Beyonders

• Core Identity: The Beyonders are a nigh-omnipotent, extra-dimensional race of beings who exist outside the conceptual space of the Marvel Multiverse, viewing all of reality as a temporary experiment to be observed and ultimately dismantled.
• Key Takeaways:
• Role in the Universe: The Beyonders function as the ultimate cosmic architects and demolition crew. They operate from a higher plane of existence, a “linear-verse” without time, and were responsible for creating the Cosmic Cubes as a means to study concepts like desire. Their primary role shifted to that of universal destroyers, initiating the collapse of the entire multiverse.
• Primary Impact: Their actions are the direct cause of the single most cataclysmic event in modern Marvel history: the destruction and subsequent rebirth of the Multiverse in the 2015 Secret Wars event. They successfully assassinated the Living Tribunal and nearly wiped out all of existence.
• Key Incarnations: The concept has evolved significantly. The original “Beyonder” from the 1980s was a singular, curious, and almost childlike entity exploring humanity. The modern “Beyonders” are a silent, inscrutable, and utterly alien race, acting as a unified, destructive force. They have not yet appeared or been referenced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The concept of the Beyonders has undergone one of the most significant evolutions in Marvel's cosmic lore, beginning with a singular entity and expanding into a multiversal threat. The original Beyonder first made his presence known, though he was not seen, in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1 (May 1984). Created by then-Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter and artist Mike Zeck, this being was conceived as the ultimate “what if?”—an entity of limitless power observing humanity's capacity for good and evil. The first Secret Wars was a landmark event, not only for its universe-altering implications but also as one of the first major toy-line tie-in comic events. The Beyonder was the perfect narrative device to orchestrate this massive crossover, a being powerful enough to believably kidnap Earth's most powerful heroes and villains. His childlike curiosity and detachment made him a unique and memorable antagonist. He returned in the sequel, Secret Wars II (1985-1986), also penned by Shooter. This series brought the Beyonder to Earth in a physical form, where he attempted to understand human concepts like love, desire, and mortality, causing chaos with his naive-yet-godlike powers. This storyline was far more divisive among readers, with some finding his philosophical journey compelling and others viewing the character as overly powerful and narratively clumsy. For decades, the Beyonder's origin was retconned several times, with writers attempting to fit his immense power into the established cosmic hierarchy. He was explained away as a sentient Cosmic Cube, an Inhuman-Mutant hybrid, and other concepts. However, it was writer Jonathan Hickman who provided the definitive modern origin during his multi-year run on Avengers and New Avengers. Beginning in 2013, Hickman began seeding a storyline about the death of the Multiverse. He reintroduced the “Beyonders” not as a single being, but as the entire race from which the original hailed. These new Beyonders were cold, clinical, and utterly terrifying—the “Ivory Kings” responsible for the universal Incursions. This culminated in the 2015 Secret Wars event, which canonized them as the greatest threat the Multiverse had ever known, completely supplanting the original character's persona with a far more alien and horrifying concept.

The in-universe history of the Beyonders is split between the initial stories featuring a single entity and the modern understanding of them as a race. It is critical to differentiate these two versions, as they are effectively different concepts that share a name.

