Doctor Strange’s New Villains Were Inspired By Legendary Horror Director
Doctor Strange’s new villains, the Three Mothers, were most likely inspired by a movie trilogy from legendary horror director Dario Argento.
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The newest threat to the Marvel universe, the Three Mothers, first appeared following the death of Doctor Strange, but what readers may not be aware of is that they were likely inspired by movie characters created by cult horror director Dario Argento. They were introduced in The Death of Doctor Strange #2 as the heralds of Peregrine Child, (apparently the most dangerous threat that Earth ever had to face), and suspects in the murder of the Sorcerer Supreme. At their debut, the three extra-dimensional beings easily wiped the floor with the Avengers, including powerful members such as Thor and Captain Marvel.
Known as the Wyrd, the Crown, and the Crawling, the Three Mothers appear on Earth hunting for Clea, Doctor Strange’s longtime friend and occasional lover. They are mage-hunters from the Outer Planes, who look for worlds to feed to their mysterious Child, the “Apex Predator of the magical food chain,” in an attempt to satisfy his never-ending hunger for magic. This makes the Child very similar to another powerful Marvel villain with an insatiable hunger, Galactus the Devourer of Worlds, and the Three Mothers akin to his heralds. Their names and appearances, however, imply that the creative team behind The Death of Doctor Strange (writer Jed MacKay and artist Lee Garbett) drew inspiration from legendary director Dario Argento, who created the “Three Mothers” as the main antagonists for his trilogy of horror movies: Suspiria (1977), Inferno (1980) and Mother of Tears (2007, original title La Terza Madre).
Argento’s villains are three women who, in the 11th century, discovered witchcraft and used it to become immortal personifications of evil, gathering followers and power all over the world. Their names are Mater Suspirorum (Mother of Sighs), Mater Tenebrarum (Mother of Darkness), and Mater Lacrimarum (Mother of Tears). They spread evil and corruption from three haunted houses located in Freiburg, New York, and Rome (each the setting of one of the movies in the trilogy). If this wasn’t unsettling enough, the inspiration from which the Italian director drew to create the Three Mothers makes them even creepier. The creatures are first mentioned in an 1845 essay by British author Thomas de Quincey, Suspiria de Profundis (Latin for “sighs from the depths”), a recollection of memories and dreams influenced by the use of hallucinogen drugs. So, the Three Mothers are literally the stuff of nightmares.
The movie that started the trilogy, Suspiria, is Argento’s most renowned work internationally, especially in the United States. Over the years, it has reached the status of a cult movie and it is considered to have been highly influential for the horror genre, for its innovative use of elaborate set pieces and the director’s focus on color, photography, and music score to generate unsettling feelings in the viewer. Considering all this, it is likely that the Three Mothers in the Death of Doctor Strange were inspired by the characters in Dario Argento’s movies. Besides the obvious name reference, both trios are deeply connected to magic. Additionally, the horror themes are evident in Marvel’s depiction of the Three Mothers, especially in the appearance of the Wyrd and the Crawling.
Doctor Strange has always been the Marvel character with the deepest roots in the supernatural and horror genres. That the team behind The Death of Doctor Strange drew inspiration from Dario Argento for Doctor Strange’s newest, and scariest, villains, makes the Three Mothers an even more interesting addition to the Marvel Universe.
Link Source : https://screenrant.com/doctor-strange-three-mothers-dario-argento-trilogy-suspiria/