Sorcerer Supreme or Sorceress Supreme is a title granted in the fictional Marvel Universe to the "practitioner of the mystic or magic arts who has greater skills than all others or commands a greater portion of the ambient magical energies than any other organism on a given world or dimension".[1] By definition, there can be only one Sorcerer Supreme per world or dimension at a time. In the Marvel Universe, the title has traditionally been synonymous with the mystic Doctor Strange, but it has been bestowed on other mystics in the past and in 2009 was passed down to Brother Voodoo.[2]
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Doctor Strange has had the role almost continuously since the transcendence of his mentor, the Ancient One. However, Strange later lost the position during the Dark Reign event to Brother Voodoo due to Strange's over-use of black magic. Voodoo also inherited the Eye of Agamotto and the Cloak of Levitation along with the title of Sorcerer Supreme.[3][4][5]
Past Sorcerers Supreme include the ancestor of Sebastian Shaw: Reverend Hiram Shaw; and the ancestor to Ororo Munroe, Ayesha of Balobedu.[6] Following the demon Zarathos's defeat some twenty-five millennia ago by the supernatural Blood, some among them worshiped him as the Fallen. Salomé, possibly the ancestor of namesake of the millennia old line of sorceresses of the same name, was among the Fallen's most powerful members, and around the thirteenth century B.C. she became Sorceress Supreme, by her account the first denizen of the Earth to do so. She presumably protected the Earth dimension from various threats, but her ego demanded worship as a goddess, which she received in the Assyrian city of Nimrud. Eventually, Salomé and her fellow Fallen were banished to another dimension, while the Sorcerer Supreme role apparently fell to a sorcerer on another planet within Earth's universe, though eventually the responsibility fell again on the burdens of the mystics of Earth.
The Sorceress Supreme of the Dark Dimension, the realm to which Dormammu had been banished, is Clea, disciple and lover of Doctor Strange. The current Sorceress Supreme of the demonic Limbo, is Illyana Rasputin aka the mutant Magik. The Sorcerer Supreme of the Purple Dimension, a less well-known pocket realm based in old Doctor Strange stories, where green-skinned humanoids abduct humans as slaves, is Aggamon. The Sorceress Supreme of the Winding Road is Margali Szardos, a sorceress with power enough to proclaim herself as the Sorceress Supreme. Tiboro is the Sorcerer Supreme of the Sixth Dimension, and owns a strangely-shaped wand that fires an ecto-plasmic ray, powered by lightning. Necrom is the Sorcerer Supreme of his Earth in a reality alternate to that of the mainstream one, known as Earth-148 (Ee'rath). An alternate version of Hank McCoy has been shown to hold this office in a reality also affected by Wanda's magic.
As has been stated many times by various characters, there cannot be any permanent Sorcerer or Sorceress Supreme of a dimension/reality; eventually the office would pass on to another, with one's will or without. However, one could be a master of the mystic arts (such as Baron Mordo or Morgan le Fay) and not hold the title. Each existent reality of the Marvel Multiverse appears to be defended by a Sorcerer or Sorceress Supreme, though certain dimensions linked to each reality does not (such as Asgard or Olympus).
The Sorcerer or Sorceress Supreme is functionally immortal, having the immortality conferred upon him after assuming. Such a being with the role does not age nor succumb to medical diseases, though he can be killed; the Sorcerer or Sorceress Supreme has access to the near-unlimited power of the Vishanti, the Octessence, and various other Principalities, as well as granted possession of such powerful mystic items as the Eye of Agamotto and the Cloak of Levitation.
There exists an ancient line of humans trained to serve the current Sorcerer or Sorceress Supreme of many of the realities in the Marvel Universe; Wong served Doctor Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme of the Earth-616 reality, for years before Strange failed at long last in his duties as his dimension’s protector and lost the station; other Wongs exist in other parallel and alternate universes as well.
