"Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds" Guess the Identity of Rabum Alal

[XPac]

I think its best to go into the issue thinking its a new character so you won't set yourself up to be disappointed.

Especially if Hickman essentially said it was a new character.

Though as someone else mentioned, Hickman at times does seem a bit dodgy on his Formspring responses.

[Gordonstar]

A new version of an old one.

[xcoijoi]

Yep, I'm still going with the Beyonder, playing a role similar to that of Trelane, from the original Star Trek series.

Like the Beyonder, Trelane is basically a child, with a weaker skillset & power level than his elders.

Trelane's elders happen to be the Q Continuum, which we find out from the graphic novel Q Squared. Trelane manages to obtain the power to collapse entire universes, and Q enlists Picard to help him defeat the lunatic.

So, perhaps the original Beyonder found some means to better his Beyonder elders, and they turn out to be the good guys, in spite of their apparent murdering rampage.

[Majin_O.A.W.]

A new version of an old one.

I'm going to go with either Ultron or the Beyonder.Leaning toward Ultron. I seem to recall Hickman mentioning Ultron would play a role in Secret Wars and have Death as his consort. I can't remember where I saw that interview. But it makes sense to me. Plus we have the movie synergy working in full effect.

If I am correct that it is Ultron, then perhaps I will finally be given the credit that I am due on this board.

[Gordonstar]

I don't think its the beyonder. Unless he had a power decrease. Plus the Beyonders are filling his role.

[randomengine]

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Jonathan Hickman stated this is not a mystery story. This is a horror story. As such the identity of the main villain should not be an existing villain, but a new one.

[jphamlore]

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Jonathan Hickman stated this is not a mystery story. This is a horror story. As such the identity of the main villain should not be an existing villain, but a new one.

On the other hand, it seems to me Hickman carefully chose to answer a question that was not explicitly asking whether the Great Destroyer was a brand new character. The question was whether it was a character that has been seen before, which can reasonably be interpreted to be asking if the Great Destroyer is a character that has been seen before in Hickman's Avengers books up to that time, which was many months ago.

Hickman has also said that Marvel is not shy about throwing its weight around during crossovers for its commercial interests. I have read claims for example that Thanos was shoehorned into Infinity. I would think Marvel would not let this opportunity go to waste to have some sort of link to the Avengers: Age of Ultron movie, but we will see in less than 24 hours.

Suppose this is some new character Hickman has created that by chance becomes the next Thanos in importance for Marvel. Wouldn't Marvel have somewhat ripped off the comic store owners by not marketing New Avengers #31 as a book everyone should rush to the stores, buy, and hold forever as a landmark book in Marvel history?

[Gordonstar]

It's a new character.

[Reviresco]

I took that as a meta-textual reference to the medium itself. That the Beyonders are actually the comic creators, all powerful, just short of the One-Above-All (Stan/Jack?). The original Beyonder being Jim Shooter making a world for his toys. I figured the white space was literally the gutters around the panels, which are controllable by the comic creators. They can basically do anything they want and shape the universe as they will.

So, would that make the Great Destroyer the fans or the readers? Destroying the creators' worlds one by one with either their misinterpretation of their works or literally, with cancellation, via lack of sales? Whittling down the multi-verse of comics with their buying power concentrated only on the 'important' books and characters, until there are only the same few characters with viable books and even they must succumb, leading to only the huge event book -- SECRET WARS!

[jphamlore]

I'm going to go with either Ultron or the Beyonder.Leaning toward Ultron. I seem to recall Hickman mentioning Ultron would play a role in Secret Wars and have Death as his consort. I can't remember where I saw that interview. But it makes sense to me. Plus we have the movie synergy working in full effect.

If I am correct that it is Ultron, then perhaps I will finally be given the credit that I am due on this board.

No no no, that was pure speculation on my part. Hickman to my knowledge never has said anything to spoil the story, let alone imply Death had any role.

[Darkspellmaster]

So, would that make the Great Destroyer the fans or the readers? Destroying the creators' worlds one by one with either their misinterpretation of their works or literally, with cancellation, via lack of sales? Whittling down the multi-verse of comics with their buying power concentrated only on the 'important' books and characters, until there are only the same few characters with viable books and even they must succumb, leading to only the huge event book -- SECRET WARS!

Okay now that idea is depressing in such a meta way. I would think that the Great Destroyer would be the existence of the stock holders, unforeseen groups of people that drive a market through greedy wants and desires expecting sales to boom and then slowly ripping apart the multiverse though the need of cold hard cash. That I could buy more then the idea of the Great Destroyer being the readers. If anything pushes a book into cancellation it's the idea of "It's not selling enough right now." which tends to come from the stock holders not getting enough off of their sales via wallstreet.

[Nyadnar17]

Okay now that idea is depressing in such a meta way. I would think that the Great Destroyer would be the existence of the stock holders, unforeseen groups of people that drive a market through greedy wants and desires expecting sales to boom and then slowly ripping apart the multiverse though the need of cold hard cash. That I could buy more then the idea of the Great Destroyer being the readers. If anything pushes a book into cancellation it's the idea of "It's not selling enough right now." which tends to come from the stock holders not getting enough off of their sales via wallstreet.

I really hope not. That kinda bitter metafiction is what takes away a lot of the joy from reading DC's multiverse stuff. I don't mind the occasional meta commentary, but I would prefer comics stay way from navel gazing the medium.

[MyriVerse]

Galactus Seed!

[Reviresco]

Okay now that idea is depressing in such a meta way. I would think that the Great Destroyer would be the existence of the stock holders, unforeseen groups of people that drive a market through greedy wants and desires expecting sales to boom and then slowly ripping apart the multiverse though the need of cold hard cash. That I could buy more then the idea of the Great Destroyer being the readers. If anything pushes a book into cancellation it's the idea of "It's not selling enough right now." which tends to come from the stock holders not getting enough off of their sales via wallstreet.

I'm pretty sure it's not stockholders. They have very little to do with the company and creating books. Cancellation is pretty straightforward for most books (FF excepted). Readers aren't buying enough copies from retailers. But pay no mind to me. I'm somewhat grumpy lately, and just haven't been able to get excited about Secret Wars.

How about the Beyonders are the editors and the Great Destroyer is the writer? Does that work better?

I really hope not. That kinda bitter metafiction is what takes away a lot of the joy from reading DC's multiverse stuff. I don't mind the occasional meta commentary, but I would prefer comics stay way from navel gazing the medium.

Yes, the bitterness doesn't really seem to fit Hickman, IMO.

[Gordonstar]

There is no statement.