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This Villain was proposed and approved by Villains Wiki's Pure Evil Proposals Thread. Any act of removing this villain from the category without a Removal Proposal shall be considered vandalism (or a futile "heroic" attempt of redemption) and the user will have high chances of being | ||
- NOTE: This article is about the incarnation of Dormammu from the Marvel Cinematic film series. The mainstream version can be found here: Dormammu (Marvel).
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| “ | You've come to die. Your world is now my world, like all worlds. | „ |
| ~ Dormammu welcoming Doctor Strange in the Dark Dimension. |
| “ | No! Stop! Make this stop! Set me free! | „ |
| ~ Dormammu to Doctor Strange, having enough of his entrapment. |
Dormammu is the overarching antagonist of the 2016 Marvel Cinematic Universe film Doctor Strange. A variant of him appears in What If...? as a minor antagonist in the fourth episode "What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands".
He is the all-powerful primordial inter-dimensional ruler of the Dark Dimension who seeks to spread his malign influence to all other worlds. As a Lord of Chaos he uses his nigh infinite mystical power to conquer entire universes. He recruits the Ancient One's former apprentice Kaecilius and his Zealots by offering to bring the Dark Dimension into Earth so they can all be "immortal".
He was voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch in motion capture, who also played Doctor Strange in the same film, Smaug and Sauron in The Hobbit film trilogy, Khan Noonien Singh in Star Trek: Into Darkness, William Ford in 12 Years a Slave, and also voiced Shere Khan in Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, The Grinch in the 2018 film of the same name, and Strange Supreme in What If...?.
Biography[]
Doctor Strange (2016)[]
| “ | Dormammu deceives you. You have no idea of what he truly is. His eternal life is not paradise, but torment. | „ |
| ~ The Ancient One foreshadowing Dormammu's harrowing intentions for all living things. |
Dormammu is a resident of the Dark Dimension, a place that exists beyond the passage of time, and wishes to merge all existing universes with it. Despite his sinister plans, a group of Zealots mistakenly believes that Dormammu should be allowed to merge Earth with the Dark Dimension, believing that this would eradicate time and death and would thus grant eternal life. The Zealots, led by Kaecilius, contact Dormammu who grants them strength through the powers of the Dark Dimension. He tasks Kaecilius with destroying the sanctums of magic in Hong Kong, London and New York to allow Dormammu to spread the Dark Dimension on Earth. Kaecilius succeeds to destroy the three Sanctums, creating a portal in Hong Kong through which Dormammu spreads the Dark Dimension on Earth.
However, Dr. Stephen Strange (a new member of the Masters of the Mystic Arts) reversed the time by the use of the Eye of Agamotto and the Infinity Stone inside it to undo the sanctum's destruction, and then flew into his dimension to negotiate with him. Dormammu immediately refused and quickly killed Strange by blasting him with energy, but to his confusion, Strange reappeared on the Dark Dimension surface, repeating himself confidently.
Perplexed, Dormammu killed Strange again, only to have him reappear again, repeating his intention. Stunned, Dormammu angrily demanded to know what was happening; the Doctor then revealed that he had used the Eye of Agamotto (containing the Time Stone) to create an infinite time loop, with them spending eternity together in an endless cycle, the only trap Dormammu could not escape from since the Dark Dimension was a place beyond time itself and therefore Dormammu had no power over it.
Eventually, Dormammu was okay with killing Doctor Strange multiple times to no avail, but then Strange points out that this technically makes him his prisoner. Upon hearing this, Dormammu gets furious and demands to be freed from the time loop and reluctantly gives in to bargain with Strange. At this point, Strange offers a deal: Dormammu must banish himself and the Zealots from the Earth forever and never return, and Strange will break the loop to return the favor. Having no other choice, Dormammu accepted the deal, turning the Zealots and Kaecilius into Mindless Ones and dragging them into the Dark Dimension forever, and kept his own word for now, sealing the portal between the dimensions.
