THE BREWER REPORT

‘Death, where is thy sting?’:
Aegis and Tenebrous return

(Editor’s note: As may be observed in preview pencils for Thanos Imperative #2, the Proemial Gods Aegis and Tenebrous seem to be either watching or at the scene of combat alongside their enemy, the world devourer Galactus. Is this real? Contributing Editor Byron Brewer shares his thoughts while taking a look at the Proemial pantheon .)

By Byron Brewer

AEGIS AND TENEBROUS
THANOS IMPERATIVE #2

I was really enjoying Thanos Imperative #1 a few weeks ago until I get to a special back-book preview section. In it, there are pencils of the coming #2, and my jaw hit the floor. I know Madame Death is having a tough time these days, threatened as she is with extinction by Lord Mar-Vell, the Many-Angled Ones and the denizens of the Cancerverse. But in the preview pencils are the Proemial Gods Aegis and Tenebrous, standing side by side with – Galactus?!

How can this be when, during Annihilation, the noble Silver Surfer used the powers of the Crunch itself to destroy these two beings supposedly once and for all?

Is it because of the immediate threat to Death in the 616 Universe? Have the Proemials returned on their own? Are they now allied with Galactus, or is this mere illusion – and does the master of illusion, the Magus, have something to do with this?

We will find out soon (perhaps) in Thanos Imperative #2. Meanwhile let’s look at the Proemial Gods, as described by Big G himself:

Right after the Big Bang that destroyed the Universe of Galactus and brought about our own (well, the 616), the Universe was young and full of chaos. The Cosmic Consonance deemed that there be order and balance to this chaos. The Universe does not measure time, but by sequence a balance was struck and the Cosmic Consonance was set. From the chaos came order, and from the order intent. A pantheon of Proemial Gods became the caretakers, conceived through intent. Each of them had been tasked to maintain the Cosmic Consonance. They were without will and without awareness of anything but the task set before them. They existed to serve the Living Universe, called Eternity.

Any relationship between the Proemial Gods and Lord Chaos and Master Order is unknown, but I think it is safe to say those particular cosmic balance entities did not exist yet.

Who did exist were the Proemial Gods: Aegis, also known as Lady of All Sorrows, who was tasked with culling the Living Universe of divergences and aberrations; Tenebrous of the Darkness Between, tasked with the black, the living matter that binds the Universe and makes it whole; Antiphon the Overseer (who looks familiar somehow, hm …), the first among the equals to be tasked with monitoring the Cosmic Consonance; Diableri of Chaos, who became order unchecked and led the Entropy; and Brio of Life, tasked with the welfare of fledgling life forms.

It was through the wicked Diableri that the Chaos Sprites were born into the Universe of chaos. They were small beings that possessed cosmic power beyond measure. They were Diableri’s eyes and ears, minute sentinels tasked by their master to sew chaos in order. They also served the Cosmic Consonance. The relationship between Chaos Sprites and Chaos Mites, said to be the first born of the Creation Event, is unknown. Skreet, who survives today, has been identified by Aegis as a “mite” but certainly has the appearance of a “sprite” as well as enough cosmic power to have been imprisoned in the Kyln. Both the sprite/mite relationship and Skreet’s survival of a “Great Purge” remain mysteries.

The Proemial Gods shepherded the young Universe, maintaining the delicate balance between order and chaos. As a result, the Living Universe expanded and flourished. Life thrived on countless worlds, each life form unique from the other. They were formed by the choices made and the actions taken by those serving the Cosmic Consonance. The better they performed their task, the less they were needed to perform their task. The Living Universe’s need for these Gods lessened, and the Proemial Gods started to diminish from existence.

One of their member’s functions evolved into awareness and that awareness became dark ambition. Diableri of Chaos would not see himself erased from the Living Universe, so he embarked on a mission to remake the Universe in his own image.

For his newfound purpose, Diableri corrupted the whole understanding for and need of the Proemial Gods, and many of them came to embrace his dark ambitions, especially Aegis and Tenebrous. These entities became engaged in a great War of the Gods, and Gods died. Had Diableri not brought his war to Galactus, he would have achieved his dark ambitions.

Aegis, Tenebrous and Galactus were apparently the only three survivors of this War of the Gods. To safeguard the Universe against them, Galactus imprisoned the duo in the Kyln where they remained for countless centuries. (Why Antiphon’s body was found among the prison’s wreckage after it was destroyed by the Annihilation Wave has not been explained.)

As I indicated above, what is known of that time in the history of the Marvel U. came from the lips of Galactus in recent days as he was preparing his Herald, the Silver Surfer, to track down Aegis and Tenebrous. Galactus sought revenge for their interference in the ongoing Annihilation War, allowing both he and the Silver Surfer to become common lab rats to the mad Titan Thanos. Not only did Thanos experiment on Galactus while he was looking for a way to extract the Power Cosmic from his very being, but he turned Galactus into a cosmic cannon!

Galactus sent the Surfer to track down these two Proemial Gods and then wait for Big G to come and assist him against their wealth of power. Galactus wanted to rid the Universe of these Gods before they could again continue the wicked mission of Diableri.

The Surfer tracked Aegis and Tenebrous to the ruins of the Kyln where the Gods had found the body of their now-deceased brother, Antiphon the Overseer, floating in the prison’s wreckage. The Surfer attacked and defeated Aegis and Tenebrous by using the power of the Crunch, the area of space in which they battled, turning the “Crunch cascade” into a most potent weapon indeed. The World Devourer arrived just in time to witness this impossible triumph by his favored Herald.

How have Aegis and Tenebrous returned from death? Whatever the explanation, if indeed they have returned, I cannot wait to hear reaction from both the Surfer, who “killed” them, and Rocket Raccoon, whose commentary on any subject is always refreshing!

Thanos Imperative #2hits stores July 14!