Doctor Strange is one of the Marvel Universe’s most powerful heroes. Possessing the Eye of Agamotto and – more often than not – boasting the title of Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme, he’s Earth’s best line of defense against a myriad of supernatural threats, from the Dread Dormammu to Marvel’s Devilish Mephisto. Sadly, the real Doctor Strange was killed way back in 2015, and it’s almost certain he’ll never be seen again.

Stephen’s death took place during Marvel’s 2015 crossover event Secret Wars, occurring at the hands of a near-omnipotent Doctor Doom, who was going by God Emperor Doom at the time. Strange’s death came after a long fall from grace, but it was a worthy death for such a prominent hero, enabling several of Marvel’s other major characters to ultimately rise up against Doom and save the day.

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In the run-up to Secret Wars – specifically over Jonathan Hickman’s run on New Avengers – Doctor Strange had lost his way. Faced with the threat of Multiversal collapse, Strange had joined up with Marvel’s Illuminati to push back invading alternate realities by any means necessary, even embracing dark magics that would have been unthinkable in any circumstance but the end of all reality. Sadly, even these extreme measures weren’t enough, and Strange found himself facing the end of everything by the side of Doctor Doom, who had been cooking up his own solution, out of view of Marvel’s “heroes.”

Doom’s plan was to embrace the end of all things, stealing the power of the Beyonders who had caused the collapse and using it to create a patchwork reality from whatever was left in those final moments. When the time came, Stephen – all too aware of how tainted he’d been by desperation – turned down the opportunity to gain omnipotence, allowing Doctor Doom to take the power and construct Battleworld; a new reality in which Doom was God and Strange his “sheriff,” ensuring that each of the walled-off realities that made up Doom’s domain observed his will.

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Strange worked in this role for years, subservient to Doom and even allowing the Fantastic Four’s greatest villain to toy with the alternate-universe heroes under his control. But that all changed when Strange discovered a cosmic life raft containing a handful of heroes from Marvel’s original reality. When Doom came calling, Doctor Strange spirited them away, knowing that while Doom was all-powerful, he wasn’t all-seeing, and the heroes would have a chance to find an answer.

Irritated, Doom demands Strange bring the heroes back, but Strange refuses, explaining that while he was happy to work with Doom to preserve some sliver of reality, he won’t be party to the deaths of true heroes. When Doom pushes harder, Strange points out that Doom is showing his fear of the returned Reed Richards, saying:

How much harder do you think Reed Richards is going to try when he finds out that you stole his entire life? Look at you… Even with all this power, you’re still afraid of him. Well, you know what, old friend? I think you should be.

Partly out of rage, partly in the knowledge that he can’t let his powerful ally stand against him, Doom uses his godlike power to execute Strange on the spot, but the damage is done, and Reed Richards would eventually defeat Doom and usurp his power.

Once that had happened, Mister Fantastic, Franklin Richards, and the Molecule Man used their combined abilities to recreate the multiverse, but this version was a copy, and an imperfect one at that. This new Marvel Universe has a tweaked history, a different molecular and celestial make-up, and is peppered with artifacts of the Secret Wars. It also has its own Doctor Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme, but while this hero is a pristine copy, he is still just a copy created by Franklin Richards. Though this newly created Doctor Strange continues the good fight, Marvel’s original Doctor Strange was murdered by Doctor Doom after a protracted fall from grace. It’s a sad ending for Doctor Strange, but a fitting one for a hero who always had one foot in the darker corners of the Marvel Universe.

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Robert Wood
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Robert Wood is a comics editor for Screen Rant and the author of ‘The False Elephant (and 99 Other Unreasonably Short Stories).’ He received his Master’s in English Literature from Lancaster University, and now happily spends his days applying it to Daredevil and the Hulk.

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