Doctor Strange Actually Wore a MASK in Marvel Comics

Not all heroes wear capes, but a lot of them wear masks. And despite him being best known to Marvel fans for his facial hair (and power), Doctor Strange actually had a mask of his own as part of his uniform in the comics.

Doctor Strange first appeared in 1963 in Strange Tales #110, a Marvel anthology series featuring various stories about a number of characters, including Nick Fury. By 1968, the title changed to simply Doctor Strange after the Master of the Mystic Arts became the series’ sole focus. Strange was a different kind of hero than the others in Marvel’s library at the time, taking inspiration from dark magic and using surreal, psychedelic art. Unfortunately, sales for the Doctor Strange series were sub-par, which led to the creators making a few changes – namely, adding a mask.

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In Doctor Strange #177,  published in 1969, the good doctor finds himself trapped in another dimension, while the villain Asmodeus poses as Doctor Strange in the real world. Apparently even the Sorcerer Supreme is susceptible to identity theft. As long as Asmodeus wears Strange’s face, Strange cannot reenter the real world. So what clever solution does Doctor Strange come up with? Well, he uses his impressive sorcery skills to create…a mask. And with that mask, which completely conceals his face, Strange can return to the real world and vanquish Asmodeus.  After the villain is taken care of, Strange decides to keep the mask as a way of hiding his identity so it cannot be stolen again.

A few issues later, he even changes his real name from Dr. Strange to Stephen Sanders so he can keep his superhero name without giving anything away, as if anyone would suspect that Doctor Strange was his real name. Even Spider-Man thought it was made up in Avengers: Infinity War. By adding a mask, the creators hoped to make Doctor Strange more like a traditional superhero and improve sales. Unfortunately, it didn’t work, and the series was cancelled soon after. When it was eventually revived, the mask was quickly abandoned in favor of Strange’s original look.

It’s easy to see why the mask was dropped in later iterations of the character. For a series that relies on such intricate artwork, Strange’s mask had a very simplistic design, and it really didn’t add much to the character. It almost made him look like Doctor Manhattan with a cape, even though Doctor Manhattan had yet to be invented (who knows, maybe Strange’s masked look served as inspiration for Manhattan’s design). Regardless, it would be cool to see some kind of reference to Doctor Strange‘s brief mask-wearing days from the comics in the upcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. 

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