HORSE
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Human; former magic user
Occupation: Cultist, servant of Dormammu
Group Membership: Cult of Dormammu
Affiliations: Mother Nature (Gaea); formerly Dormammu, Umar
Enemies: Clea, Doctor Strange (Stephen Strange), Dormammu, Hulk (Bruce Banner), Sub-Mariner (Namor McKenzie), Umar, Wong
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: A flat somewhere in New York City, New York;
formerly a cottage near Bald Mountain in Rutland, Vermont
First Appearance: (Seen) Marvel Feature I#2 (March, 1972); (named) Doctor Strange II#8 (June, 1975)
Powers/Abilities: Horse once possessed some magical abilities that allowed him to keep the astral form of another human separated from his body and lead a ritual to summon Dormammu to Earth.
Considering his changing appearance his magic powers or maybe a charm also allowed him to change his outside appearance though it is unknown if these changes were a mere illusion or if he actually shifted his shape. (see comments)
Height: Unrevealed (6'1"; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed (185 lbs.; by approximation)
Eyes: Unrevealed (variable)
Hair: Unrevealed (variable)
History:
(Doctor Strange II#8 (fb) - BTS) - Horse gained magic powers by serving Dormammu.
(Marvel Feature I#2 (fb) - BTS) - Horse was the leader of a Cult of Dormammu. Despite performing the correct forbidden ritual, they had tried and failed to summon Dormammu to Earth numerous times.
Horse was in contact with his master, who ordered him to obtain the body of Doctor Strange as a sacrifice.
(Marvel Feature I#2) - Horse led a Cult of Dormammu in a forbidden ritual on Bald Mountain in Rutland, Vermont on October 30th to summon their master. Horse felt that this time the ritual was working and was ready to welcome his master on Earth to conquer it, but when a portal to the Dark Dimension finally opened Dormammu was only annoyed by the cultists' ritual and reminded Horse that he could only cross over to Earth on Halloween. Dormammu then asked him if Strange was already in the cult's possession and Horse assured him that his minions were in the process of kidnapping him. Dormammu, rather annoyed, reminded Horse that these were his and not Horse's minions. Horse apologized to Dormammu, who made it clear that Horse would be punished if he failed. Horse then led the cult down the mountain to wait for the next night to perform the ritual once again.
Horse was glad when Dormammu's minions finally arrived with Strange's body at the cottage the cult stayed at. It was nearly dawn and Horse knew that they had to bring Strange as Dormammu's host body at the early light of the Moon to Bald Mountain. He wondered where Strange's astral form had disappeared to after his cult's preventative spells had kept it from re-entering the body and reminded everyone to make sure that it didn't because only then Dormammu could possess the body.
At dawn Horse made sure that the black candles that kept the spell potent to keep Strange's astral form out of his body were still burning. Horse explained to a young cult member that Dormammu had made a vow that prevented him from physically entering Earth, which was the reason why he wanted to possess his nemesis Doctor Strange and turn him into a new Dormammu. A short time later Horse led two cultists carrying Strange's body to the top of Bald Mountain.
Once again Horse led the cult in the forbidden ritual to summon Dormammu. A portal to the Dark Dimension opened, but Strange's allies Clea, Hulk, Sub-Mariner and Wong interrupted them. Horse ordered some of the cultists to kill them while keeping a circle of cultists intact around the altar until Dormammu arrived. As Strange's body drifted upwards to the Dark Dimension portal where Dormammu was already waiting, Strange's astral form, which had been hiding inside Wong, re-entered his body because the spell keeping him out had faded at this point of the ritual. Horse watched helplessly through the portal as Doctor Strange fought Dormammu in the Dark Dimension. The battle caused an explosion on Bald Mountain that buried Horse and the other cultists alive under rubble.
(Doctor Strange II#8 (fb) - BTS) - Horse lost his magic powers after Dormammu's defeat on Bald Mountain and got addicted to heroin because he couldn't deal with the loss of power.
