Warning: Spoilers for Blade: Red Band #1If they fought, Blade knows the perfect way to defeat Doctor Strange. Blade and Doctor Strange have been best friends for decades, proving to be one of Marvel’s most underrated dynamic duos. However, 2023 and 2024 saw their friendship slowly coming to an end, with the possessed Blade killing Strange potentially being the final nail in the coffin of their friendship.
However, at worst, The Daywalker knows exactly how to beat Doctor Strange, as evident in Blade: Red Band #1 by Bryan Hill, CF Villa, Java Tartaglia and VC’s Clayton Cowles. One would assume that following the plot of last summer’s Blood Hunt, Blade vs. Doctor Strange is imminent, but considering the method and speed with which Blade eliminates a fellow sorcerer, this fight could be much shorter than some readers might expect.
Surely, if Blade can defeat a master sorcerer with ease, he can defeat the Master the binder with ease.
Blade knows how to take down a sorcerer like Doctor Strange
If spells must be spoken, cut out your tongue
Blade: Red Band #1 comes right after the ‘Blood Hunt’ storyline where the half-man half-vampire seemingly rebelled against the Avengers, starting with the death of Doctor Strange. Over time, it would be revealed that Blade was actually possessed by pop culture’s first vampire, Varnae. However, when Blade regains full control of his body again after his supposed protégé Miles Morales and his daughter Bloodline kill Varnae, Blade is still filled with guilt over the damage caused by his hand.
As a result of his guilt, Blade places himself in self-imposed exile, certain that he deserves to be alone and punished for the crimes Varnae committed in his name. This takes readers directly to the opening of the Blade: Red Band #1. While Blade goes into exile after his inauguration, he is sent by The Spellguard to kill a mysterious man named Pontious Van Helsing. Damien, the Hand of the Spellguard, brings Blade to the Spellguard cultist clan to explain who Pontious is, what he has been doing, and why he needs to be stopped.
Blade has no interest in these matters, and therefore the clan is ready to attack him for his disobedience. The Daywalker slashes and slashes through its enemies with ease, driving itself back to Damien, or more specifically, its sword at Damien’s neck. Blade asks the sorcerer a question, knowing the answer: “Your magic. You’re a talker, right? Your power is in your voice?” A moment later, he slits Damien’s throat. Not only does he kill Damien, but in the event that Damien survives, he disables the source of his power – and that of all magic users..
Marvel has officially created rivals for Blade and Doctor Strange
The Rivalry Between Vampire and Sorcerer Supreme, Explained
Blade and Doctor Strange’s friendship has been well documented, but in more recent times, they have been at odds with each other. It All Started in 2023 by Bryan Hill Blade series, where the title character inadvertently released an R-rated enemy in The Adana upon the world. The Adana killed millions, including Strange’s own followers, decimated by the gaze of the Adana’s Ghost Rider. This forces Strange and Blade to reunite for the heist of the century, but Strange shows his displeasure with Blade known in his search for Lucifer’s Lightbringer.
Strange did not like Blade’s negligence in freeing Adana, nor his increasingly stoic attitude when the stakes were at their highest. Their relationship worsens when they finally acquire Lucifer’s ancient sword, the only way to defeat Adana, only for Blade to let the sword slip into Adana’s hands. From that point on, it was official: Blade lost his most powerful ally. Blade being possessed and killing Strange was just the cherry on top of an already dissolving dynamic. Strange may not hold this against Blade (like his wife Clea), but that doesn’t change the fact that they’re not currently on speaking terms.
A fight between Blade and Doctor Strange is imminent
Who wins?
The fact that Blade finds himself at the center of Doctor Strange’s conversation in the Avengers series seems to at least suggest that a confrontation is inevitable between the two later on. There is a lot of unfinished business and unspoken words among them, not just about the consequences of the Blood Huntbut the consequences of his encounter with The Adana. It might not necessarily be a physical confrontation, but it very well could be, and if it is, Blade: Red Band #1 shows that Blade is prepared.
As an expert in magic, Blade knows well how to combat a fellow sorcerer like Doctor Strange, but he wouldn’t need to recite a spell of his own. He knows that one way to defeat a magician’s magic is through his mouth. Strange often needs to recite his spells to release them, so it will only take Blade’s sword mastery skills to get rid of the former Sorcerer Supreme. Blade he may not be as quick to kill a friend as he was under Varnae’s influence, but if push comes to shove between him and Doctor Strange, then he knows the easiest way to beat him.
Blade: Red Band #1 is now on sale at Marvel