6.4. Avengers Beyond
The Avengers are having a briefing, when they get news of a strange glowing portal appearing in New York City. Bucky Barnes goes to investigate, but a few minutes after he’s gone, Wanda Maximoff points out that another has appeared outside the New Avengers Facility.
In rural China, Lin Lie is fighting a group of Jui Li demons. As he kills the last one, a portal appears. Sheathing his sword, he steps through it.
In the exercise yard of a Siberian prison, Alexei Shostakov is boasting about having fought Captain America, when a portal appears. The other inmates egg him on, saying if he’s really the great hero he claims he’ll go through it, and he caves to peer pressure and steps through it.
Ami Han is chasing a suspect through Seoul, when the portal appears before her. Unable to stop, she runs through it.
Karnak is updating Xiaoyi Chen about the decisions of the Congress of Realms, when a portal appears in her office. She goes to enter it, but Karnak tells her it’s for him, and walks through.
In Garrett castle, the portal appears in Nathan Garrett's bedroom. He picks up the Ebony Blade, armour appearing on him as he does, and walks through.
In Times Square, Peter Parker is trying to keep people away from the portal, when Bucky arrives. Bucky says he’s going to look inside, and Peter attaches a web to him, so he can act as an anchor on this side of the portal, however when Bucky steps through, Peter gets pulled in.
They land on the surface of an alien planet, bare red earth and rock, to find Tony Stark has walked through the Avengers facility portal. Peter is very excited to be on a mission with Iron Man and Captain America, but Bucky isn’t exactly sociable, and Tony seems to be deliberately avoiding talking to Peter.
Tony tries to identify where they are, but finds that they’re out of range of all earth satellites, which also means their communicators aren’t working. He scans the planet and finds life signs, and flies off, leaving Peter and Bucky to follow on foot.
They find Alexei, now dressed in his full Red Guardian costume, who is confused but excited to be meeting Captain America. When he realises that Bucky isn’t Steve Rogers, he keeps insisting he fought Steve, and that Steve probably mentioned him. Peter points out that the timeline of that makes no sense, to Red Guardian’s annoyance.
Lin Lie lands on the planet at the bottom of a crater. Ami Han (her tactical black now a costume of white and blue) and Eden Fesi are at the top of the crater, and help him out. Eden tells them they need to head north, and when they ask him why, he says he doesn’t know, he just has a feeling about it.
Tony returns to the other Avengers and tells them he’s found more people, and they follow him and join up with Karnak and Nathan. Just as they arrive, Lin Lie’s group also reach them.
They introduce themselves and discuss how they got there, and discover that they all walked through the same kind of portal, except Eden, who doesn’t remember how he got there. Last he remembers, he was locked up in the Australian inhuman prison. Red Guardian and White Fox comment on their costume changes, and Eden says that he’s never seen the uniform he’s wearing before in his life.
As they’re talking, there’s a crash of thunder and a figure appears, floating in the sky above them. The figure introduces themself as The Beyonder, and tells them that they are on a multiversal quest to find a true hero. They have been chosen because they represent the greatest warriors and heroes of their planet.
The Beyonder uses their power to create a huge structure around them, like a Roman colosseum, an arena surrounded by stands, with a raised dais with a throne-line chair on it on one side, which the Beyonder seats themselves on.
They tells the Chosen Heroes that they are to battle one another, until one hero emerges victorious, having proved themselves a true warrior. This hero will be granted a wish, and they claim to be able to do almost anything, bestow immortality, great wealth, even bring a loved one back from the dead.
Tony asks why the hell they wouldn’t just all leave, and the Beyonder tells them that they can’t. They’re on a planet, thousands of light years from Earth and they have also placed a forcefield around the colosseum, trapping them all within it until the contest is done. Karnak confirms that the forcefield doesn’t have any weakness that he can see. They promise that after the contest is completed, the heroes will be returned to earth unharmed.
Karnak asks what the rules are, and the Beyonder says that’s up to the heroes to determine, as that’s also part of the test.
Alexei immediately challenges Bucky, but the rest of them ignore him. They agree that for the time being they need to play along, and that all fights should be non-lethal.
Peter raises his hand, and asks the Beyonder if he can send him home, since he wasn’t supposed to here, and Eden says that he’s pretty sure he’s there by mistake as well, since he’s pretty much never been in a fight, but the Beyonder tells them that now they’re here they have to remain here.
Ami Han says that she wants to get this over with, so she will fight first. Peter volunteers to fight her, also wanting to get the worst out of the way, but Tony immediately insists that he should be the one to fight her.
At first Tony seems to be winning, but Ami is superhumanly fast and strong, and she easily holders her own.
While the fight is going on, Karnak and Eden explore, finding there are store rooms under the seating, finding food and water, as well as blankets.
