Spoilers ahead for Defenders #2!
The Masked Raider, one of Marvel’s strongest heroes, could easily beat the King in Black, but not Galactus. In Defenders #2, on sale now in print and digital, the Masked Raider and his teammates in the Defenders are confronted with a world devourer similar to Galactus, leading to a revelation about how the Masked Raider’s powers work.
The Masked Raider has a long history at Marvel, going all the way back to 1939’s Marvel Comics #1—the first Marvel comic. The current incarnation first appeared in 2019’s Marvel Comics #1000; his secret identity is still unknown. The Masked Raider wears the Eternity Mask, a magical object created from a sliver of Eternity (the personification for the universe) which gives the Raider his opponent’s powers, thus creating a fair fight. For example, if the Masked Raider was to fight Captain America, the Raider would gain Cap’s agility, strength and endurance, as well as knowledge of his various fighting styles. While this makes the Masked Raider one of Marvel’s strongest, it comes with a downside—one that makes defeating the King in Black easy and Galactus impossible, and readers can see it in Defenders #2. The issue is written by Al Ewing with art by Javier Rodrigues and letters by Joe Caramagna.
The Masked Raider and his fellow Defenders, including the Harpy, Doctor Strange, the Silver Surfer and Cloud, have been whisked back to the Sixth Cosmos (the universe before ours) where they are confronted by Omnimax, the Sixth Cosmos’ equivalent to Galactus. Doctor Strange asks the Masked Raider how effective the Eternity Mask would be against Omnimax. The Raider tells him that he would indeed gain Omnimax’s strength—but also Omnimax’s insatiable hunger, effectively rendering the Masked Raider useless in battle.
In terms of power, Galactus and Knull are evenly matched; however, the unique workings of the Masked Raider’s Eternity Mask would be much more effective against the King in Black than Galactus. While Galactus is quite powerful, that powers comes with a great price—he must constantly devour planets for sustenance. In the interests of creating a fair fight, the Eternity Mask will give the Raider all of Galactus’ power, but also his hunger for planets. In the case of an opponent such as the King in Black, who has no requirements for his power like Galactus, the Mask would be much more effective—the Masked Raider would gain all of Knull’s powers and strength, with no downsides.
The Eternity Mask makes the Masked Raider one of Marvel’s strongest heroes, but it also comes with a downside, one that makes him more effective against the King in Black than Galactus.