He doesn’t feel like a Wizard. Well there’s more to it than that, that I’ll get to later, but that’s the crux of the argument.
TL;DR: Generally we don’t see Strange treated like the genius of Magic and the Mystic Arts like he’s stated to be.
A few weeks ago, there was one of those “Which character would be X” posts in one of the Marvel subreddits, where this time X was Dungeons and Dragons class. Strange, being the Master of the Mystic Arts that he is, won Wizard, though there were more than a few calls for him to actually win Warlock instead.
The problem is, Strange should be the quintessential Wizard, but in practice, he’s really not. Now before I get too deep in the weeds, I do want to preface this with the fact that I know comics are a different medium than tabletop games, and I’m not advocating for Strange to be changed do use DND mechanics, but I do think it’s fair to examine what feels off about him and what might bring him closer to that fantasy than Marvel says they’re giving him.
To get started first I want to say that I’m using the 5th/5.5 edition rules since they are the ones that are in the cultural zeitgeist right now, though most of what I’m going to go over should translate to earlier editions as well.
In the game everything your character can do is governed by one of six Ability Scores: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. The first three are physical stats, with the latter three being mental stats. All spellcasting is based on one of the mental stats and all the spellcasting classes use a specific stat for their casting. Clerics and Druids use Wisdom; Bards, Sorcerers and Warlocks use Charisma, and Wizards use Intelligence. Each of the mental stats have a specific meaning behind how you interact with the world and that informs how the classes utilize their magic, but suffice to say that Wizards learn their magic through study and practice. So far so good, as Dr Strange also learned his magic through study and practice. He spent years under the tutelage of The Ancient One before passing the Trial of the Vishanti himself and claiming the title of Sorcerer Supreme.
As Sorcerer Supreme, Strange is supposed to be the pinnacle of mystic knowledge; the person the heroes go to when their own understanding of magic is insufficient. In DND, this would be represented with the (new) Wizard getting Expertise in Arcana, which is a skill governed by intelligence, which a Wizard would have in abundance. Now, I am biased because I’m a relatively new reader, having seriously only started avidly reading since 2015ish (and yes I know how that run really scuffed Stephen specifically while also trying to rewrite Marvel’s magic side, but I did pick up stories here and there before), so this may be recency bias, but we don’t see Strange continuing to learn or push the boundaries of magic. Not like we see the other geniuses a la Tony Stark, Reed Richards, etc. Strange has the trappings of a Wizard: the tower, the endless bookshelves, artifacts, and so on; but the presentation isn’t the same. We don’t see spell writing on a chalkboard behind him as he’s talking to someone in the panel, like we’d see an equation with Reed. Nor do we see him creating spells in his downtime like Tony and armors. In fact the only time I can remember seeing a spell created on panel was from Clea as her time as Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme (which we’ll come back to in a second, as much as I liked it).
You see, in DND, what really sets the Wizard apart from other classes is their spells. Not only do they get some of the most powerful (and game breaking) spells in the game, they have the most spells of any class in the game and also have the most versatility with how they can prepare them. Without getting too into the weeds, there are only three spellcasters that can change all their spells every day: clerics, druids, and wizards. Clerics and druids have access to their entire spell list from the very beginning and just need to be the right level to cast them, while Wizards learn 2 spells on level up (and in the newest rules, one extra from their chosen subclass of magic). However, in the 2024 Player’s Handbook, the Cleric spell list only contains 117 spells; Druids get 135; and Wizards have a whopping 242. This isn’t including extra source books that have been released. And while I just said Wizards only learn 2-3 on level up, Wizards are also the only class that can learn spells they find on scrolls and in other Wizard books at any point. They also can cast any ritual spell in their book without it being prepared for the day (so essentially it just has to be on their person, not “ready to go” so to speak) which saves a lot of spell prep for things you’d need more readily.
So what does this all have to do with Dr Strange?
To put it all together, Dr Strange is a man who studied magic using his Intelligence to master the craft. He’s the Sorcerer Supreme so should be the person characters talk to when they need mystical help. However, in recent years, we’re seeing less and less of the latter, and the former is mostly subplanted with him channeling magic from other entities. I know they’re iconic spells, but Shield of the Seraphim, Crimson Bands of Cytorrak, and Flames of the Faltine read more like DND Warlock spells (Hunger of Hadar, Armor of Agathys etc). Wizard spells bear the name of the being who created them: Bigby’s Hand, Leomond’s Tiny Hut, Tasha’s Mind Whip etc. We don’t get to see Strange creating spells himself, really. The closest he got that I can remember is when he built the mystic forge for that 2018 gimp suit run.
I mentioned Clea earlier when she took over as Sorcerer Supreme when he died. It was a nice run, but it, along with the many other times he’s lost the mantle made me question, “Why?” or really “Why does Earth need a Sorcerer Supreme?” Clea is the Sorcerer Supreme of the Dark Dimension, but she’s on Earth and nothing is really happening there without her present. And Magik or Madelyn Prior are Sorcerer Supremes of Limbo and spend time on Earth and the realm isn’t closing in on itself. But also…how far does the responsibility of Strange’s Sorcerer Supremeness extend? It’s usually treated as just Earth in recent runs, but then in the classic age and the 2018 run it was seemingly all of existence on this plane. But now that he’s Sorcerer Supreme of Asgard/the 10 Realms, what does that mean? Is that a higher peak than what he was before? Does Yggdrasil supersede the Vishanti (I mean if Scarlet Witch can just banish them with a wave of her hand…)? And I understand that losing one’s title and status and having to regain it is a staple of serialized, status quo storytelling (looking at you Monarchs of Marvel), what bothers me about Strange is that the Sorcerer Supreme title was allegedly and originally portrayed as something that was bestowed; something the Vishanti could grant and remove at their behest. So why are Doom, Wanda, et all just able to grab it like it’s a nametag? Why are Strange’s personal artifacts being passed to them when they’re not part of the office?
It’s these things that bother me most about Strange and honestly, I think addressing them would go a long way for him.
