Sise-Neg

Origin

Sise-Neg is a powerful sorcerer from the 31st century who desired to become God and create the universe in his own image. However, in his age it was a commonly known fact that the amount of mystical energy in the universe is finite and shared between all magic users. Three-fourths of mankind had used magic daily in Sise-Neg’s era – therefore nobody could control much mystic power. Sise-Neg became determined to find a way around this barrier to his becoming God, and his efforts enabled him to eventually create a method of time travel that allowed one to alter the past without endangering one's present existence. Sise-Neg started time-traveling and absorbing enormous concentrations of mystical energy with each jump in time. His actions are eventually discovered by Baron Mordo and Doctor Strange, who start to follow him on his journey.

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The black magician Baron Mordo had obtained the Book of Cagliostro written by Sise-Neg by charming it away from Lilia Calderu, Queen of the Gypsies. Using its knowledge, he travels into the past in order to make himself Sorcerer Supreme in the present in place of Doctor Strange, who had succeeded the Ancient One and thus ensured his superiority over Mordo. Fearing that the present universe would become warped and unrecognizable due to Mordo's tampering, Doctor Strange hurls himself into a void between time and follows the black magician into the past. Strange finds Mordo and battles him in a separate universe outside the prime 616 reality, but shortly after the start of their conflict both Strange and Mordo feel a surge of weakness rush over them as they try to use their mystical spells. Mordo reveals that he had expected it to happen and declares that their weakness signals that he had reached his destination. After opening a dimensional portal, Mordo leaves the reality he and Strange were fighting in, with Strange barely able to see straight enough to follow him to the other side.

Upon reaching an ancient city on Earth, Strange recognizes from his knowledge of history that he and Mordo had entered Paris, France of the 18th Century. Strange soon finds frenchmen pulling a sorcerer in a cart and chanting the name "Cagliostro". After waiting until nightfall, Strange flies to Cagliostro's dwelling and feels a wave of weakness rush over him as he approaches the sleeping black magician. As Strange thinks to himself with surprise that Cagliostro is dreaming while having no guards around him, the magician awakens and tells Strange that all life is but a dream. Sensing that Strange is greater than any lowly peasant, Cagliostro (Sise-Neg in disguise) beckons Strange to speak with him and opens the doors to his dwelling by using his mind. Strange reveals that he had come to Paris to find Baron Mordo and tells of the black magician's intentions to alter the future for his own evil goals, using his magic to create an image of Mordo in front of him. Sise-Neg is surprised by Mordo's intentions, but tells Strange that his "parlor tricks" do not impress him and that he will not become involved in affairs for anyone else against his own will. Sise-Neg realizes that Strange and Mordo must have read his book, yet marking the error on his part a slight one, he uses his magic to disappear through a portal.

Strange disguises himself as Calgiostro and lies in wait for Mordo, who appears not long after. Mordo is initially fooled by Strange's disguise and tells him that a fiend named Doctor Strange wishes to travel back in time and kill all other magicians in the past. However, Mordo senses something amiss when he touches Strange in his disguise and uses a spell to reveal Strange's real identity. Mordo fires a spell at Strange, who remarks that neither of them can employ their full strengths for reasons unknown, unaware that Sise-Neg had been taking all the magical energy of their current reality. Strange summons a magical beast to attack Mordo, who destroys it thinking that Strange has lost his touch. Strange had used the creature as a distraction to trap Mordo with his Eye of Agamotto and tells himself that none can escape the Eye's power. Yet Mordo sudenly vanishes, which greatly surprises Strange, as he states that the Eye of Agamotto is backed by his will and that nothing should be greater due to his position as Sorcerer Supreme. Strange then decides to disguise himself as Cagliostro once more just before his past self enters and reveals Mordo's wicked plan, as Strange had done to Sise-Neg moments before. This shocks Doctor Strange, who suddenly fades away. Strange then realizes that time had just repeated itself for unknown reasons.

Soon a tendril of mystical light flies into Cagliostro's dwelling, and Sise-Neg disguised as Cagliostro appears in front of Doctor Strange, warning him that he should have left before he became a threat and that he has abused his hospitality. Strange counters that Cagliostro (Sise-Neg) has been abusing all of reality by tinkering with time and with that Sise-Neg attacks Strange with magical energy bolts. Strange manages to barely protect himself with the Shield of the Seraphim spell, but he is attacked without warning from his side by Baron Mordo. Despite Strange's best efforts, he falls to the floor unable to resist.

