Warning: contains spoilers for Doctor Strange #10!
Marvel has called out a tired cliché that is unfortunately used by too many superhero stories. In Doctor Strange #12, Victor Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme’s brother, makes his first moves after returning to our world. Victor plans to strike at everyone his brother holds dear–including Bats, Strange’s ghost dog. In the process, a commonly used, hackneyed narrative trick gets a call-out.
Doctor Strange #12 is written by Jed MacKay and drawn by Danilo S. Beyruth. In last year’s Crypt of Shadows one-shot, Victor Strange broke free of the prison Stephen put him in, vowing revenge. In this issue, Bats encounters Victor in the halls of the Sanctum Sanctorum. Victor captures the dog, and mulls killing him.
However, Victor feels doing such a deed would be below him, calling it “cheap, sentimental storytelling.” Instead of killing Bats, Victor imprisons him in the Crypt of Shadows, resuming his plot against Doctor Strange.
Killing Dogs (or Any Animal) Is an Under Handed Narrative Trick
And Marvel Rightfully Calls It Out
There are a number of tricks and tactics creators can use to generate heat for a villain, and harming a dog or other animal is one such way to accomplish this. In one of his first appearances, Doomsday smashed a small bird in his hand and then laughed about it. There is also The Boys’ Jack from Jupiter, who killed Billy Butcher’s dog Terror. This trope was prevalent in popular culture for many years, but has fallen progressively out of favor with creators.
The primary reason for the retirement of the “killing the dog” trope is that it is overdone to the point of being cliché, in the process losing its effectiveness. Too many books and films depend on it as a way to establish that someone is evil. Unfortunately, it is a one-dimensional thing to do, and savvy writers and artists realize this, and pick better, more subtle ways to get their point across. In Doctor Strange #12, Victor takes Bats off the table not by killing him, but by imprisoning him in a mystical dimension.
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Victor Strange Is Still Not a Good Person, Despite Not Killing Doctor Strange’s Dog
Victor Strange Has No Redeeming Value Anymore
Yet Victor does not spare Bats’ life out of any sense of mercy or empathy, instead refusing to kill the dog because he felt it “beneath him.” While he correctly assesses such a deed as “cheap” and “sentimental,” Victor is more concerned with his ego than the life of a dog. However, in not killing Bats, Victor may have sealed his own fate and doomed his scheme against Doctor Strange before it even gets off the ground. By refuting this storytelling cliché, Marvel has also established a great deal about Victor Strange’s personality.
Doctor Strange #12 is on sale now from Marvel Comics!
Doctor Strange #12 (2024) | |
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