Beyonders
The Beyonders are a cosmic alien race that features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
History
The Beyonders were a powerful race of cosmic beings that inhabited the Multiverse. They were created by the Celestials in order to keep maintenance of the Multiverse, the Second Cosmos, following the Celestial War. After the death of the Second Cosmos, the Beyonders watched over the Multiverses that came after in the Second Cosmos' remnants, outside the subsequent Multiverses. (Defenders: Beyond v1 #2) According to one account, their origins were traced to Cal-Horra a cosmic being made by Celestials. He in turn imbued the Beyonders with a fraction of his power but they came to steal the rest of his power and trapped him in a moon outside the Multiverse. (Avengers Beyond v1 #5)
Over time, they came to be known by many names such as the Ivory Kings and as the White Lords from Wild Space. (New Avengers v3 #30) Those from Beyond were called the Lords of the White Light who all-powerful omnipotent beings that were extremely curious. They were responsible for building whole universes and giving form to random ideas. Once created, the Beyonders tested them and twisted life as far as it would go until they eventually grew bored this life. (Secret Wars v1 #5) One of their creations was the Library of Worlds that served as a conduit between the universes the Beyonders had created back when they believed life was a valuable experiment. It was situated in the same unobservable space as the Beyonders themselves and was from where they watched the Multiverse. (New Avengers v3 #33) As a result, it existed outside the observable Multiverse and was where the order of the Black Swans settled as their home. (New Avengers v3 #5) A group of rogue Beyonders came to establish the Beyond Corporation that acted in their own interests. (Defenders: Beyond v1 #2) One of their activities involved hiring the alien known as Sphinxor to steal Counter-Earth for their museum of curiosities. (Marvel Two-In-One v1 #63) At some distant time, the had become aware of the universe that was inhabited by the planet Earth and sought to discover why that world produced superhuman beings. They later contacted the Nuwali through a Radical Cube where they offered them gold in exchange for them building a game preserve on Earth. This preserve was to act as a laboratory of evolution with it being stocked and restocked over the millennia. Eons ago, they used their knowledge to evolve the Fortisquians to become their agents by nature rather than work towards some reward. (Fantastic Four v1 #319) At some point, after growing bored with life they became fascinated with death and sought to destroy their creations in the Multiverse. (Secret Wars v1 #5)
The Beyonder was noted as being a child unit that adapted his appearance to what he perceived and crunched the universe to make it into a toy. (New Avengers v3 #30) In contrast, the Beyonders themselves had a much greater goal in mind and began their grandest experiment namely the simultaneous death of everything in the Multiverse. This involved the Molecule Men who was being primed as a construct of universal destruction in every version of reality as he was singular in them all and operated in their goal as a living bomb. However, the Molecule Man of Earth-616 managed to learn of their goals and enlisted the aid of Doctor Doom turning him into the Great Destroyer to prevent the Multiverse's destruction by murdering his counterparts before they detonated in 25 years. Ten years into Doom's mission, the Beyonders came to realize something was affecting their great experiment and intended to find out why it was failing. This led to them splicing a problem-solving virus into real space that infected any self-aware artificial intelligences capable of transuniversal travel thus enslaving to the Beyonder's cause which created the Mapmakers and their Sidera Maris who sought out the locations where the Molecule Man died in the Multiverse. These areas were marked and seeded as future sacrifice worlds in the Beyonders next scheme. (New Avengers v3 #33) As part of this grand experiment, they were responsible initiating the Incursions that saw the destruction of entire universes. (New Avengers v1 #32) Around three years ago, the Interdimensional Council of Reeds used Sol's Anvil to crush a Beyonder from Earth-5202. (FF v1 #3)
They were observing the people of the universe from the Lightless Universe located somewhere in the Negative Zone. (Fantastic Four v1 #319)
During the Incursions, Reed Richards and Tony Stark sent fellow Illuminati member Hank Pym into the Multiverse in order to find the cause of the great catastrophe by seeking out Rabum Alal. Instead, he encountered a superstation containing the refugee Builders from hundreds of dead universes that were seeking to stop the collapse of the Multiverse. The Builders through a manufactured Manifold tracked the location of a number of Mapmakers and battled them where they salvaged its core in order to track its source signal back to its source. This proved to had been a trap with the Builders being destroyed by the Beyonders. Similarly, the Captain Britain Corps themselves sought to stop the collapse of all realities and captured a Mapmaker in order to draw out the threat only for the Ivory Kings to send a large number of their forces to assault the Starlight Citadel who destroyed the Corps. The Beyonders proceeded with destroying the cosmic beings from across the Multiverse such as destroying the Celestial hosts, battling Eternity and defeating the Living Tribunal. (New Avengers v3 #30) From the Library of Worlds, Molecule Man within the Library of Worlds noted that the Ivory King were waiting and preparing when a group of Avengers confronted them. (New Avengers v3 #31). During the battle with the Multiversal Avengers, two Beyonders were dispatched to eliminate them where they were both killed but not after heavy losses among the heroes. Only Thor Odinson and Hyperion remained when they were attacked by multiple Beyonders who killed the pair. (New Avengers v3 #32)