It appears possible that holders of the position of Sorcerer or Sorceress Supreme in other universes or dimensional planes are capable of becoming candidates for the Marvel Universe's. Dormammu has also claimed destroying the most recent Sorcerer Supreme would grant the killer the title in his stead. The Eye of Agamotto, along with other magical objects, are not automatically removed or given to the new Sorcerer Supreme or candidates even after the former one has fallen from the station.[7] The Sorcerer Supreme can also "surrender," "lose" or "bestow" his position upon others of worthiness, though is also capable of taking it back multiple times after such a loss, as Strange has done various times in the past. Taking back the office has also been accomplished by Salomé of the Fallen, even without a contest between the universe's major power mages. One can become a Sorcerer Supreme against one's will, as shown in on a What If? divergent reality of Earth, as done to Stephen Strange by the dying Doctor Doom. Once, on Earth-148, the Sorcerer Supreme Necrom, while holding values opposite to those of most other Sorcerers Supreme, even worked with the dark arts, including necromancy, apparently indicating not all Sorcerers Supreme throughout the Marvel Multiverse must be pure in order to hold the title.
Despite numerous statements that the Sorcerer Supreme is only to defend one world, his duty is actually to the whole of the dimension the world is within; Doctor Strange was the Sorcerer Supreme of the Marvel Universe, yet was often, erroneously, called only “Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme,” likely used by writers and editors to limit his power as to not enable him to defuse every negative situation he or other characters were confronted with, as stated once by Marvel editor Joe Quesada, who admitted the difficulty of placing Strange in a truly “dangerous” situation. While it is certainly possible to have more than just one master of the mystic arts in one dimension, only one of them can hold the title Sorcerer Supreme at a time. More supporting evidence of this can be given by the fact there is no other known Sorcerer Supreme on any of the planets not of Earth; for example, there are at least tens of thousands of alien worlds in the Marvel Universe, many known to have potent mystics, yet none were called the Sorcerer Supreme. Furthermore, the mysterious cosmic being the Stranger, after revealing himself to not be the Beyonder, while describing the high potential, power and uniqueness of Earth (including the manifestation of the Phoenix Force there, the repelling of such awesome beings as Galactus and the involvement of the Kree, Skrull and Shi'ar Empires there for so many times), says “the Sorcerer Supreme makes his home there” and when Strange was captured once during the days of the Defenders, Strange was said to be the Sorcerer Supreme of their “cosmos,” strongly implying that the Sorcerer Supreme is not limited to his home planet, but the entire universe he resides in, for a defender of one mere world out of perhaps millions in the universe would be negligible indeed to one of the most powerful cosmic entities in existence.
In the House of M reality Warren Traveler, a man who in Earth-616 never fell down the dark path that would lead to his becoming a powerful magician, was Sorcerer Supreme. He was an enemy of Ms. Marvel, then going by the name "Captain Marvel", and later appeared in her current ongoing title slightly mad from the shift in reality while he warped from their last encounter.
Professor Imam is the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth 712, the home universe of the Squadron Supreme. He appears in the Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe graphic novel. He was able to predict that Arcanna's son Benjamin Thomas Jones, aka Mysterium, was destined to become the next Sorcerer Supreme. After the events of the graphic novel it is unknown if Benjamin is able to take up this role of Sorcerer Supreme.
In the alternate future of the MC2 universe, Doctor Strange has retired from the role and the new Sorcerer Supreme is the young Doc Magus (Dormagus) who now has the Eye of Agamotto. Strange is still a practicing sorcerer, however.
In this reality, since Stephen Strange never showed up in Tibet to take over as the Ancient One's apprentice, (having decided to work for SHIELD in exchange for them restoring his hands with claws similar to Wolverine's), Mordo became Sorcerer Supreme after being mystically tutored. His moral ambiguity caused his death when he eventually faced Dormammu.
In the "Age of Apocalypse" parallel universe Brother Voodoo replaced Doctor Strange as the Sorcerer Supreme. He battles Dormammu and also helps in Apocalypse's defeat. However, he vanishes when the Eye of Agamotto is taken away from him.
In Marvel 2099, one possible future of the Marvel Universe, the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth is a young woman calling herself "Strange". She is so inexperienced in her powers and uses them so recklessly that she caused the death of her brother. She secretly shares her body with a monstrous demon and her main opponent is Garokk.
