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Very quick and simple, here's the current profile and here's the revised version.
All necessary explanations are in the Notes, but basically I split him into Classic and Modern because of the heavy differences between them, and some (immediately abandoned) retcons about his nature.
It can be said they had a plan for Shuma until 1988, then 20 years passed and they decided to bring him back and turn him into a token, a one-off expendable monster to pull out and then throw away without caring too much about consistency or anything else.
The stats for his Modern version will most likely be influenced by further revisions related to characters such as Dormammu, but that's a story for another time.
Also, I didn't include everything coming from alternate universes and such, since I didn't find any real indication of Shuma being the same, and even Earth-616 Shuma has been retconned over and over, as you can read on the revised file.
Quotes:
Classic: You have changed much, Dr. Strange! From simpering white magician to one-eyed pratictioner of the black arts! But black or white, you are still a mortal -- while I am infinite! The ruler of hundreds of dimensions-- and such as you cannot stop me! I am Shuma-Gorath -- and I will have your world as well!
Modern: Before all was, I was. Before time was, I waited. I fed on the screaming souls of the universes. I drank the spoiled milk of dead stars. I am the emptiness outside all understanding. I am Shuma-Gorath
Shuma-Gorath is a powerful, extra-dimensional entity and a recurrent enemy of Doctor Strange. Sealed in a realm beyond time and space, Shuma-Gorath only craves to destroy, conquer or devour as many dimensions as his tentacles can reach. He goes by many names, is said to rule hundreds of dimensions and occasionally leads other abominations like him in the ravaging of planes that exceed human understanding.
Since the dawn of time, Shuma-Gorath has been worshipped by men and monsters alike, terrible cults trying to unleash chaos upon our world or wicked wizards who want his incredible power for themselves. The Sorcerers Supremes and other valiant defenders of Earth have opposed the elder god from time to time, always succeeding in sending him back to his prison. Nonetheless, Shuma-Gorath keeps lurking in the shadows, waiting for the next time someone will set him free.
Name: Shuma-Gorath, He Who Sleeps But Shall Awake, The One Who Slumbers, Evil One Who Sleeps, Dread Lord of the Primal World, Father of All Evil, Sleeping One, He Who Has Awakened, The Supreme One, Writhing Devourer, Unclosing Eye, The Void Made Flesh
Origin: Marvel Comics
Gender: Male
Age: Untold Eons (Ruled Earth when the dinosaurs were still extant[2]) | At least hundreds of millions of years (Fought Quoggoth millions of years[3] ago)
Classification: Extra-Dimensional Entity, Lord of Chaos, Old One
Powers and Abilities:
Classic
Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Magic, Large Size (Type 2; Completely dwarfes[4] Dr. Strange), Bodily Weaponry (Uses his tentacles to flail and crush his enemies), Longevity, Immortality (Type 6; If one absorbs Shuma-Gorath's power, their body and mind will be corrupted until they become[1] Shuma-Gorath himself), Preparation, Social Influencing (Worshipped by many humans and monsters around the world), Mind Manipulation, Possession, Sound Manipulation, Telepathy, Astral Projection, Clairvoyance, Sense Manipulation, Memory Manipulation, Illusion Creation,[5][6] Power Bestowal (Granted powers to underlings such as[7] [8] Sligguth and Kathulos), Alternate Future Display (Showed Dr. Strange an ominous future[6]) Absorption (Was leaching[2] Sise-Neg's power during their battle), Camouflage (Disguised himself[4] as a mountain), Energy Projection (Able to project energy beams from his eye and body[1]), Damage Transferal (Created a mystic image of Earth and made it so that everything he does to it will directly affect[1] the real planet), Fire Manipulation (Can shoot flames[1]), possibly Invulnerability (Allegedly knows a spell of invulnerability[9]), minor Body Puppetry (Cast a spell of silence upon Nightmare[9])
Modern
Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Magic, Longevity, Large Size and possibly Size Manipulation (Varies from type 1 to 3; Inconsistently ranges from being much larger[10] than human beings[11], to reaching the size of skyscrapers[12] or even[13] mountains[14]), Bodily Weaponry, Social Influencing, Absorption (His tentacles have a draining[10] effect), Flight (Fought Quoggoth in an aerial clash[3]), Sound Manipulation (Can emit ear-piercing[15] sounds), minor Earth Manipulation (Altered the properties[15] of a kind of minerals), Statistics Amplification (Made the Überkommandos[11] stronger), Psychometry (Learned about[16] Luke Cage's daughter, Danielle, simply by touching him), Forcefield Creation (Formed a shield[16] made of magic symbols), Corruption (Infected[16] a group humans, turning them into allies), Dimensional Travel (Traveled from his realm to a necro-dimension[17] and from Earth to his own dimension[18]. He likely can roam many other planes), Energy Projection and Temperature Manipulation (Can shoot beams[19] of burning energy), limited Resurrection (A dagger stained in his blood allowed him to resurrect[18] from Kulan Gath body, because of a blood pact made with Dr. Strange)
