Dr. Strange was a secret Champion,
a lone Defender
who stood bravely against
eldritch Lovercraftian forces that were
constantly plotting to invade, enslave
and corrupt this plane of Existence.
The people who brushed past him on
the streets of Greenwich Village would never know that he alone had saved them and their loved ones from madness and destruction, time and again.
His origin, when we learned it, was equally fresh.
An arrogant and egotistical surgeon
whose steady hands had been
ruined in an accident,
he sought out The Ancient One
high the mountains of Tibet for
desperately selfish reasons.
It was only as he gained
his arcane powers that he also
gained compassion, enlightenment
and purpose.
The Romance and Tragedy of Dr. Strange’s situation was well expressed by director-writer Philip DeGuere near the close of the 1978 Dr. Strange TV pilot movie,
when Stephen Strange, played by Peter Hooten, asks his mentor Lindmer, played by John Mills, what Choice he has : -
“To Serve Yourself,
or all of Mankind,”
Lindmer replies.
“Is that a Choice?
What will I be called
upon to Do?”
“Become More Than a Man,”
Lindmer replies.
“And to renounce such earthly pleasures as are given
to Men who are only Mortal —
the pleasure
of Ignorance, or
offspring,
or an easy death.”
“Will I be asked to give up even Love?”
“The Universe is Love,”
replies The Ancient One.
“That, you shall have.”
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