WARNING: Spoiler for “A Day in the Mystical Life” in Marvel #5.
When we talk about mystical characters in the Marvel Universe, we right away look at the big names such as Doctor Strange, Loki, or the Enchantress. But recent developments have been made involving Wong, who’s often seen as Doctor Strange’s sidekick and valet. Moreover, his good friend. In Marvel #5, Wong not only got to prove his talents as a sorcerer but also just how incredible a person he truly is when he briefly wielded the power of an elder god.
Wong is considerably calmer and follows his strict regime of a schedule. The short story began with Wong manning the magical distress channel. Wong, for the most part, is just enjoying his peaceful afternoon and having some noodles. All that suddenly changed when he got a message from a realm known as Qezbulon, along the Red Rift. He contacted Strange at once to let him know of this development. The Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Strange, was even though interested in this development as a message coming from a place no one has been through in years, was a bit preoccupied at that moment. He and the Avengers were in Milwaukee fighting techno-magical human hybrids from the future. However, Wong was unscathed by it and trusted Stephen to get the job done while he finished his, as both the matters needed to be dealt with at hand.
Popping over to the Red Rift, Wong quickly found the source of the distress message: a tech mogul named Alexander Orlok. His intern, Ziigwan, had sent out the message while Orlok promoted his company. His lofty and arrogant plan was to make magic more efficient by storing a spell’s words and redirecting them faster and louder. Wong admitted it was interesting, but wanted to focus on getting the two rank amateurs out of the alternate dimension. Ziigwan was still relatively untrained with magic, as her best spell being to redirect the energy from one thing into another. And Orlok was a blowhard, as well as harsh in his treatment of Ziigwan. Wong knew that he needed to get them out of there fast. But as they neared the portal leading back to Earth, the two betrayed Wong, revealing their true intention in calling him to this bizarre world.
Orlok wanted to siphon off the entity’s time-traveling powers. He planned to use this to take advantage of the stock market and to build up a secret army. It doesn’t take much to imagine what Orlok’s army would become. But his abuse of Ziigwan finally went too far, and rather than directing the elder god’s magic into his tech, she channeled it into Wong. ow empowered to gigantic proportions (literally), Wong erased Orlok’s memories of the past five months, eliminating his knowledge of magic or any plans he may have had regarding it. And despite her betrayal, Wong chose to forgive Ziigwan, seeing her as a victim of circumstance. He chose instead to give her a new job manning the distress channel. Low risk, good training, and important work — a perfect job for an entry-level sorcerer.
Doctor Strange showed up not long after to explain that the army he had been fighting had simply vanished, as though they were wiped from existence. While Wong never took credit for his god-status, he’s never really been someone who’s depended on recognition or validation. In some ways, the distress channel is a metaphor for Wong himself, not glamorous, but an essential part of the Marvel Universe’s mystical defense system.
As for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Strange 2 is running at full speed. The sequel to the very successful predecessor has started production in the UK and it will see the return of Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange as well as the return of the first movie’s Benedict Wong as Wong. In fact, Wong recently took to Instagram to share a behind-the-scenes photo from the movie’s set. He’s even rocking some very special Spider-Man pants, but we’re willing to bet those are just a part of his street clothes and for the movie (although, would be pretty cool!). “Behind The Scenes @marvelstudios Dr. Strange and the Madness of the Multi-schedule! #spiderwong,” Wong wrote. You can view the photo, which features Wong wearing a mask, check it below:
During an interview with Collider, Wong confirmed that his character is coming back for Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness and teased some new details about the upcoming film.
“I did tweet [former director] Scott [Derrickson] just to kind of confirm, ‘Am I in this?’ And he said yes, I am. So, that’s good to know. We’ll see what happens,” he said.
When asked what he knew about the film before the big announcement at San Diego Comic-Con, Wong said,
“I didn’t know the title, but I had a few little inklings.”
“A Day in the Mysterious Life” in Marvel #5 by Gene Ha and Zander Cannon, on sale now.
