There are no clearly defined limits of what Dr. Strange can or cannot do. The stories themselves contradict one another: Dr. Strange is shown easily altering memories, or having complete mastery over time by either stopping it all together and rewinding it or traveling into the past in one story, then stating that his magic cannot do so in another instance. Once, Strange commented his powers of teleportation are "too meager" for him to enable the Defenders to follow suit Magneto and his Brotherhood with Alpha (who had teleported them to the United Nations headquarters from the Carlsbad Caverns of New Mexico) ^[1], yet, after helping the Guardians of the Galaxy return to their own time, enabling their ship to function sufficiently, engaging in extensive and long-distance astral projection across the cosmos, magically paralyzing a human, teleporting Valkyrie and Vance Astro from one planet to another in his astral form and in space, Strange was capable of teleporting both himself and Jack Norriss to Earth and across the globe to thousands of various points to free fifty million prisoners, Strange was capable of teleporting himself, Norriss and the other three Defenders back to their own time, all without incantation, Sanctum Sanctorum mystical resources, or apparent power-object, and without visible exertion afterwards ^[2]. In some appearances he can stand against something as powerful as the Infinity Gauntlet, and in others he appears defenseless against simple physical attack by another person. Strange's ability to project energy surpasses that of even Uatu and roughly rivals that of the Silver Surfer.

Some writers have ignored canonical evidence that Dr. Strange has enchantments that shield his body from physical harm, and that he virtually does not age and can not die unless under his own terms (having made a deal with the omnipotent being Eternity which grants Stephen life as long as he wishes it so), with his predecessor as Sorcerer Supreme, the Ancient One, having lived several centuries.

Dr. Strange is often used as a deus ex machina to stop, prevent or undo many world-altering events that occur in other characters' comic books. Examples include:

• In Uncanny X-Men #190-191 (Feb.-March 1985), the wizard Kulan Gath magically transformed New York City into an approximation of his own ancient time. Everyone, save for Strange and a handful of others, forgot who they were and assumed roles appropriate to such a reality. Strange was held prisoner by Kulan Gath, his flesh warped to prevent him speaking aloud or making mystical gestures. Despite numerous characters dying, the spell was eventually broken and reality was restored by Dr. Strange and Magik.
• In Micronauts #35 (Nov. 1981)^{[citation needed]}, Dr. Strange was instrumental in helping the Micronauts defeat ancient demons from Earth's past. As he kept the demons at bay, Commander Arcturus Rann rushed the Keys to the Enigma Force to the tomb of Prince Wayfinder, the creator of the Microverse. After opening the Tomb, Strange and Rann encountered the Sword in the Star, who merged them into a single entity, Captain Universe, in order to save the rapidly deteriorating Space Wall between Earth and the Microverse.
• In the Infinity Gauntlet six-issue limited series, Dr. Strange recruited the heroes to stop Thanos, as the latter attempted to destroy all of reality itself. He was one of the few heroes to survive Thanos' destruction of his opposition and was responsible for rescuing the few survivors in the final battle against Thanos and Nebula. Strange was one of the few people to remember that these events had occurred, the others being the Infinity Watch, the Silver Surfer and Thor, Strange and the latter two having witnessed Warlock's soul during the crisis and Warlock being unable to erase such knowledge.
• In Guardians of the Galaxy #31-33, Dr. Strange aided the titular, time-traveling team against an alien Badoon named L'Matto that had been granted the Uni-Power, transforming him into Captain Universe. A duel between the Badoon and the Guardian Charlie-27, which was appearing to be in L'Matto's favor, was turned in Charlie's favor with the intervention of Strange and fellow Guardians Vance Astro and Aleta Ogord, the latter of whom had just become the new Starhawk. With Dr. Strange's help, Aleta defeated the Captain Universe-empowered L'Matto and then exorcised the Uni-Power from L'Matto's body; the Badoon was left with his people to recover, while Strange returned to his studies, the Guardians returned to their home in the 31st century, and the Uni-Power headed off to find a new host.
• In House of M #7-8 (Nov.-Dec. 2005), Dr. Strange and Emma Frost prevented the Scarlet Witch from imposing her will on the entire world. Driven insane by her powers, Scarlet Witch reverted to the alternate reality she had created but stripped the majority of the world's mutants of their powers. Only a few who were shielded by Dr. Strange's spell and Frost's psychic powers retained their memories of the House of M reality and of what had transpired.
• In Amazing Spider-Man #500, Dr. Strange appeared during an invasion by Dormammu and the Mindless Ones on New York City. Reed Richards of Fantastic Four inadvertently released Dormammu from his "prison" by making a gun to send the Mindless Ones back to their dimension. Doctor Strange appeared in time to fight Dormammu and, with the help of Spider-Man, Cyclops and other heroes, Dormammu and the Mindless Ones were sent back to their dimension. As a result of the dimensional tampering, Baron Mordo was resurrected and after the battle he kidnapped Strange; what happened between this event and Strange's reappearance in the Marvel Universe is thus far unrevealed.

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