In the vast expanse of the multiverse, where the very fabric of reality is constantly shifting, one version of Doctor Strange stands out as a terrifying force—a being capable of destroying entire worlds with just a single word. This version, known as the Black Priest Doctor Strange, is far beyond the Sorcerer Supreme we know. He is a god, a destroyer, and a paradox wrapped in mystery.

To understand how Doctor Strange became this all-powerful entity, we need to dive into the chaos that started it all—the Incursions. These cataclysmic events, where entire universes collided, threatened to tear apart the multiverse itself. Strange, once a protector of the realms, found himself at the heart of the crisis. The Illuminati, a group of Earth’s most powerful minds, initially attempted to handle the situation, but their efforts fell short. As the multiverse shrank and collapsed around them, Strange turned to increasingly dangerous methods to stop the inevitable destruction.

Desperate, he unlocked the forbidden secrets of the Blood Bible, a mystical tome that promised unimaginable power at an unspeakable cost. What followed was a series of fateful decisions that ultimately led to Doctor Strange becoming the Great Eye, leader of the Black Priests—a group of multiversal entities designed to “heal” the multiverse by destroying worlds.

But with this new power came the ultimate sacrifice: his soul. Now, with his newfound godlike abilities, Strange could bend reality itself, but his very existence had become a ticking time bomb. The question was no longer how to stop the Incursions, but what would happen when he, the most powerful version of Doctor Strange ever, finally made his choice in the battle for the multiverse’s survival?

The Multiverse Crisis: Incursions

It all began when two Earths from different universes were on a direct course to collide, and the effects of this collision would be catastrophic. To prevent this, one of the Earths involved had to be destroyed before the impact occurred. However, after each successful destruction, the multiverse didn’t stabilize. In fact, it only grew more unstable, and the frequency of these incursions increased exponentially. The multiverse was on the brink of total annihilation, and something drastic needed to be done to halt its descent into chaos.

In the main Marvel Universe, Earth-616, a clandestine group known as the Illuminati became the first to learn of these events. Comprised of the brightest minds and most influential heroes and leaders, the Illuminati had the power and responsibility to tackle the impending disaster. The group was made up of figures like Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic), Black Bolt, Captain America, Black Panther, Iron Man, Namor, and, of course, Doctor Strange—the Sorcerer Supreme.

The Illuminati’s response to the Incursions was a mixture of secrecy and action. They initially sought out the Infinity Stones, hoping their combined power might offer a solution. The use of the Infinity Gauntlet, in particular, allowed them to repel one incursion temporarily. But at a tremendous cost: the Infinity Gauntlet was destroyed, and with it, five of the Infinity Stones, including the Time Stone mysteriously vanished.

Despite this setback, Doctor Strange soon realized that traditional methods were no longer sufficient. The problem had grown beyond what even the combined might of the Illuminati could handle. The multiverse was dying, and with every incursion, its destruction sped up. The need for a new solution, a more powerful solution, was clear.

Desperation and the Price of Power

With the multiverse on the verge of collapse, Doctor Strange found himself at a crossroads. Despite the efforts of the Illuminati and the failure of the Infinity Gauntlet, the situation had only worsened. Strange realized that in order to protect the multiverse—or at least delay its destruction—he needed power beyond anything he had ever tapped into as the Sorcerer Supreme. This was no longer just a battle of mystic arts; it was a war against the very fabric of reality itself.

In his desperation, Strange turned to forbidden knowledge—specifically, an ancient and dangerous artifact known as the Blood Bible. This was no ordinary tome. The Blood Bible, also called the Blue Dakor, contained spells and rituals that defied natural law, tapping into powers that were inconceivable by normal magical standards. According to Wong, every attempt to use the Blood Bible had resulted in the death of the caster. Just touching the book could stain one’s soul. But Strange was beyond caution at this point. The multiverse was dying, and there was no time to hesitate.

The Blood Bible required more than just the willingness to sacrifice one’s life—it demanded the sacrifice of the very essence of the caster’s soul. The book’s dark rituals promised unimaginable power, but at a cost that could lead to damnation. Strange, however, had already made up his mind. He understood the risk, but the greater fear was allowing the multiverse to be destroyed without doing everything in his power to stop it.

Wong, begged him to reconsider, fearing the consequences of such dark magic. But Strange was resolute. He entrusted Wong with the responsibility of watching over his actions and warned him that every moment from then on could be his last. Strange’s willingness to sacrifice everything marked the beginning of his transformation into something far darker than the hero we had once known.

