Doctor Strange occupies a curious position in the Marvel Universe. Although some would consider the Sorcerer Supreme one of the most overpowered of all Marvel superheroes, with spells that can let him accomplish practically anything, others point out that Strange is often outmatched by many of his opponents. It’s certainly true that Stephen Strange regularly fights god-like beings like Dormammu or demons like Mephisto – which may be why he was so well suited to taking on Galactus.
Wait, Galactus? Isn’t he a cosmic being – one better suited to battling foes like the Fantastic Four? Well, yes, but when he once came to consume the Earth, practically every superbeing on the planet decided to beat him up, including the Sorcerer Supreme. As it turned out, Strange struck the deciding blow in the fight – using a move more associated with Ghost Rider the Spirit of Vengeance!
The battle took place in Fantastic Four #243 when Galactus, weakened and in dire need of immediate sustenance, decided to finally drain the Earth of its life energies. Naturally, none of the superheroes on the planet were going to take this lying down, and Galactus found himself facing off against not only the Fantastic Four but also the Avengers and gods like Thor. While his Power Cosmic should have made him more than a match for even these superheroes, in his weakened state the Marvel heroes actually found they had a chance against the starving demigod. At one point, the heroes noticed Galactus was starting to shrink as his body began to consume itself to sustain his existence. However, even this wasn’t enough to put down the Devourer of Worlds – until Doctor Strange arrived on the scene.
Admitting that his powers were limited on the physical plane, Strange decided to attack Galactus mentally – using a spell called the Images of Ikonn that caused the Devourer to see the souls of all the beings he’d murdered over the years. Considering Galactus had been eating planets since the universe began, the sheer number of angry, tormented souls he saw was enough to drive even a being like him nearly insane. Seeing an opening, Reed Richards took advantage of Galactus’ weakness by using his flexible body to hurl the Thing at Galactus like a missile. Depleted both physically and mentally, Galactus toppled as the Thing struck him and actually wound up near death.
Naturally, the superheroes ended up saving Galactus (and the Earth) but Doctor Strange’s spell was a devastating one for someone like the Devourer of Worlds – and one that eventually became part of the new Ghost Rider’s power set in the 1990s. Known as the Penance Stare, the power allowed Ghost Rider to make criminals re-experience all the pain they’d caused others as if it were their own. The poetic justice of such a power proved so popular it was also given to other versions of the Ghost Rider and became one of his main abilities in the live action movie adaptation.
Indeed, the ability to revisit past horrors on others became so associated with Ghost Rider that when the Fantastic Four’s Galactus storyline was adapted for their animated series, Ghost Rider – not Doctor Strange – was the one who showed up to make sure the Devourer of Worlds was properly punished for all the pain he inflicted on countless worlds. And while using a street-level vigilante like Ghost Rider against a cosmic being like Galactus seemed bizarre, the Rider’s Penance Stare proved just as devastating to Galactus as it did when Doctor Strange first used it all those years ago. And considering both Doctor Strange and Ghost Rider already exist in the MCU… maybe Earth already has its best defense when Galactus makes his debut.