Though many were inclined to believe that the film would tease Dormammu's existence in some form or fashion, few expected that, in just his first movie, Doctor Strange would find himself in a one-on-one conflict against this ancient figure, also known as The Dread One, The Great Enigma, The Lord of Chaos, and The Eater of Souls. Still, there's no doubt that this isn't the last we've seen of Dormammu; since the beginning of Doctor Strange's early days as a sorcerer, keeping the Dread Dormammu at bay has been a full time job.

So before Dormammu comes back to merge our dimension with his, it's time to go to the Ancient One's library and study up. Here are 15 Things You Need To Know About Dormammu.

15. The Name Was Invented Before the Character

Dormammu is such an iconic name, isn't it? Though Steve Ditko was the one who originally came up with the concept for the character, and his otherworldly artwork was one of the biggest things that propelled it to fame, one of the most memorable things about the early Doctor Strange comics were Stan Lee's crazy names for spells, dimensions, and more. The cosmology of Doctor Strange brought Marvel Comics to places it had never gone before, as the character went through a dazzling multitude of realities containing such figures as the hoary hosts of Hoggoth, Agamotto, and Shuma-Gorath.

Like many other characters, Dormammu was first introduced not in person, but by name and nomenclature, with Strange and others repeatedly referring to a figure known as the Dread One, the Lord of Chaos, and so on. Today, of course, we call this world building; it's the storytelling tool that allows George R. R. Martin's Star Wars movies — with their references to events we didn't know about, and hadn't seen — felt more real than the prequels.

Anyway, a dilemma occurred when fans got curious about who this "Dormammu" guy was. According to Stan Lee, when he made up the name Dormammu, he had no idea who or what a Dormammu should be, until Steve Ditko came to him with a drawing of the Dread One's distinctive appearance. From there, the pieces all fell together.

14. He's Had a Couple of Redesigns

Considering he's more of a malicious deity than a true physical being, Dormammu has had a few different designs throughout his comic book history. As the all-powerful tyrant god of the Dark Dimension, Dormammu can make himself look however he wants to look, so design updates can simply be attributed to him changing it up from time to time.

The one thing that's been fairly consistent is the rather unique way that his actual face is masked behind some kind of energy, with only a lined shadow of it poking through. In the original designs, Ditko intended this energy to actually be smoke, and Dormammu's face was barely visible within it. Later artists have usually depicted the smoke as flames, and over the years, have tended to draw Dormammu in an increasingly Satanic fashion, sometimes even with horns.

The movie made the interesting choice to go in a different direction, moving away from more Christian devil-inspired depictions of the character, and instead going back to a more surrealistic, alien take. From what we've seen so far, it seems that Dormammu is a clearly non-physical being of swirling, moving energy, only taking humanoid form in order to communicate with Strange. His face, which seems to be composed of infinite folds, pays tribute to the classic Ditko look with the vertical lines.

13. He is Fueled by the Worship of His Followers

That said, Dormammu being composed of mystical energy is nothing new -- it's actually a rather key facet of the character. Dormammu isn't just a magic like Doctor Strange; this dude is made of magic, so to him, using magic is like us mere mortals flexing a finger. This means he's invincible, eternal, indestructible, and capable of wielding forces that eclipse the powers of even mighty sorcerers like the Ancient One.

But the energy that Dormammu's consciousness is formed from doesn't come from protein, water, or carbohydrates. Rather, Dormammu actually feeds off of the worship and subservience of the countless civilizations that serve beneath him, begging for his mercy (good luck with that). This is a big factor in his motivation to merge other universes into the Dark Dimension, as the more followers he has, the greater his power. This means that his greatest weaknesses are actually surprisingly human: despite how all-powerful he is, he always wants more, and he's impatient about getting it.

12. He Wasn't Born in the Dark Dimension

Despite his totalitarian dominance over the Dark Dimension, a rule that has lasted for untold millennia, Dormammu actually hails from something called the Faltine Dimension, a place swimming with extradimensional beings called — you guessed it — the Faltine. These omnipresent, omnipotent beings are composed purely of energy, and reject all physical matter. Dormammu and his sister, Umar, were an exception to this: unlike the others, they craved and hoarded physical matter to themselves. This led to them becoming the most powerful beings in the Faltine dimension, and using this power to murder their father.

These two unspeakable sins caused the siblings to be violently exiled from the Faltine Dimension, and they eventually found solace in the Dark Dimension, where they assumed physical form. After taking over, Dormammu returned to his original Faltine energy form, also merging with the Dark Dimension's magic to become more powerful than ever before. Umar, on the other hand, retained her new humanoid form.

11. He's now the Evil God of the Dark Dimension

At this point, the Dark Dimension has belonged to Dormammu for so long that it's hard to imagine what it might be like without him. But before Dormammu and Umar took it over, the Dark Dimension was the home of the Mhuruuks, a race of humanoid magic s, as well as a harmonious society composed of multiple species that had been at peace for a period that, on Earth, would constitute many thousands of years. This all changed when Dormammu led the Dark Dimension's ruler, Olnar, to the dimension of the so-called "Mindless Ones," whose rampage through the Dark Dimension left Olnar and millions of other Dark Dimension inhabitants dead. After using this distraction to murder most of the Mhuruuks, and then "heroically" stopping the invasion, Dormammu was hailed as the new ruler. Oops.

