The Beyonders are an enigmatic and virtually omnipotent extradimensional race in the Marvel Universe.

Publication history

The Beyonders were first mentioned in the team-up comic Marvel Two-in-One #63 (May 1980), by Mark Gruenwald and Jerry Bingham. The Beyonders subsequently appear in Incredible Hulk #263 (September 1981), and Avengers Annual #17 (1988).

Steve Englehart tied in the Beyonder to these older characters for his "Secret Wars III" story in Fantastic Four #318-319 (September-October 1988). According to Englehart, an editor hated the character and ordered the Beyonder "removed" from the Marvel Universe. Englehart did as asked but has stated that he tried to exile the character with dignity. The character was subjected to a retcon making him less potent than originally determined, and explanations of his omnipotence have been written off as the more powerful beings "playing along" to ease the Beyonder's transition into self-awareness. It was explained in Secret Wars III that the Beyonder was in fact a Cosmic Cube. During the first Secret War, the Beyonder claimed to be the embodiment of an entire universe. As he became self-aware, he recognized himself as the only person in his universe. Secret Wars III revealed that the Beyonder is in fact a wayward Cosmic Cube, at one time inhabiting his own "dimension" because there was no matrix to hold his energy. The Beyonder took his name from the powerful Beyonders who were manipulating his destiny.

The Beyonders received an entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89 #1.

Fictional history

The Beyonders are a race of extra-dimensional entities powerful enough to collect planets. Their nature is so alien that they are unable to leave their own dimension and have never been observed by any being of the Earth dimension, and to interact with the Earth dimension they must operate through agents. After becoming aware of the Earth, the Beyonders commissioned the alien Nuwali race to create the Savage Land as part of their study of evolution. Thousands of years later, the Beyonders created the Fortisquians as agents to observe other worlds, including Max. The Beyonders were also responsible for providing the opportunity for the creation of the Cosmic Cubes, such as the Beyonder. The Beyonders have also used the alien race the Pegasusians as agents, to tow Counter-Earth to the Beyonders' museum.