HAKEEM STRANGE
(of Earth-38191)

Real Name: Hakeem Strange

Identity/Class: Alternate reality (Earth-38191) human (Iraqi) magic user (sometime around the 10th century? - see comments)

Occupation: Sorcerer

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Black Cat and her Forty Thieves, Exiles (Becky Barnes of Earth-86351, Blink/Clarice Ferguson of Earth-295, Captain America/Peggy Carter of Earth-86351, Iron Lad/Nathaniel Richards of Earth-18651, King/T'Challa of Earth-18136, Valkyrie of Reality-22681, Wolvie)

Enemies: Caliph Doom (Viktor Doom), Mephisto;
    formerly Blink (Clarice Ferguson of Earth-295), Iron Lad (Nathaniel Richards of Earth-18651)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "Creep," "Mister," "Pal"

Base of Operations: An oasis outside Baghdad, Iraq

First Appearance: Exiles III#9 (December, 2018)

Powers/Abilities: Hakeem Strange has formidable mystic abilities that allow him to perform magical feats such as opening a hidden magical doorway, generating mystic barriers that prevent even teleporting beings from passing and levitating himself. He also guide mystic objects such as flying carpets to specific destinations.

Strange also carries a staff that he often uses as a simple walking stick but can be wielded in battle as well.

Height: Unrevealed (approximately 6'2 1/2")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 180 lbs.)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black

History: (Exiles III#9 (fb) - BTS) - The somewhat power-hungry sorcerer Hakeem Strange sought out a powerful magic lamp housing a mystic genie from inside a cave hidden in a desert sand dune. Not wishing to risk himself to acquire the lamp, Strange sought out someone to capture the lamp for him.

(Exiles III#9) - Witnessing the reality-hopping Blink of Earth-295, who had been transported to Earth-38191 and forced into the role of Aladdin, defeat the loan shark Moussa and his agent Ox, sorcerer Hakeem Strange felt Blink would be perfect for his plot. Unaware that Blink was not Aladdin, Strange flagged down the "young man" Blink and offered to help Blink find what she seemed to be searching for. Learning that Blink that was looking for her missing friends, Hakeem Strange admitted that he had not seen her friends but revealed that he might be able to scry their location. He then convinced Blink, whom he still thought to be Aladdin, to follow him and he led Blink out into the desert. Hours later, Blink complained to Strange that they had been riding for hours and offered to use her powers to transport them anywhere Strange pointed them to but Hakeem Strange declined her offer, informing Blink that they were looking for a very specific sand dune and all dunes would look alike to "young Aladdin's city eyes." Soon coming across a dune with bones scattered on it, Hakeem Strange stopped and announced this to be where they were going. He then performed an invocation that caused a cave to emerge from the sand dune. Explaining that one such as himself could not enter the cave, Hakeem Strange asked Blink to enter the cave alone and retrieve the lamp inside the cave that they would use to find her friends. Skeptical, Blink nonetheless entered the cave, warning Strange that his plan better work. After Blink ventured into the cave and found the lamp that released her missing teammate Iron Lad of Earth-18651, they both returned to Hakeem Strange, who became angry that they had released the genie from the lamp, power he had toiled hard to uncover. The furious Strange then exclaimed that "Aladdin" may have denied him his prize but "he" would die with it and he erected a mystic barrier to prevent Blink and Iron Lad from exiting the cave as the monstrous "Rhino" appeared.


(Exiles III#10 (fb) - BTS) - When the Caliph Doom went mad following his mother's death and began murdering a new wife every night, Hakeem Strange began working with Black Cat and her Forty Thieves to stop the Caliph. A stolen magical flying carpet soon sensed the reality-hopping Exiles in need of assistance and it sprang to life to rescue the Exiles, allowing Hakeem Strange to guide it once the Exiles were aboard.

(Exiles III#10) - After the carpet deposited the Exiles in a hidden desert oasis, the thief Black Cat greeted them, remarking that any enemy of the Caliph was a friend of theirs. Strange then revealed himself, admitting that he had guided the flying carpet to the oasis. Iron Lad immediately recognized Strange as the wizard who had trapped them in the cave with a monster and Blink angrily confronted Strange. Apologizing for his actions committed in power-mad greed, Hakeem Strange claimed they were beyond such things now but Blink argued. Black Cat halted the argument and explained Caliph Doom's murderous actions and insisted he be stopped, prompting Strange to chime in that, while both Black Cat and himself had sought power for petty ends, Caliph Doom sought to rule over everything. Strange also revealed that Caliph Doom had spoke of ruling even the past and future, and he warned against Doom acquiring the mystic Ring of Solomon. Black Cat then opted to move the conversation further into her thieves encampment and Strange followed Black Cat and the Exiles into the encampment, where the Exiles agreed to help against Caliph Doom. As the Exiles were agreeing to help, Caliph Doom attacked the oasis with the djinn Mephisto, released from the Ring of Solomon, and Hakeem Strange flew into action, asking protection from God. During the ensuing fight against the Caliph and Mephisto, Strange exclaimed that the ruby Blink, whom Strange finally realized was not Aladdin, wore on her arm could protect them all from Mephisto and he asked her to hold it aloft. Blink instead teleported Caliph Doom's hand from his arm, removing the Ring of Solomon from play and obliterating the robotic agents Caliph had created as Strange and the others were fighting them. No longer under the control of the Ring of Solomon, Mephisto pulled Caliph Doom into his fiery pits to pay for his crimes and Hakeem Strange then watched as Nocturne decided to stay on Earth-38191 and rule as khalifa. Strange then watched as Blink's Tallus device activated and the rest of the Exiles were transported from Earth-38191.