Afterwards, Rabum Alal attempted to confront the Beyonders for one last time but failed in his goal leading to the destruction of further surviving universes to barely more than two dozen. (New Avengers v3 #33) This confrontation was a ruse to draw the Beyonders out at which point Doctor Doom detonated a large number of Molecule Men that he had captured across the Multiverse and used as a bomb on their creator. As a result, they were defeated and their power was taken by Doom in order to preserve life from the destruction of the Multiverse. (Secret Wars v1 #5) During the final battle, the Beyonders were stated to had been killed with their ultimate power offered to Doctor Doom and Stephen Strange. Strange did not accept the omnipotence offered with Doom taking this power whereupon he became God Emperor Doom who created Battleworld. (Secret Wars v1 #4)
Cal-Horra later came to escape from his prison outside the Multiverse that the Beyonders had trapped him in. He immediately launched a vengeful campaign against the Beyonders. (Avengers Beyond v1 #1) In an effort to save himself and his people, the Beyonder attacked four other Beyonders and turned them into crystals to power a shield that would trap the Lost One on Earth, after luring him there. Although the other Beyonders were grateful, they were also displeased that he attacked his fellow Beyonders to do this and banished him to Earth without his powers. (Avengers Beyond v1 #4) Anticipating that the other Beyonders would erase his memory of how to disable the shield, the Beyonder had extracted it beforehand and used it to make a deal with the Lost One. The shield was disabled, the four Beyonders powering it were absorbed by the Lost One, and he left to continue his hunt. (Avengers Beyond v1 #5)
Not all of the Beyonders were killed as their kind survived outside of the Multiverse, and seeing how the Multiverse was restored to how it was before, concluded their experiment to be a failure. The broken Beyonder eventually joined the Omega Council. During the Defenders' mission from Eternity to investigate the mysterious Enigma, the Omega Council wanted to send the Defenders back inside the Multiverse because they, as linear beings, did not want to draw attention to a nonlinear threat. However, the Defenders resisted and went inside one of the Council's engines, sending them to the White Hot Room, and the Beyonder followed them. (Defenders: Beyond v1 #2) The Defenders, in their journey through the 'Mystery' beyond the Far Shore, first entered the Beyond. (Defenders: Beyond v1 #1) The Beyonder greeted them and revealed the origin of the Beyonders. The other Beyonders explained that they believed the destruction of the Seventh Cosmos was a 'necessary experiment' to prevent the Dominion, but have since changed tactics to contain the threat to a few realities. After a brief battle, the Defenders journeyed beyond the Beyond and into the White Hot Room. (Defenders: Beyond v1 #2)
Overview
In general, they resemble humans, grey aliens, or mechanical beings, but none of these are their true forms and they can shapeshift at will. (New Avengers v3 #32) Upon their creation, they came to be known by the Celestials as the Omega. (Defenders: Beyond v1 #2) They also came to be known as the Ivory Kings and as the White Lords from Wild Space. (New Avengers v3 #30) Their role in the Multiverse meant that they were referred to as Reality Engineers. (Defenders: Beyond v1 #2)
According to the Beyonder, they are infinite beings that cannot be perceived by finite minds, but they can "clothe" themselves in matter to take on various forms. (Defenders: Beyond v1 #2) It was not accurate to describe them as beings that did events in a chronological fashion as they transcended such labels. (Fantastic Four v1 #319) Beyonders were universally adaptive and harmonically transitional who could not be fully comprehended by humans. Such was their power that they were not constrained by space or energy or anything within the realm of reason. (New Avengers v3 #30) They were able to create and destroy stars with their power. The forms they took were manifestations making them solid states that contained their very essence. (New Avengers v1 #32) Their greatest weakness was that they were linear beings and though all powerful they were restricted as well as contained to their own sequential timeline. (New Avengers v3 #33)
The Beyonders wield omnipotence on their fingertips, a power great enough to build entire universes and give form to random ideas. (Secret Wars v1 #5)
According to the Molecule Man, they were akin to gods and it required a god to kill them. (New Avengers v1 #31) They were held as dreamers and as destroyers with all of reality subject to their whims. (New Avengers v1 #32) It was said that for a time they wanted inhabitants of the universe to grow and become like them. (Fantastic Four v1 #319) Owen Reece stated that they had the curiosity of a cat but after creating universes along with life they eventually grew bored with it which was why they decided to destroy it all. (Secret Wars v1 #5) Their nature meant that they could not enter any universe outside their own. They were so beyond inhabitants of the universe that they could only operate through agents acting on their behalf. (Fantastic Four v1 #319)
The Beyonders have been witnessed killing nearly all of the Celestials and destroying abstract entities such as Eternity and Infinity throughout the multiverse at the same time, and three members of the race together managed to kill the Living Tribunal itself. (New Avengers v3 #30)
One body of Beyonders were the Omega Council who served as leaders of their people. Meanwhile, a group of rogue Beyonders came to establish the Beyond Corporation. (Defenders: Beyond v1 #2)
Such was their power that they were able to create entire universes and gave ideas form. (Secret Wars v1 #5) One of their feats was introducing a problem-solving virus and introducing it into real space where it was able to enslave transuniversal self-aware artificial intelligences. It was through this means that the Mapmakers were created in service of the Beyonders. (New Avengers v3 #33) Cosmic Cubes were artifacts associated with them and drew their power from the Beyonders allowing them to reshape reality. (Avengers Standoff: Assault On Pleasant Hill Alpha v1 #1) To communicate with agents, they made use of devices such as the Radical Cube. (Fantastic Four v1 #319)
One of the creations of the Omega was the Concordance Engine. (Defenders: Beyond v1 #2)
Members
- Beyonder : noted as a child unit of the Beyonders. (New Avengers v3 #30)
Notes
- The Beyonders were created by Mark Gruenwald where they made their first appearance in Marvel Two-In-One v1 #63 (May, 1980).
Appearances
- Marvel Two-In-One v1: (1980)
- New Avengers v3: #30
- FF v1: #3
- Secret Wars v1:
- Defenders: Beyond v1: (2022)
External Links
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