Avengers: Endgame (2019)[]
| “ | In this new branched reality, without our chief weapon against the forces of darkness, our world will be overrun; millions will suffer. | „ |
| ~ The Ancient One intoning Dormammu's potential victory. |
Dormammu prepares for his conquest of Earth, and the Ancient One foresees Doctor Strange will use the Time Stone within the Eye of Agamotto to defeat him. When Bruce Banner came to her, she explained that if she gave him the Time Stone, nothing would be able to stop Dormammu from consuming the entire world and torturing at least millions of innocent people as Strange would not have the means to trap him in a time loop and enforce a bargain at all. She gave it to him when he promised he could reset the timeline to ensure Dormammu would lose either way and revealed that Strange had given the artifact to another supervillain of his own volition. Dormammu's defeat became inevitable when Steve Rogers ensured that Bruce's promise was kept.
What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands? (2021)[]
| “ | You cannot save her, Steven. The resulting temporal paradox will destroy this universe. Our time is running out. | „ |
| ~ The Ancient One foreshadowing Dormammu's harrowing triumph. |
Dormammu attempts to conquer Earth, but Doctor Strange stops him by wielding the Eye of Agamotto. However, in his desperation to reunite with his lover, Christine Palmer, he destroys an Absolute Point in time through centuries of trial and error, allowing Dormammu to return and lay waste to the entire alternate universe where Strange lives, with only him surviving the horrific genocide.
Personality[]
| “ | You will spend eternity dying! | „ |
| ~ Dormammu to Doctor Strange. |
Dormammu can be most charitably described as a being of pure and utter malevolence, a devilish anomaly focused solely on expanding his Dark Dimension realm and conquering all other worlds and dimensions of the Multiverse, in order to fuse them in as well. His endgame is for everyone to be miserable, and with such an unpopular agenda, he is inevitably very manipulative, lacing elements of truth into the lies he told his pawn Kaecilius, the best to achieve his unthinkable vision for the future of the entire Creation. The quintessential sadism that drives all of his actions is showcased when he tried to kill Strange multiple times, each way more graphic than the last, until he realized that he was stuck in a time loop where only the enemy was making the rules.
Powers and Abilities[]
| “ | It's everything you ever wanted: eternal life as part of the One. You're not gonna like it. | „ |
| ~ Doctor Strange to Kaecilius. |
- Primordial Mystical Entity Physiology: Dormammu is a primordial entity comprised of eldritch mystical cosmic energies. His position as the absolute monarch of the Dark Dimension also gives him further increased mystical power.
- Nigh-Omnipotence: As a primordial mystic entity and ruler of the Dark Dimension Dormammu’s power is nearly infinite.
- Immortality: Being beyond time itself, he is an immortal. It is unknown if he can actually be destroyed.
- Power Bestowal: Dormammu can bestow anyone whom directly contacted him powers. Powers that Dormammu bestowed are Immortality, which allowed to live forever; Reality Warping, ability to warp and twist the landscape of area around user, without being inside of Mirror Dimension, run on walls and ceilings while completely disregarding gravity, and enhanced one' momentum to the point where he could easily send someone flying with one's attacks even while defying gravity; and Space Shard construction, ability to shape space around user into glass-like material that also can be formed into weapons. However, it comes at the terrible price that Doctor Strange later revealed: The bestowed powers would established a bond between Dormammu himself and those whom gained the said powers, allowed him to absorb them into his Dark Dimension at will, causing them to rapidly turn into decayed, fossil like figures with glowing red symbols of the Dark Dimension on their heads. He bestowed them to Kaecilius and the Zealots in order for them to challenge the strength of the Ancient One.
- Cosmic/Mystic Energy Manipulation: Dormammu can manipulate vast sources of cosmic and mystic energy.
- Energy Projection: Dormammu can project powerful cosmic magical energy blast from his mouth, these energy blast are strong enough to kill humans immediately and even disintegrate the Time Stone instantly.
- Telekinesis: Dormammu has very powerful telekinesis on a cosmic scale. He uses his telekinesis to launch countless crystal shards at Dr. Strange and effortlessly throw a moon at him. His telekinesis is so advanced he can manipulate matter on a molecular level.
