This article contains spoilers for Savage Avengers #11.
Marvel Comics has just revealed the true story of Kulan Gath, their darkest Sorcerer Supreme. Gerry Duggan's Savage Avengers has seen a classic villain return from beyond the dawn of time. Kulan Gath hails from the Hyborean Age, the time of Conan the Barbarian, before the advent of the last Ice Age.
Kulan Gath has proved to be a formidable foe. Even the combined might of Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom was barely enough to give him a contemporary defeat, and they accomplished this feat by cheating; Doctor Doom resorted to science rather than sorcery. Doom summoned his Infamous Iron Man armor for Strange, transforming him into the so-called "Iron Mage." Strange came up with an innovative use of the armor, reforming it around Kulan Gath and restraining him. That gave the time-displaced Conan the chance to stab him, and Kulan Gath teleported away.
This week's Savage Avengers #11 finally reveals the secret of Kulan Gath's power. Doctor Strange uses blood magic to send his astral form back through the millennia, observing Kulan Gath's history. He finds himself viewing the Earth as it looked twelve millennia ago, and he watches the slave boy Kulan Gath murder and supplant his master. Vowing never to be a victim again, he sought the secrets of magic, and he approached the Sorcerer Supreme of his time, Mekri Ra. Mekri Ra sensed the evil in Kulan Gath's heart and refused to train him.
Humiliated, Gath traveled the globe, searching out lesser sources and training with them. To Doctor Strange's horror, he learned the secrets of a dark form of blood magic; he became a cannibal, consuming a sorcerer's organs in order to attain their knowledge. There is knowledge and power in blood, and Kulan Gath learned to master it. He began to draw the life energy itself from his victims, extending his own life; that is the secret of Kulan Gath's immortality.
In the end, Kulan Gath became so powerful he returned to Mekri Ra - and defeated him. He drew the Sorcerer Supreme's death out as long as possible, a way of repaying him for the humiliation of being banished all those years ago. Ironically, that may well ultimately prove to be Kulan Gath's undoing; Mekri Ra sensed the astral presence of the watching Doctor Strange and passed on a mysterious message to him before Kulan Gath slit his throat. Kulan Gath thus became Mekri Ra's successor as Sorcerer Supreme - probably the evilest one of all time.
The story may be horrific, but it loses a little of its shock value because attentive readers already knew this; something's gone wrong with Marvel's publication strategy. Last month's Savage Avengers annual is presumably set after this issue because it features Doctor Strange warning Magik that Kulan Gath will come for her - and that he's a cannibal.
Savage Avengers #11 is on sale now from Marvel Comics.