The Lost Lands and the Resolute Throne

To gain the power he sought, Doctor Strange embarked on a journey to the Lost Lands, a place said to be older than time itself. In these ancient realms, Strange encountered a market known as the Sinner’s Market—a place where unspeakable transactions took place, a crossroads for those seeking power at any cost. Here, in exchange for his soul, Strange sought a power even greater than what the Blood Bible could offer.

The Sinner’s Market was unlike any place Strange had encountered. It was a realm where dark entities, demons, and necromancers thrived, their goods representing a mix of the forbidden and the dangerous. As Strange wandered through the market, he quickly realized that it was not just a physical place—it was an experience that could warp one’s desires, feeding off the individual’s ambitions and darkest wishes.

At the center of the market stood the Resolute Throne, an object of immense power. The throne was a place of unimaginable transformation, granting those who sat upon it god-like powers. However, there was a steep price for such power: a portion of the user’s soul had to be sacrificed. The Resolute Throne could only be approached once, and those who had come before Strange had paid the ultimate price—losing their lives in the process.

When Strange finally reached the throne, he was faced with an impossible decision: in exchange for god-like power, he had to sacrifice a portion of his soul. To the horror of anyone who knew him, Strange offered all of his soul in the transaction. In doing so, he was reborn as the Great Eye, the leader of the Black Priests—a group of multiversal entities born to preserve the balance of the multiverse through destruction.

Who Are the Black Priests?

The Black Priests are a unique and terrifying group within the Marvel Universe. Spawned from the very fabric of the multiverse, they exist to maintain the cosmic equilibrium by eliminating threats to reality itself. Think of them as the immune system of the multiverse: antibodies designed to fight off any infection, no matter the cost.

The Black Priests are not just powerful—they are nearly invincible. They possess the ability to reorganize their own matter, effectively making them impossible to destroy through conventional means. But what makes them truly dangerous is their ability to manipulate reality with their words. Each Black Priest is capable of utterly distorting reality through their speech, with the letters they speak serving as the foundation for powerful, world-altering spells.

When Doctor Strange ascended to their ranks, he gained the ability to manipulate the multiverse with his very words, a power he shared with the Black Priests. Each of the Priests can only utter a single reality-distorting letter. However, when combined with the words of other Priests, they can create staggering effects—changing the very fabric of reality, warping it to their will.

Doctor Strange, as the Great Eye, was not bound by the limitations of the Black Priests. Unlike them, he did not merely speak in letters—he could speak in whole words. His understanding of reality transcended even their powers, and he could use his ability to reshape entire worlds with a single word. For Black Priest Doctor Strange, the word of destruction was simple: “life”. By speaking this word, he could tear apart entire worlds, ending their existence across the multiverse.

The Black Priests were a fearsome force, but Doctor Strange, empowered by their abilities, became something even more terrifying. A god-like being capable of shaping the very multiverse, and unstoppable so long as he could speak.

Strange’s Transformation: A Descent Into Darkness

As Doctor Strange ascended to the rank of Great Eye, his transformation became inevitable. The man who had once been a champion of order and balance in the mystical arts now stood on the precipice of something far darker: the inevitable corruption of his own soul. The Black Priests were no longer mere tools in his hands; they had become part of him, reshaping his very essence.

The Great Eye was more than a title. It represented his complete dominance over the Black Priests and their power. His former comrades—once his allies, his friends—now viewed him as a force of nature, someone who had transcended the human limitations they had all shared. Where once Strange had spoken with the tongue of humanity, he now spoke with the voice of the multiverse itself, commanding worlds and bending realities with the ease of an ancient deity.

Yet, for all his power, Doctor Strange was lost. The deeper he ventured into the dark arts, the further he drifted from the man he once was. In a cruel irony, the very knowledge he had sought to preserve the multiverse had become the agent of his undoing. The Resolute Throne, the Blood Bible, and the Sinner’s Market had all played their parts in the slow erasure of his humanity. The cost was clear: the death of his soul. His willingness to sacrifice everything to protect the multiverse had ultimately destroyed the core of who he was. He became the embodiment of loss, an entity that could reshape the cosmos but could no longer comprehend its true value.

Despite his corruption, his mission had not changed. The multiverse still teetered on the edge of destruction, and only he, with his vast newfound powers, could hope to preserve it. But the question lingered: What was Strange saving? What was left of the multiverse to protect, when the very soul of its savior had been lost?

The Black Priests and Their Role in the Multiverse

The Black Priests were not just a group of cosmic entities—they were the guardians of the multiverse’s delicate balance. Their purpose was to protect the multiverse from the forces that threatened its stability, even if those forces were born from within the very fabric of existence itself. The Priests were agents of change, wielding reality-altering powers to eliminate threats, not just preserve them.