Baron Mordo stands next to Sise-Neg and rejoices that he is finally able to rule the world with Strange gone. Mordo offers an allegiance with Sise-Neg, but the sorcerer attacks him by using concussive force bolts from his fingertips. He calls Mordo a presumptuous fool and states that he takes no allies. Sise-Neg tells Mordo that "Time is a river...flowing forever toward the future. Should a man swim against the current, into the past, he must cause ripples, eddies...whirlpools." This, Sise-Neg explains, is the reason why Strange relived his past and why Mordo vanished from Strange's entrapment with the Eye of Agamotto, because he has set time swirling with his travel. With this, Sise-Neg finally reveals his true name and his position as a time-traveling sorcerer from the 31st Century after defeating Strange in combat. Sise-Neg states that he impersonated Calgiostro in order to leave behind a testament of his genius - a book which would describe only the merest basics of his time-traveling techniques and give humanity a reason to remember him.

Sise-Neg then jumps through time to steal energy from another reality and leaves Strange and Mordo where they are. Mordo reveals his plan to become Sise-Neg's disciple or slave if need be and hopes to influence Sise-Neg to create a reality where he is Master in their era and not Strange. Mordo leaves to follow Sise-Neg and Strange finally stands from his assault, determined to stop Sise-Neg who he calls "the greatest threat our reality has ever known."

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While traveling through time, Strange tells himself that Sise-Neg can change all reality by his will alone and is determined to stop him - yet suddenly he is pulled into another vortex. Strange soon arrives in an alternate reality during the 5th Century at the time of King Arthur where he finds Sise-Neg as well as Mordo. Mordo offers his services to Sise-Neg, though Strange tells Mordo that he will not allow Mordo to do so. Mordo taunts that Strange can no longer affect him because his very presence keeps them below their normal level of power, but Sise-Neg remarks that Mordo is also unable to affect Strange. He then reveals that he had been absorbing energy through time when he soon felt a mammoth concentration of mystical energy in King Arthur's time period and desired to make it his own. Sise-Neg reveals that he must know all knowledge and be infallible before becoming God, therefore he must learn the source of the mystical energy. Furthermore, he reveals that once he becomes God "the universe and beyond" will be his to toy with.

Without warning, a large dragon materializes in front of a knight riding a horse on the verdant plains of the valley near Sise-Neg, Strange and Mordo. Doctor Strange senses that an innocent man is about to be killed and begs Sise-Neg to do something. Sise-Neg looks on at the encounter from his viewpoint on a cliff and casually responds that the confrontation amuses him, for in his time period he had often read of battles between knights and dragons and desired to witness one. Strange realizes that Sise-Neg created the dragon to fight the knight in armor and questions if the God he wishes to become cares nothing for humans. To this Sise-Neg responds that he is above humans but Strange may fight the dragon to save the knight's life if he so wishes.

Strange notices that he caused Sise-Neg to think about how he should use his power and becomes determined to have more sway over him than Mordo. Strange uses his weakened Eye of Agamotto to kill the dragon and buries it in rubble. The rescued knight tells Strange that a man with magical power such as his must be none other than the wizard Merlin, and Strange learns from this that Merlin is the one who holds the magical energy Sise-Neg had sensed.

The knight reveals himself to be none other than Sir Lancelot du Lac on his way to see King Arthur. Mordo overhears the knight and tells Sise-Neg that it is because of Sir Lancelot's human love for Queen Guinevere that Camelot will soon be destroyed. Mordo tells Sise-Neg that humans cannot control themselves and sow the seeds of their own destruction, thus they need to be controlled by a man such as Sise-Neg. As Mordo tells Sise-Neg to ignore Strange's sanctity for life, Sise-Neg ponders his statement and sends himself and Mordo to another point in time just as he finishes absorbing the mystical power of the wizard Merlin. Due to the strong magical bond between Sise-Neg and Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme is able to follow him to the next time period.

Sise-Neg stops once again, this time in the shape of a gigantic floating head of energy due to the magic that he had absorbed in the Middle Ages. Sise-Neg comments to Mordo that he is at the beginning of his Godhood and that he shall take even more mystical energy from the people in that reality, noting that it will be easy due to their living in sin and degradation. Mordo tells Sise-Neg to simply kill all the people there, for it will instantly free their magic for him to use. But Strange tells Sise-Neg that sin is no excuse for murder and that he does not even know the nature of the people there. Deciding to test which of the two is correct, Sise-Neg teleports the three of them instantly to the city streets of Sodom and Gomorrah, where Sise-Neg once more takes his human form. The people there talk amongst themselves about how Sise-Neg cannot threaten them and that he will soon learn how strangers are dealt with. The 31st century sorcerer approaches the crowd and tells them to take him to their leaders or else face instant death. Strange yells out that Sise-Neg has become drunk with power and that his arrogance ruined his plan before it started. This proves correct as the crowd strikes a gong and summons the Priests of Death to kill Sise-Neg, Strange and Mordo.

The Priests of Death attack the trio with mystical bolts from their staffs, which crumble Doctor Strange's Shield of the Seraphim spell and render an even weaker Mordo helpless. Their attack angers Sise-Neg, who tells the priests that they have angered God and destroys them all with a powerful blast of energy. Sise-Neg then transforms back into a gigantic head made of energy and destroys the twin cities in a rain of fire, leaving only a small group of people alive before making another jump in time.