Attack Potency: Multiverse level+, possibly Low Complex Multiverse level (Nightmare serves as one of his minions and is terribly afraid[9] of him. Fought[8] the Vishanti in a distant past. Doctor Strange doubts his ability to withstand him and states he has never felt such power[6] before, despite having already fought the likes of Dormammu, whose inferiority to Shuma-Gorath is also implied[6] by Strange himself. Resides in a place where Mephisto and Satannish would be like "mice in a great temple"[4]. Not even Agamotto could destroy[20] him. Doctor Strange was forced to merge with[4] Arioch in order to fight equally with Shuma-Gorath[1], and their battle was about to collapse "all the nether-realms"[21]) | Multiverse level+, possibly Low Complex Multiverse level (Is a consistent[19] threat to Doctor Strange and other heroes[18]. Shown to be roughly[17] on the same level[22] as the likes of Dormammu, Mephisto and Nightmare)
Speed: Massively FTL+ (Far faster than Doctor Strange and some of his most powerful foes) | Massively FTL+ (Comparable to Doctor Strange and his strongest foes)
Lifting Strength: Unknown | Unknown
Striking Strength: Multiversal+, possibly Low Complex Multiversal | Multiversal+, possibly Low Complex Multiversal
Durability: Multiverse level+, possibly Low Complex Multiverse level | Multiversal+, possibly Low Complex Multiversal
Stamina: Unknown (Can engage in battle with Dr. Strange and keep fighting even if one of his tentacles is cut off) | Unknown (Can engage in battle with comparable beings, but this aspect is largely unexplored)
Range: Tens of meters physically and with several abilities by virtue of sheer size, Multiversal, possibly Low Complex Multiversal (Superior to the likes of Dormammu. Could exert some of his powers from a dimenions located a thousand planes[1] from Earth) | Tens to Hundreds of meters because of sheer size, Multiversal, possibly Low Complex Multiversal via certain abilities
Standard Equipment: None notable.
Intelligence: At least Gifted (Has uncountable eons of life experience, profound expertise of the mystical arts and can employ his many powers for a variety of purposes. Claims to rule hundreds of dimensions. Pulled the strings of a series of convoluted events, manipulating Dr. Strange to undergo many trials and follow several clues just to eventually fall into a trap. Has knowledge of human moral philosophy and religion[1]) | At least Above Average (Accumulated unimaginable years worth of experience regarding the supernatural and other subjects humans can't fathom, but the exact amount of knowledhe he possesses can't be properly determined. Often rash in his decisions and actions, which has led him to be defeated many times)
Weaknesses: None notable | Equilibrium is stated to be his greatest weakness[10], but most of the times it doesn't seem to hinder him in any way.
Key: Classic | Modern
Note:
To push him even further, Shuma-Gorath drove both their consciousnesses across the galaxies[5], projecting them as a stream of bubbles of thoughts[5], in order to let them both withness the struggles[6] Strange was going through. By extracting the Ancient One's thougts and memories, Shuma-Gorath projected illusions[6] for Strange to fight and deal with, and then spoke to him through a black window[5] opened within the stream. Such bubbles were intangible, but could make Strange to feel a strong dizziness[5] with a mere touch.
Strange eventually managed to find where the Ancient One was imprisoned, and the latter couldn't once again refrain from helping his student. Because of this last struggle, Shuma-Gorath's control was complete. Manifesting first as a voice[5] stemming from the Ancient One's brow, the eldritch being finally showed himself as a negative image[6] of his victim.
Strange moved the battle within the Ancient One's brain, trying to find a way to free his master, but there Shuma-Gorath was abolute. Twisting and warping[6] that mental world, he hurled Strange across a series of trials until he decided to show his true form and confront the magician in a final battle.
Classic: You have changed much, Dr. Strange! From simpering white magician to one-eyed pratictioner of the black arts! But black or white, you are still a mortal -- while I am infinite! The ruler of hundreds of dimensions-- and such as you cannot stop me! I am Shuma-Gorath -- and I will have your world as well!
Modern: Before all was, I was. Before time was, I waited. I fed on the screaming souls of the universes. I drank the spoiled milk of dead stars. I am the emptiness outside all understanding. I am Shuma-Gorath
Shuma-Gorath is a powerful, extra-dimensional entity and a recurrent enemy of Doctor Strange. Sealed in a realm beyond time and space, Shuma-Gorath only craves to destroy, conquer or devour as many dimensions as his tentacles can reach. He goes by many names, is said to rule hundreds of dimensions and occasionally leads other abominations like him in the ravaging of planes that exceed human understanding.
