Doctor Strange story in which "God" was involved. Stan Lee saw this issue and ordered the men to redact the mentioning of "God" and replace it with "a God" claiming the company could take heavy flack from religious leaders. Eaglehart and Brunner wrote a fake letter under the made-up identity of a Texas minister and praised the issue and sent it to Marvel. Believing it to be real, Marvel did not redact the mentioning of "God" and even printed the fake letter in the back of the book.

7. The Vishanti are a trinity of the most powerful mystical beings to come from Earth. They are ancient, all-knowing, and benevolent. They consist of Hoggoth, Oshtur, and Agamotto. Agamotto was Earth's very first Sorcerer Supreme and protected the world from inter-dimensional threats. In his passing to the afterlife, Agamotto left his eye as a mystical object to aid his successors. When Stephan was first training to be the next Sorcerer Supreme, his teacher was The Ancient One-Sorcerer Supreme of that time. His competition for the role was fellow mystics like Baron Mordo and even Doctor Doom. Alternate versions of Merlin, Tony Stark, and The Punisher have been Sorcerer Supreme. After "Civil War" Doctor Strange deemed himself unworthy of the title as he avoided the confrontation when he could have been a voice of reason. He passed the mantle to Brother Voodoo, another sorcerer spun out of the title "Strange Tales".

8. The recently created character Gwenpool comes from a universe very similar to our own in which The Marvel Universe is fictional. When she asks Doctor Strange to take her to her home dimension to grab her forms of identification, Dr. Strange learns that the actor Benedict Cumberbatch is playing him on film and seems pleased with that.

9. Doctor Strange's supporting cast and location are hold-overs from the more classic stories of superheroes. His original love interest Clea is the niece of his greatest foe Dormammu, his servant Wong essentially fills the role of Alfred, and his base of operations The Sanctum Sanctorum acts as a portable home that can be placed anywhere on Earth. The Sanctum has also been under the control of other Sorcerer Supremes and once used an illusion to convince people Dr. Strange left it behind and it was to be replaced by a Starbucks.

10. In the main universe Doctor Strange was a neurosurgeon, in the world of 1602 he was a physician for Queen Elizabeth, in "Age of X" he poses as a mutant-hunter, in Amalgam Comics we was fused with DC's Doctor Fate and Professor X to become Doctor Strangefate. In the series "Bulletpoints" Strange becomes an agent of SHIELD in return for them fixing his hands and outfitting them with claws similar to Wolverine. In Howard the Duck's homeworld, he is Ducktor Strange a drunken Sorcerer Supreme who lives in an alleyway. In "Marvel Zombies" he is one of the last heroes to become infected and, as an undead sorcerer, is limited to two spells. In "Mutant X" Stephan became Man-Thing. In Spider-Ham's world, Stephan is Croctor Strange the crocodile sorcerer. In the "Ultimate Universe" Doctor Stephan Strange Junior was the son of Dr. Strange Senior. Senior seemed to be an almost exact replica of main universe Dr. Strange, but his son was not a Doctor and was barely a sorcerer, narrowly saving the day by using unexpected spells. Strange Junior used his position to become a celebrity, and both he and his father used the term "Sorcerer Supreme" as a self-imposed title.

11. One of Doctor Strange's future disciples was an extra-dimensional being named Krugarr. That version of Doctor Strange was killed by Dormammu, leaving Krugarr The New Sorcerer Supreme, his student Talon, and The Guardians of The Galaxy to destroy the evil being together.

12. Through an adventure with The Punisher we learn Doctor Strange is not opposed to using modern day firearms when put in a jam. In one of Strange's best regarded stories "Doctor Strange: The Oath" he is shot in the stomach with-what seems to be-an old, yet average pistol. When his body is looked over by Night Nurse, Wong, and Strange's own astral projection, they discover the gun used on him was the same gun that Adolph Hitler killed himself with, meaning the weapon was charged with "negative energy". This created an underutilized weakness for Doctor Strange, the idea that a weapon used to kill ones own self-and not simply the lives of others-could breach all his magical defenses.

Thanks for reading!