Doctor Stephen Strange is a brilliant but egotistical
neurosurgeon who only cares about wealth from his career. However, a car accident damages his hands, shattering the bones. The damage effectively ends his ability to conduct surgery, since his hands now tremble uncontrollably. Too proud to take on a teaching job, Strange desperately begins to search for a way to restore his hands, consulting various doctors, homeopathic treatments and traveling around the world to remote regions for exotic cures, all to no avail.
He exhausts his funds and is reduced to homelessness and is forced to perform "back alley" medical procedures for cash. Depressed and still searching, Strange locates a hermit called the
Ancient One (who is actually the Earth's Sorcerer Supreme) in the
Himalayas. The Ancient One refuses to help Strange because of his selfishness, but senses a good side that he attempts to bring to the surface. He fails, but Strange's goodness appears when he discovers the Ancient One's disciple,
Baron Mordo, attempting to kill the old man. After Strange selflessly thwarts Mordo, (who becomes Strange's most enduring
antagonist),
[31] the Ancient One teaches him the mystic arts.
[32] After completing his training, Strange returns to New York and takes up residence within the
Sanctum Sanctorum, a townhouse located in Greenwich Village which is guarded by Strange's personal servant
Wong.
[33]
As the Ancient One's disciple, Strange encounters the entity
Nightmare,
[34] and miscellaneous other mystical foes before meeting
Dormammu, a
warlord from an
alternate dimension called the "Dark Dimension". Strange is aided by a nameless girl, later called
Clea,
[35] who is eventually revealed to be Dormammu's niece.
[36] When Strange helps a weakened Dormammu drive off the rampaging
Mindless Ones and return them to their prison, he is allowed to leave unchallenged