Doctor Strange has faced the Mad Titan Thanos in the MCU, but as fans have seen in the trailers for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, there are potentially much bigger threats out there in the multiverse. In Marvel Comics, the Sorcerer Supreme has faced off against some of the most powerful cosmic and magical entities in the entire multiverse.
Many of Doctor Strange's most powerful comic book villains hail from Earth-616, while others originate from other planes of existence or universes, crossing over into that of Marvel Comics. Some of Doctor Strange's greatest challenges exist outside his own reality like Nightmare, and many of them might be ready to appear in the MCU, or perhaps already have.
Updated on April 26th, 2022 by Darby Harn: As Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness draws near, it's clear that there will be multiple threats to the MCU in the movie. They may come in variants of heroes like the Scarlet Witch and they may also be versions of the most powerful Doctor Strange villains in the comics. It seems clear that giant tentacle monsters will play some role, likely indicating that major villains like Shuma-Gorath could be the ultimate villain behind the chaos on display in the trailers.
Dracula
Dracula is the Lord of the Vampires and a powerful supernatural figure that Doctor Strange struggled against in the best Doctor Strange comics of the 70s. Dracula is superhumanly powerful thanks to his vampirism, but he acquired mystical powers that allowed him to fend off the likes of Doctor Strange.
As part of his sorcery, he could manipulate the weather. He could also summon vampires and other wild creatures, making him a challenging threat to Doctor Strange and other magicians in the Marvel Universe.
The Undying Ones
The Undying Ones are demons from another dimension under the rule of the Nameless One. Their sheer numbers are their greatest asset, though they're very dangerous one on one, as they have incredible strength and are impervious to most forms of conventional attack.
The Undying Ones, whose invasion of Earth prompted Doctor Strange to assemble the first comic book iteration of the Defenders with Namor and the Hulk, can also shapeshift. Most of the Lovecraftian creatures have some ability in the mystical arts as well.
The Enchantress
A form of The Enchantress has appeared in the MCU in the form of Sylvie, one of the best Loki variants, but in the comics, Amora is one of Doctor Strange's most potent foes. Amora The Enchantress is an Asgardian sorceress primarily known for her ability to manipulate others with magic, but she's also capable of a variety of powers and abilities via magic including energy blasts and teleportation.
She's also physically strong and durable thanks to her Asgardian physiology, as Doctor Strange found out during their first major battle in the "Acts Of Vengence" comic crossover.
Baron Mordo
As one of the disciples of the Ancient One, Baron Mordo is a very powerful magician. His turn to dark magic makes him even more dangerous, especially considering he is able to use it to harness the power of extra-dimensional beings like Dormammu from the Dark Dimension.
He is capable of a broad range of magical powers, including becoming invisible and intangible, as well as illusions. Thanks to his training at Kamar-Taj, he is also an expert in a number of martial arts disciplines.
D'Spayre
D'Spayre is a demon and a servant of The Dweller In Darkness, a name fans of Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings will recognize. D'Spayre has superhuman strength and stamina, but most importantly, he can create such fear in others that it's paralyzing. He also consumes their fear to subsidize his own power.
D'Spayre can also travel between dimensions with relative ease, making him hard to capture. He's part of the Fear Lords, a triumvirate of magical villains who Doctor Strange faced on many occasions.
Umar
Umar is the sister of Dormammu from the Dark Dimension. As a Faltine, a being of pure magical energy, she is extremely powerful.
She can travel between dimensions as well as enact spells that outmatch anything Doctor Strange can do, as he found out when he failed to stop her from magically transferring the essence of Dormammu to the core of the Earth. Umar is immortal thanks to her lineage as a Faltine, making her impossible to kill. She can be bargained with and has worked with Doctor Strange on a few occasions to peaceful ends.
Loki
Loki is one of the craftiest magicians in the Marvel Universe and he's also one of Doctor Strange's most powerful villains. The two have faced off numerous times, and their first battle underlined the fact that Loki is actually the stronger of the two.
