This article contains spoilers for New Mutants #25.
Marvel has finally revealed why Doctor Strange was easily defeated by the X-Men‘s Magik. Stephen Strange is generally considered the greatest sorcerer of the Marvel Universe. As Sorcerer Supreme, he has been responsible for defending this entire plane of existence from countless threats. And yet, for all that’s the case, he has had many defeats.
Doctor Strange’s most embarrassing magical defeat came during the “Avengers Vs. X-Men” event, when he went up against Magik. Illyana Rasputin is the Sorcerer Supreme of Limbo, and she tricked Strange into pursuing her on to her home turf. The actual battle was unseen, but Magik won it easily, and brought a defeated Doctor Strange back to Earth – using a simple illusion spell to trick the Avengers into believing their ally had won the fight, and then spiriting the X-Men’s leaders away. An embarrassed Strange struggled to his feet. “Magik took me out my element,” he told the Avengers. “That’s all.” It was a poor excuse, given Strange has waged countless multiversal wars.
New Mutants #25, by Vita Ayala and Rod Reis, finally explains why Magik could defeat Doctor Strange. As Sorcerer Supreme of Limbo, Magik has inherited an entire library of magical tomes collected by the demon Belasco, who previously ruled the realm. Belasco’s goal was to accumulate all magical knowledge in the entire multiverse, and he seems to have made a good start. “There is considerable neutral and even benevolent knowledge here,” Magik explains. “Even a few books written by saints.” The library is greater than any even Doctor Strange has had access to.
Magik spent years under Belasco’s tutelage, poring over the books of the arcane library. Time doesn’t flow properly in Limbo, meaning she has no doubt had plenty of other opportunities to examine it. What’s more, at one point Magik even absorbed Limbo into herself, likely meaning a lot of this magic – the good, the bad, and the neutral – was incorporated into her basic powerset. The simple truth is that, in a battle of Sorcerers Supreme, Doctor Strange was outclassed when he faced Magik. It is, of course, so very true to Doctor Strange’s character that he was unable to admit as much to the Avengers. Instead, Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme simply claimed he was out of his element.
The most frustrating aspect of this battle is that it was not shown. A literal clash of Sorcerers Supreme, in which Doctor Strange was humbled and embarrassed, happened off-page. Hopefully Marvel will eventually remember this, and decide it would be a good idea to show readers just how Stephen Strange came to be beaten. Until now, at least Marvel has finally explained how the X-Men‘s Magik could triumph against Doctor Strange.
New Mutants #25 is available now from Marvel Comics.
