Defenders #4 - Fourth Cosmos: The Lovers

[doctor_spanky]

Here's four pages from Defenders #4, written by Al Ewing with art by Javier Rodríguez (both line and color)





So if you ask me, Defenders is one of the weirdest, most esoteric, and beautifully illustrated series Marvel is putting out right now. The Defenders are chasing a villain (Carlo Zota) back through previous iterations of the Marvel universe - the Sixth Cosmos was one of pure science, the Fifth Cosmos was one of pure magic, and now the Fourth Cosmos seems to be where Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko and all's ideas originated. And in keeping with that, it's a world of CMYB four-color printing process!



The archetypical Fantastic Four describe the modern Defenders as "less powerful than we, more depth, nuance," and seek their help stopping the heroes from going to war with each other after Carlo Zota introduced conflict and moral complexity to them.



The Defenders manage to rally the heroes together to defeat archetypical Galactus, who reverts to his Lifebringer form and changes his mantra from "everything dies" to "everything lives." Carlo Zota flees to the Third Cosmos.



This embodiment of early Marvel sends them back to the Third Cosmos, and away from this sort of House of Ideas realm. Where they find something even more primordial:



Anyways I think this series is really incredible to look at and a fascinating read. In keeping with the exploration of archetypes this series is doing, there's a lot of references to the tarot and its characters and themes. And this issue is largely from the perspective of Cloud, a character who transitions identities between more feminine and masculine forms before ascending to an archetype of their own, and choosing to remain behind in the Fourth Cosmos. But I could only include so many pages!

Comments

[cricharddavies]

I was hoping you were going to include the "Levity" "Stoicism" panel. Made me laugh harder than anything else did yesterday.

[doctor_spanky]

Right??? I had a really hard time whittling it down

[onsokumaru]

I love how Ewing never misses an opportunity to tell how frustrated he is with Marvel's adoration of the Holy Status Quo

[starwolf_oakley]

I'm sure that's true, but can you give some examples?

[onsokumaru]

From the top of my head, there is that issue of Ultimates where Chaos and Order are upset that Galactus broke the status quo
https://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/6186241.html

There is also an issue of Loki where KId Loki is ranting about how people said they wanted change, but ultimately, the old was deemed preferable than the new.

[numeronone]

NTM his Hulk run involved the Big Guy confronting Banner on Banner's cinstant backsliding into self-destructive tendencies and their need to work together to break the cycle...and ended with the Hulks, Bug Guy and Joe, demanding that God themselves explain why they have to keep suffering for all eternity.

Oh, and this issue also involved the Galactus The Devourer type turning into Galactus The Lifebringer, as he did in Ultimates. I think Ewing really does like Big G and wants him to have more sympathetic stories.

[iamrman]

I don't have the faintest idea what's going on, but I love it!

[blues32]

Oh, the things you'll see when on shrooms. Also, the "where is my face/his mask" thing... is that a Rorschach reference? "MY FACE! GIVE ME BACK MY FACE!"

[jgraygaming]

Let's count the archetypes!

I see a Captain America. A Spider-Man. A Wasp. A Captain Marvel. A Hawkeye. A Wolverine. An America Chavez. A Thor. A Daredevil. A Storm. An Iron Man. A Ghost Rider. A Medusa. An Ant-Man. Not sure who the gold one with the hand blasts is supposed to be. The one with the scales could, oddly, be a Hulk?

Side note? "Everything lives. Everything dies" is a sly shout-out to Psycho Pirates "Worlds will live and worlds will die" from Crisis, which makes an odd sort of sense here since Crisis, in a way, marks the closing of the final door on the Silver Age.

[blues32]

Ah, the gold one is Iron Man, I'm certain of it. The one with the scales is most likely She-Hulk, being a lawyer and all. The faceless one...might be Dr. Doom.

[donnblake]

Isn't there a cosmic mask of some sort in play here? I figured maybe it was tied to that.

[scorntx]

The faceless one is Doctor Doom, enemy of Four-Who-Are-One.

Zota nicked his mask. Because Zota's a jerk.

[scorntx]

"Everything dies" was a repeated phrase in Jonathan Hickman's Avengers and Secret Wars, which ended with Reed Richards instead realising "everything lives".
(And also that nihilism was wrong. That's why Reed's the big brain.)