That isn't surprising given Loki's knowledge and experience in various forms of Asgardian magic. His ability to cast illusions and conjure spells has also made him worthy of the title Sorcerer Supreme, which he held briefly for a time in the 2000s.
Lilith
Lilith is one of the oldest beings in existence, predating humanity by untold years. She is also one of the most powerful Doctor Strange villains, able to create and control Lilin, demons that form her vast magical army.
Lilith is one of the most powerful sorceresses in the Marvel Universe and she fought Doctor Strange while he was part of the Midnight Sons supernatural team of heroes. They seem poised to form in the MCU with the arrival of Blade and Moon Knight.
Nightmare
Nightmare is the ruler of the Dream Dimension in Marvel Comics, and subjects sleeping people to awful dreams and visions. He draws energy from their subconscious minds and uses them to sustain himself. In fact, he needs it to survive; without dreams, he would vanish.
While Nightmare is extremely powerful in his dimension - he's virtually omnipotent within it - outside of it, he's less so. Doctor Strange has been able to cast spells and illusions to defeat him in the waking world. Nightmare has allied with others to form the Fear Lords to attack Strange.
Mephisto
Mephisto is one of the most powerful magical beings in the Marvel Universe. The comic book equivalent of the devil is also nearly god-like in his own dimension, able to withstand an attack from Galactus the World Devourer.
Mephisto can alter reality, shapeshift, and cast illusions on a scale that is nearly impossible to comprehend, as Doctor Strange found out when Mephisto lured him to his dimension in Doctor Strange #15 and nearly trapped him there.
Dweller In Darkness
The Dweller In Darkness entered the MCU as an otherworldly threat in Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings but he began as one of the most powerful Doctor Strange villains in Marvel Comics. He's a member of the Fear Lords as old or older than the universe.
The Dweller In Darkness succeeds by provoking fear in people as well as drawing power from it. He is able to control people by doing this and can also create people out of fear, as he did with D'Spayre, one of his principal lieutenants.
Doctor Doom
Comic book fans know Doctor Doom isn't just one of the most powerful supervillains in Marvel Comics, he's also one of the most powerful magicians. His interest and mastery of the mystical arts make him a major threat to Doctor Strange. Doom can fire magical energy blasts, create protective shields, as well as travel between dimensions.
Doctor Strange found out firsthand how powerful Doctor Doom was when Doom rewrote reality into Battleword in 2015's Secret Wars. Doctor Doom made himself God-Emperor in the collapsed multiverse and made Strange the Right Hand Of Doom, his primary advisor.
Dormammu
As the ruler of the Dark Dimension, Dormammu is capable of incomprehensible power. Dormammu is able to manipulate matter and reality on a scale that affects not just his dimension but others. He's able to alter the very fabric of the entire multiverse because of this, and as a result, is perhaps the biggest threat to life itself.
Dormammu feeds off of the worship and belief of his followers, and he creates new ones all the time. He's able to create Demon Lords to do his bidding and spread his influence through infinite realities and dimensions.
Shuma-Gorath
Shuma-Gorath is an immortal ancient being from another universe who can alter reality on a universal scale. His power is such that he can actually destroy entire galaxies simply by willing it.
This tentacled one-eyed behemoth first faced Doctor Strange in Marvel Premiere #10, when Shuma-Gorath attempted to enter the realm of Earth-616 through the mind of the Ancient One. The threat was so severe Doctor Strange had to kill his master to save the planet. Shuma-Gortah could be the tentacled monster seen a few times now in What If..?, suggesting a bigger MCU future.
Scarlet Witch
The Scarlet Witch may be the most powerful of all the villains that Doctor Strange has faced in Marvel Comics. Wanda has the ability to manipulate reality on a terrific scale, which she proved when she erased most mutants from reality in House of M.
The two clashed during and before that cataclysmic mini-series from the early 2000s. Doctor Strange was able to subdue her during the Avengers: Disassembled storyline that led to House of M, but he wasn't able to control her extraordinary power.