If you could only remember one line from the Doctor Strange film, it would be “Dormammu, I have come to bargain.” Because he could not possibly ‘kill’ Dormammu, Stephen Strange used the power of the time stone to lock him in a loop in the film. Dormammu, on the other hand, refers to someone as his ‘master.’
Shuma Gorath, a mighty God-like creature, is this master’s name. He is so powerful that the only way to keep him in check is for him to be banished or given a cruel send-off in every plot. Because he is invincible, the heroes do not consider killing him. In reality, he is frequently confronted by Doctor Stephen Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme, who has battled a Shuma Gorath who can only employ a fraction of his power outside of his home dimension.
After the Disney+ series “What If…?” animated it for its first and fourth episodes, this entity has lately featured in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Stephen Strange absorbs a piece of the entity’s strength to boost himself up in the fourth episode. The entity also makes a brief appearance in the “Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness” teaser.
In this video, we will talk about Shuma Gorath’s first appearance, its origin and lore, some of Doctor Strange’s encounters with the being, the episode of “What If…?” featuring Shuma Gorath, and its appearance in the trailer for “Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness,” as it has been teased heavily by the MCU to be a major villain in Phase 4 and beyond.
Before we get started with the programming, we have a tiny request for our viewers. Please consider being a Marvelous Videos subscriber. Like and comment on our videos, and click the bell button to get notified when we add new ones. We would be grateful, and we hope to provide you with the greatest nerdy stuff possible. So, without further ado, let us get started with this video.
Shuma Gorath: Debut
Shuma Gorath’s comic book history is not too expansive. Back in 1967, Shuma Gorath appeared for the first time in a short story by Robert E. Howard called ‘The Curse of the Golden Skull’. However, it was just a mention of the name. Another horror story by the same writer was then adapted by Marvel, namely scripter Roy Thoman, for the 1972 comic “Journey Into Mystery”, Volume 2 #1. In this edition, the name ‘Shuma Gorath’ was subbed for different monsters.
A year later, the series “Marvel Premiere” shed light on Doctor Strange. In issue #3, Strange fights Nightmare who has allegedly been forced to fight the Sorcerer Supreme so that an unnamed ‘cosmic entity that slumbers’ can take over the world. In “Marvel Premiere” #5, Doctor Strange finally learns about the Shuma Gorath. It spoke for the first time in #9 and appeared with its tentacles and one-eye in #10. Strange fought this entity inside the mind of the Ancient One and managed to subdue the monster.
A decade later, the Shuma Gorath appeared in the world of video games, courtesy of the gaming giants Capcom. The not-so-popular monster appearing in the “Marvel Super Heroes” game was quite the surprise for Marvel, as no one expected Shuma Gorath to make the cut before more popular Marvel mainstays.
Gradually, the game helped the character’s rise into popularity with the Marvel vs Capcom series.
Who Is Shuma Gorath?
Before we talk about Shuma Gorath, we must discuss the lore behind it, which takes us to the ancient beings called the Old Ones. They are ancient eldritch beings, who existed before the Earth did. Some lived on Earth long ago and had several names – ‘Elder Gods’, ‘Great Old Ones’, ‘Outsiders’, ‘Dark Ones’, and so on. In fact, some lived before the Universe was even created. During their time on Earth, they feasted on ape-men.
‘The Old Ones’ ruled the depths of Earth. They kept their servants in chains, built huge cities and allegedly the Atlantis, and practiced blood magic.
The Shuma Gorath, King Oberoth’m’gozz, and True Faery often led the other Old Ones, with Shuma Gorath being one of the greatest, alongside Chthon. Horror writer H.P. Lovecraft has referenced the Old Ones in his works, namely True Faeries.
Inspired by the lore, Marvel adopted the Shuma Gorath as an evil entity for their verse. Similar to the other Old Ones, the Shuma Gorath demands blood sacrifices. He also wishes to conquer all dimensions and is opposed by Doctor Strange, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and the Fantastic Four.
Shuma Gorath used to be part of the Many-Angled Ones until they began to create individual personalities and identities for themselves. After that, the Shuma Gorath slipped through a time-space fissure into Earth 616 and ruled over the planet during the age of dinosaurs or the Jurassic Age.
During his reign, Shuma Gorath created his disciple, Quoggoth. But this move went south when Quoggoth began to believe that he was more powerful than Shuma Gorath himself. Quoggoth was sealed inside an ancient sepulcher and it was made to sink in the ocean. Shuma Gorath believed that this way Quoggoth would never be found, but he was proved wrong when centuries later, Magneto brought the island back to the surface to use it as his base.
