This article contains spoilers for Strange #1.
In a new comic, Marvel has revealed its version of Harry Potter‘s famous Diagon Alley. Marvel Comics has always considered its stories to be set in “the world outside your window” – a world just like the real one, albeit with gods and monsters, mutants and Inhumans. That idea naturally causes a certain degree of tension when it comes to magic-based stories, because of course sorcerers like Doctor Strange have no basis in the real world.
Fortunately, magic has largely been defined in popular culture by the Harry Potter franchise. This truth has led Marvel to begin adapting their comic book world to align loosely with J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World, and the similarities between many of the spells have become rather amusing. Some of the comparisons have become pretty explicit, most notably with the creation of Strange Academy, Marvel’s version of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. And now Marvel’s added another twist, a new location to New York City that feels similar to Harry Potter’s celebrated Diagon Alley.
Strange #1, by Jed MacKay and Marcelo Ferreira, introduces readers to the Shrouded Bazaar. It’s a hidden part of New York, home to countless different magical creatures, where mystical artifacts can be acquired for a price and Wong can enjoy a Muspelheim fire-wrap. The Shrouded Bazaar is hidden from the uninitiated behind glamours, memory charms, obfuscation runes, and terror cantrips. As Wong observes, “The uninitiated would see that alley as a mugging waiting to happen.“
Marvel’s version of New York has always had a hidden supernatural side to it, and according to Wong that’s even more the case after the events of The Death of Doctor Strange – which saw countless different realms destroyed. Refugees have flocked to Earth, seeking sanctuary on the world that brought the multiversal chaos to an end. Apparently, both Kingpin and the Hood attempted to establish control of the Shrouded Bazaar, and failed; it makes sense that they’d try, for Kingpin is currently mayor of New York in Marvel Comics, while the Hood has always fancied himself a powerful sorcerer.
Unfortunately, the sad truth is that even magical refugees are vulnerable. Unlike Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley, the Muggles of New York – the ordinary men and women of the city – have some knowledge of the Shrouded Bazaar. And so Strange #1 introduces a new group called the Blasphemy Cartel, who attack in force using a combination of modern firearms and enchanted weapons. Fortunately, the Shrouded Bazaar has a champion even greater than Harry Potter‘s witches and wizards – Clea, Doctor Strange’s successor as Sorcerer Supreme.
