Doctor Strange 02020 Appearance Braindump Storage Space/Placeholder [Updating]
Empyre: X-Men miniseries
In #1 [out 22 Jul] in flashback, Scarlet Witch wants to undo her "No More Mutants" Decimation M-Day,
but Doctor Strange tells her they can't unring that bell. Wanda then decides to ring a bigger bell and make her
amends by resurrecting all 16 million dead mutants on Genosha (killed when Cassandra Nova's Wild Sentinels
slaughtered the island back in New X-Men #115). She spends a year setting up a huge multi-piece spell,
but it only succeeds in turning the Genoshan population into mutant zombies- just in time to set up this
quirky and nicely-Empyre-less Plants Vs. Zombies mini-series, as the sentient-plant aliens Cotati arrive
(complete with leader Ru'tuh-Baga yuk yuk) to use Genosha as a staging area against Wakanda and its vibranium.
In #4 [out 19 Aug], Dr. Strange has a strong and personality-filled appearance, downing shots as Wanda relates
her clusterfuck of hubris, and putting pieces together for a big "Thank me and my mighty works" spell
himself that undoes hers and the zombies (but there's a 30-day delay until it hits).
But: Neilalien mostly has low interest for the Scarlet Witch character; Doc apparently not detecting her massive spell was cast?; and "superheroes" should be saving millions of lives, but we get these absurd stories where they kill millions and try to resurrect millions because they're incompetent/arrogant/go bad/go crazy, etc. (thinking of this story, Secret Empire/Damnation Las Vegas, M-Day, Illuminati, etc.).
Weird Science Marvel Comics review: "Readers should simply pick this up for fun, outstanding storytelling by one of the best in the business, and to get a taste as to what Hickman can do with a DOCTOR STRANGE series."
Doctor Strange Secretly Stopped Another House Of M
Avengers/Age of Khonshu story arc
Moon God Khonshu has a vision of a future ruled by Mephisto, so he and his avatar Marc Spector, Moon Knight,
go bonkers remaking and almost destroying the world themselves to prevent it until Moon Knight comes to his senses.
MK defeats four heroes and takes their powers in order to face Mephisto- Doctor Strange, Iron Fist, Thor for Mjolnir,
Ghost Rider's car- he can't take Black Panther's "blood"- and even ends up with the Pheonix Force.
MK defeats Doc in Part One #33 [out 27 May] with mummies and steals his powers, which go into an ankh-totem while
Doc goes into a coma-sarcophagus [shown in #35]. Did you notice MK punches him in the face with the Iron Fist ankh totem
and makes a forehead-dent ankh appear there just like when Doc faces death? In the Finale #37 [out 14 Oct], the ankh totem
holding Doc's powers is taken from Khonshu and given to Blade to use, with the caption reading that Blade is now Sorcerer Supreme.
On the one hand, MK is shown beating some other heavyweights, so we accept Doc as a part of that. If you want power,
it's good that Doc is wanted. But on the other hand, for Doc fans: Doc has no superpowers, he has abilities. You can't
put Doc's spellcasting skill and Sorcerer Supreme title in a box. Doc should have been shown as "inaccessible" just
like Black Panther was. It's just another example over the years of Doc's hard-won decades-earned skills shown as easily
transferable powers, so easy for others to learn, the Sorcerer Supreme mantle tossed around like a $2 whore, etc.
