I am from beyond! Slay your enemies and all you desire shall be yours! Nothing you dream of is impossible for me to accomplish! 
Appearing in "The War Begins"
Featured Character:
- Avengers
- Fantastic Four
- ⏴ Mister Fantastic ⏵
- ⏴ Human Torch ⏵
- ⏴ Thing ⏵
- X-Men
- ⏴ Magneto ⏵
- ⏴ Spider-Man ⏵
- ⏴ Hulk ⏵
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- ⏴ Absorbing Man ⏵
- ⏴ Doctor Doom ⏵
- ⏴ Doctor Octopus ⏵
- ⏴ Enchantress ⏵
- ⏴ Galactus ⏵
- ⏴ Kang ⏵
- ⏴ Lizard ⏵
- ⏴ Molecule Man ⏵
- ⏴ Ultron ⏵
- Wrecking Crew
- ⏴ Wrecker ⏵
- ⏴ Thunderball ⏵
- ⏴ Piledriver ⏵
- ⏴ Bulldozer ⏵
Races and Species:
Locations:
- Battleworld (First appearance)
- Deep Space
Items:
- Captain America's Shield
- Captain America's Uniform
- Cyclops' Visor version 2
- Hawkeye's Bow
- Iron Man Armor MK V
- Mjolnir
- Spider-Man's Web-Shooters
- Doctor Octopus' Tentacles
- Doctor Doom's Armor
- Wrecker's Crowbar
- Absorbing Man's Ball and Chain
Synopsis for "The War Begins"
In the blink of an eye, Earth's heroes are gathered together in a construct in space. They are unsure as to what or who had brought them to this place. They introduce themselves to each other. They then realize they are not alone. Across the way another construct had appeared and had gathered and it houses the villains of Earth. The heroes are unsure; if all the villains are in the other construct, then what was Magneto doing in theirs?
The villains are wondering the same thing in the other construct. After they introduce themselves to each other, both ships are hurtled through space and they realize that a very powerful being has summoned them all. The villains begin to bicker with each other and a fight breaks out. Ultron tries to defeat them all and is knocked into Galactus. They are all amazed that Galactus simply drains the energy from Ultron. Galactus then goes back to staring at the stars.
Suddenly, a bright light appears in space and a voice announces who had summoned them all, the Beyonder. He tells them he could do anything imaginable and that he orders them to battle each other, and the winning side would receive whatever they want. Galactus refuses to obey him and tries to fly towards the light because he senses it has much energy, which he is immensely hungry for. Doctor Doom follows Galactus and, when they get close enough, the light diminished and they are thrown back. Then, the constructs are sent to a nearby planet and dispersed among two separate places on the planet. The heroes are then transported to the face of the planet. There, they again question why Magneto is on their "side". They argue and this causes Magneto to "fly" away. They then decide Captain America would be the leader of the band of heroes.
Meanwhile, Galactus and Doctor Doom are seen on the planet surface as well. Galactus is unconscious as Doctor Doom explores the planet and finds a fortress. Inside, he finds the other villains. They are trying to band together and defeat the heroes. Doctor Doom talks to them about stealing the immense power of the Beyonder, but is disgusted at their simple minds and takes off in a vehicle to seek out counsel with Mister Fantastic. Kang uses the fortress' weapons and shoots down Doom's vehicle. The heroes see it go down and try to help him. Doctor Doom attacks after Captain America tries to help him to his feet. Doom is unable to tolerate the heroes pity and he attacks them in frustration, before fleeing. Iron Man warns the heroes they are about to be attacked and the villains unleash the first assault on the final page, to be continued into the next issue.
Notes
Continuity Notes
- Most of the heroes gathered in this story were seen being abducted by the Beyonder. The three members of the Fantastic Four were taken in Thing #10, most of the Avengers in Avengers #242 and Captain America #292, Spider-Man in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #89, most of the X-Men in Uncanny X-Men #180, Iron Man in Iron Man #181 and the Hulk in Incredible Hulk #294.
- Some facts about the gathered heroes:
- Of the Fantastic Four the Invisible Girl is missing. That's because she is about to give birth to her second child as seen in Fantastic Four #265.
- The Iron Man here is not Tony Stark, but James Rhodes. Rhodes replaced Stark as Iron Man from Iron Man #169-200 while Tony was suffering from alcoholism. Since most of the Avengers don't know Iron Man's double identity they assume it's the same long time colleague in the armor. The Wasp refers to Iron Man as being "on leave", this is a reference to the fact that Iron Man (Stark) had left active Avengers duty in Avengers #168.
- Professor X appears here in a wheelchair even though he regained the use of his legs back in Uncanny X-Men #167. It's later explained next issue that the Beyonder "fixed" certain things, such as making sure characters were in costume.
- Cyclops is among the X-Men even though he had left the team in Uncanny X-Men #176 after marrying Madelyne Pryor the issue before. It is explained next issue that Cyclops was kidnapped by the Beyonder while on his honeymoon.
- At the time of this story the Hulk had the mind of his alter ego Bruce Banner a condition that endures from Incredible Hulk #272-297
- As revealed in Deadpool's Secret Secret Wars #1, the mercenary Deadpool was also among the heroes gathered by the Beyonder, but per the fourth issue of that series it was revealed that the Wasp inadvertently used the wish fulfillment abilities of Battleworld to make everyone forget Deadpool was ever there.
- The Avengers call Magneto a murderer, this is in reference to the fact that Magneto sank an entire submarine crew defending himself in Uncanny X-Men #150.
- Some facts about the villains gathered here:
- Doctor Doom is actually from the future. At the time of this story Doom was seemingly killed battling Tyros the Tamer in Fantastic Four #260. As explained in Fantastic Four #288, Doom cheated death by doing an Ovoid mind swap with Norman McArthur. Later the future Beyonder would restore Doom to normal and send him back in time with no memory of future events to partake in the Secret Wars.
- Curt Connors was intentionally changed into the Lizard by the Beyonder, as he was cured and still in human form when last seen in Amazing Spider-Man #243
- Ultron was rebuilt after being destroyed fighting the Thing, Machine Man and Jocasta in Marvel Two-In-One #93.
- The Molecule Man is incredibly insecure here because of outlying psychological problems that forced him to go to therapy in Avengers #216.
Publication Notes
- This issue is reprinted in comics and books, see references for more info.[1]
See Also
- 6 image(s) from Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars Vol 1 1
- 8 reprint(s) of Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars Vol 1 1
Recommended Reading
Links and References
References
- ↑ This issue is reprinted in the following comics/TPB's: