Defenders: Beyond

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The Masked Raider knows he can't actually talk Zota out of his insane decisions, but still feels he has to try. He knows it'll get him killed, but this just means Zota will try the exact same thing, convinced he can break the time loop. AL EWING : Not so much—there was a plan to explore some of the elements I laid down previously, but that was all taken care of in the first DEFENDERS series, so this is us heading off in a new direction with some old friends. Kind of a road trip. We thought we were only getting the five issues originally, so when people wanted more it was a welcome surprise. But, of course, that means we have to go even bigger.

Where your first adventure featured a mix of classic characters and some newbies, this go-around has a cast that has almost entirely never been Defenders. Why the switch?

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Each Cosmos has a Devourer of Worlds: the Seventh and Eighth have Galactus, the Sixth has Omnimax ( aka Mor-i-Dun), the Fourth has What-Must-Be ( who, much as Galactus would become the Lifebringer, transforms into What-Can-Be), and the Third has Anti-All, the great dragon. The Devourers of the Fifth Cosmos is unseen. During issue 2, the Surfer brings up how thanks to one thing and another thing, he's actually twice as old as the universe (due in part to events in Dan Slott's run on Silver Surfer). Strange's tarot cards for assembling hero rosters are from Secret Defenders for Strange's Secret Defenders. They are also used to build the previous Defenders in Defenders (Vol. 6) #1.

Best Served Cold: Blind Justice, the previous bearer of the Eternity Mask, knows ahead of time he'll die at the hands of his former friends in the Enclave, but is okay because he knows they'll get theirs eventually. As she's being used as a conduit for the Green Door, Betty thinks "I am as I am." Only the being she's being used as a conduit for is a lot less benevolent than God.The Third Cosmos learning about the states of "being" versus "non-being" is a reference to the Lifebringer One and the Anti-All from Defenders (Vol. 6) #5. The Beyonder wears the armor that he creates in Avengers #260. There is a mark on his chest similar to the unidentified one in Avengers #261, but here, it is a clearly-defined omega symbol (Ω). An agent of the Beyond Corporation ("debaser unit") listing entities from the Outside from Captain America and the Mighty Avengers #6 The story about the Eternity Mask and the Masked Raider is from Defenders (Vol. 6). Doctor Strange obtains the Eternity Mask in issue #5. Our non-team of fearless DEFENDERS meet their maker in the HOUSE OF IDEAS and have a chat with THE ONE ABOVE ALL . But is EVERYTHING as it SEEMS ? Defenders: Beyond #5 created by Al Ewing and Javier Rodríguez, letters by Joe Caramagna.

Tarot Motifs: Since Strange uses the Tarot of the Secret Flame to summon the Defenders, each member gets their own card and meaning: The "Dominion" is possibly referring to the "Dominions" that are mentioned in Powers of X #5. It is not clear though because the Dominions are a type of universal society but the Dominion here is an unknown threat from outside the Multiverse.When Adam Kadmon, sorry, Brashear, questions The One Above All, they respond with a direct quote from The Book of Job. They ask, “Where were you when I laid these foundations?!” It’s the question that God asks Job when Job demands to know why God has allowed him to suffer. One can read God’s response as being akin to, “excuse me, who are you again?” or else it could be a much more gentle response along the lines of a generous “I could explain it, but you wouldn’t understand, because you literally can’t conceive of my plan for the world.” The modern Jewish interpretation that I’ve learned is that we don’t know why God allows suffering. You could be the most pious, generous person, and bad stuff can still happen to you because we have no way of even conceiving what God has in store. Horrifying the Horror: Mor-i-Dun is utterly terrified when Doctor Strange uses Betty as a conduit for the Green Door, and the One Below All. The Blue Marvel's old outfit and his fight with the Anti-Man is from Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel, specifically Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel #1 and issue #5.