The Original Beyonder (Pre-Hickman Era) The first being known as the Beyonder hailed from a realm completely separate from and infinitely larger than the known Marvel Multiverse. This “Beyond-Realm” was, in essence, everything. The Beyonder was its sum total. Through a microscopic pinhole created by a lab accident involving Owen Reece (Molecule Man), the Beyonder became aware of the Marvel Multiverse. To him, this complex tapestry of infinite universes was a tiny, fascinating curio. Driven by a profound curiosity about the nature of desire—a concept that did not exist in his perfect, complete reality—he created a planet called “Battleworld” from pieces of various worlds. He then abducted a large group of Earth's most prominent superheroes and supervillains and commanded them: “Slay your enemies and all that you desire shall be yours!”. This conflict, known as the first Secret Wars, was his grand experiment. He observed beings like Doctor Doom, who managed to briefly steal his power, and Captain America, who exemplified unwavering heroism, trying to comprehend their motivations. A year later, he traveled to Earth in Secret Wars II. Creating a physical body for himself (initially a composite of various heroes, later settling on a form resembling Captain America's), he attempted to live as a mortal to understand the human experience. His journey was a chaotic disaster. He became a professional wrestler, turned a skyscraper into gold, and nearly erased death from the universe, all in a clumsy attempt to find fulfillment. He was ultimately a lonely, confused god-child with the power to unmake reality at a whim. The heroes of the universe, with the help of the Molecule Man, eventually forced him into a machine that would have made him mortal. He instead chose to expend his energy to evolve into a new form of life, a sentient universe that would experience existence from beginning to end. This new being was later known as Kosmos. The Beyonders (Modern Hickman-Era Retcon) Jonathan Hickman's run provided a new, more terrifying origin that subsumed all previous versions. In this telling, the Beyonders are a race of beings from a higher dimension existing outside the Multiverse and its temporal flow. They are “linear” beings; they do not experience time as mortals do. From their perspective, the Multiverse is a self-contained petri dish, an experiment they created eons ago. Their greatest creations were the Cosmic Cubes—devices of immense reality-warping power that they seeded in nearly every universe. These Cubes were, in fact, infant versions of their own kind, designed to mature by absorbing the ambient desires of the universe's inhabitants. The original “Beyonder” from Secret Wars and Secret Wars II was re-contextualized as one such “child unit,” an immature and unstable being. The Beyonders observed their experiment for billions of years. At some point, they concluded that the Multiverse was a failure. They decided to terminate the project. To do this, they used a failsafe they had built into creation itself: the Molecule Man. It was revealed that Owen Reece was not a random accident; the Beyonders had designed a Molecule Man for every universe, each one engineered to be a living bomb with the power to destroy its native reality upon death. The Beyonders then began their multiversal demolition. They sent a Molecule Man from one universe crashing into another, triggering an “Incursion” that would destroy both. This process was repeated across the Multiverse, a systematic extermination that caused the collapse of thousands of universes. To ensure no one could stop them, they first assassinated the ultimate multiversal guardian, the Living Tribunal, along with all the Celestials and other cosmic abstract entities. Their plan was absolute and nearly flawless, thwarted only by the desperate, universe-hopping quest of a re-powered Doctor Doom.

To date, the Beyonders have not been introduced, named, or alluded to in any form within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Their role as the architects of Secret Wars is one of the biggest questions facing the MCU's Multiverse Saga. While they do not exist in the canon, we can speculate on their potential adaptation. The MCU is currently building towards its own version of Secret Wars. The role of the Beyonders as the ultimate cause of this multiversal collapse could be filled by several potential characters or concepts:

• Kang the Conqueror: The most likely candidate. The Council of Kangs, as seen in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, already presents a multiversal threat. It is plausible that their warring and manipulation of timelines could be the “Incursions” that threaten all of reality. In this scenario, Kang (or his variants) would fulfill the Beyonders' narrative function as the force collapsing the Multiverse, albeit for reasons of conquest rather than clinical extermination.
• A New, Unseen Entity: The MCU could introduce a new character who serves the same purpose. This would preserve the mystery and cosmic horror of the Beyonders from the comics—a threat that comes from completely outside the known framework of heroes and villains. This entity might not even be called “The Beyonders” but would serve the same narrative purpose.
• Doctor Doom: It is also possible the MCU could streamline the story, making Doctor Doom himself the cause of the Incursions in his quest for ultimate power, rather than the man trying to stop them.

Adapting the Beyonders directly from the comics presents a major challenge. Their power level—killing the Living Tribunal with ease—is so immense that it can be difficult to create believable stakes for a film audience. A cinematic version would likely need to be “nerfed” or re-contextualized to be a more tangible threat that heroes like the Avengers could conceivably fight.

Powers & Abilities The power of the Beyonders is, for all practical purposes, absolute. It is best understood by separating the original entity from the modern race.

