Doctor Strange

A brilliant but arrogant neurosurgeon, Stephen Strange suffered career-ending nerve damage to his hands in a car accident. Desperate for a cure, he journeyed to Tibet and found the Ancient One, who trained him in the mystic arts, transforming him into Earth's Sorcerer Supreme.

Few characters in Marvel's vast cosmos have proven as enduringly spellbinding as Doctor Strange, who first materialized in Strange Tales #114 in 1963 — conjured by the legendary duo of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby right at the heart of the Silver Age, when Marvel was rewriting the rules of what a superhero could be. Over more than six decades of publishing, from Strange Tales to Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme and well beyond, he has accumulated 1,215 catalog appearances and an extraordinary 50 key issues, a testament to just how central this character has become to Marvel's mythology. He keeps rarefied company, sharing pages with the likes of Spider-Man, Captain America, Tony Stark, and Peter Parker — the very backbone of the Marvel universe — which tells you everything about his stature among Earth's greatest champions. If you're building a serious Marvel collection or simply want to explore one of comics' most atmospheric and imaginative corners, Doctor Strange is an absolute essential.