WARNING: Spoilers for Strange Academy #14 ahead!
The students at Marvel's Strange Academy have had a rough few months, especially following the death and resurrection of their mentor and the school's namesake, Doctor Strange. However in the upcoming Strange Academy #14, one student gets to see the future of his classmates and the Marvel Universe, showing that the hardships they have all been through have helped prepare them to be the universe's next wave of heroes.
Marvel Comics has been setting up the students of Strange Academy to become the next generation of magic-wielding superheroes, similarly to what they have done with other in-universe schools in books like Avengers Academy and Generation X. Like those other schools, there are some standout students from Strange Academy that are seemingly obvious choices to be major future superheroes, such as Emily Bright, Doyle Dormammu, Zoe Laveau, Calvin, Calvin Morse, and twins Iric and Alvi. With major changes coming to the magic world since the death of Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch it is no surprise that Marvel seems to be setting up the next generation of potential Sorcerers Supreme.
Marvel is making a bold claim in the preview for this issue, stating, "This is it. The issue that you’ll be looking back on five, ten, fifteen years from now… See the future of Strange Academy and the Marvel Universe. You won’t believe your eyes." In the sneak peek for Strange Academy #14 - by Skottie Young, Huberto Ramos, Edgar Delgado, and VC's Clayton Cowles - Doctor Voodoo is seen taking the class on a field trip through time, discussing the ins-and-outs of the Marvel Universe's time travel rules and observing the horrific dystopian timeline that is The Age of Apocalypse. Afterward, when the students are practicing time travel magic independently, Doyle - the son of the evil Dread Dormammu - accidentally flings himself into the far future, seeing what is in store for him and his classmates. Take a look at the issue's preview pages:
The preview for the comic doesn't reveal a lot of information about the future that Doyle has stumbled into, just that it is not a happy place, and his friends have all grown up to be incredibly powerful-looking adults. The only aged-up versions of students readers are able to see are a very zombie-looking Zoe, a full Asgardian-clothed Iric or Alvi, and a tattooed and intense-looking Emily Bright. Clearly, something bad is going on in this future timeline that Doyle is witnessing, and it seems like it is up to Emily and the former students of Strange Academy to deal with it.
The preview leaves even more questions, however, with Emily not clarifying whom she was referring to when she says, "I know he's coming. I've known for years... that today would be the end of one of us." Is Emily talking about one of her former classmates turned evil, perhaps even Doyle himself? Or could the students have possibly rebelled against Doctor Strange and the other teachers at the academy, and they are preparing to fight Doctor Strange?
Regardless of who or what Emily is referring to, it is clear that Doyle has traveled to a future where the former students of Strange Academy are powerful heroes in their own right. If Marvel keeps their promise that this issue will offer fans a vision into what the Marvel Universe will actually look like in 15 years, then there is a good possibility the rest of this issue will explore where the other students are, and what has happened to make them so afraid and run down. Strange Academy #14 releases December 15th.