History Of Doctor Strange

today on varant WE dive into the history of the sorcerer Supreme Doctor [Music] Strange welcome to variant where we love Comics more than my producer loves him some Frosted Flakes I'm your host Aris konz with Marvel releasing its latest cinematic spectacle this week it's time for us to make good on our promise and give you guys the history of Doctor Strange as we all know marvel spent the last 10 years turning its Comics into a massive Cinematic Universe And for those of you who are already familiar with his character the addition of Dr strange to the MCU comes as no surprise because the sorcer Supreme has played an important role in the Marvel comic Universe for a long time so let's dive [Music] in Doctor Strange was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve dicko and debuted in Strange Tales issue 110 in 1963 at the time Strange Tales was a split book that also featured the stories of the Human Torch also here's a little fun fact for you the original take on the doctor strange character was inspired by the chandu the magician radio show from the 1930s that information is going to come in handy one day so keep it a secret keep it safe but anyway this new kind of superhero as Stan Lee called him appeared in several issues before getting his origin story in Strange Tales issue 115 there we learned he was a brilliant but arrogant surgeon named Steven strange who ends up horribly injuring the nerves in his hands in a car accident and leaves him unable to do his work while searching the world for a way to fix his hands Doctor Strange hears about a mystical healer called the Ancient One somewhere near India and sets out to find him and ask for his help but when he eventually finds him in the Himalayan mountains the ancient one tells Steven that he cannot heal him because his motives are selfish instead he offers to make strange his student in hopes that he would discover the healing power within himself but the doctor wasn't having it he calls the Ancient One a fraud and tries to leave only to realize that he had been snowed in and was stuck there a few days later Steven has his mind blown when he sees the ancient one fight off some kind of dark magic and then rushes into help when the conflict left the ancient one too weak after this dror strange quickly realizes that there are forces that exist far beyond anything that he thought he knew he also that one of the ancient one's students Baron MTO had turned evil and was attempting to summon a dark power called Damu in order to kill him but the ancient one was already aware of mto's betrayal and put a stop to it after seeing all this Steven changes his mind and asks the ancient one to teach him the ways of the Mystic Arts in order to battle MTO and help defend the Earth against dark Forces I mean wouldn't you the Ancient One agrees to make him his student but not before warning him that the path ahead would be difficult and dangerous Doctor Strange accepts and of course goes on to become the ancient one's successor their sorcerer Supreme and protect over Earth's realm but over the next few years Baron MTO continued to be one of Doctor Strange's greatest enemies and threats we eventually even learn why MTO went full dark in later issues but I'll get more into that when we talk about the history of Baron MTO next week Doctor Strange fans were also slowly introduced to his biggest baddy the very powerful demon doramu ruler of the dark dimension strange would eventually come face to face with this beast when doramu challenged him to a Mystic duel in the dark dimension forcing him to accept in order to protect Earth's realm although Doctor Strange wasn't as powerful as dhamu he was able able to drain his power just enough to weaken the barrier that protected the dark dimension from borderline unstoppably destructive beings known as the Mindless ones this forced Damu to concede and promise to spare the Earth's realm so that doctor strange would lend him enough power to restore the barrier and save the Dark Realm but this defeat of course made Damu Furious and he vowed Revenge cementing him as the sorcerer Supreme's most vicious and Relentless enemy during that confrontation with Damu Doctor Strange also met Clea the daughter of Damu sister Umar and the rightful ruler of the dark dimension after a series of events strange brought Clea to Earth for protection and she moved into the sanctum sanctorum even becoming Doctor Strange's student but it wasn't long before the two started dating and even got married at one point but it was always a complicated on again off again relationship so let this be a lesson to you kids mixing business and romance never a good idea now I know and knowing is half the battle G in addition to the villains and love interest these early issues also introduced us to characters like the sorcerer Supreme's most trusted friend and Ally Wong altogether the mystical and surreal art and story lines of the first Doctor Strange run were so different and such a departure from Marvel that it caused some readers to wonder if they were the result of the creators experimenting with drugs what can I tell you got to love the 60s the doctor strange stories did allow Lee and Dio to explore new themes and significantly expand the Marvel Universe with the introduction of various types of magic as well as the concept of the Multiverse so without the characters and ideas introduced with Dr Strange In Those early issues of Strange Tales the Marvel Universe would definitely be less interesting in 1968 Doctor Strange got his first solo book where writer Roy Thomas took the book in a much darker Direction giving it a more horror Vibe which drastically altered the look of the series this run only lasted 15 issues before it was cancelled due to poor sales but not before they gave Doctor Strange an updated and much cooler costume basically introduced Satan into the Marvel universe as a villain named satannish no I'm not making that up and teaming Doctor Strange with black knight to take on new Asgardian demons needless to say it was a busy 15 issues and if any of that makes its way into the Cinematic World we're in for a wild ride jump ahead to the 1970s Doctor Strange joined and led his first team of superheroes called The Defenders the group comprised of Doctor Strange Hulk neyar and eventually Silver Surfer was initially formed to protect Earth from beings known as the undying ones the 70s