Is Dr. Strange a Member of the Avengers?

Question

After watching Dr. Strange and seeing his role in Avengers: Infinity War, I've come to a question: Is Dr. Strange a member of the Avengers, or is he more a "I'm here when you need me" player?

Kind of like Batman in the DC Universe. He doesn't necessarily do the whole "I'm part of the team!!!" thing, and is simply available when needed (and sometimes when not, but has something to contribute). His goal is more to keep his home of Gotham City safe, and if that means joining the JL every once in a while to ensure outside forces don't become a threat, then so be it (sure Wayne Enterprises may have funded the JL facilities (animated series), but for the sake of the movies I digress).

Strange's main role/purpose is to protect the New York sanctum(and perhaps the whole realm, since the other sanctums were destroyed?) to the multiverse and protect mankind. Thus, he can't just go to work at the Avengers Facility, he has his own lair to watch over and protect.

Answer 1

Is Dr. Strange a Full-Blown Avenger?

Dr. Strange is exclusively a member of the Masters of the Mystic Arts.

From the Dr. Strange film, just after Strange is caught using the Eye of Agamotto for the first time:

WONG: You were born for the Mystic Arts.

STRANGE: And yet my hands still shake.

MORDO: For now, yes.

STRANGE: Not forever?

MORDO: We're not prophets.

STRANGE: When do you start telling me what we are?

WONG: While heroes like the Avengers protect the world from physical dangers, we sorcerers safeguard it against more mystical threats. The Ancient One is the latest in a long line of Sorcerers Supreme.

The fact that the Avengers and the Masters of the Mystic Arts are fighting together in Infinity War is simply a result of Thanos being from outer space and having mystical powers, and because he's coming to Earth.

Since there's both "physical" and "mystical" aspects to the fight that Thanos brings, this necessitates the two organizations working together.

And, per the events of Avengers: Infinity War, this is one of the reasons why Heimdall sent Bruce Banner to the Masters of the Mystic Arts -- because their job is to specifically combat mystical enemies from outer space.

So, all in all, Dr. Strange isn't a member of the Avengers any more than Wong is.

Answer 2

As far as the MCU is concerned, Dr. Stephen Strange is not a member of the Avengers in any way.

• As of the end of Civil War, only signatories to the Sokovia Accords are official members of the Avengers, the others "retire permanently", and are considered criminals. I'm going to count this as the definition of full-blown Avenger since it's the most applicable definition in-universe.
• He was never a member of the Avengers prior to the Accords either.
• No one on the Avengers team* even knows of the existence of Sorcerors prior to Infinity War. It's only in Infinity War that they begin finding out that there are wizards now.

Whether he could at some point become a member of the Avengers in the future is an entirely different story. Hypothetically, the Avengers' mission/purpose could be expanded to multi-dimensional threats, and/or Strange could operate in coordination with the Avengers to combat those threats - after all, even Sorcerors must eat, and have money to pay for Tuna Melts and Metaphysical Ham on Ryes. Not to mention even multi-dimensional beings can involve physical threats like minions.

*Technically, Thor found out that "Earth has wizards now" in Thor: Ragnarok, but he isn't an official Avengers member either, and hasn't communicated with the Avengers in a while.

Answer 3

No, he's not an official Avengers team member. Tony Stark had never even met the man (in the MCU anyway) prior to Infinity War, when he appeared out of a sling-ring portal to ask for Tony's help, bringing Bruce Banner along with him.

Throughout the movie, Dr Strange also states many times that he's not under Tony's command, will sacrifice Tony and Peter to protect the Time Stone and so on. He doesn't want to be considered part of the Avengers "team", as his primary concern is the protection of the Time Stone.

Wong explained to Strange in the Dr Strange movie that while people like the Avengers protect the world from physical dangers, it's the job of the Sorcerers to protect the world from more mystical threats.

It's unlikely that Dr Strange will join the Avengers any time soon, as you have pointed out - he has his own priorities in terms of global protection.

Answer 4

Before answering your question, let's gather some supporting information first.

Dr. Stephen Strange - Let's discuss about his brief background first, he is a Doctor, a Neurosurgeon, an ordinary man who met with his terrible fate after a car accident which brought his hands into a serious trauma resulting to the loss of the stability of his grip and a difficulty to control them. He was unable to perform any surgeries with precision, therefore began losing his confidence, pride and name. He researched about the people who has the same situation as him but were healed mysteriously, he came up with a person who lost the control of his legs but then is healed and became normal again. Dr. Strange searches to this person and asked how did he become normal again, that is where Dr. Strange was lead up into Nepal to the temple where sorcerers together with their trainer "The Ancient One" train to be powerful enough to prepare for an invasion of Dormammu, a powerful celestial demon who will be summoned by his followers (an ex-sorcerer who have lost their ways) that gained power from the dark dimension. The Ancient one shows Dr. Strange his inner-self and he can have powers by focusing his mind. After several days of training, Dr. Strange knew that the power he possess is limitless, that he can do much more than he has done. He researched into the library and finds an astonishing discovery, the Eye of Agamotto (the Infinity stone of Time), a necklace that can control time. ** FORWARD ** He found out that the Ancient One also draws power from the dark dimension for the greater good, now that The Ancient One is killed by one of Dormammu's followers, he knew that not all people who uses bad things are for bad things to. After the coming of Dormammu, he uses the Time Stone to rewind everything back the way they were before, but then he realized that Dormammu will still come even though he will rewind everything back, so he stopped the time and trapped Dormammu into an endless loop where Dr. Strange rewinds again and again after being executed by Dormammu, as an agreement, Dr. Strange bargains with Dormammu to set him free from the endless time loop if he will go back from where he came from and never visit Earth again. Dr. Strange succeeded with the trade and saves the planet.

**

So - Will now Dr. Strange be a part of Avengers?

**

Answer: Most likely no... well, perhaps not yet.

He did not know that there is a past war between villains and the original Avengers anyway, it so happened that Hulk (Bruce Banner) dropped from space and then delivers the message about Thanos' wrath. He is just an ordinary Doctor seeking for solutions about his hands, if it wasn't for Bruce, he won't know about the past and ongoing war of the Avengers. Since he volunteered to join with Stark to fight for the Earth's freedom then we can call him an Avenger now. But...again, he is not officially an Avenger. We need a confirmation from the Avengers team if he will become a part of it. (PLOT TWIST)[May Contain Spoilers] However, during the Infinity War movie, he traveled into time to for-see the chances of Thanos being defeated, from over 14 Million Chances, Thanos will be defeated by only 1 chance. So the Dr. Strange's decision giving Thanos the Time Stone is the chance that he has seen to be the only way that could bring Thanos down. But then after Thanos snapped his fingers, half of living creatures in the universe will all be gone, that includes Dr. Strange, we do not know what will happen next but those who were left behind are the original Avengers.

I think that will answer your question now.