Agamotto

Agamotto is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is known mainly as the source of the Eye of Agamotto—a tool of magical clairvoyance used by superhero sorcerer Doctor Strange.

Publication history

In a preface to the Dr. Strange story in The Origin of Marvel Comics, co-creator Stan Lee explained that while many people assumed such names to be distorted allusions to real-world spiritual terminology, he "just made 'em up." In the Modern Greek language, Agamotto's name is transliterated using slightly different vowels in order to avoid an unfortunate resemblance to a vulgar phrase.

The character appears in Marvel Premiere #5 (November 1972), #8 (May 1973), Doctor Strange #1 (June 1974), #5 (December 1974), Marvel Team-Up #77 (January 1979), Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #6-7 (August–September 1989), #32 (August 1991), #43 (July 1992), #48-50 (December 1992-February 1993), #54 (June 1993), #72 (December 1994), and Secret Defenders #25 (March 1995).

Agamotto appeared as part of the "Vishanti" entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89 #8.

Fictional character biography

Together with Oshtur and Hoggoth, Agamotto is one of the three eternal Vishanti and one of the most powerful mystical entities in the Marvel Universe. The Vishanti bestow mystical knowledge and power upon sorcerers who invoke their names in spells, and are the main backers of the Sorcerer Supreme of the Earth's dimension, Doctor Strange.

Little more is known about Agamotto than his fellow Vishanti members. He is known to have existed during the Earth's infancy, is the spawn of Oshtur, and is known to have power enough within his realm to battle Galactus to a standstill.

By some accounts Agamotto was the first Sorcerer Supreme of the Earth's dimension, holding enough power and skill to clash against the power of the Dread Dormammu. This likely means that Agamotto helped to protect the Earth from evil before a native Sorcerer Supreme could be established. It is likely due to this that Agamotto chose to donate many articles of his power to the Marvel Universe's Sorcerer Supreme, as he felt a special connection to that realm. Among these items are at least two versions of the Eye of Agamotto, the Orb of Agamotto and the Book of the Vishanti; Agamotto also created the Moebius Stone, which was a mystic item that had limited ability to manipulate time. The Stone was able to raise the dead, absorb the life-force of another and accelerate or reverse the passage of time within a confined area, though sometimes random time-related side effects occurred. Doctor Druid eventually destroyed the artifact because he felt it was too powerful to fall into the wrong hands. Additionally, the Minorus have made reference to using the Spine of Agamotto to somehow install people as governors; the Oracle of Agamotto was also briefly used as a back-up device when the Orb was shattered and before Clea mended it mystically.

Agamotto himself is called "the All-Seeing," and has apparently spent his long life observing events throughout the multiverse from the dimension in which he resides. He has been known to express partial apathy at any one universes' destruction as each is just one of the many universes that he likes to follow. Often this type of behavior is part of an act he puts on: he has pretended to be indifferent or even hostile to Strange before just to teach or motivate him. The Vishanti feel responsible for the safety of every universe, but on at least one occasion the other Vishanti interfered because they felt that Agamotto was being selfish. At other times, Agamotto chose to warn Strange, even though the other Vishanti felt that he had betrayed them. Despite Agamotto's fierce and indifferent character, it is clear that the Vishanti are considerably more openly inclined to aiding good than other near-omnipotent beings.

Agamotto is a non-corporeal entity that was born from Oshtur sometime tens of millions of years ago. He can take on any form. Often while appearing on Earth he takes the form of the head of a cat-like being. On one of these occasions Agamotto resembled a lion, while on another he appeared as a tiger. When Doctor Strange visited Agamotto's own dimension, Agamotto has appeared to him as a gigantic caterpillar. Agamotto explained to Strange that he had made himself an image from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland that he had seen in Strange's mind. When appearing as the caterpillar, Agamotto usually acts informal, even glib to others, while as part of the Vishanti he takes on a more serious and formal persona.

