Our story begins with Spider-Man swinging through the
city, utterly bored, unable to find any crime to stop. We then cut to a
mysterious man, as he enters a bar, to find it in the middle of a barroom
brawl. The mysterious man spots two very large and strong men laying waste to
everyone else, and decides that they will suit his purposes. The man, revealing
his name as Xandu, tells the two ruffians that they now work for him, as he
casts a hypnotic spell over them. He imbues the two with great strength and immunity
to pain and has them follow him back to his lair. There, he reveals that he has
one half of the Wand of Watoomb, a powerful mystical artifact, and that he
plans to get the other half from none other than Doctor Strange, in order to
become the complete Master of the Mystic Arts!
Xandu guides his two stooges to the Sanctum Sanctorum
of Doctor Strange and they easily break in. Strange attempts to cast his own
hypnotic spell on the two but finds that he cannot, as they are already under
Xandu’s control! Doctor Strange then casts an illusion of several duplicates of
himself, in order to confuse his opponents. It is all for naught however, as
Xandu is able to guide his helpers to the real Doctor Strange, as their
strength quickly overwhelms him. The two then search through the Sanctum, eventually
finding the other half of the wand. Just as they exit through the skylight,
Spider-Man happens to be swinging by and swoops down to intercept them.
Spidey engages with two magically imbued men, being
surprised by their immense strength. As Spidey begins to get overwhelmed
himself, he tries webbing up the two, but finds that they can tear right
through his webbing, before stunning him. As the goons start to make their way
back to Xandu’s lair, Spidey makes sure to throw his spider-tracer onto one of
the goons, so that he can track them again once he’s recuperated. Back at his
lair, Xandu joins the two halves of the Wand of Watoomb and revels in his newfound
power, being able to open portals to other dimensions and mystically view
anyone he wishes! He uses the wand to gaze upon Doctor Strange, finding him
still unconscious, as he plans to destroy all of his enemies, beginning with
Doctor Strange!
However, just then, Spider-Man reappears to challenge
Xandu. Xandu fires mystical bolts at Spidey, which he dodges, shooting some
webbing into Xandu’s eyes, blinding him. This causes Xandu to drop the wand and
blindly cast a spell to send Spidey to another dimension! As Spidey is
disappearing, he snags the wand, taking it with him, forcing Xandu to send his
two goons to get it back for him. They appear in the dimension Spidey is
trapped in, as Spidey and the two do battle once more. At that moment, back at his
Sanctum, Doctor Strange reawakens and uses his Eye of Agamotto amulet to
mystically track the ones who took the wand. His amulet leads Strange to
Xandu’s lair, where the two commence in battle. Xandu quickly finds that he’s
no match for Strange, and so transports Spidey and his accomplices back from
the other dimension, with the wand. Xandu retrieves the wand once more and uses
its power to send Strange flying out of his lair.
Strange then releases his astral form from his body,
in order to go assist Spider-Man with the two goons. He finds Spidey still
fruitlessly battling the empowered thugs and psychically plants a thought in
Spidey’s mind. Spidey obliges and shocks the two men with a nearby electrical
wire, shocking them back to their senses and breaking Xandu’s hold over them!
Strange returns to his body, as he and Spidey team up against Xandu. As Strange
keeps Xandu occupied with a magical assault, Spidey is able to trip him with
his webs, allowing Strange to knock the wand from his grasp! Spidey then webs
up his hands as well, incapacitating the mage. Strange then drains the power
from the Wand of Watoomb, realizing it’s too dangerous to be left as is. He
then wipes Xandu’s memory, so as to end his evil threat forever. Our story ends
with Spidey and Strange parting on friendly terms, as Spidey can hardly believe
what he just went through!
Reprinted Stories:
"Spider-Man" from Amazing Spider-Man #1
"The Uncanny Threat of the Terrible Tinkerer!" from Amazing Spider-Man #2
"Marked for Destruction by Dr. Doom!" from Amazing Spider-Man #5