MARVEL & DC’s WAR ON GOD: Part II: Dr. Strange, Aleister Crowley and the Multiverse of Satanism

Part II of MARVEL & DC’s WAR ON GOD is a Christian documentary streaming on Vimeo that discusses the occult roots of Marvel Comics’ DR. STRANGE and SCARLET WITCH series, including the recent movie and TV versions, and their connection to Aleister Crowley, the perverted 20th Century occultist. Part II of MARVEL & DC’s WAR ON GOD is a good, important documentary exposing the Satanic, perverted, occult content in DOCTOR STRANGE and SCARLET WITCH, which reached a zenith in 1973 to 1976 under Steve Engelhart, a comics writer who actually joined Crowley’s sinister secret society, but the movie contains adult descriptions of some of Crowley’s disgusting sexual and scatological practices, and it makes some mistakes in discussing Engelhart’s career, DOCTOR STRANGE and the SCARLET WITCH, Crowley’s biography, and the Bible’s descriptions of the “spirit of antichrist” in First John and of “the Beast” in the Book of Revelation.

Writer/Director Joe Schimmel takes viewers through a history of Marvel’s creation of DOCTOR STRANGE, Engelhart’s Marvel career and the teachings and activities of Aleister Crowley. He points out the satanic, and sometimes even overtly Anti-Christian, content in DOCTOR STRANGE, which started in 1963, and in Engelhart’s 1970s work on that series and on the SCARLET WITCH. A video clip shows Engelhart telling a man from Aleister Crowley’s secret society, that, in order to write the stories for DOCTOR STRANGE, he began studying occult magic and eventually gravitated toward Crowley’s extensive work and practice in that subject.

Schimmel also gives an extensive report on Crowley’s career as an occultist. He shows that Crowley’s use and advocacy of black magic included sex orgies, homosexuality and bestiality, conjuring demons or demonic power, and a practice that Crowley called “sex magic,” which is the use of ceremonial magic, rituals, tantric yoga, Tibetan Buddhism, chanting, and even mind-altering drugs to achieve physical and spiritual ends. Crowley also advocated little to no moral constraints and adopted the anarchic ethical standard of “Do what thou wilt,” or “Do what you want.” He also called himself the Antichrist and the Beast of Revelation.

Part II of MARVEL & DC’S WAR ON GOD ends with Schimmel presenting the Gospel of Jesus Christ and urging viewers to give their hearts, minds and souls to Jesus as their Divine Lord and Savior.

Part II of MARVEL & DC’s WAR ON GOD justly warns viewers about the occult and even satanic dangers of Aleister Crowley and Marvel titles like DOCTOR STRANGE and THE SCARLET WITCH. However, it contains adult descriptions of some of Crowley’s disgusting sexual and scatological practices and immoral, perverted behavior. The movie also makes some mistakes and omissions that dilute the power of its arguments.

Though Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief, Stan Lee, said it was Steve Ditko who actually created DOCTOR STRANGE, he admitted the comic “has sort of a black magic theme.” Schimmel also points out, however, that a precursor to the Dr. Strange character was a 1961 comic book series called DR. DROOM. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and inked by Ditko, Dr. Droom (drawn to look like Crowley) was an independently wealthy physician, psychiatrist and mystic who used magic and hypnotism to counter supernatural threats. Droom turned out to be unpopular and was soon discontinued. However, the character of Dr. Strange was an elaborate reboot of Dr. Droom created by Ditko in 1963 and was given a similar origin story.

As the movie shows, when Steve Engelhart became the main writer behind DOCTOR STRANGE in 1974, he increased the psychedelic, black magic aspects of the series. Also, in one controversial story, a sorcerer from the 31st Century travels back in time to collect enough magical power to become God and create a new reality in his own image. Dr. Strange follows the sorcerer back in time to stop him from replacing the current reality with another reality. However, after reaching the “Void” before Creation, and finally becoming “God,” the all-powerful sorcerer realizes he can’t improve upon the current reality, so he recreates the universe just as it was. The story ends with Dr. Strange wondering whether he just witnessed a second Creation or just the first Creation repeating itself. Of course, this heretical story posits a man who “grew” in wisdom and righteousness as he accumulated more and more power traveling into the past. However, though the story is heretical, it’s not necessarily totally “satanic,” “demonic” or evil as Schimmel claims in this movie. That said, Marvel Editor-in-Chief Stan Lee ordered Engelhart to write a retraction saying that the sorcerer was “a” God, not “the” God. However, Engelhart and his illustrator wrote a fake letter from a pastor praising the story, and Lee dropped his demand.

