Did Marvel just give away the ending of The Death of Doctor Strange?

The Death of Doctor Strange #5 — (Image credit: Marvel Comics)

Marvel Comics promised readers Doctor Strange would die in last month's The Death of Doctor Strange #1.

Murdered, in fact.

Okay, that happened.

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Marvel Comics then promised a new Sorcerer Supreme would be revealed in December's The Death of Doctor Strange #4.

But it looks more and more like Marvel somewhat appropriately pulling a sleight of hand and Doctor Strange's successor might be ... Doctor Strange, which we anticipated was always a possibility.

The publisher just revealed the covers of January's concluding issues The Death of Doctor Strange #5 and both seemingly feature the surprise character who appeared in the final pages of the first issue - a younger version of Doctor Strange Newsarama has dubbed 'Doogie Strange' (hey, it was better than 'Teen Stephen') along with a promise that the series finale will reveal the identity of Stranger's killer and "open the door to an exciting future for Doctor Strange and Marvel's magical heroes."

While not stated outright, that sounds a lot like the younger Doctor Strange has a "future" and is sticking around, and given Marvel's latest announcement doesn't mention a new Sorcerer Supreme, well, you can draw your own conclusions.

And not for nothing, but the main cover for issue #5 is the same image as the main cover from December's issue #4, but with young Strange inserted where the whited-out figure with a question mark on The Death of Doctor Strange #4 was.

Check them both out in our gallery to see the comparison.

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"The Death of Doctor Strange will be reaching its conclusion at #5, but its end will be the beginning for a whole new set of stories on the magic side of the Marvel universe," MacKay says in the announcement. 'The ups and downs of its five-month run have been a treasure to work on, but the folks at Marvel have been filling my pockets more exciting projects coming down the pike in the future, so stay tuned!"

Marvel's announcement also includes the new MacKay -the Halifax-based junior high school teacher turned writer who writes the current ongoing series Moon Knight and Black Cat - is now an exclusive Marvel creator. Mackay is also writing the upcoming Marvel 2022 lead-in one-shot Timeless, and the Daughters of the Dragon-centric Amazing Spider-Man #78.BEY, and has previously written the limited series Daughters of the Dragon, Man Without Fear, Taskmaster, and Avengers Mech Strike.

The Death of Doctor Strange #5 goes on sale January 26.

Will Death of Doctor Strange wind up among the best Doctor Strange stories of all time?

I'm not just the Newsarama founder and editor-in-chief, I'm also a reader. And that reference is just a little bit older than the beginning of my Newsarama journey. I founded what would become the comic book news site in 1996, and except for a brief sojourn at Marvel Comics as its marketing and communications manager in 2003, I've been writing about new comic book titles, creative changes, and occasionally offering my perspective on important industry events and developments for the 25 years since. Despite many changes to Newsarama, my passion for the medium of comic books and the characters makes the last quarter-century (it's crazy to see that in writing) time spent doing what I love most.