In the alternate-reality series Earth X, Clea has betrayed Doctor Strange and has killed him at the behest of her lover, Loki, becoming the Sorceress Supreme of that reality. She is discovered by Bruce Banner, and Thor takes her away and imprisons her in Asgard.
In the alternate future of the Guardians of the Galaxy (Earth-691), Doctor Strange took the title of Ancient One (previously held by his mentor) and also took on a disciple, a Lem named Krugarr. Dormammu murdered the Ancient One (Doctor Strange). Dormammu was eventually defeated by the Guardians, Krugarr (the new Sorcerer Supreme), and his disciple Talon.
In the alternate universe of Mutant X, although Doctor Strange was the Sorcerer Supreme, he was also the Man-Thing.
In this reality of anthromorphic animal versions of Marvel characters, a monkey version of Doctor Strange held the position of Sorcerer Supreme before perishing and passing the title onto Cleook, Sorceress Supreme.
In many of these What If? alternate realities, showing parallel Earths exactly the same as the mainstream Earth-616 dimension until at some point a different event took place causing a divergence point in the timestream, there is either a different Sorcerer Supreme, or Doctor Strange is the Sorcerer Supreme albeit with various differences from the mainstream version.
Earth-938 (What if Doom became Sorcerer Supreme) When Doctor Doom failed to rescue his mother's soul from Mephisto, he sought out the Ancient One to learn the mystic ways and attempt once again. Along his way, he becomes more powerful than Mordo, and when Stephen Strange shows up with his crippled hands, instead of guiding him on the spiritual path, Doom cuts off his hands and replaces them with mechanical ones to increase his accuracy and surgical abilities. In his second attempt at freeing his mother's soul, Doom and the Ancient One defeat Mephisto and rescue her, at the price of the Ancient One's death. Unprepared for the Ancient One's fall, Doom is unable to defend against The Dread Dormammu's attack on the Earthly plane. Knowing he's out powered, Doom enlists the help of the Fantastic Four to use his time platform and retrieve Blackbeard's treasure, an Obsidian Stone used by Merlin, which would help him defeat Dormammu. The Four accomplish their task and leave Thing back in that time to become the pirate, Blackbeard, at his request. Upon their return, the world is overrun by demons, and The Avengers, The X-Men, Daredevil and Spider-Man are fighting them off in New York City while Doom battles Dormammu overhead. Reed manages to get the Stone to Doom in the nick of time, sending Dormammu back to the lands of Faltine, just after dealing a deathly blow to Doom. Ironically, Stephen Strange ends up being the doctor who attempts to save Doom's life, (on Tony Stark's dime), but cannot, and with Doom's dying breath, he instructs his doombots to abduct Strange and put him into his armor, overwriting his personality and memories to those downloaded from Doom, forcing him to become the next Sorcerer Supreme/Doom against his will. As Uatu says, "As Sorcerer Supreme, it can be said that Victor Von Doom had both the most short-lived and long-remembered tenure of them all. For with both his endless scheming and his boundless ego, he assured that this world would always have a Sorcerer Supreme...and that Sorcerer would always be Doom!"
Earth-9810 (What If Tony Stark Became the Master of the Mystic Arts) Tony Stark becomes the Sorcerer Supreme of the Marvel Universe after Stephen Strange's hands are shattered in a ride he takes him along while drunk. Stark becomes the Ancient One's apprentice instead to battle Baron Mordo, who had magically silenced him from revealing his treachery against his master. Stark ends up combining his understanding of technology as well as magic to create an armor which incorporated both. Dormammu intends to set the Mindless Ones upon Earth to destroy it, and Strange, Clea and Stark unite to banish the Faltinian sorcerer. It held a vast storage of magical spells in its memory, ready to be deployed at a moment's notice. This armor was lost when Tony Stark sent it on an endless dimensional quest, carrying the body of the dread Dormammu, forcing the dark lord (in his astral form) to pursue it.