Doctor Fate Vs. Dr. Strange

Doctor Fate (DC Comics):

Harnessing magical powers older than the beginning of human civilization, the being currently known as Doctor Fate has been defending the side of light since the days of ancient Egypt. Originally one of the ancient beings known as the Lords of Order named Nabu, he originally possessed a human host body, with which he became a mystical defender of humanity. As the centuries passed, the powers of Nabu were contained within a golden helmet, and the mortal chosen to wear it was given the name Doctor Fate. Doctor Fates magical prowess is unmatched by almost all other magic users on Earth, depending on who bears the mantle.

Powers & Abilities: Doctor Fate is one of the most powerful sorcerers on Earth, and is matched by almost no one in the art of casting spells. Among his innate mystical abilities, Fate has super strength, the ability to fly, mental powers like telekinesis and telepathy, and he can summon lightning and fire at will. His spells manifest as ancient Egyptian symbols, usually an ankh. Fate can travel through dimensions, turn invisible, and summon force fields to protect himself from harm. He’s used magic to time travel, and invisibility, necromancy, teleportation, phasing and astral projection are also among his many abilities. Fate’s biggest weakness is that once a spell has been cast against him, by the rules of magic he cannot make a counter spell.

Dr. Strange (Marvel):

Stephen Vincent Strange is the Sorcerer Supreme of the Earth Dimension. Once a materialistic and greedy neurosurgeon, Strange’s medical career was left in pieces after a debilitating car accident which severely damaged the nerves of his hands and made him unable to ever conduct an operation again. Consumed by his own pride and self-pity, he started conducting several medical procedures on himself, many of which highly experimental, in a desperate attempt to return to his former glory, which all gave off no significant results and ultimately exhausted all of Strange’s fortune over the course of a few months, reducing him to nothing but a derelict roaming around New York’s streets. Eventually, Strange took notice of stories about a tibetan monk, going by the title of the Ancient One, which was rumored to possess magical powers capable of healing any disease. Being desperate enough to try anything in order to heal his hands, he traveled to the Tibet and met up with the Ancient One in a palace sitting upon isolated, icy mountains, and although haughty and filled with skepticism at first, Strange’s introduction to the world of the supernatural humbled his personality, and eventually sparkled him into becoming a disciple of the Ancient One, ultimately resulting in him taking up the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme held by his master, and becoming Earth’s primary defender against the supernatural forces which roam beyond normal reality.

Powers & Abilities: Sorcerer: Dr. Strange possesses a vast mastery of the mystic arts; his primary magical patrons are a group of entities known as “the Vishanti.” The Vishanti are a trinity of godly beings comprised of Agamotto, Hoggoth, and Oshtur. Although he has, on rare occasions, called upon the power of demons such as Dormammu; Strange more frequently did so before he realized Dormammu’s true dark nature in the earlier issues. He has once stated that he can kill a mortal with the mere twitch of a finger.

• Infinite Longevity/Fearlessness: Dr. Strange’s lifespan has been extended and his fear of dying subsided in a manner similar to that of his mentor the Ancient One, due to a successful contest against Death. Though he can still be killed and even physically wounded he cannot succumb to any medical diseases, nor does he age. However, he still requires food, water, oxygen, and sleep, same as a normal human. Strange passed a test by the Ancient One and defeated Death, or more accurately, accepted Death. As a result, from that moment forward, Doc stopped aging. “Death may come only from without, in battle– and not from within.” The Ancient One had once passed the same test himself and lived 600 years. From that moment forward, a glowing ankh appears on Doc’s forehead when he is in a situation of great danger and his death is imminent, “when Strange most needs a reaffirmation of life.
• Energy Blasts
• Mystic Bolts
• Astral Projection: Doctor Strange can release his astral form from his body, instantaneously and at will. In this form he does not need to breathe, eat, drink or sleep, is unrestricted by physical laws (for example, Strange has flown beyond Earth’s atmosphere, defying gravity with ease to speak with Iron Man), is invisible (though can be seen by any if he wished it so), intangible, and incapable of being harmed by all but the most powerful and rigorous of mystic means. As physical laws are meaningless on the astral plane, Strange is able to use it to traverse at virtually any speed desirable (Strange has reached to St. Louis, Missouri from his Sanctum Sanctorum in Greenwich Village, New York in “a few brief seconds” thus, as well as traveling at the “speed of thought” through outer space.)
• Banishment: Dr. Strange has banished many types of creatures and humans to other dimensions but the extent of this is only possible as long as the ‘Banish-ers’ magic is greater than that of the ‘Banish-ees’ magic during the banishment.
• Conjuring of Objects
• Transmutation: the ability to change one thing to another. He used spells in this case.’
• Telepathy: Dr. Strange can psychically communicate and read minds These abilities can be amplified by mystic energy (as against Moondragon) and/or the Eye of Agamotto (done countless times) to afford Stephen incredibly powerful psychic abilities.
• Telekinesis
• Flight: Doctor Strange can fly using magical energy but has since abandoned it. (Presumably choosing to rely on the Cape of Levitation instead.)
• Protective Shields: Using the being Seraphim, Dr. Strange can shield himself or his allies. Doctor Strange is so powerful that his energy shields can even protect him from the full power of a supernova (which he created)
• Hypnotism
• Illusions
• Intangibility: The ability of Invisibility or Near-Invisibility and Phasing through solid material.
• Time Manipulation: Strange has frozen, slowed, and traveled through time. This magic is enacted only through extreme concentration.
• Elemental Manipulation: Dr. Strange can manipulate and control the elemental forces.
• Teleportation
• Dimensional Travel
• Universal Awareness: By performing mediation Dr. Strange has sensed anomalies in time and space allowing him to protect against time travelers, extra-dimensional invaders(Example: Dormammu, Nightmare), space aliens, etc.
• Various other spells: These spells seem to be quicker to perform but lesser in power than spells using divine energy. Strange has used his magics altogether to alter his clothing through something akin to minor molecular control, control and manipulate elements, etc.
• Dr. Strange has also been shown to amass as much wealth/gold as he desires using magic, as he has done to pay debts he owed.

The Words: Doctor Strange has become an expert in the Black Priests’s ability to use language to distort reality, becoming even more capable than the Black Priests themselves in a short amount of time. Each “word” is a symbol which means “something.” The addition of another symbol can change the meaning of that “something.” Doctor Strange stated this method to be akin to replacement cipher. This way, he can distort the reality in different ways, depending how many symbols are said and in which order. Some of the features achieved by the use of Words include:

• Energy Blasts
• Pyrokinesis
• Cryokinesis
• Organic Disintegration
• Paralysis

Divine Sources: Dr. Strange can channel the extra-dimensional energy of mystical and non-mystical beings in multiple dimensions (known as Principalities) to empower his spells. Darkness of the Divine Conduit (Black Magic): By sheer force of will “take” the power of another entity.

Predicted Winner: Doctor Fate

Image courtesy of: aitoff