• The Original Beyonder (Secret Wars I & II):
  • Nigh-Omnipotence: This Beyonder claimed to be millions of times more powerful than the entire Marvel Multiverse combined. His power was so vast that cosmic entities like Galactus or Mephisto were insects to him.
  • Total Reality Warping: He could create and destroy matter, energy, and even complex systems like planets or lifeforms with a thought. He constructed Battleworld instantaneously. He could resurrect the dead, grant wishes, and alter the fundamental laws of physics.
  • Conceptual Manipulation: His greatest struggle was not a lack of power, but a lack of understanding. He could not comprehend “desire,” so he created a war to see it in action. He could erase “death” as a concept, but was talked out of it by witnessing the consequences.
  • Weaknesses: His only true weakness was his own mind. He was psychologically a child—naive, easily manipulated, and emotionally volatile. He could be confused, reasoned with, and deceived by beings who understood concepts that were alien to him.
• The Beyonder Race (Hickman Era):
  • Multiversal Annihilation: Their collective power dwarfs even that of the original Beyonder. They operate on a scale that makes entire universes seem small. Their primary demonstrated ability is the power to destroy a universe in its entirety.
  • Slayers of Gods: Their most famous feat was the simultaneous execution of the entire Celestial Host across every universe, as well as the murder of the Living Tribunal, the ultimate arbiter of multiversal law. They also killed Master Order, Lord Chaos, and the In-Betweener. This act established them as the single most powerful force ever depicted in the Marvel Universe.
  • Extra-Dimensional Nature: They exist outside of time. This makes them immune to temporal paradoxes or attacks that rely on manipulating the past or future.
  • Weaknesses: Their linear, timeless nature is also their only known weakness. Because they cannot perceive branching timelines or travel through time, they were vulnerable to a plan that unfolded across time and space. Doctor Doom, by gathering Molecule Men from across the timeline, was able to build a weapon (a metaphysical bomb made of Molecule Men) they could not foresee or counter. They must act in the “now,” and could be outmaneuvered by beings who could manipulate causality.

Nature & Purpose

• The Original Beyonder: His nature was defined by curiosity and loneliness. As the entirety of his own reality, he was utterly alone. Discovering the Multiverse was like a solitary man finding an anthill. His purpose was simply to understand this new, strange existence and, hopefully, find fulfillment and an end to his solitude.
• The Beyonder Race: Their nature is clinical and inscrutable. They are not characters with personalities but a force of nature, akin to a cosmic entropy. They are referred to as the “Ivory Kings” and appear as pale, vaguely humanoid figures wreathed in light. Their purpose was seemingly to end their grand experiment. They saw the Multiverse's natural lifespan as concluded and initiated a controlled demolition, showing no malice or emotion, only a sense of finality. Al Ewing's later work in Ultimates hinted that even they may serve a higher purpose or power from the “Far Shore,” suggesting they are but one layer in an infinite cosmic hierarchy.

As the Beyonders do not exist in the MCU, we analyze the thematic and power vacuum they represent. Potential Power Level If introduced, the Beyonders would need to represent a threat level beyond anything seen before, including Thanos with the Infinity Gauntlet.

• Surpassing Previous Threats: Thanos affected one universe. Kang's empire spans timelines, but still seems bound by certain rules. The Beyonders would need to be a threat to the entire Multiverse simultaneously. Their power would have to be depicted as capable of “deleting” entire timelines or universes, as seen with Alioth in the Loki series, but on a vastly grander scale.
• Visualizing Their Power: Instead of energy blasts, their power would likely be visualized as reality itself “glitching” or being overwritten. We might see them erase a Celestial with a gesture, or “un-make” a planet. The horror would come from their ability to treat the laws of physics as mere suggestions.

