I am from beyond! Slay your enemies and all you desire shall be yours! Nothing you dream of is impossible for me to accomplish! 
- -- Beyonder
Appearing in "The War Begins"
Featured Character:
- Avengers
- Fantastic Four
- X-Men
- Colossus
- Cyclops (Rejoins Team)
- Nightcrawler
- Professor X
- Rogue
- Storm
- Wolverine
- Lockheed
-
- Magneto
- Spider-Man
- Hulk
Supporting Characters:
- Beyonder (First appearance) (Voice only)
Antagonists:
- Absorbing Man
- Doctor Doom
- Doctor Octopus
- Enchantress
- Galactus
- Kang
- Lizard
- Molecule Man
- Ultron
- Wrecking Crew
Races and Species:
Locations:
- Battleworld (First appearance)
- Deep Space
Items:
- Captain America's Shield
- Captain America's Uniform
- Cyclops' Visor version 2
- Hawkeye's Bow
- Iron Man Armor MK V
- Mjolnir
- Spider-Man's Web-Shooters
- Doctor Octopus' Tentacles
- Doctor Doom's Armor
- Wrecker's Crowbar
- Absorbing Man's Ball and Chain
Synopsis for "The War Begins"
After having entered a mysterious construct that appeared in Central Park in their own respective magazines (see Amazing Spider-Man #251, Uncanny X-Men #180, Iron Man #181, Incredible Hulk #294, Thing #10, Thor #341, Avengers #242, Captain America #292, and Fantastic Four #295), many of Earth's heroes are instantaneously gathered together in a giant construct in space. The heroes are Captain America, Thor, Captain Marvel, Hawkeye, Iron Man, She-Hulk, Wasp, the Fantastic Four (minus Invisible Woman), Colossus,Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Professor X, Rogue, Storm, Wolverine, Lockheed, Magneto, Spider-Man and Hulk. They are unsure as to what or who had brought them to this place. They introduce themselves to each other. They then realize they are not alone. Across the way another construct appears housing the villains of Earth, according to Professor X's mental probings. One thing the heroes do not understand, however, is why Magneto appeared in their construct and not the villains'.
In the other construct, the villains are just as confused as the heroes. After the villains introduce themselves to one another, both ships are hurtled through space to watch a galaxy be destroyed and a new planet be created. This causes both parties to realize that a very powerful being has summoned them all. The villains begin to bicker with each other and a fight breaks out. Ultron tries to destroy them all and is knocked into Galactus. The villains are all amazed when Galactus simply drains the energy from Ultron, then goes back to staring at the stars as if everyone is beneath him.
Suddenly, a bright light appears in space and a voice announces who had summoned them all, the Beyonder. He tells them that he can do anything imaginable and then orders them to battle each other, promising the winning side would receive whatever they want. Galactus refuses to obey the voice and tries to fly towards the light to force the Beyonder to give him the power to remove his eternal hunger for planetary energy. Doctor Doom follows Galactus and, when they get close enough, the light diminishes and they are thrown back. The constructs are then sent to the newly-constructed planet and the two groups of fighters placed on the planet. The heroes again question why Magneto is on their side, and began fighting over if they should defeat him or try to use his help. Magneto, however, feels that he is "above" most of the heroes, and uses his magnetism to fly away. The heroes then decide Captain America to be the leader of their group.
Meanwhile, Galactus and Doctor Doom are seen on the planet surface as well after being blasted back by the powerful light. Galactus is unconscious as Doctor Doom returns to the rest of the villains and tries to convince them to help him steal the Beyonder's powers instead of going along with the Beyonder's game. The villains think Doom is simply afraid of the playing the Beyonder's game after being shot back by the light, and Doom is disgusted at their simple minds and takes off in a vehicle to seek out counsel with Mister Fantastic. Kang uses the grounded construct's weapons and shoots down Doom's vehicle. The heroes see it go down and move to investigate.
Finding Doctor Doom lying in the rubble, Captain America tries to help him to his feet. Doom is unable to tolerate the heroes' pity and he attacks them in frustration, before fleeing. Iron Man warns the heroes they are about to be attacked and the villains unleash the first assault on the final page, to be continued into the next issue.
Notes
Continuity Notes
- Most of the heroes gathered in this story were seen being abducted by the Beyonder. The three members of the Fantastic Four were taken in Thing #10, most of the Avengers in Avengers #242 and Captain America #292, Spider-Man in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #89, most of the X-Men in Uncanny X-Men #180, Iron Man in Iron Man #181 and the Hulk in Incredible Hulk #294.
- Some facts about the gathered heroes:
- Of the Fantastic Four the Invisible Girl is missing. That's because she is about to give birth to her second child as seen in Fantastic Four #265.
- The Iron Man here is not Tony Stark, but James Rhodes. Rhodes replaced Stark as Iron Man from Iron Man #169-200 while Tony was suffering from alcoholism. Since most of the Avengers don't know Iron Man's double identity they assume it's the same long-time colleague in the armor. The Wasp refers to Iron Man as being "on leave", this is a reference to the fact that Iron Man (Stark) had left active Avengers duty in Avengers #168.
- Professor X appears here in a wheelchair even though he regained the use of his legs back in Uncanny X-Men #167. It's later explained next issue that the Beyonder "fixed" certain things, such as making sure characters were in costume.
- Cyclops is among the X-Men even though he had left the team in Uncanny X-Men #176 after marrying Madelyne Pryor the issue before. It is explained next issue that Cyclops was kidnapped by the Beyonder while on his honeymoon.
- At the time of this story the Hulk had the mind of his alter ego Bruce Banner, a condition that endures from Incredible Hulk #272-297
- As revealed in Deadpool's Secret Secret Wars #1, the mercenary Deadpool was also among the heroes gathered by the Beyonder, but per the fourth issue of that series it was revealed that the Wasp inadvertently used the wish fulfillment abilities of Battleworld to make everyone forget Deadpool was ever there.
- The Avengers call Magneto a murderer, this is in reference to the fact that Magneto sank an entire submarine crew defending himself in Uncanny X-Men #150.
- Some facts about the villains gathered here:
- Doctor Doom is actually from the future. At the time of this story Doom was seemingly killed battling Tyros the Tamer in Fantastic Four #260. As explained in Fantastic Four #288, Doom cheated death by doing an Ovoid mind swap with Norman McArthur. Later the future Beyonder would restore Doom to normal and send him back in time with no memory of future events to partake in the Secret Wars.
- Curt Connors was intentionally changed into the Lizard by the Beyonder, as he was cured and still in human form when last seen in Amazing Spider-Man #243
- Ultron was rebuilt after being destroyed fighting the Thing, Machine Man and Jocasta in Marvel Two-In-One #93.
- The Molecule Man is incredibly insecure here because of outlying psychological problems that forced him to go to therapy in Avengers #216.
See Also
- Write your own review of this comic!
- Discuss Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars Vol 1 1 on the forums
- 4 Images from Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars Vol 1 1
Recommended Reading
- Avengers Vol 1 242
- Captain America Vol 1 292
- Iron Man Vol 1 181
- Thing Vol 1 10
- Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 180
- Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol 1 89
- Incredible Hulk Vol 1 294
Footnotes
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