Professor Charles Xavier in the MC2

 

While I haven’t covered this character in detail for this blog, I have previously made two related MC2 Family Trees back before I began providing more detailed entries. For reference those were The Yama Family Tree and The Xavier-Marko Family Tree which should clue you into who today’s post is about: Professor Charles Xavier aka Professor X, the founder of the X-Men.

 

In the unlikely event you didn’t already know, Charles Xavier made his comic debut in the original X-Men #1 as the leader and mentor to the original five members of the titular mutant team. As for the first appearance of Professor X in the MC2, Charles only appears in flashbacks, with the first being J2 #7. These flashbacks show major events in the life of Cain Marko aka The Juggernaut, the step-brother of Charles Xavier. One such event shown depicts Marko’s origin, specifically the moment he and Charles discovered the lost temple of Cyttorak while serving in the military together and Cain transforms into The Juggernaut for the first time as originally recounted by Xavier in X-Men #12.

 

We also see Cain’s first clash with Xavier’s original X-Men team as seen in X-Men #12-#13 and a later clash with the All-New All-Different X-Men team from X-Men #101-#103. For comparison, here are the original relevant covers and pages:

 

The only other direct mention of Xavier comes in a back up story in Wild Thing #5 where his early life being bullied by Cain is recounted as depicted in the aforementioned X-Men #12 and later it’s stated that after his reformation, Cain Marko ‘made peace with Xavier and even joined his stepbrother’s team!’

 

What’s unclear is the fate of Professor Charles Xavier in the MC2’s present. We could infer from the recently rescued former Juggernaut Cain Marko’s throw away comment to ‘pull a Charlie Xavier’ that ol’ Chuck is still around but there’s nothing solid to be sure either way (Wild Thing #5). What is clear is that after the various sacrifices of the X-Men over the years, mutant kind is more accepted by the general public, meaning Charles Xavier’s dream remains alive in the MC2 (J2 #2).

 

Once again I find myself wishing we’d seen an X-People series published. Maybe there’s still hope for it someday?

 

Until I stop trying to tie-in to MCU movies to encourage readership, I remain

 

frogoat

 

      

Doctor Strange in the MC2

 

Now that Spider-Man: No Way Home has come and gone, the most anticipated Marvel Studios movie release is Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness so now is an excellent time to take a look at Doctor Strange in the MC2.

 

While Doctor Stephen Strange first appeared in Strange Tales #110, his MC2 counterpart makes his debut in the pages of A-Next #3. Right off the bat, this appearance provides a number of insights into Stephen’s new status quo, starting with the issue’s opening page which pretty well confirms the Sorcerer still resides within the Sanctum Sanctorum located at 177A Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village. We also learn that Doc Magus aka Dormagus has replaced Strange as the new Sorcerer Supreme (as Dormagus puts it) ‘ever since The Vishanti fired [Stephen’s] butt.’

 

Having foreseen a world-threatening tragedy that will unfold in the near future, Doctor Strange takes matters into his own hands and recruits his former Defenders teammates Namor the Sub-Mariner and the Incredible Hulk in an apparent attempt to save the day using extreme measures. Doc Magus attempts to warn off Strange and when this fails, he takes his mentor Deacon’s advice and approaches the newly formed Avengers team for help. Soon enough the two teams clash in Arizona until Dormagus uses the Eye of Agamotto to uncover Doctor Strange’s true motives were three-fold: to make Namor proactive once more, ensure the Hulk is able to fulfill his destiny and provide the new Avengers team a ‘baptism of fire’.

 

While Doctor Strange himself does not appear, he is alluded to in J2 #4 While in an unknown dimension alongside the Avenger J2 battles a Darkling posing as the original Juggernaut, the dark lord Nemesus taunts Dormagus’ about the mystic’s strained and dysfunctional relationship with his own father. When he is thwarted and retreats, Nemesus’ parting words to Dormagus are ‘give my regards to your own dear father!’.

 

Ignoring a warning from Doctor Strange to wait for reinforcements, Dormagus and Zane Yama aka J2 make their way to a pocket dimension to rescue Cain Marko aka Juggernaut. Despite reuniting Zane with his father, Nemesus appears and reveals Doc Magus had fallen into his trap and closed the heroes gateway home, trapping them. Fortunately, Doctor Strange appears alongside his fellow Defenders the Hulk and the Sub-Mariner and aid in escaping from Nemesus’ dimension before they are all swarmed by legions of Darklings. This story makes clear some unexplored history between Nemesus and Strange (J2 #12).

 

Around this time, Doctor Strange made an appearance in Wild Thing #0 where in he is called upon by Wolverine to attempt to remove the cure of the Wendigo from the land around Hudson Bay. Meeting Wild Thing, Stephen makes a knowing comment to Wolverine: ‘Independent children can be such a trial, eh, Wolverine?’ With the aid of the Hulk, Wolverine and Wild Thing, Doctor Strange successfully lifts the curse.

 

When the demonically empowered vigilante Darkdevil is stabbed through the chest by the Venom Symbiote bonded with Normie Osborn, Doc Magus is called upon to save him. Struggling to save the hero, Dormagus admits he is out of his depth and accepts the help of Doctor Strange just as the demon Zarathos appears and warns the two mystics to leave Darkdevil’s body as he claimed it as his own. Unable to perform a conventional exorcism, the two are forced to journey into Darkdevil’s mindscape and restore the balance between the three vying avatars within the hero: the spirit of vengeance Zarathos, the ghostly spirt of the costumed hero Daredevil and the boy Reilly Tyne (Spider-Girl #83-#84).

