Originally Posted by
Josh77
I don't know if you'd class this as a theory or an interpretation of Secret Wars, but here it goes. I think the Beyonders are supposed to represent the creators of these comics. In NA and SW the Beyonders speak to Doom through some sort of rift in space. They tell Doom they are "Dreamers. Destroyers. All of reality our whim." That description pretty well fits the writers, artists, editors, etc. that are forever shaping the Marvel Universe. In SW 4 Dr. Strange describes the Beyonders as "some alien, ethereal other thing that perfectly constructed not just the material nature of everything, but the rules that governed it as well." Again, this description perfectly fits the crreators of the MU. Also, Hickman is the type of writer who likes to work a lot of symbolism into his stories. Now, if we assume that this is true then many other parts of this story, and the press surrounding it, begin to take on some additional meaning.
When we first heard about Secret Wars, a lot of people thought Marvel was preparing to do a big reboot. (We now know this is not the case. While the post Secret Wars MU will see some major changes it is definitely not a complete reboot.) In NA 33 the Molecule Man explains how the Beyonders were "conducting their grandest of grand experiments. The simultaneous death of everything in the multiverse." From the perspective of these characters, a complete reboot would serve as such an apocalyptic event. If you want to take this meta reading of the text even further just look at what Owen Reece says next. He asks Doom if he remembers his first encounter with the "child beyonder" which "destroyed a universe in order to construct a play world out of the ashes." This makes sense if you consider that the first secret wars was all about throwing these characters together in order to sell toys. Owen goes on to say that these Beyonders "are its betters, with far more ambitious goals." These ambitious goals would be the reboot.
This is where it gets fun. Of all the characters in the marvel universe it is Doom who will stand against these beyonders/creators who would destroy their universe. Doom defiantly tells the beyonders, "You dared to test us. You dared to toy with us. I dare to throw back in your face." What we have here is a fictional character refusing to be abused and played with by his creators. And who in the MU besides Doom would really have the ego to do something like that? Also, Doom tells us that the Beyonders' only weakness is that they are linear meaning they are unable to travel through time. This is a weird weakness for the supposedly all powerful Beyonders to have. Well, from the perspective of a character existing in this universe, the creators would be all powerful, and, obviously, the creators at Marvel are unable to travel through time.
If you choose to interpret Secret Wars in this way then the series ironically becomes the opposite of what so many people thought Marvel was doing. Not only is Secret Wars not a reboot, it is actually a refutation of that idea. The creators may be trying to reboot the universe but the characters refuse to go along. Consider what Cyclops says in SW 1: "You can't kill an idea. It always comes back. Resurrected. Or reborn...into a different form." That pretty much sums up what is happening to the MU right now.
I'd be interested to hear what everyone else thinks. It could be I am reading too much into what Hickman is doing. However, when you add it all up I think this interpretation is definitely a possibility. Thoughts?
