Defenders: Beyond (2022 series) #5

The 5 Defenders plus Beyonder and Cloud prepare to enter the House Of Ideas. But the Loki from the 7th Cosmos is distracted by a screen which shows him what's been happening to the Loki of the 8th Cosmos. (In Infinity Wars #5-6) he broke into the Quarry Of Creation looking for whoever had been messing with his life, and looked through a window and saw what we now realise was our Loki. And later (in his 2020 mini-series) he was show a false House Of Ideas. Our Loki realises that this means 8th Cosmos Loki doesn't remember these current adventures, so it means that his plan (that we know nothing about) must work.

They enter the House's door ignoring the 'closed' sign (but Beyonder and Cloud don't seem to follow them in) and meet a giant being who claims to be the One Above All. He's dabbling with primary colours and says that he works through many hands to create the universe. When Adam Brashear (referred to as Adam Kadmon again) questions this he unleashes the foundations of the universe, monsters from the pre-Marvel 'Monster Mags', for the core team to fight. They fight with gusto but Blue Marvel reasons this is only a distraction and the monsters disappear.

They see the OAA daubing paint on a Tree Of Life diagram about twice as long as the Kabbalah version. It is divided into 4 sections each in 1 colour - green, blue, yellow and red. Adam suggests that this is as high as mortals (or comics chars?) can reach but it doesn't mean that the OAA is truly above *all*, it's only the beginning of it that he represents. The OAA concurs that this is where the world of action ends and the world of creation begins. But Adam asks if OAA truly *knows* that there's nothing above *his* creators. OAA says it's an intriguing question.

But he asks them what *they* want to know. Taaia asks about her son Galan/Galactus. OAA says Galactus is as he wants him to be, but she won't be allowed to return to her own (6th) Cosmos with that knowledge. America Chavez asks about her missing sister Catalina. OAA says she will find her and much more - nothing that was made is ever lost (referring to America's original powers, or just to the general state of the Marvel Universe?). Tigra says she just want to go home. OAA says she will when the storyteller (Loki?) chooses.

Blue Marvel says the Defenders' mission is to find Eternity's enemy which he suspects is beyond the OAA. OAA can offer them a glimpse of the Enigma to come. They see a crown in sections, each of a different background. A leafy section over a load of Big Macs. A golden section over ruins. A fiery section over a sea. A section of maggots dropping onto corpses. And a metal section in space. Adam tells Tigra it's only a representation of something they wouldn't be able to comprehend. Loki steps up because riddles are her kind of thing. She reminds them that they saw a crown card in Dr Strange's tarot pack (in #1) mixed in with the usual swords, cups, coins and staffs. So she recommends looking for a 5th where there are 4. (But she tells us readers that she's holding other stuff back for the sake of suspense.)

She now announces that she gave the multiverse the Defenders it wanted so now it's time for her to leave the multiverse from this crown of creation. This was her secret reason for going along with this last adventure. She wants to escape from her own story. She's not needed because she's seen the Loki of the 8th Cosmos (in Thor (2020) #24) and he's better than she expected. So he can be the real Loki and she'll be content to be an alternate. And free!

But Beyonder and Cloud have reappeared on this page. Beyonder explains that they were hitting and shooting before, which was superhero stuff. But Cloud now says that Loki's chosen a reasonable option but it's still a *choice*. She could instead choose to *become* the 8th Cosmos Loki as God Of Stories and a Defender of Eternity and fight against this Enigma. Adam says they're asking her to take a bodhisattva vow not to seek freedom until all are free. Loki claims she can't save everyone because she can barely save herself, and she doesn't want reality to force her to be her old self. Cloud opines that it couldn't do that and that it's probably already tried. Beyonder looks shifty(?). And Loki is now intrigued by the idea of becoming the 8th Cosmos Loki but not letting him remember this until the time is right. Tricking the trickster himself is the ultimate trick!

So she decides to do it. We see her in an old cover corner box labelled Loki #85 Oct (which represents old Loki's 1st app in Journey Into Mystery #85). The Defenders team appear on a #5 of 5 Defenders comic, presumably this 1. The 8th Cosmos Loki is on the throne of Jotunheim on a Next #3 comic with a symbol seen on his 2019 series where he became King of that realm. Beyonder is trapped in Secret Wars II #6 and isn't happy. Loki responds from an Agent Of Asgard cover that it's her responsibility. But Beyonder rips all the comics up and admits that he's been looking for a way out too. He doesn't want to be just *a* Beyonder, he's *the* Beyonder. And he now rips through realities to live on his own terms. Cloud drifts off somewhere. And the 5 Defenders tumble back home.

Our Loki appears as the 8th Cosmos Loki on his Jotunheim throne. That Loki now remembers his adventure here, and that he's got the Eternity Mask disguised as 1 of the horns of his helmet. Blue Marvel's back in his undersea base and he says that Tigra's doing something with Moon Knight and America's joined the latest Thunderbolts. But Taaia is here with him. She knows that if she goes back to the 6th Cosmos she'll forget being in the 8th Cosmos, and that her son Galan became Galactus the Devourer but is now the Lifebringer. So now she opts to remain here as a Defender of the Cosmos. Adam expects that Dr Strange's spell means that the Defenders may get called on again, and they know that Eternity's enemy, the Enigma, is out there. But he reminds her that there are a lot of old Defenders to call on. We see on his screen Moondragon, Silver Surfer, Nighthawk, Gargoyle, Hulk, Dr Strange, Red Harpy, Angel, Iceman, Hellcat, Red Guardian, Sub-Mariner and Valkyrie (but she's drawn as the recent Runa rather than the actual Defender Brunnhilde). (These are the same chars as on #1's back cover, except that 1 had the right Valkyrie.)