Doctor Strange’s magical powers are pushed to their absolute limit as Marvel reveals his latest enemy: the blockchain.
Warning: SPOILERS for Strange #8Marvel's Doctor Strange has fought interdimensional aliens and otherworldly sorcerers, but now his most dangerous enemy is revealed: cryptocurrency. Stephen Strange may be a genius surgeon, but he has little patience for modern technology – not because he does not understand it, but because he has very little use for it during his day-to-day life as the Sorcerer Supreme. But in Strange #8, Marvel explains why the blockchain is Strange's weakness.
In current comics continuity, Doctor Strange is dead. The Sorcerer Supreme was murdered during the Death of Doctor Strange event, killed by Baron Mordo. Despite the efforts of his magical allies, Strange died permanently – but Death had other plans for the Sorcerer Supreme, and is using him for her own ends. Meanwhile, Clea seeks to get Strange back to the land of the living, and has also granted herself the title of Sorcerer Supreme (angering others who believed they were more worthy of the position, like Doctor Doom).
In Strange #8, written by Jed MacKay with art by Stefano Landini, the series flashes back to a moment in Doctor Strange's life; Director Peters, in charge of W.A.N.D. (a magical equivalent of SHIELD) explains the villain's plan. Tibetan prayer wheels work by placing a scroll of prayers inside a wooden wheel (and by spinning the wheels, it is believed one gains the same effect as saying the prayers out loud). The director then turns to cryptocurrency. "What would happen if a large-scale cryptocurrency being mined across the world was infected with the code for a spell formula, integrating that spell into its routines?" Strange realizes the danger immediately: the sheer abundance of prayer wheels could multiply the spell's effect exponentially: transforming ordinary people into undead monsters.
Just a few issues ago, Strange's wife Clea found the Blasphemy Cartel's stash of secret weapons: racks upon racks of computer servers. She is even more techno-phobic than Strange, and relegated the lot of them to the basement of the Sanctum Sanctorum. This is what the Blasphemy Cartel were planning during this entire run: merge the magical with the technological to create their own method to control others. In this sense, Doctor Strange and Clea did not see the issue until it was almost too late.
Understanding cryptocurrency and the blockchain technology is hard enough for the technologically literate. It is, presumably, considerably more difficult for the likes of magic users such as Strange and Clea. Doctor Strange is used to dealing with the likes of Dormammu and Baron Mordo, but advanced technology like the blockchain is apparently a bridge too far.
Strange #8 is available now from Marvel Comics.
Joshua Isaak is a Comics Staff Writer for Screenrant and attended New York University. He currently lives in the United States and writes about Marvel, DC, Star Wars and other properties.
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