Beyonder
Super Name: Beyonder
Real Name:
Nickname: Kurami
Universe: Earth-616

The being known as the Beyonder is, in fact, a young member of an ancient otherworldly race known as the Beyonders. He was dragged to Earth by the super-villains geniuses group Intel by a tachyon beam meant to attract a Vibranium meteorite.

The Beyonder observed Earth for a number of years and was fascinated to discover that the beings living within Earth's reality were not each a creation complete unto themselves. Within his universe the Beyonder was complete; indeed he was all of his reality. As a consequence, he was naturally surprised to discover that Earth's beings were merely a part of a greater whole making up their universe; one that was itself but a member of a larger collection of universes, perhaps of infinite extent, called a multiverse! Hence, each sentient being on Earth was, in the Beyonder's unique point of view, inherently "incomplete" and thereby [he assumed] must strive to find some way to remedy its incompleteness. For this reason the Beyonder decided that the driving force of all sentient beings must be desire—an emotional state previously unknown to him—which manifested itself as a longing to grow; to be; to evolve into something that one is currently not in order to achieve a sense of completeness. Indeed, upon the realization that he (as he heretofore thought) was not all that existed, he began to view himself as incomplete, and, as a result, found that he too now felt desire.

To investigate the nature of desire, the Beyonder undertook an experiment. Various adventurers based on Earth, most of them possessing superhuman powers, including the Hulk, Spider-Man, and members of the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and X-Men, went to New York City's Central Park to investigate an enormous circular construct which had materialized in the park's Sheep Meadow. Upon entering the construct, the adventurers (as well as the construct itself) were teleported to an area of space-time near a galaxy far from the vicinity of Earth's. Similarly, a large number of costumed criminals, including the Absorbing Man, Doctor Doom, Doctor Octopus, the Enchantress, Kang, the Lizard, the Molecule Man, Ultron, the Wrecker and the rest of the Wrecking Crew, as well as the planet-devourer Galactus, found themselves in another construct within this same area of space-time. Aboard the constructs the passengers watched in awe as the galaxy nearest to them was annihilated by an unseen force, except for a single star. Then, before their eyes, a planet, which became known as Battleworld, was created to orbit that star. Finally, a rift opened in space-time, from which poured a blinding light, and the passengers within the constructs heard a voice telling them, "I am from beyond! Slay your enemies and all you desire shall be yours! Nothing you dream of is impossible for me to accomplish!" The passengers were then sent to Battleworld. There, over the next several days, they engaged in a "secret war" amongst themselves; most of the criminals sought to destroy the heroic adventurers in order to gain the prize that the Beyonder had promised.

In the course of the "secret war," Doctor Doom used technological means to steal the Beyonder's apparently unlimited power and absorbed it into himself. Too weakened to strike back against Doom, the Beyonder secretly took possession of the body of Klaw, who had been resurrected on Battleworld after his seeming destruction by Dazzler. The Beyonder took control of Klaw's subconscious mind and thus motivated him to encourage Doom's fears of his superhuman opponents in the "secret war" as well as playing upon Doom's own deep-seated doubts over his ability to control his newly gained powers. The Beyonder also had Klaw persuade Doom to grant him part of his power. Then, when Doom was struggling to control it during a battle with Captain America, the Beyonder left Klaw's body and reclaimed his full power. The Beyonder then vanished, and the participants in the "secret war" returned to the various places from which they had been transported.

Charles Xavier had initially planned to use his powers to make everyone fall asleep and thus to buy both him and Reed Richards time to formulate an escape plan, but did not because of a justifiable fear of the Beyonder's wrath. However, he immediately sensed a strange mental presence and attempted to mind-scan the Beyonder, revealing him as one of the Inhumans previously ruled over by fellow Illuminati member Black Bolt. The apparent secret behind the Beyonder's seemingly godlike abilities was also deduced by Xavier.

Months later, the Beyonder arrived on Earth to continue his study of humanity and of desire. He had never possessed a true form of his own before, but now he created for himself a physical form that resembled a composite of the bodies of various participants in the "secret war," in order that he could walk amongst humanity and fulfill his own desire for experience in this world. Next he gave himself a body identical to that of the Molecule Man. To study the effects of enabling someone to fulfill his fantasies, the Beyonder transformed television writer Stewart Cadwall into the armored Thundersword. Cadwall ran amok in his new identity, and was opposed and defeated by various costumed adventurers.

Subsequently, the Beyonder gave himself a body identical to that of Captain America. He thereafter encountered a number of costumed adventurers, but found it difficult to understand — even to relate to — counsel offered him about the nature of life by some of them. The Beyonder then met an underworld figure named Vinnie, whom, seeking to make use of his superhuman powers, became his "guide" to the world. Under Vinnie's influence the Beyonder sought wealth, pleasure, and power over others. He further altered his physical appearance, giving himself black curly hair and maintained this form for most of the rest of his existence on Earth.

