New cover art and character designs for three mystical villains being introduced in The Death of Doctor Strange have been revealed. Before the big-screen release of the MCU's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Marvel will kill off the Sorcerer Supreme in this six-issue limited series. The series will actually focus on the aftermath of his death and who will be taking on the supernatural threats the Marvel Universe often finds itself struggling against, and the third issue promises some sinister villains will be taking center stage.
Marvel has promised that The Death of Doctor Strange will be "perfect." The limited series will be written by Jed MacKay (Black Cat, Taskmaster) with artwork by Lee Garbett (Loki: Agent of Asgard, Lucifer). Tie-in one-shots to The Death of Doctor Strange include The Death of Doctor Strange: Spider-Man #1 featuring both Ben Reilly and Black Cat, as well as The Death of Doctor Strange: White Fox #1, starring White Fox alongside Sword Master and Tiger Division, Death of Doctor Strange: Avengers #1 and Strange Academy Presents: Death of Doctor Strange, which will chronicle how Stephen's magical school fares in his absence.
The three villains have been revealed by Marvel Comics along with the gorgeous and ominous cover featuring all of their foreboding presences by cover artist Kaare Kyle Andrews. Andrews recently returned to Marvel with his Amazing Fantasy miniseries. The characters are designed by series artist Garbett as part of a team dubbed "The Three Mothers." In describing each of the characters, Marvel's official press release reads "the Wyrd, an alien mage-priestess; the Crown, a powerful warrior-queen; and the Crawling, a monstress composed of acid-mouthed worms."
Marvel directly compares these villains to Thanos' Black Order and questions whether these are the beings responsible for Doctor Strange's demise. While introducing a group of villains as the killers of the Sorcerer Supreme would be an easy way to present them as formidable foes, hopefully they just serve as a red herring to get readers off the track of the real killer. After all, a murder mystery is a little less compelling if the killer is only introduced in the third issue rather than being a previously established character within the Marvel Universe.
It's rather ironic that Doctor Strange is essentially at the center of two murder mysteries around the same time, one involving his own demise and the other revolving around students at Strange Academy. Rather than being the murderers, these "Three Mothers" will likely become Marvel's latest supernatural threat in Stephen's absence, and it will be interesting to see how they are developed character-wise and just what horrifying powers they have at their disposal. Their appearances certainly promise some potentially disturbing powers when The Death of Doctor Strange #3 arrives in November.
Source: Marvel Comics