Doctor Strange vs. Silver Dagger

[starwolf_oakley]

Isaiah Curwen is also known as Silver Dagger. You know religious people who worry that Harry Potter and Dungeons & Dragons will cause children to get into the occult? Curwen is a little like that, only he is a former bishop who kills sorcerers. With magic. (Because that's not hypocritical at all.)

Some of this I've posted before. Also, some MCU speculation is included.



At this time, Curwen thinks he's killed Strange and that Clea is a normal hippie that Strange corrupted.



"I'm as sane as anyone!" That's right up there with "I'LL SHOW THEM ALL!" and "THEY CALLED ME MAD!"





Silver Dagger should make sure that "Necronomicon" isn't a prank book created by Lovecraft fans.



The story ends with Silver Dagger getting drawn into Agamotto's dimension and having to talk with the being.



I'm uncertain about Agamotto being "just" a sorcerer in the MCU. Still, he could show up as a talking caterpillar with a hooka in an MCU movie.

"Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, was a sorcerer?"
"It could be that. Or I just look like this because you read Alice in Wonderland as a kid."

Does that mean in the MCU the rest of the Vishanti, Oshtur and Hoggoth, are also human sorcerers? In the comics, Oshtur is Agamotto's mother and Hoggoth can appear as an old man or a lion. (Dr. Strange has a LOT of mythology!)

IIRC, Silver Dagger wasn't given the name Isaiah Curwen until he fought Werewolf By Night in MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS.

Here's Curwen appearing in the 1980s-90s DOCTOR STRANGE series during the INFINITY GAUNTLET storyline. Pip the Troll and Rintrah also appear. As Roy Thomas wrote this, Strange is rather snarky.





The MCU Karl Mordo becomes more like Silver Dagger by the end of the Doctor Strange movie. Feeling betrayed by the path he followed, he starts robbing sorcerers of their power for "the good of the world." Whether or not he also kills the sorcerers, we don't know yet.

Still, characters get amalgamated in superhero movies all the time. In the 1989 Batman movie, Vicki Vale has the right name and job, but her appearance and personality are closer to Silver St. Cloud.

Comments

I like the art but

[velador]

It makes you wonder why those type of villains don't go up against Dr.Doom, Mephisto, Mordru or the like.

Re: I like the art but

[katefan]

A good point. I guess the in comics reason is the likes of Doctor Strange claim to be and are perceived to be good, which to the twisted mind of Silver Dagger makes Steve and his "ilk" all the more dangerous.

Re: I like the art but

[donnblake]

Well, maybe they do? Most of the time we don't follow the villains except when they're on a path to collide with a hero (villain-centric books aside, but those themselves tend to have a fair amount of villain-vs-villain), and it's not that unusual to see a villain attack another as a prologue to tackling the hero of a book- conveniently serving the purpose of giving us an idea of how this new threat stacks up against previous challenges our hero has faced.

So, I'm sure that there are any number of fanatics who attack Doctor Doom, we just don't follow them unless A) We happen to be reading a Doctor Doom miniseries or B) they're going to win and then follow it up by attacking Ghost Rider or Doctor Strange or Squirrel Girl or whichever book we're actually reading.

[agharta75]

Lectures a lot, doesn't he.

[dr_archeville]

That is some funky Papal regalia.

[scorntx]

Silver Age Superman probably stole the non-funky regalia.
It sounds like something he'd do.

("I'm sorry, Your Holiness, but I HAD to take your vestments, otherwise the SUPER-MONSTERS of Galaxy 12 would have eaten Jimmy Olsen's brain!"
"You're going to give those back, aren't you?
"Uh, no.")

[scorntx]

So, the guy who is denied the papacy for being fanatical... spends almost a week reading books of magic, comes to believe he's God's chosen one and decides to wipe out magic.
...
Yeah, I think those cardinals were on to something.
(Why didn't the librarians try to stop him? Seems like a guy studying your magical texts for six days straight is something you should have librarians for.)

[starwolf_oakley]

It could be the Vatican librarians didn't think the books were "dangerous."

Librarian #1: Curwen has been down there for six straight days!

Librarian #2: Oh, it isn't like he can really learn "magic" from those books. That would be nutty!

*ZAP ZAP ZAP*

[crinos]

I don't know, I think in the Marvel universe the Vatican would at least be cognizant of the fact that magic was real and have a special library of "Evil Magic books please do not read."

Hm, I wonder if they ever call Dr. Strange or other mystics to help deal with things.

[bruinsfan]

Curwen also briefly escaped Agamotto's realm in the late 70s thanks to the Elder Gods using the Eye as a gateway in a Defenders storyline. He set in motion events that ultimately required Satana Hellstrom to sacrifice her life in order to save Dr. Strange's soul and cure him of lycanthropy.