By Byron Brewer
The In-Betweener
Life and death. Science and magic. Good and evil.
For months now, our beloved cosmic adventurers of the Marvel Universe – the Guardians of the Galaxy, Nova, the Inhumans, the Imperial Guard, the Luminals, Quasar and others – have faced the duality of these concepts, ideas which run opposite yet parallel paths amid the stars.
A new, alien “Cancerverse” ruled by beings called the Many-Angled Ones has opened up to the 616 Marvel U. This is a universe like our own, except that it is twisted and deformed by malignant growth. It is a universe where life has won, where death has lost.
Great and powerful entities of magic have made their way into our universe of scientific safety: the Sphinx, the Mindless Ones and (rumor has it) the mad Titan Thanos himself. On earth, the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme has changed hands, from Doctor Strange to Doctor Voodoo. Hints are everywhere of a coming doom of mystic proportions, as the line between magic and science blurs. Eternity, the very embodiment of our universe, has even proclaimed Avenger Hank Pym its “Scientist Supreme.”
Life and death, science and magic, good and evil. How long can our heroes face these dichotomies brought about by the creation of the Fault, a rip in space/time, without encountering the being that represents them: the In-Betweener?
A servant of the abstract beings Lord Chaos and Master Order with a scale of power proven to at times rival that of Galactus, the In-Betweener nonetheless has loyalties to no one but himself. He has tried to impose his own concept of balance upon our universe, supplant the Big G’s rumored “destiny” in our cosmos, and bring the Magus into existence.
With the return last month of the Magus to his throne on Sacrosanct and the probable comeback in a few weeks of the crazed scion of Saturn’s moon, the time has never been rifer for the In-Betweener. Whether he is one of DnA’s “Big Four” thugs or merely a cosmic consequence of the Fault, I hope the Keepers of MU Cosmic (are ya listenin’, Dan and Andy?) will not miss this opportunity.
Think: Former avatars of life Drax and Adam Warlock have teamed with other proven cosmic champions to protect a vulnerable universe and prevent any large-scale disasters. During that time, to save her lady love, Phyla-Vell has become the new avatar of death, a title once Thanos’ own. Believed killed, it would appear Phyla is alive and … well, maybe not well. See, she is a prisoner of the Magus.
The In-Betweener once told Warlock that his destiny was to force Adam to transform into his villainous future self. Warlock initially escaped that fate with the help of Thanos, a being who so worshipped death that he was involved in a courtship with the personification of Death herself!
But timelines have been magically mixed, mystically overlapped. The Magus seems to have risen again, thanks to the actions of his past incarnation and, well, Black Bolt. And soon to arrive? Either a Titan Eternal who worships death caught in a Cancerverse overrun by life, or another acolyte of the Many-Angled Ones in familiar form.
One way or another, I hope the In-Betweener – a favorite of mine among Jim Starlin’s great and colorful cosmic creations – is not far behind.
