Defenders: Beyond (2022 series) #4

Last issue the Defenders plus the Beyonder landed in the Abyss where they were met by Glorian who told them he could make their dreams come true.

Now we see them in their dream world. Blue Marvel stops the assassination of President Kennedy despite him having told Adam Bashear to give up his superhero role a year ago (described in Adam: Legend Of The Blue Marvel #1). But he now intends to stand for the presidency against him.

Many years later he's at a superhero party where he reminds Tigra, leader of the Avengers, that he stopped being President almost 50 years ago. Beyonder  compliments her on her leadership skills, and Thor asks her to look after his hammer Mjolnir while Captain America gives her his shield to mind. America Chavez flies in with restored powers and her missing young sister Catalina, wearing costumes reminiscent of their (imaginary) mothers'. Catalina says she's been in the extradimensional Utopian Parallel where their moms are still alive. Adam notes that with Carol Danvers and T'Challa here too they've almost got all the Ultimates, and Taaia, the Herald Of Life, pops in to complete the set along with her son Galactus The Lifebringer. America Chavez thinks this is *too* perfect and feels that she's wearing something on her head ...

... which we see is the Eternity Mask in the grey reality that Glorian inhabits. Thinking she needs someone to fight he makes her see an extreme version of Galactus The Devourer. He realises that the Mask is continuing to make her the equal of any foe so she can break free of his illusions. He tells her that the Abyss is the Land Of Couldn't-Be-Shouldn't-Be, and here there are no stories but his. And we realise that Loki hasn't been in the dream. We see her now trapped in 1 of the grey 'trees' in this place. Glorian explains that he can't let the Asgardian create competing narratives. He reminds her that his story gave her everything she wanted but she says he's just a God Of Lies.

He claims that before he was trapped here he had the chance to create the next multiverse in his own image. His 8th Cosmos wouldn't have been a continuation of the 7th but a total reboot. We see that he has chunks missing from his body and now he tears a new 1 out of his arm and scatters it on the ground. All the current chars except Loki now appear surrounded by cardboard cutouts of many others. America has a cutout of her sister. The Galactus cutout is the Lifebringer version. Tigra still has Mjolnir and the shield, now also with Iron Man's helmet and Cyclops' protective eye-mask. And lots of cutouts tell Beyonder they like him. Glorian tells Chavez if she gives him the Mask she can have it all, and it will be paradise for the others too. And if it isn't perfect he can reboot and try again. And again and again.

But she refuses. And Taaia leaps in to support her, even if her son Galan has to be the Devourer version of Galactus. Tigra says she just wants to go home to her real son Billy. And Adam takes the choices he really made over a cozy fantasy. Glorian turns to Beyonder because his power dwarfs the others. But he replies that his desire is to understand reality, so he thinks he'd like to hear from Loki. With a snap of his fingers the God Of Stories is freed from his 'tree' (and she comments that she never liked being imprisoned like that, as he was in his 1st Marvel app in Journey Into Mystery #85). Glorian prepares to pull more 'flesh' off his body but America removes the Eternity Mask and tosses it to Loki. Loki realises that the Mask is a piece of Eternity and that with it the foe could have infected Eternity with his dream making it real. She refuses Glorian's offer to make her Ruler Of Asgard and declines to fight him. She moulds the Mask to replace the broken horn on her helmet and then uses it to 'speed dial' some cosmic entity known to Eternity ...

... and she gets the Queen Of Nevers, also known as the Queen Of Always, who claims to be Eternity's lover. And with her Taaia recognises Cloud and the Archetypes from the 4th Cosmos. The Queen says she is also the Pilgrim who 'journeys into mystery' and she invites our heroes to come with her, leaving Glorian to his desolation. Cloud says that he's trapped in the Abyss of Couldn't-Be-Shouldn't-Be because he can't see that it's also the mountaintop of the Land Of Can-Be-Shall-Be, the place of pure unchecked knowledge. The Beyonder says that the prime tenet of the Beyonders is that unchecked possibility is pure chaos (as explained in #2). Cloud counters that it's freedom, and you'd be surprised at what results. Loki would like to believe her but she asks if it's so good how come she's out here and not back there (in Universe-616 where she came from). She replies that they each have their journeys and the journey never ends, even when they pass through the final door to godhood.

And we see the door to the House Of Ideas.