The Avengers Just Introduced The Villain Who Created The Beyonder

Contains spoilers for "Avengers: Beyond" #1

With reality manipulated around them, the Avengers have just discovered that the Beyonder has been secretly watching them from afar. But when Earth's Mightiest Heroes manage to pull the god-powered being to their world, they discover a more significant threat at play — the ancient cosmic villain reveals his true creator, who may be one of the most potent cosmic foes the Avengers have ever heard about: the Lost One.

The Beyonder, who has infinite power in the Marvel Universe, first appeared in "Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars" #1, in which he takes the greatest heroes and villains from Earth and brings them to a planet he created, Battleworld. It's there he has them fight each other, promising the winners their greatest dreams and desires.

While the Beyonder appeared to be the most powerful villain in existence, it is later revealed that among his own kind, the Beyonders, he is just a child who had managed to turn the Avengers and the rest of the universe into his playthings and who has been responsible for multiple "Secret Wars" since. In "Avengers: Beyond" #1, readers are learning his true origins — and they're tied to a new, more powerful force: the Lost One.

Since the Beyonder's debut in "Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars" #1, there have been several different explanations for his existence. Initially, the Beyonder was just an omnipotent being from the Beyond who was stronger than the Multiverse itself. It was later revealed that he is a member of the race of the Beyonders, who exist outside of space and time. For a time, he became a Cosmic Cube alongside Molecule Man. The Beyonder was then briefly given an origin as an Inhuman-mutant hybrid, a change that was quickly forgotten about since being those races doesn't fully make sense given his powers.

Finally, the Beyonder and his kind were given a seemingly definitive origin in "Defenders: Beyond" #2, which explains that the Celestials created the Beyonders not only to bring stability to the newly formed Second Cosmos but also as a failsafe in future wars, imbuing the beings with power so great as to be able to kill Celestials themselves. In that issue, the Beyonder reveals that after Molecule Man accidentally poked a hole into the womb-space he was forming in, he became corrupted, leading him to create Battleworld. He also admits that he became a Cosmic Cube to "fix" himself and speed up his growth from a child into an adult so that he can meet his fellow Beyonders in the Beyond.

If all of those origins and retcons sound complicated, it's because they are. But now, Marvel is making another major change to the Beyonder.

In "Avengers: Beyond" #1, the superteam figures out that someone, revealed to be the Beyonder, has been manipulating reality behind their backs. The villain emerges in their timeline extremely angry, explaining that a higher being is after him. He shares that the Beyonders were birthed before the Omniverse came into existence by the Lost One, who created his people and imbued them with a sliver of his infinite power.

Eventually, the Beyonders overthrew their creator, a move the Lost One allowed with little resistance. However, the Lost One has now broken free and made it his mission to destroy the Beyonders, sending Tiamok, who previously took on the Avengers in "All-Out Avengers" #4, after them.

To make matters more complicated, when the Avengers finally get a chance to figure out how to deal with the pending threat of the Lost One, Thanos' Black Order arrives on their doorstep. Given the vastness of the cosmic power and forces at play, it appears some of the most dangerous beings in the universe could be working for the Lost One and against the Beyonder. That spells trouble for not just Earth but the Multiverse and beyond.

While the Lost One's origin and history are still unknown, his existence before the Omniverse and the fact that he created the Beyonders makes him one of the most powerful villains — if not the most powerful villain — that the Avengers will ever face. "Avengers: Beyond" #1 establishes that even with his powers stolen, the Lost One can't be killed. So if he manages to take out the Beyonders and get his god-tier powers back, he will be unstoppable since there seems to be no upper limit to his abilities at full strength. While Earth's Mightiest Heroes have taken on some impressive cosmic villains and won, their newest challenge against the Lost One may be too much for even them to handle.

It's possible the new origin for the Beyonder could set the tone for what's coming in "Avengers: Secret Wars," although the Beyonder may be too powerful to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe himself given his incredible cosmic and reality-changing powers. But if the MCU did want to dive into the Beyonder's origin, Marvel Comics' newest story gives a new explanation of how he came to be. Readers can learn more about the Lost One in "Avengers Beyond" #1 by Derek Landy and Greg Land, in comic book stores now.