also returned the character to his own solo title in 1974 and actually became an 81 issue run that lasted until 1987 making it one of the longest and maybe the most action-packed runs in the character's history some of the highlights from the Run include the return of Baron MTO the debut of another reoccurring super villain known as schuma gorath Doctor Strange teaming up with Nick Fury and the Halloween Commandos to stop Damu from trying to escape the dark dimension again a crossover story that involved a battle against Dracula in time travel to ancient Egypt where strange witnessed the Silver age battle between a young Fantastic Four and Ramat Tut then in 1988 Ryder Roy Thomas returned to the character taking a more traditional approach this time with the title Doctor Strange sorcerer Supreme this 90 issue run went until 1996 and featured appearances by Ghost Rider and Wolverine and returned Baron MTO more powerful than ever as the sorcerer Supreme's greatest enemy the series also introduced maesta the daughter of maesto and saw the doctor go head-to-head with baddies like Juggernaut and hobgoblin during the 2000s Doctor Strange mostly appeared as a supporting character in titles like The Amazing Spider-Man as well as a member of the superhero teams the Illuminati and the new Avengers in fact while a member of the Illuminati strange played a role and kicking off the events of the planet Hulk storyline when they banished Hulk from Earth then after Hulk finds his way back and destroys half the freaking Marvel Universe in search of Revenge Doctor Strange turns to dark magic in an attempt to defeat the Hulk this ultimately fails and is of dark magic causes him to doubt himself and eventually renounce his status as sorcerer Supreme he would of course reclaim his title a few years later as a member of the new Avengers having become more powerful than ever but I also couldn't go without mentioning the story that many believe is the best overall look at Doctor Strange as a character and that would be the five issue miniseries Doctor Strange the oath written by Brian Kon in 2006 and 2007 the story follows Doctor Strange as he desperately seeks a cure for his good friend Wong after he was diagnosed with brain cancer while simultaneously trying to figure out who shot him and why after a series of events Strang is forc to choose between saving his friend and saving the entire world that's some crazy deep make you think stuff right there the oath also introduced The Night Nurse as both an emergency doctor for superheroes and Doctor Strange's new love interest overall this is a must read for Doctor Strange fans in 2015 Marvel finally returned dror strange to his own solo title with writer Jason Aaron the first Arc in the series way of the weird introduced a mysterious outside Forest that is trying to destroy magic Universe by universe and has just brought back Baron MTO again the series has also dropped a pretty serious bomb when revealed that the use of magic is actually damaging strangers body curious to see how that's going to work so the writing and art have been pretty epic in this title so far and I'm pretty interested to see how the title ties in to the Cinematic Universe not to mention they gave Doctor Strange a new battle axe that's pretty much all I needed speaking of weapons let's talk about Doctor Strange's powers and abilities shall we as one of the most powerful Sorcerers in existence Doctor Strange draws much of his power from a group of mystical Godlike be called a vashanti when called upon he channels their power mostly through several mystical artifacts starting with his am known as the eye of agamotto this amulet can do things like radiate light probe mins open dimensional portals Pierce Illusions and expose deceptions it's probably his most commonly used artifact we actually posted an episode on the eye of agamotto a few months ago so you can check that out here some of the other artifacts he uses are the cloak of levitation which allows him to fly without using his own magic the orb of agamotto which he basically uses as an interdimensional surveillance device and the Book of Asanti with the use of various types of magic and his own psychic abilities Doctor Strange is able to conjure such Powers as astral projection illusion casting time travel interdimensional travel matter manipulation thought projection and the list goes on in short he's a bad man without any clear limitations to his power to sum things up Doctor Strange has one of the most unaltered origins in comics mostly because it's probably hard to improve on and he just might be one of the most underrated heroes in the Marvel Universe but if his first movie is as cool as the trailer looks I have a feeling he won't be underrated for much longer I should also note that there has been several other versions of the sorcerer supreme but we might cover that in a future alternate versions episode finally you know I couldn't leave you guys without a few Doctor Strange reading recommendations and those are Marvel Masterworks Doctor Strange volume 1 Doctor Strange the oath issues 1-5 Doctor Strange issue 60 through 62 the montessi formula sorcerer Supreme once more in New Avengers Volume 2 and Doctor Strange way of the weird volume 1 first up for Wednesday November 2nd we have unworthy Thor issue one the Odin Suns desperate search to regain his worthiness has taken him out into the cosmos where he's learned of the existence of a mysterious other mire and finally we have green arrow issue 10 putting it simply it's awesome to see Green Arrow and Black Canary fighting side by side once again if you're a longtime Green Arrow fan you're going to want to read this and that'll bring another episode of varant to a close but remember you can always like our varant Facebook page to keep up with the show and all things comic related can also follow varant on Twitter at variant Comics or me on Twitter _ kones but I'll see you guys on Saturday when we review Doctor Strange ah the illuminates the use of magic actually is damaging dror strange R really Str his body

Channel: Variant Comics

Views: 894,459

Keywords: Dr Strange, Marvel Comics, Marvel Studios, Marvel, Stephen Strange, Baron Mordo, Marvel Universe, Avengers, Doctor Strange, Dormammu, Mystics, Movies, Origins, History Of, Origin, variant, variant comics

Id: 3nn-UqTsJO8

Length: 10min 5sec (605 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 02 2016