Secret Wars II #3 - "This World is Mine!"

Credits

Writer - Jim Shooter / Penciler - Al Milgrom / Inker - Steve Leialoha / Lettering - Joe Rosen / Colors - Christie Scheele

Story

The all-powerful and completely ignorant Beyonder is sleeping in the streets of New York City when he is roused by a police officer for vagrancy. Driven off, the Beyonder meets a prostitute named Toots, and scares her away when he produces gold bars out of thin air. The Beyonder eventually gets a room at a fleabag motel and falls asleep; he is later roused by Vinnie, a mobster who learned of the gold bar. When prompted, the Beyonder explains his origins -- that he is the embodiment of another universe, and is now on Earth to learn about life.

Vinnie, believing in the Beyonder's limitless power, takes him in as a protege. Over the next few days, the Beyonder gets a crash-course in human existence -- food and drink, clothing and fasion, whys and wherefores. In return, the Beyonder uses his powers to help Vinnie build his power base and protect his interests, quickly rising within the organization.

Vinnie eventually realizes that the Beyonder has eclipsed him, and lets him go to build his own empire. Using his reality-altering powers, the Beyonder quickly siezes control of the city, then the country, then the entire planet. Humans, animals, plants, bacteria, even the seas and stones are in thrall to the One from Beyond.

So much for separating the Transformers comic from the rest of the Marvel Universe.

While touring the super-humans of Earth, the Beyonder meets Circuit Breaker, who intrigues him with her biological/technological synthesis. Circuit Breaker explains that she is driven to destroy the Transformers because they are machines, that they are mockeries of existence that lack "the spark of life."

Later, the Beyonder grows bored with the total and mindless devotion of his subjects. Taking Circuit Breaker's advice, he studies Toots, and confirms that his total control of humanity has supressed everyone's individual liveliness. He then releases everyone and everything from his control, erases their memories of his subjugation, and looks for something new to study.

Notes and Comments

• Even though Marvel's official position is that the events of the Transformers comic book series do not occur in the mainstream Marvel comic-book continuity (see the "Notes and Comments" for issue #3), this issue is a strong argument against it.