What makes the Dark Dimension unique? Well, aside from the sheer prevalence of magic within the dimension, it is also home to a vast collection of natural warps to pocket dimensions within the dimension, further amplified by Dormammu's whole gig of merging other dimensions into it in order to expand his rule. So instead of worrying about potholes in the road, the Dark Dimension's inhabits have to worry about tripping into a pocket universe if they aren't looking out carefully enough. Crazy place.

10. He Has a Super Powerful Family

Dormammu is not the only Faltine that Doctor Strange has come into with, though he is unique when it comes to his insane power level. His aforementioned sister, Umar the Unrelenting, has played a major role in many storylines as well, being the one figure with such a close connection to Dormammu's past (though since she maintains a corporeal human form, which looks pretty much like a human female, you'd never guess that she's Dormammu's sister). Umar has often come into conflict with Dr. Strange, usually as Dormammu's subordinate.

Perhaps Dormammu's most significant relative, though, is his niece Clea — Umar's daughter, and eventually, almost as powerful a sorcerer as he, then his lover, and eventually, she and Strange exchange vows. Needless to say, Dormammu isn't happy about this development.

9. He Controls a Creepy Race Called the Mindless Ones

One of Dormammu's greatest instruments of attack is his enslavement of a race of rocky, humanoid, faceless golems called the Mindless Ones, who possess no will of their own, and are slaves to whatever master is guiding them. When enough of them are gathered together, the Mindless Ones can destroy entire civilizations. After using them to overthrow the former king of the Dark Dimension, Dormammu and Umar imprison them once again.

However, Dormammu has seen fit to utilize the horrifying combined power of the Mindless Ones on several occasions, leading to his additional title as "Master of the Mindless Ones." At one point, Dormammu unleashes them on Times Square in New York City. This is actually a ploy to make a handful of superheroes, including Doctor Strange and Spider-Man, combine their energies in an attempt to send the Mindless Ones back — which instead causes Dormammu to materialize on the Earth dimension. Luckily for the planet, this effort is foiled.

If and when Dormammu comes back in a sequel, we can probably expect the Mindless Ones to make an appearance.

8. After Being Forced to Spare Earth, He REALLY Hates Doctor Strange

The eternal battle between Doctor Strange and Dormammu is unique among comic book rivalries for the sheer contrast in scale. Sorcerer or not, Doctor Strange is still just a man, and Dormammu is, when it comes down to it, a god. This means that in a sheer physical battle, Strange would have no chance against the Dread One, so he is forced to rely on his wits in order to defend the Earth from this unfathomable threat.

As in the movie, where Strange's first encounter with Dormammu is only won by him trapping the Lord of Chaos into a time loop and forcing him to bargain with him, the comic book Dormammu was also forced to spare the Earth after an unexpected encounter with Strange. Much like their big screen encounter, Strange is no match for Dormammu, and Dormammu's overconfidence proves to be his undoing. When drawing upon the energies of the Dark Dimension, he accidentally weakens the forcefield that prevents the Mindless Ones from invading and killing his subjects. When Strange is able to reseal the forcefield with the Eye of Agamotto, Dormammu is in his debt, and Strange makes him vow to never enter the Earth dimension again. Dormammu's word here is mystically sealed and unbreakable, but nonetheless, this embarrassing defeat by a mere human infuriates him to no end, and his hatred for Strange has only grown over time.

7. He's Employed a Lot of Tricks to Get Around His Unfortunate "Bargain"

Though Dormammu hungered for the Earth dimension before, the bargain forced upon him by Doctor Strange only makes him more obsessed with our little blue planet. It would seem that a mystical vow would be the end of Dormammu's attempts to overtake Earth, since he technically can't break it. But magic is a tricky thing, and the Lord of Chaos has tried many tactics to circumvent this deal.

Since Strange made Dormammu vow to never physically "enter" the Earth realm again, his first attempt to break through this is by bestowing enormous power upon Baron Mordo, so that the Sorcerer Supreme's greatest rival will murder Strange. Since then, he's tried to forge alliances with other powerful beings in the Earth dimension, always trying to either kill Strange or take over the Earthly dimension. At one point, he almost succeeds in merging his universe with the Marvel Universe, since amalgamating the two would not be physically "entering" the Earth dimension.

One of his more memorable ploys was his plot to get into Doctor Strange's mind and possess the sorcerer himself, thereby not technically entering the dimension, but still exerting his rule. This domination scheme was foiled by Clea and Strange himself, whose mind had been transferred into the body of a rodent.

6. He Caused the Great Fire of London

Even before Doctor Strange came along and banned him from the Earth dimension, Dormammu's interference in our world was not exactly a recent development. Over the centuries of humankind's existence, the only thing that has ever prevented Dormammu from overtaking the world has been the heroic intervention of the various Sorcerer Supremes throughout history, who have still only been able to do little more than stall Dormammu before his next return. He always comes back, in one way or another, and all that the sorcerers can do is collect their resources and get ready for the next invasion.

One of Dormammu's most horrific attacks on Earth resulted in the infamous Great Fire of London in 1666. The widespread devastation and suffering caused by this incident was fuel for Dormammu's powers on Earth, and he used this in combination with the inherent power in Stonehenge to link the world to his Dark Dimension. He was stopped by the Ancient One, who would go on to become Dormammu's foremost enemy until Stephen Strange came around.