Secret Wars II
Secret Wars II was a nine-issue comic book Limited Series and crossover published between 1985 and 1986 by Marvel Comics. It was written by Marvel's then Editor-in-chief Jim Shooter and primarily penciled by Al Milgrom. The series was a sequel to the original series Secret Wars, published in 1984 and 1985. It tied-in with issues of other Marvel titles, with each "tie-in" featuring a Secret Wars II logo in the top right hand corner to indicate that it was a part of the overall story.
The plot follows the return of The Beyonder, the being who started the first Secret Wars, who comes to Earth in search of enlightenment and inevitably comes into conflict with Earth's metahumans and the cosmic entities that exist in the Marvel Universe. It tries to become human, help people, learn how to love etc. but keeps failing, and his frustration turns him into a menace. He is eventually dealt with, although the heroes also have to prevent the destruction of the planet as a consequence of his actions.
- Secret Wars II #1
- The New Mutants Volume 1, #30
- Captain America (comics) Volume 1, #308
- The Uncanny X-Men #196
- Iron Man Volume 1, #197
- Secret Wars II #2
- Web of Spider-Man Volume 1, #6
- The Amazing Spider-Man Volume 1, #268
- Fantastic Four Volume 1, #282
- Secret Wars II #3
- Daredevil Volume 1, #223
- The Incredible Hulk Volume 1, #312
- The Avengers Volume 1, #260
- Secret Wars II #4
- Dazzler Volume 1, #40
- Alpha Flight Volume 1, #28
- ROM Spaceknight #72
- The Avengers Volume 1, #261
- Secret Wars II #5
- The Thing Volume 1, #30
- Doctor Strange Volume 2, #74
- Fantastic Four Volume 1, #285
- Secret Wars II #6
- Cloak and Dagger Volume 2, #4
- Power Pack Volume 1, #18
- The Micronauts Volume 2, #16
- The Mighty Thor Volume 1, #363
- Power Man and Iron Fist #121
- Secret Wars II #7
- The New Mutants Volume 1, #36
- The Amazing Spider-Man Volume 1, #273
- Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #111
- The Uncanny X-Men #202
- The New Defenders Volume 1, #152
- Secret Wars II #8
- The New Mutants Volume 1, #37
- The Amazing Spider-Man Volume 1, #274
- The Avengers Volume 1, #265
- The Uncanny X-Men #203
- Fantastic Four Volume 1, #288
- Secret Wars II #9
- The Avengers Volume 1, #266
- Quasar #8 [1]
- Deadpool Team-Up #1 [2]
- Artistic License Economics: Averted. A very naive Beyonder is told by Power Man that money -- or the lack thereof -- is the root of most all problems in the world, and that money is a stand-in for gold (though his partner Iron Fist mentions they haven't been on the gold standard for years). The Beyonder, wishing to make everyone happy, turns an entire skyscraper into gold... which quickly collapses in on itself. Several crossover issues explore the ramifications this has on the world economy. (The government ends up covering up the event and throwing the excess gold into a sea trench.)
- Crisis Crossover
- Death Takes a Holiday: Death is killed by Beyonder.
- Evil Tower of Ominousness: In issue 6, "Life Rules," the Beyonder builds himself a Super Hero Base in which to operate as a superhero. In a bit of subversion, he buys the property, files the plans at city hall, and then builds it.
- Missing Episode: The Rom and Micronauts tie-ins are not included in the Omnibus due to Marvel not having the licenses for them. However, the "Secret Wars 3" storyline from Fantastic Four #316-319 was included as compensation.
- Retcon: Marvel later retconned Beyonder's origin so that he'd never been fully omnipotent at all, he only believed he was (and to mortals he definitely seemed to be, but the other Cosmic Entities were just pretending to get beaten by him to "help him grow".)
- This is believed to have been a Take That to Jim Shooter after he left Marvel, although Steve Englehart reported that this was editorial interference.
- Self-Insert Fic: Some believe that the entire series was one for Jim Shooter, Marvel's Editor-In-Chief at the time.
- Throwaway Country: The galaxy destroyed by the Beyonder at the beginning of the crossover series.
- Time Compression Montage: Done repeatedly throughout the series, along with a heavy dose of exposition. For instance, when The Beyonder mentally dominates everyone in the universe, it is shown with a mere four panels of everyone and everything bowing down in subservience.
- Very Special Episode: Fantastic Four #285 is about a kid burning himself to death trying to copy Johnny Storm's Wreathed in Flames style, the news of which nearly driving Johnny himself into quitting his superhero career. It took the Beyonder himself to convince Johnny not to give up.
- Victory Is Boring: In Issue #3 the Beyonder mind controls everything on Earth, effectively winning. He then decides it's boring and releases them.
- What Is This Thing You Call Love?: Beyonder tries to make the heroine Dazzler fall in love with him, but can't actually fall in love himself. This only makes him madder.