The Beyonder, the villain of the original 1985 Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars event comic, is back in the Marvel Universe starting this March - and it seems he's already doing a bit of reality rewriting by taking All-Out Avengers, which was announced as an ongoing title, and relaunching it as a five-issue limited series titled Avengers Beyond from the same creative team of writer Derek Landy and artist Greg Land.
The title Avengers Beyond ties right into the relaunched series' premise, which reveals the Beyonder as the source of some of the strange occurrences Earth's Mightiest Heroes have faced in the pages of All-Out Avengers, such as Carol Danvers suddenly turning evil.
The Beyonder was the villain of the original Secret Wars event, using his omnipotent power to summon two teams of Marvel's top heroes and villains to a place called Battleworld, with one side destined to claim the prize of a portion of the Beyonder's power.
The 2015 spiritual sequel event, also titled Secret Wars, revealed that this Beyonder was just one of many omnipotent beings who built the Marvel Multiverse - and destroyed it in the 2015 event.
Both events seem to be in play as inspiration for the upcoming Avengers: Secret Wars movie adaptation - so the Beyonder's return to Marvel Comics as the Secret Wars hype is heating up is probably no coincidence.
"I am beyond excited to take everything we've done in All-Out Avengers and continue it into its next incarnation," Landy states in the announcement of Avengers Beyond. "We're just beginning to brush up against the wider implications of the Beyonder's agenda and the chance to tell this kind of story - the story of gods, the one thing that scares them, and the Avengers caught in the middle - is an impossible dream come true for a kid who grew up with Secret Wars."
All-Out Avengers will now conclude with January 25's All-Out Avengers #5, with February's All-Out Avengers #6 canceled. Marvel solicited that issue with hints of the Beyonder's manipulation, so it appears likely March 29's Avengers Beyond #1 will be All-Out Avengers #6 rebranded.
With the Earth's Mightiest Heroes fourth ongoing series announced, check out how the Avengers became Marvel's flagship comic book franchise.
