Finishing Up Secret Wars II
- Janelle
- Sep 8
- 5 min read
Thank the gods I finally finished Secret Wars II. I get why they did it, but…ugh…that was a task. There are 42 issues (event & crossover), and I read every one of them that Marvel still held the rights to.
I get it. You have a character like The Beyonder and a massive crossover event with heroes and villains, so a franchise gets excited thinking about all the characters you didn’t have the opportunity to interact with The Beyonder. But just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
Woof.
To catch you up with the last few issues I read after New Mutants #37 (linked here: Secret Wars II reading event: New Mutants #37)
Amazing Spider-Man #274: The Beyonder is increasingly unstable and bargains with Mephisto. Mephisto doesn’t want the universe to end because, duh, he wants bodies/souls. So, The Beyonder chooses a demon named Zarathos to torture Spider-Man (chosen by Mephisto) into becoming selfish and turning his back on humanity. Spoiler alert: Spider-Man does the right thing, and the universe wins 24 hours from The Beyonder.
Avengers #265: Captain Marvel, Black Knight, Namor, and Hercules are dealing with the last confrontation they had with The Beyonder and decide to find out where the cosmic toddler is holding Captain America. They locate him in the Rocky Mountains, where TB has confessed to CA that he stole his whole look from him (very much like Single White Female). The small group finds The Beyonder and Namor seemingly betray the group, asking TB to team up, but shocker! It’s a ruse; they get their asses handed to them once more by TB and, now, even angrier, decide to wipe out the multiverse.
Fantastic Four #288: (This one deals with The Beyonder only slightly) The Fantastic Four, plus Wasp and She-Hulk, are in Latveria battling Doom. After Doom gets the upper hand, The Beyonder makes an appearance, where it is determined that the Doom that was pulled into Battleworld was from some point in the future, and TB destroying this Doom might ruin everything, including The Beyonder. Since Mr. Petulant doesn’t like that uncertainty, he sends this Doom back in the timestream to Secret Wars I to complete the time cycle. (This one is all very…blah)
Uncanny X-Men #203: Phoenix decides to take on several mutants’ powers to destroy the universe. Hoping that wiping everything out, along with The Beyonder, will allow the universe to reset without TB. Phoenix takes the willing forces of Kitty, Rogue, Jessica Drew, but then also steals the powers of sleeping Colossus, Wolverine, and Magneto. Going to steal Storm’s, she finds her awake, where Storm tells her this quest is a terrible idea. Phoenix flies off, comes across Starjammer, steals Professor X’s power, and heads to the M’kraan Crystal, where she is going to end it all. Confronted by the souls of the life forces she took, she is overwhelmed by the enormity of life destroyed and reverses course. Coming back to Earth, they are met by The Beyonder, who offers to fight them all as a final challenge. As a one last hurrah, they decline & he becomes even angrier. He wants his power back from Phoenix (whom he gave a bit to in an earlier issue), and she blasts him with that and her experience with the Crystal. He has a “Come to Jesus” moment & decides he finally gets it.
Secret Wars II #9: The final confrontation between The Fantastic Four, Alpha Flight, Spider-Man, Hulk, The Thing, Silver Surfer, Heroes for Hire, Cloak and Dagger, Avengers, West Coast Avengers, Vision, and Scarlet Witch (they were really trying to recapture that Secret Wars I feeling). Under this Rocky Mountain meeting of heroes, The Beyonder is miles below the surface, mulling over his discontentment with the whole “come to earth” experiment. He now decides that being a god is what leaves him feeling unfulfilled. He makes a machine that will birth him into a mortal body. He utilizes the stray remains of the New Mutants, resurrecting them, albeit in a zombie form. Putting his omnipotence into a container (because why not) for safekeeping, he is reborn into a mortal man, but gets scared and grabs back his power. Volcana/Marsha and Molecule Man are having a moment back in their apartment while this is going on, and MM decides The Beyonder needs to be stopped. Back in the mountain, TB gives mortality another crack but is confronted by Mephisto, battles him, and regains his powers. Molecule Man and Volcana join up with the hero bunch, TB is alerted to their presence and sends the zombified New Mutants to attack while he cooks up a mortal body with powers. Heroes and TB fight, Molecule Man and TB fight, TB rips a big gash (the internet has ruined that word for me) across the Rockies. TB stabilizes the Earth long enough to enter the mortal machine, while Molecule Man has saved everyone in a pocket dimension. As TB goes through the machine again, the heroes attack it, and the machine’s defenses attack back. The heroes debate whether to kill TB in baby form, and while they’re debating, Molecule Man goes ahead and does it. MM contains the immense power, and he sends it back to the universe that TB lived in before he was aware of Earth. Heroes are like “can’t believe we killed a baby, but meh”. The dead baby Beyonder's power creates a new universe…yippee! Beyonder finally achieved its purpose.
Avengers #266: The Earth is still in danger due to the massive gash in the Rockies (sorry.. I know...). The heroes summarize The Beyonder’s escapades on Earth to Silver Surfer (just in case the story didn’t bore you enough the first time through). But the Silver Surfer can’t fix the planet, and the Surfer feels an energy source coming from Molecule Man. Captain America realizes MM has the power to repair the Earth possibly, so he tries to track him down. MM and Volcana/Marsha decide to dip out of the makeshift military hospital in a hastily made hot air balloon. Captain Marvel unsuccessfully tries to talk them into helping, so the Silver Surfer brings them to the heroes' camp. Molecule Man decides to help, but will need some of Silver Surfer’s powers as well. The two combine their powers and repair the damage. All agree not to tell the government about Molecule Man’s help so he can go back to a semi-normal existence with Marsha.
That’s it, folks, that’s the last few issues of this event. You’re not missing anything if you don’t read all the crossover issues. All in all, The Beyonder is an overgrown child who throws a fit that everyone seems pretty content not being a god.
Moving on to Mutant Massacre next…have a great one! xoxo
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