When Dr. Strange used the Orb of Agamotto after being mortally wounded by his enemy, Silver Dagger, he was drawn through the Orb into Agamotto's realm. This was the first time Strange had encountered Agamotto without the other two Vishanti and in his guise as the Wonderland caterpillar. For reasons of his own, Agamotto did not reveal his true identity to Strange during this encounter, instead toying with Strange before revealing how to leave the realm. Strange followed Agamotto's instructions and returned to life, then defeated the Silver Dagger and imprisoned him in Agamotto's realm. Strange later returned to Agamotto's realm to escape imprisonment in the Hell-lord Mephisto's dimension. This time the Caterpillar revealed to Strange that he actually was Agamotto, but insisted that Strange remain there as his companion. Though Strange explained his need to leave to save the soul of his friend Sara Wolfe, Agamotto refused to let him leave. Strange's attempts to force his way past the vastly more powerful Agamotto were unsuccessful until he threatened to destroy Agamotto's "hookah pipe". Agamotto agreed to allow Strange to leave his dimension in exchange for the hookah. Moreover, Agamotto revealed he had secretly rescued all of Strange's mystic talismans - including the Book of the Vishanti, the Scrolls of Watoomb and the Orb of Agamotto - that Strange had believed destroyed in his battle with the alien sorcerer Urthona. After returning the talismans, Agamotto gave him a cryptic clue about the conflict between Mephisto and his rival Hell-lord Satannish that Strange later successfully interpreted and used to defeat the two demons. When Strange used the All-Seeing Eye to aid Galactus during the so-called Infinity War, Agamotto objected and decided to confiscate the magic items he himself empowered. After following the Eye back to its master's pocket dimension, Strange attempted to convince Agamotto to allow them to use his Eye. When Agamotto refused to relent, Galactus arrived and attempted to take the talisman by force. Agamotto transformed into a monstrous caterpillar creature and attacked Galactus until Oshtur and Hoggoth appeared and admonished him. Agamotto begrudgingly returned the Eye, along with the Orb and Lesser Amulet to Strange. When appearing as part of the Vishanti, Agamotto acts as solemnly as Hoggoth and Oshtur. In his pocket dimension, however, Agamotto's behavior is rather erratic. He may be disinterested or protective; behaving kindly one moment and then cruelly the next. Agamotto may be continually role-playing in his encounters with Strange to test his skill and determination.

However, Agamotto has apparently granted his power to beings such as the Minorus or Witchfire.

When Doctor Strange and Daimon Hellstrom are possessed by an unspecified demonic entity, they attempt to claim the Eye from Doctor Voodoo, causing it to teleport to Avengers Mansion. Luke Cage touches the object and mutates into a monstrous version of himself,^[1] the entity that has possessed him subsequently 'jumping' into Iron Fist, who then teleports away with the Eye, triggering a rift in the sky that Strange states means the end of everything.^[2] As the Avengers battle the demons back on Earth, Iron Fist finds himself in a white void where he encounters the Ancient One, who claims that he is responsible for the current invasion due to his anger at Strange's recent 'failures'.^[3] When Iron Fist returns to Earth- now dressed in a new costume-, he claims that the Ancient One has told him that Strange stole the Eye from the Ancient One rather than being given it by his master, challenging Strange to admit the truth.^[4] Noting that such a claim contradicts everything the Ancient One taught him about the Eye, Strange realizes that the entity they are facing is not his master, with a casual comment by Spider-Man prompting the sorcerers to realize that the enemy they face is Agamotto himself, trying to reclaim his Eye and alleging that the Vishanti are "no more".^[5] Although the group attempt to defeat Agamotto by empowering Wolverine to serve as their avatar by using a spell to channel all of their powers into Wolverine so that he can battle Agamotto in his realm, Doctor Voodoo is finally forced to sacrifice himself to forever banish and cast out their foe from the Earth realm, apparently destroying himself and the Eye at the same time.^[6]

Later, in the "End Times" storyline, Strange regains the Eye of Agamotto.

Powers and abilities

Agamotto can radiate a powerful mystical light that allows him to see through all disguises and illusions, see past events, and track both ethereal and corporeal beings by their psychic or magical emissions. Agamotto can weaken a variety of evil mystical beings, such as demons, devils, undead beings, dark extradimensional entities, and even sufficiently corrupt human practitioners of the Dark Arts. Agamotto can probe the minds of others, project a powerful mystical shield, and create portals to other dimensions. Agamotto can also place beings into suspended animation, and levitate objects with minimal effort. Agamotto can also transport a group of dozens of beings of all kinds and power levels into another point within a universe.

References