The X-Men’s Magik deserves to be the next Sorcerer Supreme. Only the most powerful mystics attain to the rank of Sorcerer Supreme, and their numbers include some of the most skilled witches and wizards of all time. It’s believed the first Sorcerer Supreme was Agamotto, who fought alongside a proto-Avengers team 1,000,000 years ago.
Some Sorcerers Supreme are heroes, some are villains; some strive to use magic to protect the world, while others greedily covet powers beyond their peers. No Sorcerer Supreme ever gets to retire; their position will always be on the front lines of mystic battle, confronting the greatest threats, while others will cast covetous eyes on their powers. Given that’s the case, to be Sorcerer Supreme is more of a curse than a blessing, as Doctor Strange knows well. Stephen Strange is already aware he will one day pay the ultimate price for being Sorcerer Supreme.
But who should be positioned as Doctor Strange’s successor? In the past, attention has focused on mystical superheroes like Brother Voodoo. But, in truth, the best bet would actually be a mutant – the X-Men’s Magik.
Magik Is One Of Marvel’s Most Powerful Mystical Characters
As a child, Illyana Rasputin was kidnapped by the monstrous demon called Belasco, and she was spirited away to the Hell Dimension called Limbo. Although she was successfully rescued by the X-Men, time works differently in Limbo, and Magik matured into a teenager while she was there, becoming a powerful sorceress. She’s best known for wielding a powerful weapon called the Soulsword, a mystical blade fashioned from a fragment of her very soul. Magik’s sorcerous powers are complemented by her mutant ability to create portals that transport her through time and space. Magik served as a member of the New Mutants for several years, before being de-aged in the “Inferno” story. Her second childhood came to a tragic end when she contracted the so-called Legacy Virus, and died.
Years later, Belasco managed to rescue fragments of Magik’s soul and restore her. Called the Darkchylde, Magik overthrew Belasco’s reign and became ruler of Limbo herself. She returned to the X-Men, but proved as much a threat as an ally, as she manipulated the X-Men into conflict with the monstrous Elder Gods in order to acquire the rest of her soul. The X-Men gradually began to realize their so-called “Little Snowflake” was no innocent, but rather a powerful dark witch.
The scale of Magik’s power was demonstrated in the “Avengers Vs. X-Men” event, when she tricked Doctor Strange into pursuing her to Limbo. Incredibly, Magik successfully beat Doctor Strange, and then used magical illusions to pretend to be Doctor Strange and rescue the defeated X-Men before they could be imprisoned by the Avengers. An embarrassed Doctor Strange attempted to explain the defeat away, insisting he had simply been out of his element, but this was a hollow excuse; he is the Sorcerer Supreme, no stranger to Hell Dimensions.
Magik Is Gradually Moving Beyond The X-Men
Magik has traditionally been associated with the X-Men, but she’s gradually moving beyond the mutants. That all began during Brian Bendis’ Uncanny X-Men run, in which her powers began to expand unpredictability due to microscopic nanites she had been unknowingly infected with. Magik sought help from Doctor Strange, traveling back in time to learn from a past version of the Sorcerer Supreme so her lessons wouldn’t be complicated by the tension between the X-Men and the Avengers. She began to appear as a background character in Marvel’s various magic books.
Magik’s role shows every sign of increasing. One of her oldest enemies, Kulan Gath, has returned to threaten the entire world; Magik has become part of an informal “Savage Avengers” team who are working to destroy this ancient evil. She’s now been recruited as one of the teachers of Strange Academy, essentially Marvel’s version of Hogwarts, where the next generation of sorcerers are being trained. This implicitly acknowledges Magik as one of Earth’s foremost magicians, and suggests she should be considered one of Doctor Strange’s key allies.
What If? Comics Have Shown Magik As Sorcerer Supreme
Brian Bendis certainly imagined Magik as a potential Sorcerer Supreme. In one story, the time traveling mutant Tempus accidentally transported herself to the year 2099, where she was taken to the Sorcerer Supreme of that time – Illyana Rasputin, aka Magik. Apparently Magik had learned how to slow her aging, meaning she still looked like she was in her 20s, and she had become Sorcerer Supreme of the entire galaxy. The timeline was sadly erased from existence, but readers were captivated by the idea, partly because of stunning art by Andrea Sorrentino.
Marvel picked up the idea again in 2018, in a superb What If? comic written by Leah Williams and featuring art by Filipe Andrade. This imagined a timeline where Magik had escaped Limbo herself, and found her way to Doctor Strange, training under him all her life and ultimately replacing him as Sorcerer Supreme. Again, it was a popular and critically acclaimed story, benefiting from a superbly chosen creative team. In this world, Magik wielded a Soulstaff rather than a Soulsword, and she ultimately wore Strange’s Cloak of Levitation as she accepted her place as his successor.
These are only What If? stories, but it’s time for Marvel to consider making Magik their Sorcerer Supreme in the mainstream Marvel Universe as well. The best What If? stories have always been a proof of concept, a way of testing the waters to see how readers will react; in the case of Magik, just as in Jane Foster’s Thor or Professor Hulk, the reaction has been positive enough to mean it’s time to actually make the idea canon. Indeed, viewed through that lens, over the last few years Magik has been perfectly positioned to become Sorcerer Supreme; she’s making her way into Marvel’s magical books, and even onto an Avengers team, rather than remaining isolated on the mutant nation of Krakoa. It’s time for Magik to leave the X-Men behind, and become Sorcerer Supreme.
