The Marvel Universe is home to many extraordinary beings and places. On any given day in New York, you might catch a glimpse of Spider-Man or get caught in a brawl between the Hulk and the Thing. And even if you don’t see a celebrity, there’s still a huge chance you’ll find a young mutant manifesting his powers for the first time or see an alien spacecraft land near Avengers Tower or the Baxter Building.
But as amazing as these sights may be, they’re even more incredible when viewed through the unique perspectives of some of Marvel’s heroes. Daredevil “sees” the entire world in a barrage of sensory information, the Silver Surfer’s cosmic powers allow him to perceive the very life energies of flora and fauna, and then there’s Doctor Strange…
Fans of the Sorcerer Supreme know that Stephen Strange wears the all-seeing Eye of Agamotto, which reveals the truth behind all things. However, even without the Eye, Strange’s magic grants him mystic senses which allow him to see, smell, hear, feel, and even taste the world differently from ordinary people. This enables Doctor Strange to view the Marvel Universe in a way few mortals - and even few superhumans - can see it… and reveals some unsettling truths about some of the things that are walking among us.
During Jason Aaron’s 2015 Doctor Strange series, Aaron repeated the trick of having artists draw Strange walking through an apparently normal New York street which he perceived very differently from those around him. Through Strange’s mystic sight, the world resembled an adult coloring book, with mortals and mundane objects being represented as colorless outlines, not noticing the vividly colorful creatures drifting by them or even attached to their backs or faces.
According to Strange, just as the human body houses countless numbers of viruses and bacteria that go unnoticed due to their microscopic size, human mental activity and emotional states also attract living organisms from other dimensions that attach themselves to mortals and feed off their psychic energies. While some of these creatures might be mostly benign, a few exact harmful tolls from their human hosts, requiring Strange to step in. In one particularly hilarious scene, Doctor Strange sees a large, demonic insect attached to a woman, causing her to experience major headaches. Unable to banish the demon with his usual spells, Strange wraps some enchanted wire around a baseball bat, tracks the demon down, and proceeds to beat it silly. The woman, who can’t see her invisible parasite, decides Strange is just some crazy man, but also admits she feels much better after his attack.
It’s a gross, somewhat frightening revelation about the Marvel Universe, but it’s worth noting that as weird as some of the magical creatures Doctor Strange sees every day might seem, most are really no different from the microscopic organisms currently residing on every human face eating our dead skin. While the Sorcerer Supreme’s mystic sight might separate what he sees into magical and non-magical classifications, ultimately all of these creatures are part of life. Although some of the magical parasites might require a sorcerer’s intervention…