Back in the arena, Ami transforms into her fox form, pouncing and knocking Tony out of the sky to land hard on his back. He pops the face plate to take a breath, and tells her he surrenders, and she kisses him on the cheek, and tells him he might have lost, but now he can tell people he survived the kiss of a K
umiho.
While Tony and Ami Han catch their breath and drink water, the others discuss who’s going to fight next. Nathan immediately volunteers, and Karnak takes up the challenge.
The fight is initially good natured, but as it continues, Nathan gets more and more aggressive, and when Peter tries to intervene, he bats him across the arena and keeps attacking.
Using his power, Karnak identifies that the problem is the Ebony Blade, that it’s possessing him. He manages to disarm him with a blow to the wrist, which frees Nathan, and also removes his armour, leaving him in his pyjamas. Karnak begins to relax, but Nathan spins around and punches him out, declaring himself the winner.
Eden hands out candy bars and water, and they discuss who should fight next. Peter once again says he wants to get it over with, and Tony says he shouldn’t fight, because he’s a kid. Just as it seems like they’re gearing up for a serious row, there’s a crash of thunder, and a star shaped burst of light appears in the sky and America Chavez flies out, up to where the Beyonder is sitting and with a yell of “this is for my moms!” punches him.
As his head snaps to the side, Eden winces, as though she’d hit him as well.
America goes to hit the Beyonder again, but this time, her punch goes straight through him. When she tries to fly away, he makes a gesture and suddenly she can’t move, his power holding her still.
He asks who she is, and she tells him that she’s the daughter of heroes he murdered in his sick game, come to avenge their deaths by killing him.
The Beyonder just laughs. He says that that certainly sounds like the motivation of a hero to him, and they were one short, since Spider-Man had hitchhiked, so since she came all the way here, she can be his tenth champion.
America tells him she’s not playing his games and breaks free of his control. She punches the ground, opening one of her star portals, but the Beyonder just shakes his head like he’s disappointed and gestures, closing it again. He tells her that he wishes her the best of luck in the contest, and vanishes.
That evening, the chosen heroes sit around a campfire Eden has built. America explains that the Beyonder had done the same thing he’s doing here in her home dimension, but it had turned into a bloodbath. Lin Lie asks why they hadn’t made a no killing rule, and America says that as far as she knows they did, but they were trapped there for weeks, being forced to battle, and they gradually cracked under the pressure. She doesn’t know why, but she thinks that that was the plan from the start, that for some reason, the Beyonder is trying to make his chosen heroes kill one another.
Alexei confidently asserts that it won’t happen to them, but Bucky says not to be so sure. He asks why he was chosen, and Peter immediately says that it’s because he’s Captain America, he’s one of the greatest heroes ever, of course he’d be chosen.
Bucky says no, that’s Steve. Steve’s the true-blue hero. He’s a world-famous assassin. He asks them how many of them have blood on their hands, and only Peter, Lin Lie, and America don’t raise their hands.
When Bucky says that proves it, Peter protests, and points out that Lin Lie is a chosen hero as well, and Lin Lie says that he’s never killed a human, but he has killed demons, so maybe that counts.
The heroes bed down for the night, unrolling blankets from the store room on the floor of the arena. As they’re setting them up, Bucky gets America alone for a moment, and asks her if her power can take her anywhere in the multiverse. When she tells him yes, he says that there’s someone important to him, the man who was supposed to be carrying the Shield, who’s lost out there. America tells him that if they manage to get out of there, she’ll take him anywhere he wants to go.
Peter lays out his blankets next to Tony’s. After the fire’s been extinguished, and some people are asleep, Peter asks Tony if he can say something.
“I know better than to try and stop you.”
“Okay. Look, I… I know you’re trying to protect me because I’m young, and I maybe wasn’t supposed to be here, but I’m not new to this. I mean, the mortal kombat in space thing is new, but I’ve been a superhero for two years. I’m not just some naive kid, okay?”
There’s a long pause before Tony speaks.
“Do you know what my superpower is?”
“You can see the future, right?”
“That’s why I tell people. The truth is, I can see one future. One timeline, that I’m desperately trying to keep from happening. In that other life, it wasn’t Rhodey keeping tabs on you, it was me. I… mentored you, I guess. I even asked you to join the Avengers.”
“I was an Avenger?!”
“No, you turned me down.”
“What?! Why?”
“Because you’ve got a good head on your shoulders. It wasn’t enough, though. Something terrible happened, something I’ve spent the last decade desperately trying to prevent from happening here as well. You wanted to help, like you always wanted to help.