Since the dawn of time, Shuma-Gorath has been worshipped by men and monsters alike, terrible cults trying to unleash chaos upon our world or wicked wizards who want his incredible power for themselves. The Sorcerers Supremes and other valiant defenders of Earth have opposed the elder god from time to time, always succeeding in sending him back to his prison. Nonetheless, Shuma-Gorath keeps lurking in the shadows, waiting for the next time someone will set him free.
Powers and Stats
Tier: 2-A, possibly Low 1-C | Likely 2-A, possibly Low 1-CName: Shuma-Gorath, He Who Sleeps But Shall Awake, The One Who Slumbers, Evil One Who Sleeps, Dread Lord of the Primal World, Father of All Evil, Sleeping One, He Who Has Awakened, The Supreme One, Writhing Devourer, Unclosing Eye, The Void Made Flesh
Origin: Marvel Comics
Gender: Male
Age: Untold Eons (Ruled Earth when the dinosaurs were still extant[2]) | At least hundreds of millions of years (Fought Quoggoth millions of years[3] ago)
Classification: Extra-Dimensional Entity, Lord of Chaos, Old One
Powers and Abilities:
Classic
Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Magic, Large Size (Type 2; Completely dwarfes[4] Dr. Strange), Bodily Weaponry (Uses his tentacles to flail and crush his enemies), Longevity, Immortality (Type 6; If one absorbs Shuma-Gorath's power, their body and mind will be corrupted until they become[1] Shuma-Gorath himself), Preparation, Social Influencing (Worshipped by many humans and monsters around the world), Mind Manipulation, Possession, Sound Manipulation, Telepathy, Astral Projection, Clairvoyance, Sense Manipulation, Memory Manipulation, Illusion Creation,[5][6] Power Bestowal (Granted powers to underlings such as[7] [8] Sligguth and Kathulos), Alternate Future Display (Showed Dr. Strange an ominous future[6]) Absorption (Was leaching[2] Sise-Neg's power during their battle), Camouflage (Disguised himself[4] as a mountain), Energy Projection (Able to project energy beams from his eye and body[1]), Damage Transferal (Created a mystic image of Earth and made it so that everything he does to it will directly affect[1] the real planet), Fire Manipulation (Can shoot flames[1]), possibly Invulnerability (Allegedly knows a spell of invulnerability[9]), minor Body Puppetry (Cast a spell of silence upon Nightmare[9])
Modern
Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Magic, Longevity, Large Size and possibly Size Manipulation (Varies from type 1 to 3; Inconsistently ranges from being much larger[10] than human beings[11], to reaching the size of skyscrapers[12] or even[13] mountains[14]), Bodily Weaponry, Social Influencing, Absorption (His tentacles have a draining[10] effect), Flight (Fought Quoggoth in an aerial clash[3]), Sound Manipulation (Can emit ear-piercing[15] sounds), minor Earth Manipulation (Altered the properties[15] of a kind of minerals), Statistics Amplification (Made the Überkommandos[11] stronger), Psychometry (Learned about[16] Luke Cage's daughter, Danielle, simply by touching him), Forcefield Creation (Formed a shield[16] made of magic symbols), Corruption (Infected[16] a group humans, turning them into allies), Dimensional Travel (Traveled from his realm to a necro-dimension[17] and from Earth to his own dimension[18]. He likely can roam many other planes), Energy Projection and Temperature Manipulation (Can shoot beams[19] of burning energy), limited Resurrection (A dagger stained in his blood allowed him to resurrect[18] from Kulan Gath body, because of a blood pact made with Dr. Strange)
Attack Potency: Multiverse level+, possibly Low Complex Multiverse level (Nightmare serves as one of his minions and is terribly afraid[9] of him. Fought[8] the Vishanti in a distant past. Doctor Strange doubts his ability to withstand him and states he has never felt such power[6] before, despite having already fought the likes of Dormammu, whose inferiority to Shuma-Gorath is also implied[6] by Strange himself. Resides in a place where Mephisto and Satannish would be like "mice in a great temple"[4]. Not even Agamotto could destroy[20] him. Doctor Strange was forced to merge with[4] Arioch in order to fight equally with Shuma-Gorath[1], and their battle was about to collapse "all the nether-realms"[21]) | Multiverse level+, possibly Low Complex Multiverse level (Is a consistent[19] threat to Doctor Strange and other heroes[18]. Shown to be roughly[17] on the same level[22] as the likes of Dormammu, Mephisto and Nightmare)
Speed: Massively FTL+ (Far faster than Doctor Strange and some of his most powerful foes) | Massively FTL+ (Comparable to Doctor Strange and his strongest foes)
Lifting Strength: Unknown | Unknown
Striking Strength: Multiversal+, possibly Low Complex Multiversal | Multiversal+, possibly Low Complex Multiversal
Durability: Multiverse level+, possibly Low Complex Multiverse level | Multiversal+, possibly Low Complex Multiversal
Stamina: Unknown (Can engage in battle with Dr. Strange and keep fighting even if one of his tentacles is cut off) | Unknown (Can engage in battle with comparable beings, but this aspect is largely unexplored)
Range: Tens of meters physically and with several abilities by virtue of sheer size, Multiversal, possibly Low Complex Multiversal (Superior to the likes of Dormammu. Could exert some of his powers from a dimenions located a thousand planes[1] from Earth) | Tens to Hundreds of meters because of sheer size, Multiversal, possibly Low Complex Multiversal via certain abilities
Standard Equipment: None notable.
