Al Ewing and Javier Rodríguez will re-team for another Defenders miniseries later this year, titled Defenders: Beyond. The new story will focus on a different set of characters than last year’s miniseries and will feature the return of the cosmic being The Beyonder.
“So in this book, we’re going on a magical journey into the Mystery itself, mapping the Marvel Godhead and bringing back knowledge that ties into what has gone before, some seismic things to come… and if we’re lucky, maybe a little off-the-page magic to feed your hungry head,” Ewing told Marvel.com. “We’ve got an eclectic new crew of Defenders chosen for the task by the final spell of Stephen Strange – I’m saying what’s probably a final goodbye to a lot of stuff from the past 10 years with this one, and for at least one character, this will be the last adventure. Hope you survive the psychedelic experience, pilgrim!”
This new miniseries will star Taaia, the mother of Galactus, who was introduced in the previous series, along with Blue Marvel, America Chavez, Tigra and Loki.
This non-team will face The Beyonder, the powerful being who orchestrated the first Secret Wars back in the 1980s. While his origin has been retconned a couple of times since then, one thing that has remained consistent is his Jheri-curl hairdo:
“Al Ewing is like a wizard that opens doors to the greatest ‘larger than life’ stories you could imagine,” Rodríguez said. “He could take you through the most cosmic and spectacular passages of the Marvel Universe. And at the same time, he cares about each of the characters on the team, their lives, their particular problems so that you worry about them. And I have a lot of fun translating that to images. Those are the reasons that I’m so happy to get back to The Defenders.”
The first issue arrives June 15.