Why Doctor Strange Seemed To Give Up On His Lost Apprentice

This is "Provide Some Answers," which is a feature where long unresolved plot points are eventually resolved.

Today, based on a suggestion from reader Caoimhe S., we learn why Doctor Strange sort of seemed to just give up looking for his lost apprentice. I've featured this before as a Left Unresolved, but, well, now it is resolved!

In 2009, Mark Waid and Emma Rios did a four-issue mini-series, "Strange." In it, Doctor Strange met a young woman named Casey Kinmont, who helped him stop a demon. He taught her a brief vanishing/teleporting spell that he meant to be temporary, but instead Casey turned out to be a natural magician, so she kept using the spell. But she used it on everyday things. This turned out to anger the demon whose dimension all of the stuff she "vanished" ended in. Strange brokered a deal where the demon agreed not to punish her provided she doesn't use the spell again...

In the following issue, another demon named Larry enlisted Strange's help to help stop some young pageant girls whose souls were at risk. Strange introduced Casey as his new apprentice...

In the end, the demon (who was not able to directly interfere, hence him getting Strange to help) ended up brokering a deal that would allow him to get involved. Strange offered his soul, but it wasn't enough, so Casey traded her soul to have the demon help save the souls of the young girls...

Larry seemed prepared to give Casey her soul back, but then they were all torn apart as magic all over the world began going crazy.

In the final issue, Strange basically performs surgery on magic. It's sweet seeing how much Casey appreciated Strange in her life...

While Strange is doing the surgery, though, he is left defenseless, so the evil Silver Dagger showed up to take revenge on Strange. Meanwhile, Larry (who was trapped in a bad place) used Casey's soul to get her to save him. However, she basically had to choose between getting her soul and saving Strange. She ended up choosing saving Strange.

However, just tackling Silver Dagger was not enough. He was kicking her ass, so she had to turn to the only magic she knew - the spell that the demon said he would punish her if she used! She saved Strange, but she lost her life in the process...

Strange (who was initially happy about successfully curing magic) was distraught, as he held her soul as it faded to black...

But wait! It DIDN'T die out!!

So Strange and Larry went off to find Casey. Then the series ended and when Jason Aaron and Donny Cates relaunched the series, they did not pick up on the Carey plot.

However, Mark Waid then relaunched Doctor Strange in 2018, and, well, if anyone was going to resolve a Mark Waid plot, then you would think it would be Waid, right?

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In the opening arc of Mark Waid, Javier Pina and Brian Reber's Doctor Strange, while Doctor Strange is on a mission in space, there is an impostor Doctor Strange on Earth.

In Doctor Strange #6 (by Waid, Pina and Reber), we meet that Doctor Strange and it is...Casey?!?!

But wait, how does Strange not know Casey?

This is resolved later in the issue, where Strange goes to Larry and instead meets his surviving spouse. Strange is then given his memories back and it turns out that Larry took the memories from Strange because Strange was so distracted by the loss of Casey that he was losing to another villain. The idea was that Larry would give him his memories back when Strange won, but after Strange won, the defeated villain then killed Larry...

Okay, in the next issue (by Mark Waid, Javier Pina, Andres Guinaldo, JP Mayer, Andy Owens, Roberto Poggi, Keith Champagne, Brian Reber, Jim Campbell and Andrew Crossley), Strange discovers that Casey is working someone else...

It turns out that she has been turned in to a weapon and because she does not have a soul, Strange can't reason with her to break her from the spell.

So Strange (and his companions Kanna and Bats) each give Cassie part of their souls and this allows Strange to break her free of the control of the villain who is ordering her (and her sort of monitor, Baron Mordo)...