The dark priestess Ebora revealed Shuma Gorath’s identity to Doctor Strange and explained his reign on Earth. Back in the day, every creature on Earth was obedient to this entity. As time went by, Shuma Gorath began to yearn for rest, so it would enter the vaults of Earth. It would dream and rest until it was once again, his time to awaken and re-assert his rule. The Old Gods, Vishanti, had attempted to defeat Shuma Gorath but they failed.
His reign ended when Sise-Neg, a time-traveling sorcerer from the 31st Century put the entity in a slumber and sent him away to a far-off dimension. Sise-Neg is the one who eventually recreated the Marvel Universe.
The Shuma Gorath returned again after centuries and went back to its old ways of feasting on ape-men and ruling the planet. His reign finally ended when Crom, a newly risen God, imprisoned the entity on a mountain using the Iron-bound books. Following this, Shuma Gorath began to use his telepathic powers to communicate with sorcerer Kulan Gath, who ultimately freed the monster with the same Iron-bound books. However, Shuma Gorath was sent back to his own dimension after the barbarian, Conan, and Crom used the books to do so.
Shuma Gorath and his brothers Yot-Soter, Kthl, and Nyerlathortech had considerable influence over Earth 10011. In this universe, Mar-Vell, who is a legendary Kree hero, was dying due to cancer. The news of the beloved hero being on the verge of death caused the population of this universe to feel immense pain. This wave of empathic trauma reached the Many-Angled Ones ruling over this dimension. So, Shuma Gorath and his brothers entered Mar-Vell’s mind to help solve this problem. Mar-Vell accepted this offer and gave the Many-Angled Ones his mind, his body, and his soul. However, they made Mar-Vell join hands with his comrades and used it as an opportunity to infect people close to Mar-Vell with their influence. This set Earth 10011 on the path of destruction.
However, a door separated them from entering the reality of this world. But this door was smashed down after a ritual called the ‘Necropsy’ obliterated Mistress Death. This created a verse called the Cancerverse. The issue with the Cancerverse was that due to the absence of Mistress Death, the undead grew out of control and like cancer.
However, the Many-Angled Ones desired for more universes to be under their rule and were not satisfied with the populace of just one dimension. As a result, they began to think about how they could propagate their power and influence over other dimensions.
This was easier said than done, as the option to breach into other realities just wasn’t there. But a war between the Shi’ar and the Kree that took place on Earth 616, ripped the space-time fabric and opened a multi-dimensional fault line, which would allow beings from other realities in the multiverse to leak into the primary reality. When Adam Warlock learnt of this, he allowed Shuma Gorath and the rest to enter the Marvelverse.
The two realities of Earth 616 and the Cancerverse went to war with one another while Mar-Vell was under orders from the Many-Angled Ones to capture Thanos from Earth 616, since they wanted to carry out the Necropsy ritual again. Shuma Gorath and his brethren were summoned to the site where Mar-Vell was preparing to carry out the last stage of this ritual. But, the plan failed.
Mar-Vell used the Infinity Sacrificial Blade to strike Thanos which was his fatal flaw because this allowed the Mistress Death from Earth 616 to enter the Cancerverse. She killed Mar-Vell and destroyed the entire universe. Mar-Vell’s death also caused the other Many-Angled Ones to get crippled, barring Shuma Gorath. The evil entity left his own kin and went back to The Chaos Dimension for its own safety, hoping to resurrect sometime in the near future.
It attempted to return to this dimension again during the modern age, and he did so by possessing the mind of Doctor Strange’s mentor, the Ancient One. Doctor Strange is forced to kill his mentor in the end, to protect the world from Shuma Gorath’s reign. However, the entity breaks into the dimension again years later, during Doctor Strange’s battle with sorcerer Urthona. During the battle, Doctor Strange’s talismans get destroyed… almost. This breaks the barriers that imprison the Old Ones, and Shuma Gorath enters this dimension once again. In the end, Doctor Strange entered Shuma Gorath’s dimension, absorbed the entity’s Chaos power to merge with it, and killed himself. However, the remaining Chaos power caused both of them to resurrect.
Later, when Shuma Gorath breached into the world again with help of Nicholas Scratch, Doctor Strange teamed up with Diablo and the Fantastic Four to banish it. Ever since Shuma Gorath has attempted to enter the 21st Century universe of Marvel’s reality aka the Earth 616 numerous times.
A few months later, a Neo-Nazi supervillain team tried to bring a fragment of Shuma Gorath’s essence onto Earth via a ritual. They wanted the entity to consume the Earth but it was finally stopped by the Invaders. When another fragment entered the planet after two years, this time in New York and by Doctor Strange himself (under pressure by an agent of Thanos, Ebony Maw), the Avengers and Spider Hero stopped the entity from physically manifesting. Later, the Avengers and Doctor Strange fought the being in a Hell Dimension.