In 1974, the deceitful Engelhart also took over the writing for Marvel’s AVENGERS and SCARLET WITCH series, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1963 and 1964, respectively. Originally, the Scarlet Witch was not a real witch but was a Mutant from Marvel’s X-MEN series. However, Engelhart expanded her powers by having her learn witchcraft from a benevolent character who was one of the original witches in the Salem witch trials. Schimmel doesn’t mention the mutant origins of the Scarlet Witch. This is a bad omission in his movie, but, despite this problem, it’s certainly true that, since the 1970s at least, Marvel’s Scarlet Witch character is now promoting witchcraft and occultism to its fans, including impressionable children.

Schimmel’s overview of Aleister Crowley’s beliefs and career are startling and eye-opening. However, it does have adult descriptions of some of Crowley’s disgusting sexual and scatological practices and immoral, perverted behavior. Also troubling is that some of Schimmel’s description of Crowley’s beliefs and practices appear to be false or exaggerated. For example, in one of his writings, Crowley claimed he “sacrifices” about 150 children each year. Apparently, though, this is really an obscene, metaphorical, Anti-Christian joke by Crowley, and what he really was saying is that he “spills his seed,” or masturbates, about 150 times a year. Also, Schimmel says in the movie that Crowley worshipped Satan. However, Crowley and his followers deny that they “worship” Satan, though they apparently do use ceremonial magic and rituals to conjure demons or conjure “demonic power.”

Finally, Crowley’s parents were converts to the Plymouth Brethren, the non-conformist Christian sect in England who invented Dispensationalism and its view of the End Times. This End Times view confuses the description of the “spirit of antichrist” in First John (see Verses 1:18-22 and 4:3) with the character of “the Beast” in Chapter 13 of Revelation. Crowley identified himself as “The Beast” and also saw himself as “The Antichrist.” However, the Bible nowhere teaches that there’s going to be one final Antichrist in some dystopian future, not even in First John. Nor does Revelation ever identify The Beast in Revelation as “The Antichrist.” In fact, it’s clear from the context that the Beast in Revelation corresponds to the Roman Empire in general and the Roman Emperor Nero, the first great Roman persecutor of Christians in Rome, in particular. Thus, Schimmel makes the same mistake as the former Plymouth Brethren member, Crowley, in talking about “The Antichrist” in Part II of MARVEL & DC’s WAR ON GOD, which he also does in Part One.

To sum up, though there are definitely connections between Crowley and Marvel and Disney’s use of occultism, sorcery and witchcraft in the exploits of characters like Dr. Strange and the Scarlet Witch, there’s no need to create some kind of “Satanic panic” or “End Times” hysteria in these connections. It’s enough to know that these characters are not only promoting a kind of Anti-Christian, godless, evil paganism, they are also promoting dangerous occultism. As God tells His people in Exodus 20:3-15, “Do not have any other gods before me.” As He tells the followers of Moses in Deuteronomy 18:10-12, “Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you.”

Parents should protect the hearts and minds of their children against the promotion of paganism and occultism in the popular culture. And, Christian churches and groups should help them.

That said, it should be noted that Crowley’s perverse, Anti-Christian ideas influenced many people, including many rock stars and celebrities, as well as people like Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Hubbard actually was a friend of Crowley’s and, after Crowley’s death, published a statement claiming to be “The Antichrist” and promising to return as a worldwide political leader after his death. In that same statement, Hubbard viciously attacked Jesus Christ, even calling him a homosexual pedophile. The Scientology organization has since renounced Hubbard’s statement, but the group has often been secretive and insincere, if not downright dishonest, so who knows?