“The last thing I saw, the last thing I remember, from that other life, is you dying in my arms. I tried so hard to protect you, but it wasn’t enough, so this time I’ve tried to keep you out of things, keep you far away from me and the Avengers, and apparently even that isn’t enough! I’m not trying to stop you fighting because I don’t think you’re competent, you’re one of the best superheroes I know. Watching you learn and grow was a privilege. But I can’t watch you die again, Pete. Please don’t ask me to.”
“Okay. Wow. That’s a lot. Look, I appreciate you trying to save me, I do, but we live in a universe where stuff like all of this happens. You can’t protect me from everything.
“How about this; you promise to trust me, and I promise to do my best not to die?”
“Sounds like a deal.”
“So is that Avengers offer still on the table, or…”
“Go to sleep, Petey.”
“Yeah, okay. Night Mr Stark.”
“Call me Tony.”
“Night Tony.”
“Night Peter.”
The next morning, Alexei once again challenges Bucky to fight, and this time he accepts.
Alexei manages to hild his own, but it’s clear Bucky’s holding back. Alexei tells him that they shouldn’t hold back, that he wants to fight and win or loose with honour. As Bucky’s about to agree with him. Red Guardian pulls a handful of sand from the arena floor out of his pocket and throws it into Bucky’s face, and while he’s distracted, throws his shield… right at Bucky’s crotch.
Alexei declares himself the winner. Bucky, still sounding somewhat strained, asks him it that had been honourable, and Alexei tells him that nothing is more honourable than victory.
While Alexei is busy boasting of his amazing win, Nathan has been looking increasingly antsy, and he suddenly jumps to his feet, and demands that Lin Lie fight him “swordsman against swordsman”.
Karnak and Ami Han both try to persuade Lin Lie not to accept, suspicious of Nathan. America suggests Manifold should do it, and the others ask her who the hell Manifold is.
When she points to Eden, he tells her he’s called Eden. She asks if he’s not a superhero in this universe, and he says no. She explains that in her home universe, he’d been a major hero, using the code-name Manifold, and was one of the heroes taken by the Beyonder. She’d assumed it must be the same in this universe.
Karnak begins to ask why exactly Eden is here, but Nathan has run out of patience. He removes one of his gauntlets, and slaps Lin Lie across the face with it, telling him to duel him, or admit he’s a coward.
Despite the warnings of the others, Lin Lie accepts, and the two prepare to fight.
As before, the longer Nathan fights, the more violent he gets. Karnak warns that it’s the sword, poisoning his mind. Lin Lie manages to disarm him, but as the sword leaves his hand, Nathan lunges, his eyes wild, tripping Lin Lie and himself. As his armour vanishes, he falls, lands on Lin Lie's sword.
As it pierces through his body, he’s engulfed in light, which begins to stream from him up to where the Beyonder is sitting engulfing him in light as well, forming a connection between them for a brief moment.
“Oh my God, did he… did he just eat Nathan’s soul?”
For the first time since America arrived, the Beyonder actually speaks. “Nothing so commonplace. I ate his death. There’s really no point trying to hide it now, especially not with little miss dimensional portals here. None of you are leaving here. You will fight one another for my entertainment, and you will kill one another for my sustenance. And then I’ll find another universe with a covinient little hole in the fabric of its reality, and I’ll do it all again.”
“You’re a monster!”
“Now really, there’s no call for name calling. My brethren feed on the deaths of civilisations. By comparison I’m practically a pacifist. You kill animals to eat. I kill heroes. There really much less of a difference than you’d think.”
“We don’t make them fight eat other to the death!”
“More fool you, then. It really never gets old. So, who’s going to be next?”
“No one. We’re done.”
“For today. You’re done for today. I’ll give you until dawn to mourn your little friend, but then the contest continues.”
“Why? You just admitted you’re planning for us all to die! Why the hell would we go along with you?”
“Because if you don’t, I’ll just kill you myself. It doesn’t make a difference to me, death is still death. But when offered the choice between a certain death and an uncertain one, humans are very predictable.”
They wrap Nathan’s body in a blanket. America punches the ground, cracking the hard compacted earth, and Bucky uses the shield to dig a shallow grave at the side of the arena.
As they place Nathan’s body in it, Ami Han asks if they should bury his sword with him. Lin Lie says, no, the blade is evil. They need to destroy it.
They discuss how to destroy a magical cursed sword, but Tony says that cursed or not, it’s still made of metal and metal melts. He changes the settings on his hand repulsors, making them burn hot, the earth scorching beneath him, but when he turns them on the sword seems to absorbs the energy, no matter how much Tony fires at it.
The others try to use super-strength to destroy it, but they have no more luck, and eventually they give up, sticking the sword into the earth at the head of Nathan's grave, making a rudamentary cross.
After dark, they sit around the camp fire again, although this one is considerably more subdued. Bucky tries to comfort Lin Lie, but it doesn’t really seem to be getting through.