He stopped using drugs again upon Dormammu's return, which he learned about from Umar, who had been sent to him by Dormammu.
(Doctor Strange II#6) - Horse bumped into Doctor Strange and Clea while they strolled through Central Park in disguise. Horse asked them for some change and Strange recognized that he was a heroin addict and tried to lecture him, but Horse had none of it and left. It became clear to Horse that Strange was so concerned about his drug addiction that he remained completely unaware of the ulterior motives in his mind, which would make Strange an easy target for Umar's attack to lure him away from Earth.
(Doctor Strange II#7) - Horse assembled the Cult of Dormammu outside the Sanctum Sanctorum to lead them in an open attack on Strange's disciple Clea, who had been contacted by Mother Nature to aid her against Dormammu. Horse felt strong again because he was serving his master and claimed to his fellow cultists that he no longer had to disguise himself as a drug addict and would lead them again like he did on Bald Mountain. Clea stepped outside the Sanctum Sanctorum and wiped the floor with the cultists, who quickly dropped their wooden sticks and ran away in fear...including Horse.
(Doctor Strange II#8 - BTS) - Dormammu sent his sister Umar to kill Horse for his failure to kill Clea.
(Doctor Strange II#8) - Horse was reading a newspaper and having a drink in his flat when Umar appeared out of nowhere. He welcomed her and wondered what Dormammu wanted him to do next. Umar didn't like the far too familiar way he talked to her, which made it seem like Horse considered himself closer to her than he actually was. Horse reminisced about his time serving Dormammu and how it made him feel like a god until he lost his powers again and became addicted to drugs, but he was better now. He approached Umar and tried hitting on her, but she conjured up a syringe filled with heroin and injected Horse with an overdose of the drug he had once desired.
Umar left Horse for dead, but his leg was still shaking from the overdose when Umar had already returned to join her brother at the center of the planet Earth.
(Doctor Strange II#9) - Horse's hand was still twitching, but he was dying and was hunted by demons in his dreams. He prayed to Mother Nature in his final moments and she vowed to guide him in peace to Death if he summoned his master to him just one more time. As Horse's final act before he died, he summoned Dormammu to separate Dormammu's power from Umar, who had double-crossed her brother and absorbed him.
Comments: Created by Roy Thomas, Ross Andru & Sal Buscema.
He seemed completely powerless in the end, but he still changed his physical appearance from one issue to the next. At first I thought it was probably just a lack of communication between the switching colorists, but he completely changed his look between the issues and Gene Colan was the artist for all but Horse's first appearance. It must have been intentional and part of his powers.
Profile by Markus Raymond.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Horse has no known connections to:
images:
Marvel Feature I#2, p1, pan5 (main)
Marvel Feature I#2, p15, pan4 (head shot, white)
Doctor Strange II#6, p5, pan3 (head shot, black)
Doctor Strange II#7, p14, pan1 (failing)
Doctor Strange II#8, p6, pan3 (having a drink)
Doctor Strange II#9, p15, pan4 (death)
Appearances:
Marvel Feature I#2 (March, 1972) - Roy Thomas (writer), Ross Andru (pencils), Sal Buscema (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Doctor Strange II#6 (February, 1975) - Steve Englehart (writer), Gene Colan (pencils), Klaus Janson (inks), Petra Goldberg (colors), Len Wein (editor)
Doctor Strange II#7 (April, 1975) - Steve Englehart (writer), Gene Colan (pencils), John Romita Sr. (inks), Phil Rachelson (colors), Len Wein (editor)
Doctor Strange II#8 (June, 1975) - Steve Englehart (writer), Gene Colan (pencils), Tom Palmer (inks/colors), Len Wein (editor)
Doctor Strange II#9 (August, 1975) - Steve Englehart (writer), Gene Colan (pencils), Frank Chiaramonte (inks), Janice Cohen (colors), Len Wein (editor)
First Posted: 03/01/2026
Last updated: 03/01/2026
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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