Dr STRANGE

This universe’s ‘sorcerer supreme’ was originally an arrogant, money-grubbing surgeon who lost the use of his hands in a drunken car wreck and sought a miracle cure in the Tibetan lamasery of ‘the Ancient One’.

He then learned to master the mystic arts and moved into a mansion in Greenwich Village, New York, to take up the job of freelance psychic investigator and protector of the universe from menaces like ‘the dread Dormammu’ and even Count Dracula. Never a big-seller, Strange has consistently featured in outstanding comics – with especially when drawn by Ditko and Gene Colan.

As the Marvel Universe’s leading magician, he remains a mainstay of the company’s crossover stories – and organiser of the occasional group of testy superheroes the Defenders (with the Hulk, Silver Surfer and Sub-Mariner).