10 Doctor Strange Fates Worse Than Death

10. Being Stuck In An Unending Time Loop

Imagine being an all-powerful extra-dimensional being capable of bringing the apocalypse from the Dark Dimension to other realms with ease. You there? Good. Now imagine that a tiny creature called Doctor Strange uses a little green stone to trap you in an endless time loop, and you're unable to do anything about it.

That level of forced impotence is exactly what Dr. Strange cast upon Dormammu at the end of the good doctor's eponymous movie in the MCU, and it's definitely a fate far worse than death. Strange was killed in all sorts of interesting ways during the time loop, but he shrugged each death off like they were minor inconveniences.

The true hell of a time loop you can't escape on your own is being subjected to the will of another person, and Strange's will was indomitable. It's likely he could have continued to live, die, repeat indefinitely to keep Dormammu from destroying the universe.

When Dormammu realized this, he finally accepted Strange at his word and bargained for his release. Time loops can certainly be fun for a while, but if Groundhog Day taught the world anything, it's that they can wear on the soul before long, and Dormammu clearly understood this.