Note: SPOILERS for Doctor Strange follow below.

Batman has his Joker, Spider-Man his Green Goblin, Superman has Lex Luthor, and the X-Men have Magneto. Superheroes have always had villains that reflect their characters and the worlds that they live in, whether it be a response to order with chaos or a response to power with intelligence—heroes and villains in comics often represent two sides of the same coin. With Doctor Strange however, things get a tad different with his arch-enemy Dormammu. As Strange is the appointed “Sorcerer Supreme” of the Marvel Universe, his foes tend to range a tad higher on the power scale than your typical megalomaniac or bank robber. Dormammu is the self-appointed ruler of the “Dark Dimension” and is one of the most powerful villains that the Marvel Universe has to offer. For Stephen Strange, it isn’t so much about defeating Dormammu as it is simply stopping him from entering our world, because if that happens, it’s good night for the citizens of Earth. Needless to say, the two have had a long and varied history and Dormammu has managed to be a thorn in the side to many of the heroes in the Marvel Universe.

And now, with Dormammu making his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in the third act of Doctor Strange, we'd like to break down the comics history of this villain and tease his involvement in the MCU. Let's get started.

Flame On

Dormammu made his first appearance in an early Doctor Strange comic appropriately titled Strange Tales #126 from comic creators Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in 1964. When the entity is first mentioned, it’s by Strange rival and former friend Baron Mordo, played by Chiwetel Ejoifor in the recently released Marvel Studios picture. Mordo is often seen as the right hand man of Dormammu in the comics, acting as something of a surrogate to him since the Dark Dimension denizen can never truly enter Earth. When Strange first encounters Dormammu, the two fight in the Dark Dimension and Stephen is introduced to his future wife in the form of Clea. Clea happens to also be the niece to Dormammu so you have a real West Side Story situation going on. Fun fact: Clea would eventually divorce Dr. Strange after traveling back in time to have an affair with Benjamin Franklin (I am not making this up).

Anyway, Dormammu and Strange battled one another until a number of the evil demigod’s servants, the Mindless Ones, attempted a coup which saw the two bitter enemies teaming up in order to stop them. After defeating these Mindless Ones, Strange forced Dormammu into a contract for his assistance that stated the Dark Dimension ruler would never be allowed to set foot on Earth and stipulated that he would leave his niece alone.

However, what would a Marvel villain be without bending the rules of a contract with their coinciding hero? Dormammu pumped his power into Baron Mordo, hoping to kill Strange and find a way to take over the Earth regardless of his deal. Over the decades, Dormammu has continued to trouble Strange, teaming up with a slew of other Marvel antagonists such as Loki, Dr. Doom, and Mephisto, Marvel’s version of the devil. Recently, Dormammu had chosen a new subordinate in the form of a two bit thug named Parker Robbins, giving him a conduit in the form of a cloak. Wearing the red cloak and calling himself, “The Hood”, Robbins used the power of Dormammu to overtake Marvel’s underworld and go head to head with the Avengers on several occasions. Ultimately though, Robbins failed and Dormammu went back to biding his time. Currently, magic in the Marvel Universe has been under attack and Dr. Strange is now at a severe disadvantage, which Dormammu is taking full advantage of.

The Power of Dormammu

So aside from having a flaming head and an army at his disposal, what can Dormammu do? Well, the more appropriate question here would really be what can't Dormammu do? As mentioned previously, he is one of the strongest mystical beings in the Marvel Universe, even at one time taking on what is essentially the personified representation of the Marvel Universe in the form of the character named Eternity. For the purposes of whatever story he’s in, Dormammu is a swiss army knife of powers, which is usually the case with most sorcerers and magic-users in comics. It’s a tricky balancing act, but with Dr. Strange’s arch-enemy, there isn’t as much necessity to actually explain Dormammu's sorcery beyond simply being an omnipotent, all-powerful foe for story purposes.

Dormammu can manipulate energy, create powerful spells, shift to any size, break open barriers to other realities, create armies to follow him in the Mindless Ones, teleport, and take control of people on Earth who make a deal with him, as was the case with Mordo and Parker Robbins. When the flame headed fiend is taken out of the Dark Dimension, his power does tend to tick down a smidge, but he’s still a heavy threat to anyone who may get in his way. Dormammu’s flaming head ties into his origin as a member of the “Faltlines”, which is a race of mystical beings that live in a different plane of existence in the Marvel Universe.

Dormammu: Star of Stage and Screen

Dormammu has, surprisingly, shown up in a ton of different media during his history, usually following on the coattails of Doctor Strange. His first official appearance was in an episode of the shortly lived Spider-Woman cartoon show in the 70s, though he would return in the Fox animated Spider-Man series playing in the 90s. In the Spider-Man series, Dormammu worked with Mordo to create Carnage, as well as attempt to manipulate Venom, so he definitely made a splash in a jam packed series of episodes here. Marvel even managed to have him voiced by none other than Freddy Krueger himself, Robert Englund, in the younger skewing show Superhero Squad. Strangely enough, you can even pick up a video game in the form of Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 and play as Dormammu himself as he was added to the fighting game’s roster of available characters.

Finally, Dormammu makes an appearance in the recently released Doctor Strange, with motion capture for the character being provided by none other than Benedict Cumberbatch himself. The ruler of the Dark Dimension works through Mads Mikkelson’s Kaecilius, attempting to gain entry into our world, but after getting stuck in a time loop thanks to quick-thinking on Strange's part, makes a bargain with Cumberbatch's character that saves Earth from being engulfed into the Dark Dimension. While not looking exactly the same as he did in the comics, he’s still a sight to behold in the film and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him appear again in an upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe feature, perhaps following Avengers: Infinity War.

For more on Doctor Strange, peruse our recent coverage in the links below:

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