Doctor Strange gets night terrors from his oldest adversary in Nexus of Nightmares

Doctor Strange: Nexus of Nightmares #1 cover (Image credit: Todd Nauck (Marvel Comics))

Doctor Strange's oldest adversary, the dream king Nightmare, returns to vex the Sorcerer Supreme this April in an untold story from Strange's glory days.

You know, before Doctor Strange was killed by Kaecilius in Death of Doctor Strange #1.

In the April 20 one-shot Doctor Strange: Nexus of Nightmares #1, the sinister Nightmare invades the dreams of Doctor Strange. The villain permeates Strange's life to the point that he not only affects him in his sleep, but also when he's awake - which is a bit of a problem when you're Earth's Sorcerer Supreme, tasked with being the first line of defense from magical threats.

Nightmare's dream invasion is the first stage in an attack on Strange by himself and the Marvel magician's other long-time foe, his former colleague Baron Mordo - who turned evil when Strange usurped him as the Ancient One's prized pupil and the next Sorcerer Supreme.

Doctor Strange: Nexus of Nightmares #1 will be written by retired Marvel editor Ralph Macchio (who edited some of the best Doctor Strange stories), and drawn by Ibrahim Mostafa.

Nightmare debuted the same time Doctor Strange did, way back in 1963's Strange Tales #110. Nightmare is the ruler of the Dream Dimension (which is what it sounds like) and can be seen as sort of a maligned, evil version of DC's Sandman. The villain was originally planned to be featured in the upcoming Doctor Strange big-screen sequel, at least according to its former director Scott Derrickson before he exited the project.

Interestingly, the subtitle of this comic - 'Nexus of Nightmares' - sounds similar to the subtitle of the upcoming film sequel - the Multiverse of Madness.

Doctor Strange: Nexus of Nightmares #1 goes on sale on April 20.

Look for Marvel Comics' full April 2022 schedule later this month on Newsarama.

Read up on the best Doctor Strange stories to date.

Chris Arrant covered comic book news for Newsarama from 2003 to 2022 (and as editor/senior editor from 2015 to 2022) and has also written for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, AdHouse Books, Cartoon Brew, Bleeding Cool, Comic Shop News, and CBR. He is the author of the book Modern: Masters Cliff Chiang, co-authored Art of Spider-Man Classic, and contributed to Dark Horse/Bedside Press' anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. Chris is a member of the American Library Association's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table. (He/him)