 

With a string of superheroes going missing, Doc Magus sets out to find them on his own, once again rejecting the aid of Doctor Strange, only to wind up defeated in his astral form by a disguised Loki and fall under the villain’s thrall immediately afterwards when reunited with his mortal form and abducted (Last Hero Standing #2). 

 

While attempting to resolve the mystery of the missing heroes, Doctor Strange is instead attacked by the culprit Loki himself, who mentions Stephen’s ‘fall from grace is well-known to [him]’ before making short work of the Sorcerer. Still enthralled and falsely believing he knows who kidnapped him, Doc Magus leads the other heroes to Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum only to be confronted by a Loki-controlled and enraged Hulk who makes short work of the assembled heroes indiscriminately. Upon finding that Doctor Strange was seemingly in a coma, Dormagus was unable to detect Loki’s handiwork thanks to the dark spell’s effect (Last Hero Standing #4). Asgard’s Grand Vizier reveals the truth to Doc Magus and Doctor Strange is shortly after present to witness the death of Captain America (Last Hero Standing #5).

 

Unless I’ve missed a cameo somewhere, that’s the last time we see Doctor Strange in the MC2. I find the still-unresolved mystery of how and why Doctor Strange lost the position of Sorcerer Supreme to be a most tantalizing plot thread. I sincerely wish we learned the details of this massive development.

 

Until I learn to master the mystic arts and become Sorcerer Supreme only to lose the job under unrevealed circumstances, I remain

 

frogoat  

 

 

 

  

Doc Magus: Who's Your Mama?!

If you haven’t already grown tired of my recent batch of Doc Magus related posts, here’s another! Today I’m going to pick up where the last one left off. Knowing who the MC2’s current Sorcerer Supreme’s father is, now let’s work out the identity of Dormagus’ mother!

 

There are a few clues scattered throughout Doc Magus’ appearances which we should take a look at before the big reveal. Aside from the aforementioned personal connections to Doctor Stephen Strange, there’s a few clues in Doc Magus’ early appearances. In A-Next #3 we not only get his real name Dormagus, and our first brief glimpse of him unmasked (I previously misattributed this to J2 #4) but also this throwaway reference from Deacon: ‘You can start by pulling your head outta the Dark Dimension, kiddo…’

 

 First appearing in Strange Tales #126, the Dark Dimension is actually the name attributed to the largest, most aggressive conquering splinter realm of the original whole Dark Dimension. It has often been visited in various adventures by Doctor Stephen Strange and is most notable as being ruled by the Faltine-originating energy-entities Dormammu (who debuted in Strange Tales #126) and his sister Umar (who first appeared in Strange Tales #150).

 

Looking at Dormagus’ unmasked appearance, it’s worth pointing out he still has white streaks through his hair despite his youthful appearance and demeanour. This is noteworthy because there is another character closely associated with both Doctor Strange and the Dark Dimension who wields great magical power and also has white hair: Clea, daughter of Umar, the sometimes ruler of the Dark Dimension and wife (via extradimensional ceremony) to Stephen Strange (as established in Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #3).

 

Clea also first appeared in Strange Tales #126 but has yet to make any appearance in the MC2 to date. In fact, the closest we’ve even come to an interaction between Dormagus and Clea might just be the collective gathering of various Sorcerers Supreme from across time and space briefly seen in Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme #12.

 

So, is there any real reason to suspect that Clea is the mother of Dormagus? Why, yes there is! Courtesy of a wonderful interview on Chris Chapman’s Comic Shenanigans podcast episode #744 we have this snippet from MC2 co-creator Ron Frenz:

 

‘What’s funny is when you try to establish things, people are slow on the uptake, like with Doc Magus. We wanted to do this second-generation mystic and everything. Tom in the first issue has Doctor Strange call him Dormagus which is the same prefix as Dormammu and there are other suggestions made about who this kid might be and we had a lot of people writing in and guessing who they are and Tom thought it was so obvious he actually said at one point ‘when you add 2 and 2 do you always get 22?’ That kind of thing. At this point, I guess we can say it, I don’t know how much it was ever established, because I know Dormagus appeared in J2 a few times. But he is the son of Doctor Strange and Clea. Because Clea was from the Dark Dimension. She was from the same place Dormammu was, so that’s why her son has the same prefix on the name. Tom also wanted something that sounded like ‘magus’ so he could go to Doc Magus, that kind of thing. That’s why his hairstyle looked a little like his mum’s. He was given the responsibility of being the Sorcerer Supreme at such a young age because of his bloodline. We thought it was pretty obvious but there were a few fans that didn’t feel it was quite that obvious.’

 

I’m sure the informed and knowledgeable among you had already made the connection but now you have it all spelt out from the co-creator himself. What do you make of this reveal? Do you agree with it or disagree? Do you have an alternative suggestion, given that this isn’t set in stone on the comic page?

 

Until I reveal the heavily-guarded secret of the mysterious entity known only as Deacon, I remain

 

frogoat