Marvel Comics Proves Doctor Strange’s Mordo Was Right

Warning: contains spoilers for The Death of Doctor Strange: Bloodstone #1!

Marvel has just confirmed that Baron Mordo, one of Doctor Strange’s greatest enemies, was right about sorcerers. In The Death of Doctor Strange: Bloodstone #1, Elsa and Cullen Bloodstone learn they have a long-lost sibling, one with a grudge against all sorcerers and magic users—and when the Bloodstones dig deeper, they learn she has a valid point.

Movie audiences first met Doctor Strange in his 2016 film, along with Baron Carl Mordo. While Mordo started as a friend of Strange’s he quickly became envious of the ease at which Strange took to magic. In the movie’s final, post-credit scene, Mordo attacked another magic user, robbing him of his powers. As the former sorcerer lay on the ground dying, Mordo declared there were too many sorcerers, and he was going to start culling them. While this was an obvious set-up for this year’s follow-up, it also gave fascinating insight into Mordo’s character and motivations. Recently, the comic book Doctor Strange was seemingly killed, and in the absence of a Sorcerer Supreme, Earth has become prey to numerous magical threats. Entities long banished to other realms are returning. One of them is Lyra Bloodstone, the long-lost sister of monster-hunter Elsa Bloodstone, whose attitude towards sorcerers mirrors Mordo’s. The issue is written by Tini Howard, illustrated by Ig Guara, colored by Dijjo Lima, and lettered by Joe Caramagna.

Lyra Bloodstone has returned to her father’s home and meets her siblings Elsa and Cullen. She relates her story: born over a thousand years ago to Elsa and Cullen’s father Ulysses, she was banished to another realm as a “sacrifice.” She was imprisoned in that realm for many years, being constantly held in by whoever was the Sorcerer Supreme; when Doctor Strange passed, she was freed and came to Earth. She goes on to reveal that the sorcerers who kept her prisoner fed her magic items, and never once inquired on her status. Readers learn that thanks to the Nullgem, Lyra can “eat” magic—explaining why she was imprisoned away.

At the end of the issue, Elsa reveals she will have questions for the Sorcerer Supreme should they return—and she would be within rights. Although this issue is the first-time readers meet Lyra, nothing seems to indicate she is a bad person—if anything, she seems quite eager to meet (and help) her newfound siblings Elsa and Cullen. With this in mind, her millennia-long banishment was a cruel act on the part of her father as well as the subsequent Sorcerer Supremes—such as Doctor Strange.

Strange, and the other Sorcerer Supremes, have seemingly proven Mordo’s point for him. There are a lot of sorcerers in the Marvel Universe, and some of them commit acts that make no sense, such as imprisoning an innocent girl for thousands of years, never once asking why she is being held. Mordo also felt sorcerers had become too entrenched in rules and ceremony, unthinkingly following laws laid down thousands of years before they were born. As seen in this issue, Doctor Strange is complicit in this—and should he return, he will have to answer for what he has done.

A possibility exists that there is more to Lyra Bloodstone than fans think, and Doctor Strange knows something about her readers do not. Yet regardless, her imprisonment proves that Baron Mordo was correct about sorcerers in the Marvel Universe.

About The Author

Shaun Corley
(1376 Articles Published)

Shaun Corley is a pop culture enthusiast living in the Pacific Northwest. After stints in both customer service and academia, he’s turned his attention to writing about comic books–his lifelong passion. He is a graduate of Radford University, with a degree in English. When not reading comics, he enjoys spending time with his fiance and their dog.

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