These entities existed on the edge of existence, serving as the multiverse’s last line of defense. The Black Priests understood that the multiverse was a fragile construct, constantly at risk of being torn apart by incursions, collapsing timelines, and the warping of fundamental laws of reality. To maintain this balance, they used their abilities to correct any discrepancies—no matter how brutal or devastating the correction might be. When Doctor Strange became their leader, he became more than just a protector of the multiverse. He became its reaper, its final judge and executioner.

Each of the Black Priests, as powerful as they were, could only speak a single letter of power—and with each utterance, reality would shift and change. Yet, when combined with the voices of others, they could bring about unfathomable destruction. Together, they were a force unlike any other, rewriting the rules of existence itself. However, as Great Eye, Strange no longer followed the same constraints. His voice was no longer just one letter—it could span entire sentences and whole spells, reshaping reality on an unimaginable scale.

But with power came corruption. The more Strange utilized the Black Priests’ powers, the more distant he became from the heroes he had once fought alongside. The friendships he had built—his bonds with Wong, Thor, Iron Man, and others—seemed to drift into a distant memory. Strange had become something else—a being whose understanding of reality exceeded human comprehension but had lost its foundation in humanity itself.

The Collapse of the Multiverse

The crisis that Doctor Strange had been desperately trying to avert was now an unavoidable reality. The Incursions had grown so frequent that entire universes began to fall into one another with terrifying speed. What was once a series of isolated incidents had transformed into a multiversal cataclysm. The very fabric of existence began to fray, as realities collided and consumed each other.

Strange’s attempts to stem the tide of destruction were noble, but ultimately, they were futile. Even the might of the Blood Bible and the ancient powers of the Black Priests could not reverse the escalating damage. What Strange had failed to see was that the Incursions were more than just random events—they were part of a grander cosmic design, a necessary destruction that allowed the multiverse to renew itself.

By attempting to halt the cycle, Strange had inadvertently become the architect of the multiverse’s eventual demise. The Incursions, it turned out, were part of a cosmic reset—something the universe itself needed in order to evolve into its next phase. Every action Strange had taken to prevent the multiverse’s collapse only expedited the inevitable.

The moment of the final cataclysm arrived: the collision of universes was no longer something that could be contained or delayed. Strange, now fully under the influence of the Black Priests, found himself torn between his duty as their leader and the reality he had sworn to protect. As the multiverse collapsed around him, the question was no longer whether the destruction could be stopped—but what would remain in its wake.

Doctor Strange’s Final Choice: Sacrifice or Rebirth?

As the multiverse reached its breaking point, Doctor Strange was faced with the ultimate decision: sacrifice or rebirth. Having already sacrificed his soul, his humanity, and his very identity, Strange now stood on the edge of the end of all things. His mind was torn between the ancient knowledge of the Blood Bible, the power of the Black Priests, and his lingering memories of what he had once stood for.

Could he stop the destruction he had unleashed? Or was his role now simply to usher in the end of the multiverse as it had been foretold?

The answer came not in the form of a final spell or incantation, but in a quiet, profound realization. Strange had spent his entire life in the pursuit of knowledge, power, and control. But in the face of universal destruction, he realized that true power was not in wielding the multiverse, but in letting go of it. In choosing to sacrifice himself once again—not for power, but for redemption—Strange hoped to break the cycle of endless destruction and rebirth.

He realized that in order to save the multiverse, he would have to destroy himself completely—to leave behind everything that made him Doctor Strange and, in doing so, allow the multiverse to reset without his intervention. With a final incantation, Strange dissolved his soul and essence into the fabric of reality, unleashing a wave of cosmic energy that rippled through the multiverse. The Incursions halted, and the collisions ceased—not because the battle had been won, but because Strange had accepted the role of sacrifice that would save everyone else.

The multiverse would continue—reborn from the ashes of destruction—but it would do so without Doctor Strange, the Great Eye, to oversee it. In his final act, Strange ensured the survival of something far more important than the multiverse itself: hope.

Conclusion

With the multiverse collapsing, Doctor Strange—now the Great Eye—had become a godlike being, capable of reshaping reality. Yet, in the final moments, he made a devastating choice: to sacrifice himself and reset the multiverse. But in doing so, he didn’t just halt the Incursions—he transformed reality itself.

The multiverse was reborn, but it was different. Strange’s sacrifice left behind a strange legacy, a new force rising in the void he’d created. Had Doctor Strange truly saved the multiverse, or had he unleashed something far more complex? His final choice—self-destruction—was it the end, or the beginning of something entirely new?