Ewing then used "everything lives" as a phrase through his run on Ultimates, which also revolved around the previous multiverses, and established Eternity no. 4 (The Pilgrim, and True Believer) was missing.

[numeronone]

By "scales" I thought you meant the lizard hands reaching for proto-Thor. Could be Abomination?

[lordy_co]

Not pictured but Cloud assumes a more androgynous form and stays behind as an archetype on the Fourth Cosmos, which I think is Ewing trying to (perhaps wishfully) imply that queer characters are becoming more and more accepted in superhero media.

[lordultimus]

And to a certain extent, give a character an actual ending for once, because let's face it when is someone going to use Cloud of all people again?

[scorntx]

Well, given most of Cloud's appearances since the 80s have been bit parts and cameos... prrrrrobably never.


(unless they show up in an MCU thing, of course.)

[numeronone]

Hrm...given Disney's censorship habit when it comes to shipping out properties to the lucrative foreign markets, I doubt a genderqueer living nebula is going to get past the pitch meeting.

[scorntx]

Betty's being totally fed up with Strange was pretty great.

Going by the hints in this issue, got a pretty strong hunch of who's beneath the mask.
Well, only another issue to go before that reveal.
(No, not stringing it out at all...)

[lordy_co]

Who do you think it is? I didn't get the hints this issue (my personal theory is that it could be the 616 version of Kyle Richmond).

[scorntx]

Well, given his comments toward Zota, thinking maybe he's actually a future version of Zota.
Maybe.

[numeronone]

Given that he's hinted at being military, and that he was motivated by Betty getting attacked in this issue, I was thinking maybe Glenn Talbot or Thunderbolt Ross?

[scorntx]

Unlikely to be Talbot or Ross.
Marvel Comics #1000 had Raider interacting with Daredevil, Luke Cage and Jessica Jones.
He doesn't use Ross's usual distinctive speech patterns (with its 'dangs' and 'blasts'), or have the build of an elderly general.

Meanwhile, Issue 2 indicated whoever Masky is, he's someone who knows the Silver Surfer / vice-versa. Pretty sure Talbot and Norin never met.

[numeronone]

Well, in that case my favourite possible pick would be Galan of Taa :~D

[scorntx]

...
huh.

Now that you mention it, that actually does seem plausible.

[numeronone]

And it sure paints the MR's encounters thus far in a different light! Especially the fistfight in this chapter...

[rolzup]

I'm wondering if it's Kyle Richmond.

[lordy_co]

That's my guess. Ewing is just the kind of writer that would remember the 616 version of Richmond still exists. Also, knowing how progressive Ewing's writing is, I bet he'd try to give Richmond a new identity apart from Nighthawk, as all most recent 'hawks were black and it wouldn't be cool for the identity to return to a white billionaire.

[scorntx]

Ehhhh.
Pretty sure if it was going to be Kyle, there would at least be some foreshadowing on that front.
Like the characters mentioning he exists, for one.
(And the first issue establishes whoever's under the mask, they've got no actual fighting abilities of their own. Reasonably certain Kyle's been in the biz long enough to outfight a brown belt in a punch-up.)

[scorntx]

Especially the conversation with the Surfer in issue 2.

Though there are wrinkles.
Like why someone from a planet of Kirby super-scientists is dressing like that and using guns.
And the hows, given Cates' run on Thor had the Big G pretty comprehensively killed. (Masky does mention he's already been doing some time-travel, which might give some explanation. That, and it's not like Galactus is going to stay terribly dead for long anyhow, because like this very issue's saying, "nothing dies").

[numeronone]

Can anyone tell me who the Spartan Helmet is meant to be? I got most of the others (and it's nice to see newer figures like America Chavez involved), but I can't tell if he's supposed to be Ares or Magneto...or what those flaming balls are meant to be.

[scorntx]

Given the position of the, ah, flaming balls, think that's probably Nova.

which might explain the helmet (Nova centurion, geddit?)

[numeronone]

Aha! Thank you.

[numeronone]

Though I must be a stickler and point out that the helmet is still much more akin to a Spartan than a centurion...though that might be more the fault of the Nova Corps than anyone else.

[scorntx]

It's several eternities before Greece, Rome, Sparta, Xandar or Earth will even exist.

Think a little inaccuracy can be forgiven in that light.

[numeronone]

As someone who works with a Riso printer, I can't tell you how much I appreciate that Cloud converts the CYMK language into an RGB dialect.