Poll of the Day > Has MCU Dr strange ever won a significant fight?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I think the beast at beginning of MoM is only one coming to mind.

Against other named superheroes or villains is win loss record is terrible

What would you consider his record against Dormammu as?

slacker03150 posted...

What would you consider his record against Dormammu as?

Its most of the reason I made this thread lol...was it like 12336534 to 1? I can't remember movie too well.

But being VERY generous to Strange lets call that 1 to 1

Still there's Kaecilius which I don't think Strange ever beat (had Dormammu send him off)?
Ebony Maw (who Strange shouldn't have lost to but did)
Thanos was out of his league and I think won every fight against him
Freaking Spiderman...
Wanda Maximoff...see Thanos

Just...he doesn't win.

He beat depression

He won against Dormammu. Dormammu himself is the only one that was able to perceive Strange's losses there, so there's really no reason to count them as losses from a broader standpoint (especially where the sheer volume of losses is how Strange ultimately won). By extension, even of Dormammu was the one to actually do Kaecilius in, that was a direct consequence of Strange's actions, so there's no reason not to call that a win for Strange.

I'd disagree about Dormammu.

Strange didn't beat him in a fight. He lost to him over and over and over again. What he did was outsmart him. Which is sort of a different thing.

Same deal with surrendering to Thanos - you could argue that Strange "won" that fight because it led directly to the sequence of events that ultimately defeats Thanos, but realistically, he "lost the fight but won the war" in both cases.

If anything, part of the point of Strange (in the MCU) is supposed to be that he's not a fighter. He's a doctor and a scholar who uses his brain to think his way through conflict, and who tries to win in ways that don't just oil down to "hit the other guy until he stops". Which means he doesn't really win fights.

Though a lot of that depends on how you're defining "winning a fight".

Depends on what you call winning. Outsmarting Dormammu could be considering the same as winning in that you're exploiting his weakness in order to gain what you want. A physical win (such as defeating your enemy in battle) is more emotionally satisfying but a psychological defeat (ie winning a battle of wits) can be just as great a rush as far as ego's concerned.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

but realistically, he "lost the fight but won the war" in both cases.

That's kind of how I'm thinking. He's clearly victorious overall, which makes it kind of silly to fixate on him "losing" fights.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

I'd disagree about Dormammu.

Strange didn't beat him in a fight. He lost to him over and over and over again. What he did was outsmart him. Which is sort of a different thing.

I'd still disagree. "Losing" implies that the outcome wasn't what Strange wanted/expected, which wasn't the case. He expected to be killed repeatedly, and in fact wanted Dormammu to take that bait so he'd be locked in a loop that would drive him insane. Viewed narrowly, it's hard to think of "you died in this fight" as anything other than a loss, but it is what Strange wanted to happen and neither Strange nor anyone that would miss him actually perceived those deaths, so characterizing them as losses doesn't make a lot of sense.

...do we count him one shotting Loki for 30 minutes? That's a significant character

no, he fuckin sucks and all he's ever done is make shit worse

straight up every situation gets fucked up once he involves himself in it, every single one.

Okay yes... Thinking long term he has won (in the sense of getting what he ultimately wanted) a lot... via losing.

My thread was talking in more simple terms. But going to that level... Yes he's the most successful loser there is.

I did totally forget about Loki. Around that time Loki was probably getting jobbed out worse than anyone

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