Defenders (2021 series) #5

This final time the spotlight falls on Masked Raider with Tarot card the Hierophant reversed. But he's only upside down on the opening page because the image and everyone else in it is upside down. And the voiceover is by Dr Strange, possibly to avoid giving away MR's identity. DrS describes the Hierophant as a religious leader who brings seekers into the presence of the divine, and reversed as a breaker of rules. But he has indeed brought the Defenders to the divine.

Last issue saw them entering the 3rd Cosmos. They've travelled back in cosmic time through the birth of science, the birth of magic and the birth of narrative (ie the endless conflict between heroic archetypes). Now there is a single battle between 2 ultra-large figures representing Existence and Nothingness, or as Taaia from the 6th Cosmos calls them:- Lifebringer 1, the 1st Sentry of myth, vs Anti-All, the primal Void. The Defenders appear to be standing on a very large white ball to view the fight, but Taaia's scientific sensors can't make sense of their surroundings and Stephen Strange suspects that their human senses aren't doing any better. He believes that size and distance are meaningless here ...

... and a voice tells them that so is time as Carlo Zota, the man they've chased through the Cosmoses, walks round from the other side of the ball. He says he's been here only an hour but he's experienced his whole life. Red Harpy (Betty Banner) attacks him but he surrounds himself with a forcefield which Stephen tells him he must drop. He reminds Carlo that neither magic nor science exist here, so where does the energy for the field come from? And he points to the sudden advantage Anti-All has over Lifebringer and strongly suggests that Zota is draining energy from the 1st Hero. And if the Old Dragon wins here then all the later Cosmoses, including their home universes, will never exist. But Zota says he doesn't care.

Now Masked Raider makes his move and just walks through the forcefield to put a gun to Zota's head. He tells Carlo that he was given the Eternity Mask with just 1 task, to hunt Zota down and stop all this from happening. He wanted to save Carlo from himself, or at least save everything else. He thought he had that choice. But now they've reached where they were always destined to be, and still the choice isn't his. And he lowers his gun.

Zota remembers how MR could have killed him before this journey started but backed down then (as told in a flashback in #1). He swears *he*'s not going to make the same mistake as they grapple over the gun. Watching from outside Strange reminds us the the Mask only gives the Raider an *equal* chance in any fight, but that means he can still lose. Harpy and Taaia are determined to get inside the bubble if MR could, but DrS thinks it's not that simple. Raider agrees with him and tells Carlo he can still walk away, but maddened Zota continues to struggle for the gun. MR suddenly says "Just remember. You could have escaped." and the gun goes off ... and the Masked Raider lies dead. Zota laughs at the idea that *he* could have escaped his victory over the man who warred against him and the Enclave He triumphantly removes the Eternity Mask ... and see his own face within.

Carlo can't believe this is real. But then he finds himself facing Eternity who says that he is everything made of fire, water, air and earth plus the 5th element which is his own spirit which makes all things equally important because they all contribute to the universe which is himself, just as he himself is only 1 part of the multiversal Eternity that is the (current 8th) Cosmos in a cosmic lineage that stretches back to this 1st 'story'. And all of this is contained in the Mask made from his own substance which makes its wearer the equal of anybody.

Zota returns from a trance to see Dr Strange banging on the forcefield telling him to look up to see Lifebringer 1 dying and being consumed by the Dragon. And all because he desired power. It didn't have to be this way. Zota disagrees and says it *always* had to be this way. And he dons the Eternity Mask ... and grows (smashing the forcefield en route) to match the combatants above in size and begins to grapple with the Great Dragon.

Down on the white ball Strange has sensed Zota's link to Eternity in the 8th Cosmos. He asks Harpy and Taaia to let him join their minds with his, and Taaia becomes a link to the science of her 6th Cosmos while he helps Harpy harness the magic of the 5th Cosmos. And between them they can beam power from there (in the primary colours of the 4th Cosmos) to restore Lifebringer 1 ... who kills Anti-All with his sword. Existence wins over Nothingness and all the futures happen in a great explosion.

Dr Strange tells us that Carlo Zota could have let go of the Dragon and dodged the sword ... but then it always had to be this way. The remaining Defenders see the Dragon shattered holographically into many little shards each containing a full image, perhaps 1 for each universe in a multiverse. The Eternity Mask survived too and floats down to them. Stephen suspects that Zota survived to fulfill his shared destiny with the Raider.

We indeed see Carlo Zota earlier in the 8th Cosmos meeting Jerome Hamilton, the previous wearer of the Mask as Blind Justice, an ex-member of the Enclave who became their enemy. The Mask had told him that he would die tomorrow but that today he would pass the Mask on to a Masked Raider, but not that it would be his old friend Carlo Zota of the Enclave who is now his enemy. Carlo says he will be the 1 who kills him. Jerome says Eternity works in mysterious ways, but at least he knows that the Mask will be what finally destroys Carlo. Zota dons the Mask and swears to stop himself before he goes too far this time round, so he can escape the cycle.

Lifebringer 1 remains alone in the 3rd Cosmos. Dr Strange feels his control of his magic returning. The 3 Defenders feel a pull back to their various homes. Before they part Taaia gives Stephen her headpiece and says he can use it to call on her aid whenever he needs it. After she's gone Red Harpy suggests he waits a while before taking up her offer, and *never* call on *her*.

Back in his Sanctum with the Eternity Mask and Taaia's helmet (and 1 Red Harpy feather which he could probably use to summon her) Stephen Strange sinks gratefully into a comfy chair as Wong welcomes him back.