Comments: Created by Saladin Ahmed, Javier Rodriguez and Alvaro Lopez.

It was never stated exactly what year the events on Earth-38191 took place. The closest we got was a note of events occurring in "medieval Baghdad" and, according to my historical research, the golden age of Baghdad as one of the largest cities in the world was anywhere between the mid-700s A.D. through around 1300 A.D. or so. Since Moussa mentions Aladdin owing him two silver dinars, which was first used in the late 7th century, it seems to fit in at least the mid-700s and Baghdad was at its height in size around the 1000s. Therefore, I placed the events a little before that, settling on an assumption of occurring sometime around the late 10th century, possibly early 11th century or even into the 12th.

It's interesting to note that while everyone on Earth-38391 saw the Exiles as the roles they were forced into, Hakeem Strange did eventually realize Blink was not Aladdin and even called her by her actual name of Blink during the final battle against Caliph Doom. He did see Blink as Aladdin originally though for quite some time. Perhaps his mystic nature eventually allowed to see through reality's illusions. It was never directly explained why the Exiles were forced into roles of characters they knew from stories but the Exiles had earlier been disguised visually by the Tallus device on Earth-18136 so it seems probable that the Tallus brought them to Earth-38191 and disguised their appearances to resemble the Earth-38191 natives whose roles that had assumed. One wonders what happened to the beings whose roles they were forced into. Did they get sent to the Tallus' origin location like the beings Dr. Sam Beckett leaped into in the Quantum Leap TV series? Did they return to their prior lives once the Exiles had departed Earth-38191 and if so, did Shahrazad never return since Nocturne stayed on Earth-38191?

Profile by Proto-Man.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Earth-38191's Hakeem Strange should be distinguished from:

Aladdin

The layabout son of a tailor man, Aladdin was constantly angering his mother, who wished him to work and be more helpful, and who felt Aladdin was a daydreamer while his father worked his fingers to the bone. At some point, Aladdin was loaned two silver dinars by the loan shark Moussa, who soon began searching for Aladdin to get his money back. When the reality-hopping Blink from Earth-295 was transported to Earth-38191, she was forced into the role of Aladdin and woke up in Aladdin's room. His mother soon barged in and, thinking Blink to be her son, accused Blink of not being a man and ushered her out the door, intent on forcing her son Aladdin to find his fortune. While walking around medieval Baghdad, Blink was noticed by Moussa, who also thought Blink to be Aladdin, and Moussa and his agent Ox confronted Blink, intent on getting their money back from Aladdin. When Blink tried to convince them she was not Aladdin, Moussa attacked her and Blink teleported behind the two and knocked them out. Having witnessed Blink's defeat of Moussa and Ox, the sorcerer Hakeem Strange sought to manipulate Blink, whom he also thought was Aladdin, into retrieving a magic lamp from a cave for him. After Blink retrieved the lamp, the lamp released her teammate Iron Lad of Earth-18651, who had been forced into the role of a genie, and Iron Lad quickly recognized events as ones occurring in his reality's fictional story of Aladdin. Unaware of the story, Blink explained that everyone had been mistaking her for Aladdin. The two then returned to Hakeem Strange, who became angry that "Aladdin" had freed the "genie" (the role Iron Lad had been forced into on Earth-38191) himself. Strange then sealed the exit to the cave, exclaiming that "Aladdin" may have denied him his prize but "he" would die along with it. When the reality-hopping Exiles later regrouped to rescue their teammate Nocturne of Earth-2182, Iron Lad deduced that, if Earth-38191 was based on the fictional (in his reality) stories of Aladdin and Sinbad he knew from the book One Thousand and One Nights, Nocturne must have been forced into the role of Shahrazad.
--Exiles III#9 - BTS (#10 - BTS,
"Rhino"

The four-armed "Rhino" was a creature residing inside the magical cave where Hakeem Strange sought a mystic lamp. When the reality-hopping Blink of Earth-295, who had been forced into the role of Aladdin, acquired the lamp herself, the furious Strange mystically sealed the exit to the cave, leaving Blink and her teammate, Earth-18651's Iron Lad, to face "Rhino." "Rhino" charged at the two alternate reality heroes but Blink soon noticed an opening and teleported them to another part of the cave, where they found a flying carpet that they used to escape the cave.
--Exiles III#9
images: (without ads)
Exiles III#10, p8, pan2 (Hakeem Strange, main image)
Exiles III#10, p11, pan1 (Hakeem Strange, headshot)
Exiles III#9, p5, pan1 (Hakeem Strange on a camel)
Exiles III#10, p9, pan1 (Strange with billowing cloak)
Exiles III#10, p11, pan (Strange flying)
Exiles III#9, p7, pan5 ("Rhino")

Appearances:
Exiles III#9 (December, 2018) - Saladin Ahmed (writer), Javier Rodriguez (pencils), Alvaro Lopez (inks), Sarah Brunstad (editor)
Exiles III#10 (January, 2019) - Saladin Ahmed (writer), Javier Rodriguez (pencils), Alvaro Lopez (inks), Sarah Brunstad (editor)

First posted: 06/11/2022
Last updated: 06/11/2022

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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