Doctor Strange’s magical powers are pushed to their limits as Marvel reveals its new enemy: the blockchain.
Marvel’s Doctor Strange has been battling interdimensional aliens and otherworldly wizards, but now his most dangerous enemy is revealed: the cryptocurrency. Stephen Strange may be a genius surgeon, but he has little patience with modern technology - not because he doesn’t understand it, but because he has used it very little in his life every day as Sorcerer Supreme. But in Strange #8, Marvel explains why blockchain is Strange’s weakness.
In the current comic book sequence, Doctor Strange is dead. The Sorcerer Supreme was killed by Baron Mordo during the Death of Doctor Strange event. Despite the best efforts of his magical allies, Strange is dead forever, but Death had other plans for the Sorcerer Supreme and uses him for her own purposes. Meanwhile, Clea seeks to bring Strange back to the land of the living, and has also given herself the title of Sorceress Supreme (which angers others who thought they were more deserving of the position, such as Doctor Doom).
In Strange #8, written by Jed McKay with art by Stefano Landini, the series revisits a moment in Doctor Strange’s life; Director Peters, in charge of WAND (the magical equivalent of SHIELD), explains the villain’s plan. Tibetan prayer wheels work by placing a scroll of prayers inside a wooden wheel (and spinning the wheels is believed to have the same effect as saying prayers aloud). The director then turns to cryptocurrencies. “What happens if a major cryptocurrency mined all over the world is infected with a spell formula code by incorporating that spell into their routines? Strange immediately realizes the danger: the abundance of prayer wheels can greatly increase the effect of the spell: turn ordinary people into undead monsters.
Doctor Strange fights blockchain in Marvel comics
Just a few issues ago, Strange’s wife, Clea, discovered a cache of the Blasphemy Cartel’s secret weapon: racks of computer servers. She is even more technophobic than Strange and sent them all to the basement of the Sanctum Sanctorum. This is what the Blasphemy Cartel has planned throughout this campaign: to combine magic with technology to create their own method of controlling others. In that sense, Doctor Strange and Clea saw no problem until it was too late.
Understanding cryptocurrency and blockchain technology is quite difficult for tech-savvy people. It’s probably a lot harder for magic users like Strange and Clea. Doctor Strange is used to dealing with Dormammu and Baron Mordo, but advanced technologies like blockchain are clearly too far away.
Strange #8 is available now in Marvel Comics.