I want you to know I take no joy from this. Pleasure, yes. An immense amount of pleasure. But no joy. 
- —Mister Misery[src]
History
This magical being was created by Doctor Strange and was to whom the Sorcerer Supreme deposited all the pain and suffering that using magic caused him. It was kept in the basement of the Sanctum Sanctorum, thus it became known as "The Thing in the Cellar".[2]
When the Empirikul assaulted the Earth to purge it of magic, they razed the Sanctum Sanctorum.[3] Several of them fell to the Thing in the Cellar, to the point their leader, the Imperator, was forced to confront it personally. While he was battling it, Doctor Strange and other sorcerers arrived, armed with several items which contained the last traces of magic in the world.[4]
After being weakened and blinded by the the milled powder of the Ancient One's skull, Imperator fell to the combined power of Doctor Strange and The Thing in the Cellar, who temporarily joined forces to combat their common enemy, despite the fact that The Thing hated its creator and wanted to kill Doctor Strange on its own terms.
The Thing in the Cellar was freed of Doctor Strange's suffering when his pain was imbued into several willing receivers, countless citizens of the Earth who had been previously helped by the Sorcerer Supreme, and thus he had inspired their devotion to him. The Thing expressed feelings of nothingness after being freed, even though it expected to experience joy, which caused it to consider seeking revenge.[2]
After failing to ignore its need to absorb suffering, The Thing in the Cellar began to terrorize citizens to feed off their pain. During a brief encounter with Doctor Strange, who tried to get The Thing to stop, the creatue revealed the name it had adopted, an alias in the same vein as that of its creator: Mister Misery.[1]
After being defeated by Strange, Misery laid low for a while, until finding a young teenager named Calvin, who was hurt the same way he was. Realizing he could benefit from his pain, Misery disguised himself as a magical jacket and bonded with Calvin.[5]
When Calvin enrolled in Strange Academy, Misery could only think about torturing Strange, but he chose to remain hidden and learn more before he was strong enough to face his maker.[5]
Upon returning from a field trip to Asgard,[6] Calvin's classmate Toth found out about Mister Misery, so he possessed Calvin and proceeded to shatter Toth, stealing his heart shard so he couldn't be revived. However, when Calvin accidentally found the shard in his pocket, Misery had to possess him once again and finally reveal himself to everyone.[7]
To defeat Misery, Dessy decided to feed him all the suffering in existence using her powers. As it became too much for him to handle, Calvin managed to break free, and, in the end, Dessy devoured Misery.[5]
Later, after Dessy quit Strange Academy alongside other students, they brought Misery back to Calvin so he'd join them, but Calvin was able to remain in control and expelled Misery with a spell.[8]Notes
- "The Thing in the Cellar" was the name of a story (Weird Tales; March, 1932), by science fiction, fantasy and horror author David H. Keller.
See Also
- 12 appearance(s) of Mister Misery (Earth-616)
- 2 minor appearance(s) of Mister Misery (Earth-616)
- 5 mention(s) of Mister Misery (Earth-616)
- 13 image(s) of Mister Misery (Earth-616)
- 2 quotation(s) by or about Mister Misery (Earth-616)
- 1 victim(s) killed by Mister Misery (Earth-616)