Once arriving in the age of dinosaurs and primates, Strange and Mordo find that Sise-Neg has changed his form once more, and Strange comments that "Sise-Neg's power has become so awesome, his mind causes the air itself to pulse!" Suddenly, Strange points out that large numbers of half-ape/half-man beasts are fleeing from an "unseen menace!" Sise-Neg becomes angered and tells Strange not to speak of anything relating to mankind, as he has done away with them, as well as Doctor Strange for that matter. However, out from behind a mountain the bloated form of a slime-gray entity appears, and Strange recognizes the entity - Shuma-Gorath!

Sise-Neg, being nigh-omnipotent at this point, senses that Shuma-Gorath is the very last possessor of mystical energy in the Marvel Universe and desires to make it his own. But Strange tells him that Shuma-Gorath is much more than that and recalls how Shuma-Gorath once told him that he ruled the Earth before man came. Mordo seems not to care of this revelation, but Strange tells him that it is because of Shuma-Gorath that the Ancient One had to die.

Doctor Strange flies over toward Shuma-Gorath, realizing that he does not have the power to change the past and prevent the Ancient One's death, unlike Sise-Neg, all the while being taunted by Mordo that he is flying to his doom. Strange realizes that Sise-Neg's power has almost reached its totality and that his power is near non-existent, but he attacks Shuma-Gorath nonetheless with a Bolts of Bedevilment spell. Shuma-Gorath does not even feel the spell, but Strange suddenly becomes invisible, forcing him to realize that Sise-Neg has absorbed so much power that even his very being is close to non-existence.

Strange turns to Sise-Neg for help, as he is the only one with the power to stop Shuma-Gorath. The powerful 31st Century sorcerer becomes surprised at Strange's audacity to dare approach him and states that with the slightest thought he can destroy him. Strange points Sise-Neg to the primates yelling in fear and agony as they are being devoured by Shuma-Gorath relentlessly, and tells the great magician that although he has transcended humans they are still responsible for his very existence. He asks Sise-Neg how he can possibly abandon his ancestors to something inhuman.

Sise-Neg pauses deep in thought as Shuma-Gorath continues to devour the primates, but then finally reaches a decision. Convinced by the words of Doctor Strange and enticed by Shuma-Gorath's energy, Sise-Neg decides to save the primates and put an end to Shuma-Gorath’s reign on Earth. However, Sise-Neg realizes that Shuma-Gorath is an energy absorber that would drain too much power from him should he attempt to directly confront it. Therefore, Sise-Neg puts Shuma-Gorath in a deep slumber and banishes the chaos lord to another dimension before it can detect the presence of the three magicians. As a final act of kindness, Sise-Neg creates a small paradise for the two surviving primates.

After this encounter, Sise-Neg finally absorbs all the powers of time and space and destroys the Marvel Universe, as planets, stars, and everything in existence returns to the pre-Big Bang point - a void of nothingness. Sise-Neg appears out of the nothingness and declares to Doctor Strange and Mordo that he had been planning to recreate the universe in his image after attaining godhood, but after absorbing all the energy of the universe he learned the truth that “Man is the closest approximation of perfection." With this, Sise-Neg decides to re-create the universe as it had been before, saying “Time turns and begins again with me! When you remember this, think not of the man called Sise-Neg - - but the God called GENESIS!"

It is unknown what becomes of Sise-Neg after this.

Invaders Now! #4

Within Invaders Now! #4 , is is revealed that a type of flower is named after Sise-Neg, called the "Sacred Sea-Flower of Sise-Neg". However, seeing as Doctor Strange is the only one who knew of Sise-Neg's true form after he recreated the universe, it is unknown how the flowers came to be named after him.

Powers & Abilities

From Sise-Neg's official biography...

"Superhuman physical powers: Virtually unlimited ability to manipulate the forces of magic for a variety of effects, including interdimensional teleportation, size transformations, time travel, matter transmutations, concussive force-bolts, energy/matter constructs, etc.

Superhuman mental powers: Telepathy

Special limitations: None

Source of superhuman power: Absorption of all the magical energy in the entire universe."

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Sise-Neg is one of the few in the Marvel Universe who is considered to be a nexus-being. Uatu the Watcher described nexus beings as "rare individual entities with the power to affect probabilities - and thus the future." Sise-Neg is so far the only human within the Marvel Universe to demonstrate the ability to travel through timelines and force the magical energy out of other entities. Sise-Neg's powers were so immense, that he was able to forcibly absorb the magical energy from universes entirely outside of the one he resided in. This is shown when he absorbed magical energy from Strange and Mordo while they were battling in a completely separate universe.

At the end of his journey, Sise-Neg replicated the Big Bang that made the original Marvel Universe in order to re-create it as it was. Therefore, his power over the Marvel Universe was essentially unlimited.