Intelligence: At least Gifted (Has uncountable eons of life experience, profound expertise of the mystical arts and can employ his many powers for a variety of purposes. Claims to rule hundreds of dimensions. Pulled the strings of a series of convoluted events, manipulating Dr. Strange to undergo many trials and follow several clues just to eventually fall into a trap. Has knowledge of human moral philosophy and religion[1]) | At least Above Average (Accumulated unimaginable years worth of experience regarding the supernatural and other subjects humans can't fathom, but the exact amount of knowledhe he possesses can't be properly determined. Often rash in his decisions and actions, which has led him to be defeated many times)
Weaknesses: None notable | Equilibrium is stated to be his greatest weakness[10], but most of the times it doesn't seem to hinder him in any way.
Key: Classic | Modern
Note:
- Before making any changes to this page, please read and follow the Power-scaling Rules for Marvel and DC Comics
- Shuma-Gorath's Classic key covers his main appearances roughly up to Strange Tales Vol 2 15, while his Modern key indexes material from 4 Vol 1 26 onward. This because modern comic books portray him as being notably weaker than before, and have occasionally introduced diametrically different (sometimes self-contradictory) mechanics related to his very nature, which were totally absent and not even hinted in his original appearances. Another factor to consider is that Dr. Strange had originally destroyed him once and for all (with the event being underlined as something extraordinary by Kaluu), while modern interpretations have simply ignored this event.
- In Invaders Now! and Mighty Avengers Shuma-Gorath's nature works under specific mechanics that have not been kept in consideration in all of his other modern appearances. Such properties include him being completely invulnerable due to his higher-dimensional existence (Invaders Now![11]) and him needing to create avatars on Earth while his true self resides outside of reality (Mighty Avengers[16]). Because of such lack of consistency, both notions aren't featured in this profile.
Mind Powers
Unable to escape from the dimension where he was banished, Shuma-Gorath's only gateway[6] to Earth was the Sorcerer Supreme, a role at the time covered by the Ancient One, thus he entered the sorcerer's mind and started feeding off his magical power. Every enchantment cast would have increased Shuma-Gorath's control over the Ancient One's body, until he would have been completely taken over and replaced. Realizing the impending threat, the Ancient One sought death by starvation and refused to exert any more power, but the need to help his pupil Dr. Strange had the better of him.To push him even further, Shuma-Gorath drove both their consciousnesses across the galaxies[5], projecting them as a stream of bubbles of thoughts[5], in order to let them both withness the struggles[6] Strange was going through. By extracting the Ancient One's thougts and memories, Shuma-Gorath projected illusions[6] for Strange to fight and deal with, and then spoke to him through a black window[5] opened within the stream. Such bubbles were intangible, but could make Strange to feel a strong dizziness[5] with a mere touch.
Strange eventually managed to find where the Ancient One was imprisoned, and the latter couldn't once again refrain from helping his student. Because of this last struggle, Shuma-Gorath's control was complete. Manifesting first as a voice[5] stemming from the Ancient One's brow, the eldritch being finally showed himself as a negative image[6] of his victim.
Strange moved the battle within the Ancient One's brain, trying to find a way to free his master, but there Shuma-Gorath was abolute. Twisting and warping[6] that mental world, he hurled Strange across a series of trials until he decided to show his true form and confront the magician in a final battle.
All necessary explanations are in the Notes, but basically I split him into Classic and Modern because of the heavy differences between them, and some (immediately abandoned) retcons about his nature.
It can be said they had a plan for Shuma until 1988, then 20 years passed and they decided to bring him back and turn him into a token, a one-off expendable monster to pull out and then throw away without caring too much about consistency or anything else.
The stats for his Modern version will most likely be influenced by further revisions related to characters such as Dormammu, but that's a story for another time.
Also, I didn't include everything coming from alternate universes and such, since I didn't find any real indication of Shuma being the same, and even Earth-616 Shuma has been retconned over and over, as you can read on the revised file.
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