Synopsis
Defenders (2021 series) #2 synopsis by
Rob Johnson
Rating:
Last issue the Masked Raider came to Dr Strange for help tracking Carlo Zota, the last of the Enclave, who he had sent on a random magic time trip. Stephen Strange used his Tarot card method of selecting Secret Defenders and came up with Silver Surfer and Red Harpy. But the last addition was Cloud, the nebula, who began to manifest as a sun that would have destroyed Earth. So the Sorcerer Supreme desperately used more random magic ... which took them back to the 6th Cosmos (with Cloud successfully reduced to a human female). There they met a woman who told them they were on the planet Taa about to be destroyed by Omnimax The Devourer.
Norrin Radd recognised Taa as the birth planet of Galen, the last survivor of the 6th Cosmos who would be reborn in the 7th Cosmos as Galactus. Now this issue opens with him flying his surfboard upside-down as he contemplates the irony of the situation. In the next Cosmos he emotionlessly served as Herald to Galactus The Devourer, seeking out planets for him to consume, while he knows Big G felt guilty about what he had to do. And now he sees Galactus-sized Omnimax revelling in his hunger and the destruction. The Defenders save civilians. DrS daren't use his magic but the woman who now names herself Taaia, 1 of this Cosmos' Scienceer 'superheroes', saves him from falling debris.
With the people evacuated Taaia activates a wormhole to her Science Fortress, a hyper-lab in a tesseract space for dangerous experiments. Strange somehow knows that this multiverse is devoted to science, which they invented. Red Harpy smells a baby that recently had to have its diaper changed. Taaia introduces them to baby Galen in his techno-cot which looks after him. He was created from her DNA and a selected donor seed, and gestated in a womb tube which she designed. But now she must leave him to go protect him (and the planet) from harm.
Surfer can tell this is the right Galen, and wonders if this sterile upbringing will contribute to forming the implacable Galactus. He wonders if he can prevent that, and reaches out with a hand infused with the Power Cosmic. But the Masked Raider stops him with his gun. SS says no bullet can hurt him but the Raider asks if he's sure (because it's the power of the Eternity Mask to make the wearer the equal of whoever he faces). Norrin says he knows who's under the Mask, and MR says therefore he knows that his mission mustn't be stopped. Radd asks if Strange knows what the mission is, or that MR knows everything that DrS will do. The Raider ignores that and says he can't let Surfer kill Galactus. SS says he wasn't going to kill the baby, and his hand produces a light show to make Galen smile as he also passes on knowledge of the wonders of the next reality (which is why the force of nature G will be cursed with empathy).
MR leads SS to where the others are on Taaia's multi-seated flying Space-Skimmer called the Lifebringer. She tells them it is named after Lifebringer One, the 1st hero in the Time Before Time who fought the dragon Anti-All from the Under-Lands below Infinity. The title Lifebringer makes Surfer think back to when he sacrificed his mortal life to become SS as the Herald that would steer Galactus away from worlds with sentient life.
Raider joins the others on the Skimmer while Norrin Rad surfs alongside. Strange asks Raider if the Eternity Mask could make him as powerful as Omnimax, but Raider says it would also give him the foe's hunger. Taaia says she has a secret weapon, the Mother-Cube filled with the emotions of the whole population. She claims that he'll either *feel* the emotions or they'll hurt him.
But at this point we learn that this Devourer also has a Herald, and it's a transformed Carlo Zota. Cloud senses he has the Power Cosmic like Surfer. SS attacks him but they are equally-matched. However Zota got his power from this Cosmos but Norrin Radd did not. As he uses that power DrS's magic falls away from him and he feels the pull of his own Cosmos. And Zota claims that his master is older than Surfer's (Galactus) and so they will destroy him. Meanwhile Taaia tells Cloud to feed her nebula-size power into Omnimax, but he nearly drains her. Taaia says the Mother-Cube is now at maximum power but it can't connect to Omnimax's cosmic awareness.
SS offers to give CZ *his* power, and the villain thinks this could free him from O's command. DrS reasons that this Devourer must also have come from an earlier Cosmos. The 6th Cosmos is science-based but the earlier Cosmos knew nothing of that so maybe O can relate to magic. He aims his uncontrollable wild magic at O and the MC uses it as a carrier wave for the emotions. The Devourer screams and retreats as the 2 Heralds collide. But Surfer has held his Power Cosmic for twice the age of his universe so he has better control and so it is *he* who takes Zota's power. They rebound and Zota is sent further into the past while Surfer returns to the 8th Cosmos (and leaves this series).
But the wild magic also sends the other Defenders and Taaia into the 5th Cosmos where they are observed by its Sorcerer Supreme Mor-i-dun.
CharactersGood (or All)Plus: Cloud, Masked Raider, Taaia.
Enemies
Carlo Zota, Moridun.