The Esoteric Powers of Shuma Gorath
Being the ancient Lord of Chaos comes with its fair share of perks. You can’t rule over a Universe without immense power and for Shuma Gorath, ‘His secret is his power. His power is his secret.’ He is nigh omnipotent. He is also the greatest of all Many-Angled Ones and invincible in his own reality, The Chaos Dimension, considering he is one of the primal powers of Chaos.
Even though Shuma Gorath is often defeated in the Marvelverse, he is generally banished or trapped in other dimensions, never killed. Because of his magnanimous power and status as an Ancient God, it is probably not possible to kill him.
He is a scaly, tentacled being with skin that is armored and rubbery. His skin is also resistant to very strong magic.
Back in the Hyborian Age, Shuma Gorath supposedly had claws, pincers, insectoid limbs, and a fanged maw. Vision had once stated that since Shuma Gorath exists on many planes at once, his true form cannot be seen by people. We see him as a being who is greenish or purple but he can apparently change his form and make different humans view him in different appearances.
The entity can change its size as it pleases. He tends to be a lot smaller on Earth compared to his size in his own dimension. But it has been confirmed canonically that one can only manifest the smallest part of this entity’s essence on Earth. So, there’s no way he will be as powerful here as compared to the Chaos Dimension.
He also has massive tentacles with which he can exert immense power, crushing things in sight, for attack as well as defense. He also has one enormous eye which he can use to shoot blasts.
In the Capcom video game series, the Shuma Gorath was given a couple more specific abilities. Spikes shot out of its slimy skin. He could turn into stone. And last but not the least, he could use the Chaos Dimension hyper combo to absolutely destroy his opponents. He can also affect transmutations on a planetary level. Shuma Gorath can communicate and control others in his vicinity. He can also do it across dimensional barriers.
On a good day, Shuma Gorath’s aura pressure can destroy multiple galaxies. He can also create energy balls with his massive tentacles and destroy dimensions and realities.
He is renowned for his dark powers and is often invoked across dimensions as people seek that very dark power.
His ancient abilities are limitless. The Shuma Gorath can traverse dimensions (a helpful ability indeed when you want to rule over all the dimensions). He can grant power to others, and philosophically, aligns himself with Nietzsche.
His drive is to conquer Earth 616 but a certain Sorcerer Supreme we love stands in his way, raining on his parade every now and then. But this loss drives Shuma Gorath to one day succeed at his mission.
Doctor Strange Absorbs Shuma Gorath in What If…? Episode 4
Marvel has released an animated series called, “What If…?” on Disney +. The series runs for 9 episodes and creates alternate realities where the events of the Marvel Cinematic Universe go a different way. And then, it animates the events that follow it. The events are watched over by a God-like entity called the Watcher, who does not meddle in these affairs.
During the first episode of the series, Peggy Carter becomes Captain America instead of Steve Rogers, who instead wears a metal suit called the ‘Hydra Stomper’, designed by Howard Stark. Peggy or Captain Carter fights the Shuma Gorath in the end, as the Red Skull uses the power from the Tesseract to summon the creature.
It is seen once again in the fourth episode of the series, where Doctor Strange loses his heart instead of his hands.
In this episode, we are taken back to a time when Stephen Strange used to be nothing more than a brilliant surgeon who did not believe in the mystic arts. Strange completes a rare hemispherectomy successfully and to celebrate it, he sets off to a celebration party with his girlfriend, Dr. Christine Palmer. She is ecstatic as he has promised her crème brûlée.
The two of them drive through the highway on a mountainous road, similar to what Strange had done on the day he had an accident that damaged his hands. They get into an accident and even though Stephen survives, he loses the love of his life. Stricken with grief, he heads to Kamar-Taj to find solace in the mystic arts. The events go the way they had in the MCU movie: Strange discovers the Eye of Agamotto and realizes that it can reverse time, thanks to the time stone. He is warned by his mentor, the Ancient One, and Wong to not use it, as meddling with time can ruin the fabric of reality.
However, he now has an idea since he can manipulate time and yet, chooses not to go for it. Two years pass by and one day, Strange returns to the day of the accident. But once again, Christine dies. Strange keeps returning to that day to save her but she dies every time, be it an accident on the mountain, or being shot a heart attack, or an accident on the street near their hospital.
In the end, the Ancient One intervenes and tells him that he cannot change this event as Christine’s death is an absolute point in time, which means that Christine will die no matter what and it is necessary for Doctor Strange to exist. A reality where Stephen Strange isn’t the Sorcerer Supreme will destroy the Universe, so Christine Palmer must die. The Ancient One also mentions how immense power is required to change an Absolute Point and even then, it might cause destruction.
