This article contains SPOILERS for Defenders: Beyond #2

Marvel Comics revealed that the greatest triumph of Doctor Doom's life was actually a huge lie. Victor von Doom is one of Marvel's most popular villains, an anti-hero who once saved the entire Multiverse during Secret Wars. However, Doom's epic victory against the Beyonders was actually nothing more than in illusion.

Victor von Doom is much more than the Fantastic Four's and Reed Richards' bitter rival. His complex personality and fascinating backstory allowed Marvel authors to develop his character in many ways over the years. His ruthless ambition and unbounded ego make him one of the company's most popular villains, but at the same time, Doom has also performed heroic actions to the point that, without his genius and indomitable will, the Marvel Multiverse would not currently exist. In 2015's Secret Wars, Doom becomes aware of the Beyonders' plan to destroy the Multiverse. While the heroes are absolutely powerless to stop them, Doom travels the Multiverse, recruits the Molecule Man, builds an entire trans-dimensional religion that worships him like a god, and finally forces a confrontation with the Beyonders, where he destroys the entire race of omnipotent beings and steals their powers, using them to salvage what little is left of the Multiverse and resurrects all the people he can. However, this epic story is now put into question by the return of the Beyonders.

Related: Marvel Finally Explains The Origins Of Secret Wars' Beyonders

In Defenders: Beyond #2, by Al Ewing and Javier Rodrìguez, the Defenders travel back from the current Eight Cosmos (the Multiverse created after Secret Wars) to the Second Cosmos, where they meet the original Beyonder from the first Secret Wars and his peers, learning of their origins. They were created by the Celestials as limitless life forms with the duty of watching over the newborn Multiverse and ensure its stability. When the Celestials moved to the Third Cosmos, to observe creation from the inside, the Beyonders remained in the void that was the Second Cosmos to continue performing their duties and experiments, including the transition from the Seventh to the Eight Cosmos, which they call a "controlled demolition". However, if the Defenders were able to meet the Beyonders, it means that they were not all killed by Doom as previously believed.

Defenders: Beyond explains that the Incursions and the destruction of the Seventh Cosmos were an attempt by the Beyonders to prevent a new, massive threat that they call Dominion. However, the story makes no mention of Doom's role in the events or of that fated battle at the end of everything, where Victor turned the Molecule Man into a bomb that annihilated the Beyonders. The simplest explanation is that it was all an illusion created by the Beyonders. Victor had a fundamental role in the transition between the Seventh and the Eight Cosmos. As God Emperor Doom, he salvaged fragments of creation and stored the power of the Beyonders and the Molecule Man, that Reed Richards and the Fantastic Four then used to create a new Multiverse. It could be, then, that the Beyonders wanted to facilitate Doom's actions by making him believe that he had actually vanquished them, all in order to ensure that the Eight Cosmos was created.

Doom may have been chosen for this role due to his actions during the original Secret Wars, when he was able to steal and control the power of one Beyonder, thus proving he was capable of such a feat. The illusion may have been used to take advantage of Doom's huge ego in order to make him fulfill his cosmic role, however, it's that same ego that will make sure Victor will get his revenge if he ever finds out he's been tricked. Regardless of the explanation, the revelation that the Beyonders are still alive will surely hurt fans of Doom, because it takes away the moment of his biggest triumph.