Story continued from NAMOR: THE BEST DEFENSE.
In the far future, an elderly Doctor Strange walks a desolate
Earth as the last man alive, knowing he must die soon. He plucks out his left
eye and places it in the Eye of Agamotto, allowing him to see again and follow
its path. Use of the Eye alerts the misshapen monsters known as Dormammu's
Spawn and they come for him. They arrive, as he is warned by a mystery voice
from within his bag and he battles them with his staff. Strange summons the
Winds of Watoomb and his foes are swept away; Strange rises and challenges
Dormammu to face him himself. The voice from the bag knows Strange is dying and
wishes him some ironic good luck. After a journey Strange finds what he is
looking for: a crater in the Earth with a jagged length of metal embedded in
it. He goes to sleep to await Dormammu....
Strange has a dream of when he informed Clea that his work as
Sorcerer Supreme outweighed her needs and their marriage so he lost her
forever....
Strange finds himself in the realm of Nightmare, who mocks
him for his arrogance and apparently kills him....
Interlude: The killer
wearing a ghost costume slays yet another alien in the massive machine....
Dr. Strange awakens to find Dormammu and a handful of his
minions watching him, mocking how his power has diminished over the centuries.
Strange reveals that he spent his magic keeping a friend alive. The villain breaks Strange's hands and
prepares to deliver a killing blast—but Strange removes the head of the Hulk,
the friend kept alive, from his bag, and the Hulk swallows the magic blast.
Strange informs Dormammu that he magically altered Hulk so that he no longer
consumed gamma rays to strengthen him but magic. And with the jagged piece of
metal, last remnant of the Silver Surfer's board, he has the power to ride a
giant wave if he had the energy and that is what the villain is going to provide....
Hulk explodes in a massive mushroom cloud: Dormammu dissolves: Strange is
hurled through space and time, guided by the board: his mission is to prevent
the Train from being destroyed because that's where it all went wrong: his body
dies and decays: his astral form continues: the body falls away, landing in a
barn in New Mexico: and Doctor Strange comes home with one last chance for his
friends to defend Earth....
Story continued in SILVER SURFER: THE BEST DEFENSE.