- Matter Manipulation: Dormammu’s telekinesis is so powerful and advanced he can manipulate matter on a molecular level. He does so when he reconstructs the molecular structure of the ground Dr. Strange is standing on into spikes that impale him. He was even able to summon ooze like tendrils from the ground with telekinesis and kill Strange.
- Portal Creation: Dormammu can open gateways and portal to other dimensions and universes. He uses this ability to travel the multiverse on his cosmic conquest.
- Dimensional Lordship: Being the absolute monarch of the Dark Dimension, he has complete authority over the entire dimension and those who draw his power.
- Absolute Strength: Dormammu possesses Immeasurable levels of strength, due to his size and spatial warping abilities; shown when he manifested a massive hand to crush Dr. Strange as if he were a mere insect.
- Master Manipulator: Dormammu relies on manipulation because of how unpopular his goals are. He laces elements of truths into the falsehoods that he weaves into vulnerable minds such as Kaecilius', telling him the Dark Dimension was a place beyond time and death, both of which the well-meaning yet emotionally fractured mystic undervalues greatly. However, Kaecilius was unaware of Dormammu's true plans for mankind, as Dormammu correctly considered it unwise to enlighten him.
Relationships[]
Family[]
- Clea - Niece
Allies[]
- Zealots - Disciples turned Victims
- Mindless Ones - Servants
Enemies[]
- Masters of the Mystic Arts
- Agamotto †
- Ancient One †
- Doctor Strange - Attempted Victim
- Wong
- Karl Mordo
Trivia[]
- Rather than being wreathed in flame like in the comics, Dormammu appears to be a being of pure shadow and darkness but with bright purple eyes, although he does appear to have red "shadows" surrounding his entire body - this may in fact represent the "flames".
- Dormammu was going to make a cameo in Avengers: Endgame, where the Ancient One demonstrates what would happen if the Infinity Stones were to be removed from her reality.
- While he doesn't win, Dormammu is one of the few villains in the MCU to not have a punishment or be stopped, as Stephen's deal was that he just stay away from Earth but otherwise he is free to keep conquering worlds from being too powerful to permanently defeat.
- As of now Dormammu is the most powerful villain, if not character, in the MCU.
- If Dormammu wins the entire universe dies.
- It was Benedict Cumberbatch's idea to perform motion-capture for Dormammu, as he felt that the character should be an evil reflection of Doctor Strange.
- Cumberbatch's voice whilst portrayed Dormammu was being blended with that of a British actor. Neither Cumberbatch nor the unknown actor were credited for this role.
- Furthermore, the producers originally intended to have Tony Todd voice Dormammu as an alternative to Cumberbatch.
- In the MCU, Dormammu is Satan, also known as the Devil. Wong confirms that he just simply wants everyone to be miserable and the Ancient One correctly cites that he deceives genuinely good people such as Kaecilius for instance into following him in a scheme that ends up having him take over the cosmos to usher in (what he claims to be) paradise where essential cosmological things like time and death are laughed at and undervalued to no end. Even the Sanctums can be seen as an allegory to Satan being able to influence humanity despite being restrained from directly terrorizing places like Hong Kong and New York, wheein his cultists would certainly love to subvert the Devil's limitations, just as Kaecilius burned down the sacred sanctums himself, only for Doctor Strange to fix them. Furthermore, despite his devilish power being unfathomable to mortals, he is implied to be far weaker than the creator of the stars and the planets and humanity itself, who in this reality is Arishem the Judge, who Himself is determined for the Creation to never fall into darkness. The most glaring evidence of all is that Runaways confirms the Hell Dimension and the Dark Dimension are one and the same, meaning it's entirely canon that Dormammu is the supreme overlord of Hell.
- Although one could argue the One Below All is Marvel Comics' Satan, he is introduced two years after Doctor Strange's release in 2016; the screenwriters could not predict the future. Furthermore, the One Below All is never seen nor mentioned in the MCU as of now.
External Links[]
- Dormammu on the Pure Evil Wiki