Eden clears his throat awkwardly, and says that it might not be the moment, but he’d like to go back to the topic of why he’s there. If he’s not a hero, how can he be one of the chosen heroes.
Tony says that he’d said he had blood on his hands, maybe he’s here because he’s a killer, and Eden explains that it had been an accident. On the day his powers first manifested, he’d teleported into the middle of the road by accident, and caused a crash. He blames himself, but even he knows that’s not the same thing as being a cold-blooded murderer.
America says that she’d assumed the Manifold from her universe was chosen because of being a hero, but maybe it’s something else. Something about him is important to the Beyonder for some reason.
Peter asks what his power is, and Eden says he’s just a teleporter.
America says that not exactly right, and asks him where they are. To everyone’s astonishment, he knows the answer - third plant from the second sun of the Andromeda system. America explains that Eden’s power is a connection to the universe itself. He always knows where he is, because he’s connected to it on a fundamental level, and that’s also how his teleportation works.
Ami Han suggests that that might be why he’s here. If he’s tied to the universe, maybe the Beyonder needs him, to anchor him to the universe.
Karnak studies Eden, and then walks closer to the dais, studying the Beyonder as well. Eventually he comes back to the fire, and says that Eden is the Beyonder’s weakness. When the others ask how he can know that, he explains that that’s his power - he sees the flaws in everything, the weaknesses. It’s how he knew the sword was possessing Nathan, and it’s how he knows that without Eden. the Beyonder will be vulnerable.
Eden says that he doesn’t want to die, but he’s willing to sacrifice himself if it means saving everyone else, but America says that if he’s tied to the universe, taking him outside it would surely cut off his connection to it, and to the Beyonder.
Bucky reminds her about the forcefield, but Tony says he’s been thinking about that the last couple of days, and he’s got an idea, they just need to make sure the Beyonder doesn’t figure out what they’re doing.
Peter points out that even if he’s vulnerable, he’s still insanely powerful, and Lin Lie says that the Beyonder is powered by energy, and the Ebony Blade absorbed energy, so maybe it can hurt him.
The next morning, America challenges Tony to a duel, and he accepts.
They take the battle to the skies, spiralling up almost to the top of the forcefield. Their attacks keep going wide, hitting the forcefield instead of one another, and the more it happens, the more it begins to flicker and weaken.
Eventually Tony yells “Now” and turns his repulsors full blast on the forcefield. America flies down, straight at the ground, and just as the forcefield flickers off completely, she grabs Eden and hits the ground first first, creating a star portal and pulling him through with her.
The Beyonder yells in anger, and the forcefield returns, but it’s too late. American and Eden are gone.
Bucky asks Lin Lie if he’s ready, and he says no, but straightens up anyway. He gives his sword to Ami Han, asking her to keep it safe, and grips the handle of the Ebony Blade, where it’s been stuck into the gound at the head of Nathan’s grave.
As he grasps it, black armour manifests, but it’s not the blackened mail that Nathan had worn, this is straight out of chinese fantasy, black laquered armour and a red horse-hair plume on the helmet.
Tony wishes Peter good luck, and the heroes charge into battle.
The Beyonder remains physical, not phasing out the way he had when America attacked him, actually taking some hits, but he still has his powers, blasting Tony out of the sky, and changing the terrain of the arena to slow or injure his attackers.
While the others are distracting him, Peter uses his wall-crawling to climb the dais the Beyonder is standing on, getting behind him. Suddenly he strikes, webbing the Beyonder in place just long enough for Bucky and Red Guardian to throw Lin Lie into the air.
He flips, spins, and lands with his sword through the Beyonder’s chest.
The Beyonder screams, clawing at the sword, but it’s no good, he’s withering before their eyes, shrinking and fading, until he vanishes completed, and the sword clatters to the ground.
The forcefield vanishes along with him, allowing America and Eden return, and the heroes congratulate one another.
Karnak asks Lin Lie if he’s going to keep the sword, but he’s horrified by the idea. Amu Han says that he should return it to Nathan’s family. He’d said they’d had it for generations, so they must know how to contain its power, and Lin Lie agrees.
Tony tells Peter he did good, and Peter thanks him for trusting him and now trying to make him keep out of the fight.
Bucky says goodbye to everyone, and gives Tony the shield to take back to earth.
“Give it to Sam. He’s who Steve would have chosen, if he’d had the chance. He’ll be a better Captain America than I ever was.”
“I will do. When you find Steve, give him hell.”
They say goodbye, and America opens a star portal to take her and Bucky away to begin their quest for Steve.
Everyone else joins hands, and Eden teleports them back to Earth.
In our post-credits scene, Red Guardian is back in prison. He starts telling everyone how he met Captain America and fought him for real, but it was in space so they wouldn’t have heard about it, and they all just tell him he’s full of shit.
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