With this new prospect, Strange decides to go way back in time to gain knowledge and power but before that, he gets into an altercation with The Ancient One, who hits him with a spell that splits his soul into two as he tries to go back in time. But Doctor Strange isn’t aware of what the Ancient One has done.
He goes back in time and manages to find the Library of Cagliostro, a sorcerer who had supposedly managed to change an Absolute Point in time. He meets O’Bengh, the librarian who takes him to the library. From the books, Strange learns that he can acquire the power to break the absolute point by absorbing magical beings. He summons the Shuma Gorath and tries to bargain with him, but the entity only flails him around.
Strange learns from O’Bengh that mystical beings do not bargain and so, he decides to take baby steps instead and absorb the powers of smaller mystical beings. He begins the procedure and spends centuries absorbing the powers of various beings. In the end, he meets the Shuma Gorath again and this time successfully absorbs his powers. When he goes to meet O’Bengh, he sees that O’Bengh, who is now old, is dying and unwilling to use Strange’s time manipulation power as he chooses to live in reality. While dying, he tells Strange that he is not powerful enough to save Christine as he is only half a man living half a life, alluding to his soul being split into two.
The scene shifts to the time when Strange was in the Sanctum Sanctorum with Wong and had used the time stone to go back in time. This time, Strange doesn’t go back in time and instead, a new problem absorbs him. The fabric of the Universe seems to be breaking and he doesn’t know why. He goes out to where an astral projection of The Ancient One, who is now dead, appears before him. She tells him about her using the power of the Dark Dimension to split his soul into two, dividing them between two timelines and the other half of his soul, aka Strange Supreme, being the reason for the problem they are facing right now.
Strange has to stop his other half and sets off to do so after Wong uses a protective spell on him. Doctor Strange engages in a fierce battle with Strange Supreme, where the latter wants to merge with him to bring Christine back to life. The protective spell by Wong manages to save Doctor Supreme for the time being, until Strange Supreme knocks it out of him. In the end, Doctor Strange is absorbed by his evil counterpart, and Christine is brought back to life.
However, when Christine wakes up, she sees a monstrous version of Strange and freaks out. Meanwhile, the fabric of reality begins to crumble, and with it, Christine. Strange Supreme tries his best to stop the catastrophe and realizes it is his arrogance that has caused this. He begs the Watcher for help but the Watcher cannot meddle in the affairs of the Universe and rather, he cannot fix what Strange Supreme has done either. Strange manages to preserve a small pocket of the Universe, which looks similar to the singularity, as the entire Universe disintegrates. Christine disintegrates as well and Strange Supreme is left as the sole being in the universe, alone and grief-stricken.
Shuma Gorath Is Coming To Doctor Strange in Multiverse of Madness
The MCU always ends its movies with one or two post-credit or end-credit scenes. This time, the end-credit scene for “Spiderman: No Way Home” was not a scene but in fact, a teaser from “Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness”.
In the teaser, we see the repercussions of Strange meddling with the multiverse in “Spiderman: No Way Home”, after Peter Parker asked him to use a spell to make everyone forget about him being Spiderman. In the last scene of the movie, the barrier between this reality, which is Earth 616, is shown to be breaking, and Strange is unable to control it.
“Multiverse of Madness” continues upon that but as the teaser proceeds, it is likely that a new villain is responsible for the dystopian events that we see in the trailer. This new villain happens to be another version of Stephen Strange himself, who claims that ‘things just got out of hand’ with a devilish smirk. It is likely that this is the Stephen Strange who absorbed Shuma Gorath’s powers and became Strange Supreme.
Why do we say so? Because the Shuma Gorath appears in the trailer for a split-second, with its tentacles and big eye, flailing a bus around. In a scene prior to that, we get to see Doctor Strange use his powers, emerging from a reptilian being to attack his opponents. This alludes to Strange absorbing the powers of a mystical being like we have seen in the fourth episode of “What If…?”
The animated series is considered to be canon to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so Shuma Gorath is now part of the Marvelverse either way. With the multiverse being a thing in the MCU now, it could mean that the Shuma Gorath gets to travel to Earth 616 from a different reality.
Wanda Maximoff aka the Scarlet Witch is also set to appear in this movie, which means that we are going to get a heavy dose of Chaos Magic. This should be right up the alley of the Lord of Chaos, Shuma Gorath, as Wanda unleashed the real power of her chaos magic in the last episode of “WandaVision”.
Only time will tell what’s about to come next!
What did you think of the Shuma Gorath? Did you enjoy this video? If yes, then don’t forget to like and comment on this video. Till then, goodbye. And have a nice one!