Avengers, The #265

Issue Details

Synopsis

"Eve of Destruction" Secret Wars II continues from Amazing Spider-Man #274, this story continues from Secret Wars II #8.... Following their encounter with the Beyonder; Captain Marvel, Black Knight, Namor, and Hercules have been flung across the countryside in an energy tornado. As the group struggles to free themselves, Captain Marvel manages to disrupt the energy tornado by transforming into her energy form and disrupting it combined with Hercules clapping his powers together. Crashing on a farm, the Avengers recover and apologize to the farmer whose property they smashed. Realizing that Captain America is a prisoner of the Beyonder, the Avengers determine who should lead them in going back. When Namor and Hercules argue over leadership they almost come to blows when Captain Marvel steps in and breaks the two apart, shaming both of them over their behavior during a crisis. They recover their Quinjet from a pond and pay the farmer for the damages. With Captain Marvel taking leadership of the group, the team heads off to find help and go back for Cap. Captain America wakes to find himself bound to the side of a mountain in the cavern that the Beyonder has been hiding out in. When the Beyonder assures Cap that he cannot break free, he tells the Star-Spangled Avenger that he is aware of such limits after observing and copying his body months earlier[1]. When Cap is not surprised by this, the Beyonder tells him how he intends to destroy all existence. Meanwhile, the Avengers have been unable to find their teammate the Wasp[2] and their calls to the Fantastic Four and X-Men have gone unanswered. With no other options, they realize that they will have to face the Beyonder alone. Using the tracking device created by the Black Knight, they trace the Beyonder back to the Rocky Mountains and make a plan for their coming conflict. Hercules likens their challenge by relating to how he slew the giant Antaeus in ancient Greece when he realized the villains' power stemmed from his connection to the Earth. As they plan, Namor begins that surrendering to the Beyonder may be their only real option. Back at the Beyonder's hideout, the Beyonder has seemingly fallen asleep. Cap uses his as his chance to break free and manages to force his hands free from his shackles by squeezing them out of his gloves. Free he wonders if the Beyonder sleeping could create danger much like Dr. Doom did when he briefly stole the Beyonders powers on Battleworld[3]. He dives at the Beyonder attempting to knock him out, but the Beyonder had staged everything to see how Captain America could escape and easily immobilizes him in a stasis field. The furious Beyonder points out that even the "ideal man's" solution to dealing with him comes with attacks. Soon he is visited by Namor, who comes seeking an audience. When the Beyonder invites him into his hideout, the former king of Atlantis bows to him and surrenders seeking an alliance due to the fact that he has no love for the surface people. Scanning Namor's mind, the Beyonder sees that this is true and invites the Sub-Mariner as his ally. As he leads Namor to another part of the cavern, the other Avengers burst in. This all turns out to have been a trick in order to save Captain America -- however the Beyonder has seen through this and tosses the immobilized Namor at Captain America freeing them all. When the Beyonder threatens to destroy the universe, Hercules calls him out as not worth of being a god at all, but a pretender. Furious, the Beyonder unleashes his full fury by becoming an embodied head and pounding them with a powerful wind. When Captain Marvel attempts to attack him in her energy form, he redirects her at her Avengers comrades, knocking them all out save Hercules. As the demigod attempts to regain his foot, the giant sized Beyonder crushes him under his hand and warns the Avengers that he is the incarnation of power itself and he will destroy the universe. When Captain America tries to reason with him, get him to keep on trying to find fulfillment, the Beyonder angrily turns Captain America to stone. He then begins battering the other Avengers with rocks, and when he sees that they continue to struggle even in the face of impossible odds, he takes them all out with a single blast. With the Avengers unconscious at his feet, the Beyonder considers killing them but opts not to, deciding that instead of eliminating a mere six beings, he can wipe out the entire multiverse. Secret Wars II continues in Uncanny X-Men #203...