Doctor Strange learned a great deal from his mentor, the Ancient One, not just being initiated into the mystic arts, but piecing together his sense of self after a persona-shattering car accident. The two have shared a strong bond ever since, which made it all the more tragic when Strange decided to kill the Ancient One.
Given the relationship between the two, this may sound unbelievable, but that is exactly what happened in Marvel Premiere #10, an anthology title that featured Doctor Strange at the time. Written and drawn by the legendary Steve Englehart and Frank Brunner, respectively, regarded as one of the premiere teams to work on the character, Strange’s murder of his teacher is the culmination of an epic battle against the evil sorcerer Shuma-Gorath.
Shuma-Gorath is currently making life miserable for Strange in the pages of Savage Avengers, but this was the first time the two crossed paths. Shuma-Gorath, created by Robert E. Howard, and appearing in his Conan the Barbarian stories, had been fighting a magical war of epic proportions with Strange, who had seen many of his classic foes, such as Nightmare, ally themselves with Shuma-Gorath in an attempt to destroy the Sorcerer Supreme. Strange eventually learns that Shuma-Gorath is using the Ancient One’s mind as a gateway out of his realm, and the only way to sever the link and banish Shuma-Gorath for good is for Strange to kill the Ancient One.
Strange takes a trip into the Ancient One’s mind, and he contemplates all the great things the Ancient One has done. Upon entering the center of his mind, or his “ego,” Strange laments that one so noble as the Ancient One must die. Finally, an anguished Strange delivers the death blow on the psychic plane, ending the Ancient One forever and keeping Shuma-Gorath from entering our dimension. Yet there was a consequence to this, unforeseen to even the Ancient One - he evolved onto a higher state of being! Appearing to Strange at first as a face in a tree, and then in a lake, he tells Strange how destroying his ego led to enlightenment about the nature of the universe and our role in it; he refers to himself as “the first man to completely comprehend how everything is everything.” He then departs to learn more about his new state.
It's cheering that things went so right for the Ancient One, but it's a moment that crystalizes the challenges and responsibilities of being the Sorcerer Supreme - a position which can call on you to kill your friend and mentor at a moment's notice, and with the fate of the universe on the line. Thankfully, the Ancient One trained Doctor Strange to take these challenges in stride, allowing him to make the call that kept Shuma-Gorath from overwhelming our plane of existence.
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