It's been just about a year since Stephen Strange was murdered, leaving his ex-wife Clea to serve as Sorcerer Supreme of both her home realm of the Dark Dimension and of Earth itself in Doctor Strange's absence.
Now, in Strange #10 from writer Jed MacKay, artists Marcelo Ferreira, Roberto Poggi, and Javi Tartaglia, and letterer Cory Petit, Clea's journey to resurrect Stephen Strange comes to its conclusion with his return to life and into the arms of his former paramour - literally on that last part, as Strange's resurrection is sealed with a kiss, almost Disney style.
Spoilers ahead for Strange #10
Though we've known for some time now that Doctor Strange would be resurrected with his own eponymous relaunched title to debut in March, the nature of his resurrection has a certain fairy tale quality to it, as Clea finally casts the spell that leads to Stephen Strange's return with a passionate lover's kiss.
And that's not the only effect of the spell. In fact, before Stephen Strange's resurrection, something much, well, stranger happens between Doctor Strange and Clea.
Since he died, Stephen Strange has served as the Harvestman, the Sorcerer Supreme of the realm of death - a role that has put him in conflict with Clea, as he is bound to prevent his own resurrection and to serve Death itself until the defeat of Director None and the villainous Trinity of Ashes, who are stealing the spirits of the dead for their own power.
As Doctor Strange and Clea find themselves face to face with the corpse of the Sentry, given life as a revenant filled with a million dead souls (a necromantic inversion of Sentry's usual power source of "a million exploding suns"), they realize they're facing defeat, unable to use their usual magics to defeat him.
In the face of final oblivion, Clea and Doctor Strange kiss, even though doing so endangers the fabric of reality as she's alive and he's dead. But Clea harnesses the power of duality she wields as the Sorcerer Supreme of two different realms, and instead of destroying them both, the kiss causes them to fuse into one ultra-powerful, four-armed magical being known simply as Strange, whose magical ability is so immense that they are able to destroy the Sentry revenant and defeat Director None while also saving the lives of all the mortals in the vicinity before splitting apart.
Following Director None's defeat, Stephen Strange is freed from the bonds of death and fully resurrected, his bargain fulfilled.
And that may be just about the strangest kiss in Marvel Comics history, pun intended (and only mildly regretted).
Doctor Strange #1 goes on sale March 22.
Before the relaunch of his title, read up on the best Doctor Strange stories ever.
