The Beyonder has had his fill of superficial flings, craving the one thing that will make his mortal life complete- love! Enter Alison Blaire, the mutant songstress known as Dazzler. But will Beyonder realize the sacrifice love requires all too late?
The Beyonder has a fling with a normal woman named Sharon Ing, but he doesn't really care about her beyond the immediate moment, while she is completely enthralled with him. He leaves and flies off in a sports car, prompting the Air Force to pursue him. While flying, he reminisces about his recent experiments regarding will, including the reanimation of Algrim the Elf into the form of Kurse, who wishes to kill Thor. The Air Force jets interrupt his reverie by firing on his car. He walks out across the sky and trades his now-ruined flying car for one of the pilots' jets, which he flies to Denver to see Owen Reece.
He asks Reece, one of the only humans he has a standing relationship with, to explain love. Reece struggles to explain, but uses his own relationship with Marsha as an example; he says that it is best when it's mutual, and that he originally couldn't have a real relationship because of his own self-doubt and self-hatred. But now that he's found true love, it's a limitless gift--but it can also be dangerous, even to guys like them.
The Beyonder therefore decides the one thing missing from his life is the love of a good woman. First, he visits Sharon Ing, but she has killed herself because he left her earlier. He revives her, but feels that their relationship won't last because it's too lopsided. In front of her, he scans the world for other possible lovers, including both men and women, shocking her. He tells her that he could just as easily appear as a woman, but he's used to being a man now. Finally he sets his eyes on the beautiful singer Alison Blaire, also known as the mutant heroine Dazzler. Sharon Ing is hurt, but eventually finds her own inner strength and walks out.
The Beyonder teleports Dazzler from her normal life onto a domed asteriod, and tries to woo her in an utterly hapless fashion, taking her on a tour of the universe without her consent. He tries to mimic normal romantic conventions, but he's clumsy and unintentionally obnoxious, and she isn't interested. Eventually, however, he wins her over a bit, and she is at least willing to be friends. They decide to let him try to court her in a slightly more traditional fashion.
First he goes off to meet Alpha Flight, whom he fights briefly before taking a ring from Shaman's pouch. He gives it to Dazzler as a gift, but she wants to back to her old life and dreams after all. He tries to help by making her a star, but she wants to earn her stardom.
Then, out of nowhere, the Avengers attack Beyonder. He fights them in a standard super-hero fashion, and they get the upper hand. They are about to kill him, and so Dazzler saves him. They go to a mountaintop, and she gets him to admit that they weren't the real Avengers, he was faking the whole fight. He decides the whole problem is that the two of them are too different, and so he divides his powers with Dazzler, making her a Goddess, and probably the second-most-powerful being in creation. And yet once again Dazzler doesn't want this gift, or Beyonder's love. She rejects the power, and falls to her death. In his rage, the Beyonder releases a blast of power that obliterates a galaxy. Finally he brings her back to life and uses his power to make her love him. He soon realizes that, just as with Toots and Vinnie, a controlled friend or lover is no good. Love must be earned, and must be mutual, as Reece told him.
Story continues in Dazzler #40, Alpha Flight #28, Rom #72, and Avengers #261.
Log in to comment