Ranking Doctor Strange's Best MCU Spells From Worst To Best

Ever since Stan Lee and Steve Ditko introduced the world to Doctor Strange in 1963's "Strange Tales" #110, he's stayed one of Marvel Comics' most bizarre and unusual characters. While the character has never been as popular as some of his fellow heroes from the House of Ideas, he has always endured and been a part of numerous teams — including the Defenders, the Midnight Sons, the Illuminati, and various incarnations of the Avengers.

Doctor Strange made his live action debut in the largely forgotten 1978 television movie, "Dr. Strange," where he was portrayed by Peter Hooten. The film failed to land with audiences or critics, and so fans had to wait until 2016 for a proper cinematic version of the character, thanks to Marvel Studios. Played by Benedict Cumberbatch, the film was a critical and financial hit, and cemented Doctor Strange as one of the most integral characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Strange would go on to appear in "Thor: Ragnarok," "Avengers: Infinity War," "Avengers: Endgame," "Spider-Man: No Way Home," and "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," as well the Disney+ series "What If...?"

It's been an absolute delight for fans to see the awesome, and even psychedelic, spells that the character performed in the comics depicted on the big screen. However, while Strange's spells have always looked amazing, not all of them have been terribly useful or effective, which is why we've decided to rank his spells from worst to best.

These have taken numerous forms throughout Strange's appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but have all been used for similar purposes.

In "Doctor Strange," Strange manages to conjure these otherworldly whips in his magical sparring session with Karl Mordo, and then again in his fight against Kaecilius and his followers at the New York City Sanctum Sanctorum. Strange got a lot of use out of these mystical whips, from fending off attackers to grappling objects nearby to fling at enemies.

However, the eldritch whips were not as effective in other battles. For example, in the battle on Titan in "Avengers: Infinity War," Strange cast a spell that created countless duplicates of himself, each one equipped with his own whip to restrain Thanos. However, even when the eldritch whips were combined with the duplication spell, they weren't enough to stop Thanos.

Strange's eldritch whips didn't prove to be that useful in "Spider-Man: No Way Home" when he chases Spider Man after the wall-crawler stole his Macchina di Kadavus. While Strange was able to use one of his whips to snatch Spider-Man and shove his consciousness into the astral plane, Spider-Man's "tingle" was strong enough to play keep away with Strange.

Again, this is a spell that, when up against a relatively minor foe, could really come in handy. But maybe Strange should've known that magical rope wouldn't be that handy against a superhero who can easily create his own rope.

Conjuring shields has been one of Doctor Strange's primary spells throughout his time in the MCU. However, it was also one of the spells that he had the most trouble learning.

In "Doctor Strange," Strange has a one-on-one lesson with the Ancient One, in which she demonstrates how to conjure a shield with her hands. Strange gives it a shot but fails, blaming his damaged hands. However, he's proven wrong when the Ancient One has another person conjure a shield — with an amputated hand. Later on, Wong shows Strange how each of the three Sanctums produce massive magical shields that protect the Earth from otherworldly threats, giving him an idea of just how powerful they can be.

Strange continues struggling with shield conjuring during his fight with Kaecilius and his followers at the New York City Sanctum Sanctorum, in which he's able to summon one on each hand, but one of them falters and flickers. Not a great way to intimidate your enemy just before a brawl. However, by the time "Avengers: Infinity War" takes place, Strange produces a large spherical shield around himself, Iron Man, and Spider-Man to protect them when they crash land on Titan.

While it may have taken Strange some to grasp what seems to be a pretty standard spell for most sorcerers, he's ultimately able to master it and get considerable utility out of it.

Doctor Strange's spell of erasing specific memories from an entire population has proven to be one of his most dangerous, yet most necessary.

In "Spider-Man: No Way Home," Peter Parker is stuck with the problem of everyone knowing that he's Spider-Man, which poses a great danger to his friends and family. Desperate for help, he turns to Strange to reverse time to when his secret identity wasn't revealed to the world. Strange informs him that, because he is no longer in possession of the Time Stone, he can't perform that spell. However, he does propose using a spell to make everyone forget that Peter is Spider-Man. However, Strange forgets that Parker is still an impulsive teenager, and the spell goes awry when Parker keeps interrupting to make requests. Strange stops the spell, but it turns out that the part that he did perform unintentionally brought Spider-Man villains from across the multiverse — specifically, villains who knew Spider-Man's real identity — into their universe.

Strange and Spider-Man are then stuck with the risky task of rounding up the villains and sending them back to their respective universes. While all three Spider-Men are taking on their foes at the Statue of Liberty, Strange arrives to send them back, but must also contend with the multiverse opening up and letting in more villains. However, the heroes prove successful, and Strange is able to not only send everyone back home, but complete the memory-wiping spell.

While this results in everyone forgetting that Peter Parker and Spider-Man ever existed, it does allow him to start over and become the hero he was meant to be.

Doctor Strange's ability to conjure portals at a moment's notice is undoubtedly one of his most useful techniques, and has gotten him and others out of harm's way on numerous occasions throughout the MCU.

However, like a few other spells, Strange had to struggle before he could master that of portal creation. In "Doctor Strange," the Ancient One noticed how difficult it was for him to conjure a portal, so she transported him to the edge of a cliff on Mount Everest, and told him that the only way he could get back home was if he created a portal. The Ancient One and Mordo waited for some time, and began to worry about him freezing to death, until Strange finally mustered the will to teleport back to Kamar-Taj.

Of course, once Strange mastered his ability to summon portals, he wouldn't hesitate to use it to often hilarious results. For example, when he discovered that Thor and Loki had arrived on Earth, Strange needed to learn what they were doing there. And so, Strange stranded Loki in a portal where he was trapped in a state of constant falling, so that he could have a pleasant chat with Thor.

Strange also used portals to excellent effect in the fight against Thanos; the battle on Titan saw the good doctor using them to teleport members of the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy to disorient Thanos with a barrage of surprise attacks.

While there is only one time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe when Doctor Strange looks into the timestream, it's inarguably the most important spell he's ever performed.

In "Avengers: Infinity War," Strange, Iron Man, Spider-Man, and several members of the Guardians of the Galaxy are on Titan, waiting to confront Thanos. While the other heroes bicker over their plan of attack, Mantis notices Strange hovering in a sitting position while in a bizarre trance, with the Time Stone's green energy swirling around him. Strange wakes from his dazed state and tells the others that he was scanning the future to see the various outcomes of the approaching battle, looking at 14,000,605 different results. When asked how many of those futures feature the heroes winning, he grimly declares that there's only one.

Unbeknownst to everyone else, Thanos ultimately obtaining all six Infinity Stones and wiping out half of all living beings in the universe was all part of the future in which the heroes succeed. Even Strange is killed from Thanos' fateful snap, but not before he assures Tony Stark that this was the only way. However, their victory wouldn't come to pass until five years later. After the present Thanos has been killed, the Avengers go back in time to grab the Infinity Stones, and past Thanos arrives in their timeline and assaults their base. During the massive war at the Avengers compound, Strange motioned to Iron Man that their one chance to win was coming up, prompting Stark to steal the Infinity Stones from Thanos and use them to destroy the Mad Titan and his forces.