Potential Nature & Purpose

• Cosmic Horror: The MCU could lean into the cosmic horror aspect of the Hickman-era Beyonders. They would not be monologuing villains. They would be silent, alien, and incomprehensible, their motives impossible to fully grasp. This would create a different kind of tension than the charismatic evil of Thanos or the intellectual ego of Kang.
• Simplified Motivation: For a film, their goal would likely be simplified. Instead of a clinical “end of experiment,” it might be framed as “purifying” or “resetting” a chaotic Multiverse. This gives the heroes a philosophical foothold to argue against, providing a clearer central conflict beyond simple survival. Their purpose would be to impose order by way of total annihilation, creating a fascinating ideological clash with heroes who fight to preserve free will and even a chaotic existence.

The Beyonders do not have allies or friends. They have tools, obstacles, and enemies. Their interactions are defined by their overwhelming power and singular focus.

• The Molecule Man (Owen Reece)
  • The relationship between the Beyonders and the Molecule Man is the single most important in their lore. Owen Reece of Earth-616, and all his counterparts across the Multiverse, were living, breathing tools. The Beyonders designed each Molecule Man to be a universal “bomb,” a singularity point connected to the fabric of his reality. His death would mean the death of his universe. The Beyonders' entire plan for multiversal destruction rested on this fact. However, the 616 Molecule Man was unique; he was the “prime” version who could connect with and influence his counterparts. He became the lynchpin in both the Beyonders' plan and in Doctor Doom's counter-attack, ultimately transferring their stolen power to Doom and later to Reed Richards.
• Doctor Doom (Victor von Doom)
  • Doctor Doom is the ultimate enemy of the Beyonders. While the heroes of Earth tried to stop the Incursions one by one, Doom understood the scale of the threat. He abandoned morality and dedicated himself to stopping the Beyonders at any cost. He created his own religion, becoming the messianic/destructive figure known as Rabum Alal, and, with Doctor Strange at his side, hunted Molecule Men across the dying Multiverse. He was not trying to save universes, but to build a weapon out of their destroyers. In the final confrontation, Doom unleashed his army of Molecule Men against the Beyonders, creating a metaphysical explosion that allowed him to seize their near-infinite power and forge the remnants of reality into his own Battleworld. Doom is the only being in the universe to have successfully challenged and defeated the Beyonders.
• Doctor Strange (Stephen Strange)
  • As Doom's right hand in the war against the Beyonders, Strange sacrificed his soul and morality to aid in Rabum Alal's plan. He led the Black Priests, destroying countless dying worlds to preserve the Earth-616 universe. He stood beside Doom during the final confrontation with the Beyonders and witnessed their power and their fall. He was one of the few beings to remember the pre-Battleworld reality, serving as Doom's conflicted “Sheriff” on the new world, a testament to the terrible choices he made to combat an impossible foe.

• The Living Tribunal
  • The Living Tribunal is the embodiment of multiversal law, a being whose power is second only to the One-Above-All. His purpose is to maintain cosmic balance. The Beyonders' arrival signaled a force so far outside the natural order that the Tribunal itself confronted them. In a shocking display of power, a trio of Beyonders effortlessly killed the Living Tribunal, leaving his massive corpse floating in space as a warning. This single act established the Beyonders as a threat beyond any scale previously imagined.
• The Cosmic Host (Celestials, Abstracts, etc.)
  • Following their murder of the Living Tribunal, the Beyonders executed a clean sweep of the cosmic hierarchy. They killed the Celestials in every universe, along with abstract entities like Master Order, Lord Chaos, and Eternity (who was shown in chains). They systematically dismantled the entire cosmic order to ensure their plan for destruction would go unopposed.

• Summary: The original Beyonder, a being of infinite power from beyond the Multiverse, observes Earth and becomes fascinated by the concept of heroes and villains. He teleports a curated group of both to a constructed planet named Battleworld and declares that whoever defeats their enemies will receive whatever they desire.
• The Beyonder's Role: He is the god-like puppet master of the entire event. He is not truly evil; he is simply an observer running an experiment. He watches with detached curiosity as the heroes and villains battle, as Doctor Doom schemes to steal his power, and as deep-seated conflicts (like the X-Men's distrust of other heroes) play out. His power is so absolute that the conflict only continues because he allows it to.
• Impact: This event established the Beyonder as one of Marvel's most powerful beings. It was a commercial blockbuster that had lasting consequences, most notably Spider-Man acquiring the black alien costume that would later become Venom, and the Thing remaining on Battleworld for a time, being replaced on the Fantastic Four by She-Hulk.