The Beyonder finally parted company with Vinnie, and used his powers to take complete control of every mind and even the very atoms making up the matter on Earth. However, the Beyonder was dissatisfied with this and found neither pleasure in, nor a point to, the servitude of others when they were compelled through subterfuge to act like automatons. Hence, he released everyone and everything on Earth from his control; wiped out even the memories of his conquest of Earth — although he did allow some few of them to retain a vague reminiscence of it.

The Beyonder continued to experiment with experiencing love affairs with human beings. On a journey to the Andromeda Galaxy to locate the Avengers, he was responsible for the escape of their foe Nebula. To study the effects of the desire for revenge, the Beyonder transformed Thor's enemy, the Dark Elf Algrim into the powerful menace Kurse. He also saved Elizabeth Twoyoungmen, then known as Talisman, from entrapment in an other-dimensional world. The Beyonder sought to make Alison Blaire (Dazzler), his lover, and even went so far as to bestow half of his power upon her so that they would be equals. However, she was not in love with him, and the disappointed Beyonder, once more in possession of his full power, parted from her.

Now the Beyonder's mood began to change. He found desire a nuisance, and wondered whether he should continue to study it or just return to the Beyond-Realm, where he would feel complete unto himself. He briefly had the young superhuman mutant called Boom-Boom as a companion, and terrified her when he threatened to destroy the entire universe on a whim. She alerted the Avengers as to his threat, and they in turn informed other superhuman champions.

Deciding he could not simply return to the Beyond-Realm and forget that he had ever experienced desire, the Beyonder remained on Earth but fell into despair. The sorcerer Doctor Strange advised him to find a purpose in life, and so the Beyonder decided to become a champion of life like Strange himself. He acted as a "super hero" both on Earth and on other planets, but still seemed uncertain of his role in the universe, especially after Captain America and Mister Fantastic advised him of their fears that humanity would become overly dependent on the Beyonder to solve their problems for them. Encouraged by his aide, a journalist named Dave, the Beyonder overcame his own doubts. He then obliterated Death itself from the universe, thus earning the wrath of Mephisto, the "satanic" ruler of an other-dimensional realm of the dead. The Molecule Man, however, convinced the Beyonder that existence was meaningless without death, and so the Beyonder brought Death back into existence by using his power to kill the reporter Dave, who willingly sacrificed his life.

The Beyonder went to a South Seas island to contemplate. While there an army of superhuman criminals assembled by Mephisto attacked him, but he was saved by the Thing. Inspired by the Thing's heroism, the Beyonder decided to inspire others in turn to find their true role in life. But, again, the Beyonder used his powers to control the minds of others to do so. After the Puma failed to kill him, he became convinced that he was wasting his time in trying to enlighten others.

Furious, the Beyonder now believed that he had no role in the universe at all, and decided that he would be happier if he destroyed the Multiverse so that he would be alone once more. His powers were feared by the gods themselves. He slaughtered most of the New Mutants and did battle with the Avengers and Rachel Summers, a.k.a. Phoenix. Finally, many of Earth's costumed champions joined forces to stop the Beyonder once and for all, but none succeeded.

In an underground sanctum sanctorum deep beneath the Colorado Rocky Mountains, the Beyonder decided that perhaps he could find the contentment he sought by becoming a mortal being. The Beyonder created a vast machine necessary to bring about this transformation and tested it by resurrecting the New Mutants that he had killed earlier. He then turned it on himself thus becoming a mortal being with no superhuman powers. He was then (not surprisingly) immediately confronted again by the vengeful Mephisto. The Beyonder quickly reclaimed his tremendous power and immortality, and decided that, in order to protect himself from his foes, he would use the machine to transform himself into a mortal being—but one who still retained his full power. The Molecule Man and the assembled costumed heroes then attacked the Beyonder in his sanctum, but he defeated them all. Ultimately, the Beyonder entered the machine and was transformed by it into a mortal infant and which then began transferring the Beyonder's vast power into this newly created form. The machine was then to rapidly age his infant form into an adult and release him. Believing that he must take what seemed to him the only chance he might have to save the multiverse from being destroyed by the Beyonder eventually, the Molecule Man destroyed the machine, thereby killing the infant within. The machine's destruction unleashed the Beyonder's titanic energy, which the Molecule Man projected into another dimension. Hence the Beyonder's energy caused the creation of a new universe.

In this universe, the Beyonder was anything and everything. All of the religions therein were warped around him and he was the center of it all. Then the Fantastic Four, with the Thing, She-Thing, Human Torch, and Doctor Doom, showed up in his universe. This disturbed the Beyonder because he was finally content with his existence and wanted to forget about the other universe that he had once lived in. After easily subduing all of them, he ended up in a fight with the Shaper of Worlds and Kubik. After barely succeeding with the help of Molecule Man, he was told that his creation was actually the result of the creation of a faulty Cosmic Cube by the extra dimensional Beyonders, and he finally submitted to being reshaped into a Cube, which evolved into the entity called Kosmos.

-Marvel Fandom
1ST APPEARANCE
Maxi-Series May 1984
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