[Phantasm]

DOCTOR STRANGE

Real Name: Dr. Stephen Strange.
Occupation: Surgeon (retired), author, occult expert.
Legal Status: Citizen of the United States with no criminal record.
Identity: Publicly known, although the general populace does not believe that Doctor Strange has magical powers.
Other Aliases: Sorcerer Supreme.
Place of Birth: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Marital Status: Widower.
Known Relatives: Jessica (wife, deceased).
Group Affiliation: None.
Base of Operations: Greenwich Village, New York City.
History: Dr. Stephen Strange was a brilliant surgeon who suffered two losses in a car wreck caused by a drunk driver. The first loss was that of fine motor control of his hands, which negatively affected his ability to perform surgery. The second, and more tragic loss was that of his wife Jessica, who was in the passenger seat of the couple's luxury sedan when it was hit. Compounding the loss was the inability of modern medicine to repair the damage done to his hands. Distraught, Stephen retired from the medical profession.

Unable to cope with the loss of both his wife and his medical career, Stephen fell into a deep depression. On the urging of a friend from the hospital he used to work at, Stephen traveled to the Orient, seeking to learn meditative techniques that would help stabilize his hands. After studying at a few monasteries in Taiwan, Japan, and finally China, he was told of an ancient mystic in Tibet who was known to work miracles in healing. Skeptical, but with little to lose, Strange traveled to Tibet.

In Tibet, Strange was guided to a small temple dug into a mountainside. There, he met the master of the temple, an old, wizened man known only as the Ancient One, and his apprentice, a German noble by the name of Karl Amadeus Mordo (see Ancient One; Baron Mordo).

Upon learning why Strange had sought him out, the Ancient One offered to make Strange his apprentice in magic. Not believing in magic, but not wishing to offend the temple's master, Strange politely refused, but did offer to stay to help out as best he could. As a massive snowstorm was brewing outside the temple, the Ancient One accepted this offer, stating that the apprenticeship would remain open if Strange changed his mind.

While at the temple, Strange discovered that Mordo intended to kill the Ancient One. Worse, he discovered that Mordo intended to frame him for the murder, as his arrival at the temple had given Mordo a scapegoat. Before Strange could inform the Ancient One of this plot, Mordo used his already formidable sorcerous might to encase Strange in a set of mystic shackles which prevented him from moving or speaking.

Without realizing he was doing so, Strange managed to tap into the ambient mystical forces in the temple to aid in freeing himself. Once freed, he raced to the Ancient One's chambers, hoping the old man wasn't already dead at Mordo's hands. Fortunately, by the time Strange arrived Mordo was shackled in much the same way Strange had been. The Ancient One explained to Strange that he had known all along about Mordo's tendencies, but had hoped to rehabilitate the baron. Now fully believing in magic, Strange accepted the Ancient One's offer and became his new apprentice. Baron Mordo was banished from the temple, and has since become one of Dr. Strange's most persistent adversaries.

Recently, his apprenticeship complete, Stephen Strange has returned to the United States, settling into a mansion in Greenwich Village, New York City, where he has established himself as a local expert on the occult. He supplements his retirement income by authoring books on mixing Eastern and Western medical practices. Unbeknownst to the populace at large, however, Dr. Strange is also the world's leading defender against the mystical threats that could pose a danger to Earth.
Height: 6' 2"
Weight: 180 lbs.
Eyes: Grey.
Hair: Black with white temples.
Known Superhuman Powers: Strange's magic, like that of other magicians, is derived from three major sources: personal powers of the soul/mind/body, derived through developing one's own psychic resources (mesmerism, astral projection, thought-casting, etc); powers gained by tapping the universe's ambient magical energy and employing it for specific effects (teleportation, illusion-casting, energy projection); and finally powers gained through invoking entities or objects of power existing in mystical dimensions tangential to his own. The latter means of power is usually gained through the recitation of spells, either ritualized ones found in various mystical texts or by original spells invoking extra-dimensional assistance. Strange also employs a number of occult power objects which he wields by mental control.
Paraphernalia: Doctor Strange possesses two mystic artifacts which he uses on a regular basis. The first is his cloak of levitation, which enables him to float in mid-air without taxing his own powers.

The other object is the Eye of Agamotto, one of two objects in Strange's possession which are empowered by the mysterious extradimensional entity Agamotto. The Eye appears to be a round amulet made of gold. At Doctor Strange's command, the Eye can radiate a blinding light if immeasurable mystic force. Under the brilliance of this "all-revealing light", Strange is able to see through disguises, invoke images of the immediate past, and track both corporeal and ethereal beings by their psychic or magical emissions. The Eye enables Strange to more easily probe the minds of sentient beings. When used thusly, the amulet opens and releases a representation of a golden eye, which affixes itself to the wielder's foreheads, allowing him to "see" into the mind he wishes to probe.

The Eye also can be used to provide a gateway into other dimensions. When called upon under the proper incantations, the amulet will separate from its backing, seemingly enlarge to a size several feet in diameter, and then open, revealing a portal to other worlds.

Edit: Stats posted elsewhere, as the new stats plus the bio ended up too long to post in one entry.