Mister Misery (Marvel)
Mister Misery is a male comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.
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Biography
Mister Misery was the name given to a mystical being created from the mystical toll of Doctor Strange. He was created from the mystical toll that Strange failed to pay for the use of his magic. Instead of bearing with the suffering of his spells, Wong instead channelled it elsewhere in the cellar of the Sanctum Sanctorum. Once there, it gathered until it developed into a living being of shadow that experienced all of the mystical pains that were spared from the Sorcerer Supreme. (Doctor Strange v4 #10)
During the fight between the Imperator and Doctor Strange, Mister Misery came to be released where he confronted Stephen Strange. He found that he no longer was sustained by his 'fathers' pain and looked for a new source of sustenance. Strange though remarked that the Imperator of the Empirikul saw both of them as monsters due to their ties of magic. He thus asked the creature for help and that they needed to work together against a common threat. Stephen was then attacked by the Imperator who was ready to kill the Sorcerer Supreme. It was then that Mister Misery acted as he acknowledged that Strange was indeed a fool but not one for the leader of the Empirikul to kill. Though helping his 'father', Misery stated that Strange's pain was his to exploit and did not belong to anyone else. Whilst the Imperator was distracted, Mister Misery bonded physically to Strange with the process being incredibly painful for Stephen. However, this did give him the strength he needed to fight the head of the Empirikul using magic. At the same time, the mystical pain was being shared with people around the world who had willingly taken it in to aid the Sorcerer Supreme to stop the threat the Empirikul posed to the world. With this power, Doctor Strange was finally able to defeat the Imperator and end the threat posed by his machines. Mister Misery expressed amazement at how Doctor Strange was able to inspire such devotion in others. With the threat defeated, the Imperator came to be chained within the cellar of the Sanctum Sanctorum whilst Mister Misery escaped in the chaos. At first, Misery believed that he would experience something at attaining freedom but instead felt nothing. He then reasoned that perhaps he would feel something if he sought vengeance against his creator. (Doctor Strange v4 #10)
For a time, he attempted to live without suffering but after three days without hurting anyone he came to miss the misery. (Doctor Strange v4 #12)
He had survived but was in hiding where he found animals in misery coming to him where he killed them to end their suffering. It was then he came upon Stephen where he assumed that he had been tracked by his creator. This saw Mister Misery looking to kill Strange but he was interrupted by his allies. Their fight was then confounded by the arrival of Baron Mordo who wanted to be the only person to kill his old foe Stephen Strange. This saw Baron Mordo, Mister Misery and the Orb all competing for being the person responsible for killing Doctor Strange. It was then that Dormammu manifested at the scene as he wanted to claim the victory for himself. (Doctor Strange v4 #15)
Escaping, he sought a new host to bond to where he looked for someone suffering and miserable. He came to find this in a young boy named Calvin Morse who hid his pain which was used to feed Mister Misery who gave the human magic in return. During this time, Doctor Strange had established an academy set to train people in the use of magic with Mister Misery using Morse to enrol there so that he could torture his creator. However, the longer he hid within Calvin the more his power grew and he decided to bide his time until he was strong enough to take everything from his maker. This was until Toth of Weirdworld came to know the truth behind Calvin Morse's powers with Mister Misery seemingly killing him to silence him. This was until he was exposed causing Mister Misery to attack everyone at the academy who tried to find a way of freeing Calvin Morse. Despite their attacks and numbers, they were unable to stop Mister Misery without harming the host body. This was until Dessy came upon a plan where she thought to overfeed Mister Misery too much pain and torment to overwhelm him. She began with her own and the other students joined her where at first it served as nourishment but became too much for Mister Misery. This allowed Calvin to be freed from him and the parasitic mystical entity begged for the torment to end with Dessy complying by consuming him. (Strange Academy v1 #12)
Overview
Personality and attributes
Initially, the creature was unnamed and instead simply referred to as the Thing in the Cellar. (Doctor Strange v4 #8) When bonded to Calvin Morse, he briefly went by the name of Misery Morse. (Strange Academy v1 #12)
Misery was all he had ever known where he considered it to be his cradle and mother's milk where he would wither and starve without it. This was the reason he preyed on others and performed terrible acts on them where he compared this to how humans were capable of performing any act when they were starving. Mister Misery had said that he took no joy on what he did to his victims though did get pleasure out of it. (Doctor Strange v4 #12) The creature longed to experience other feelings beyond this state but struggled to find anything that made him feel happy. After trying freedom, he found the concept did nothing for him and instead looked to get vengeance against his creator. (Doctor Strange v4 #10)
Mister Misery came to consider Stephen Strange to be his 'father'. (Doctor Strange v4 #10) As a result of his origins, he was tied to Doctor Strange and considered a part of him. This was to the point that he was almost akin to being a child of Strange. He had said that he could never forgive the person that created him namely Stephen Strange. Mister Misery said that he was no longer a part of Strange and that he was his own creature. (Doctor Strange v4 #12) It was shown that he was protective of Doctor Strange and did not allow others to kill him. This was because he felt that Strange's suffering was his to exploit. For a long time, he believed that he would experience happiness upon being granted his freedom but upon attaining it he felt nothing and instead decided to devote himself to vengeance against Stephen Strange. (Doctor Strange v4 #10) His desire for revenge was to the point that he sought to make Strange suffer by hurting and killing others. (Doctor Strange v4 #12)
Powers and abilities
In one instance, he was shown as shapeshifting into a coat allowing him to hide in plain sight from others. (Strange Academy v1 #12)
He could encase his substance around another and take them as a host body. It was shown that the process was incredibly painful to the host but did grant them Mister Misery's mystical powers. (Doctor Strange v4 #10)
In some cases, he willingly offered to give them magic in exchange for them hosting him and feeding him their misery. (Strange Academy v1 #12)
Notes
- Mister Misery was created by Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo where he made his first appearance in Doctor Strange v4 #8 (July, 2016).
In other media
Video games
- In Marvel Duel, Mister Misery appeared as a playable card in the setting of the video card game.
- In Marvel Future Revolution, Mister Misery appeared in the setting of the mobile video game.
Appearances
- Doctor Strange v4: (2016)
- Strange Academy v1: (2021)
External Links
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