• Summary: Having observed from afar, the Beyonder now comes to Earth in a physical form to experience life and finally understand humanity. His attempts are clumsy and catastrophic. He tries to find love, a home, and a purpose, but his infinite power and lack of context for human emotion and morality cause worldwide chaos.
• The Beyonder's Role: He is the central figure and a tragic protagonist/antagonist. His journey is a philosophical one, as he struggles with concepts he cannot simply create or control. He is a cosmic force trying to fit into a mortal box, a quest that ultimately leads him to confront his own existence.
• Impact: The series concluded with the Beyonder being given the chance to become mortal. Instead, he chose to be reborn as a new universe, beginning life anew. This entity would later evolve into Kosmos and then the Maker. While critically panned by many, the story was a deep dive into the psychology of an omnipotent being and solidified his unique place in Marvel lore before his concept was radically altered years later.

• Summary: This storyline, the climax of Jonathan Hickman's Avengers saga, reveals that the entire Multiverse is dying. Universes are crashing into each other in “Incursions,” with Earth-616 being the final focal point. It is revealed that this is not a natural phenomenon, but a deliberate act of destruction orchestrated by the Beyonder race.
• The Beyonders' Role: They are the ultimate antagonists, the “Ivory Kings” behind the curtain. For most of the story, they are an unseen, existential threat. They are the force that has killed the Living Tribunal and is executing a multiversal genocide. They only appear physically at the very end, confronting Doctor Doom's final, desperate gambit at the nexus of the collapsing Multiverse. They are presented as a silent, implacable, and terrifying force of nature.
• Impact: This event was the Beyonders' single most significant act. They succeeded in destroying the entire Marvel Multiverse, including the Ultimate Universe (Earth-1610). Their defeat at the hands of Doctor Doom led to the creation of the patchwork Battleworld, and its eventual unraveling led to the rebirth of the Multiverse in a new form. This storyline completely redefined the Beyonders, cementing them as the most powerful and destructive force in Marvel's history.

• Kosmos / The Maker
  • Following Secret Wars II, the consciousness of the Beyonder evolved into the being known as Kosmos. This entity was a universe unto itself, containing all the power of the original Beyonder but with a more mature, cosmic perspective. Later, after a traumatic encounter, Kosmos's mind was fractured, and it devolved into a mortal form called the Maker. This being was unstable and amnesiac, eventually being imprisoned in the Kyln. This entire lineage was an attempt to evolve the character beyond his initial concept.
• The Inhuman-Mutant Retcon
  • In a controversial 2006 story from New Avengers: Illuminati #3, a retcon attempted to drastically scale down the Beyonder's origin. It was revealed that the Beyonder was not a cosmic entity at all, but a previously unknown human mutant of Inhuman descent. His powers manifested with such force that they turned him into a being of pure energy who created a pocket reality. In this telling, the “Beyond-Realm” was just his own personal universe, and the Molecule Man's accident simply allowed him to perceive Earth-616. This origin was deeply unpopular with fans and was largely ignored by subsequent writers, most notably Jonathan Hickman, whose storyline effectively overwrote it.
• Servants of the “Far Shore”
  • In Al Ewing's critically acclaimed series The Ultimates 2, the cosmic hierarchy was expanded even further. It was hinted that the Beyonders, for all their power, were not the ultimate beings. They were described as “linear men” who were merely the “gardeners” of the Multiverse, serving even more powerful and incomprehensible entities from the “First Firmament” or the “Far Shore.” This adds a new layer of cosmic dread, suggesting that the beings who could kill the Living Tribunal were themselves just agents of a higher, unseen power.

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