Warning: contains spoilers for Death of Doctor Strange #6!
Marvel's holds no meaning to the Sorcerer Supreme...except when it does.
In The Death of Doctor Strange, Stephen Strange has been murdered on his own doorstep; he's found with a magical knife in his chest. Immediately, the magical enemies kept at bay by Strange's magic begin to invade Earth from all directions. Thankfully, Strange created a contingency plan for just such an occasion, and a much younger and inexperienced Strange appears - a remnant from his own past - to investigate his own murder. Gathering all his enemies in one room, he eventually discovers the culprit: Kaecellius, who has taken Strange's soul.
Kaecellius' powerful magic shield blocks any attack from Strange - but Strange is a doctor, and manages to breech Kaecellius' defenses by casting a healing spell. This "heals" Kaecellius by turning him into Strange, and the doctor is brought back to life (note that this already resurrection #2 for Strange). Past and present Stranges now fight the Child, essentially a magical Galactus-type entity that threatens the world. The past Strange is willingly devoured by the Child in his astral form; this allows him to "ignite" the magic consumed by the Child, making the monstrosity vulnerable but also killing the younger Strange - his second death in the event.
When the Child is defeated, the present Strange reveals to Clea that his resurrection was only temporary - "My life cannot be stolen back from Death so easily. She will take back what is hers." After one last kiss between the two, Strange fades away, leaving only his cape behind and thus concluding The Death of Doctor Strange with his third death.
With the MCU's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness arriving in theaters soon, there's no doubt in the minds of readers that he'll stay dead for long. But the event-ending battle was rare for a 2022 event in that it exacted an actual cost (temporary as it may appear to long-time genre-savvy comic readers). Perhaps Doctor Strange is so powerful, it took three deaths to finally do him in.
