The Bearable Lightness of Unbeing

Wendell Vaughn has arrived in his hometown of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and realizes that he has no memory of why he came. He figures he probably came to visit his family while on business for his security consultant firm. He then heads down to the home of his mother Lisa Vaughn, and his younger sister Lisa. They play catch-up for a bit and he tells them about his new job and how his new secretary is kind of cute, but they aren’t dating. Still unable to remember why he came to town, Wendell calls Kayla Ballentine back at the company. She tells him that his appointment book is blank and he decides to stay in Oshkosh until the weekend. When his mother asks if he brought any luggage, Wendell realizes that he didn’t pack any bags for this trip.

When he goes up to his old bedroom to take a nap, Vaughn can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong but can’t figure out what that is. When he sleeps, he dreams of being Quasar and flying through the air powered by his Quantum Bands. However, when Gayle wakes him up later to tell him supper is ready, he doesn’t have any memory of his superhero identity. He tells her about the strange dream he had, and although he remembers meeting Captain America once — but no memory of the circumstances — he insists to his sister that he isn’t a superhero and they chalk the dream up to the fact that Wendell works in New York City, a hotbed of superhero activity.

When Wendell goes down for dinner his mother tells him how a neighborhood boy named Billy Bettelheim idolizes Wendell after hearing how he made a life for himself in New York City. The young boy has aspirations of becoming a comic book artist and Lisa suggests that Wendell meet Billy and his mother Norma. Surprised that a kid could idolize him, Wendell agrees to meet the Bettelheim’s to find out more about them. Sure enough, Billy is very interested in learning everything Wendell can tell him about life in New York City and its population of superheroes. Billy then invites Wendell to check out his club house to see his drawings of superheroes.

Inside the club house, Wendell is surprised to see it is wallpapered with drawings of every superhero. Billy insists that he created all of these characters, not just drawn heroes from real life or out of the comic books he reads.[1] Wendell is particularly interested in a drawing of a hero that Billy calls Quasar, but has no idea why. That’s when Billy drops a bombshell: He’s not really a 10-year-old boy, but five-thousand-year-old cosmic being called Origin, who is responsible for creating every superhero by creating the unique circumstances that allowed them to obtain superhuman powers. Billy explains that he does this to combat his mortal foe, a creature called the Unbeing, who counteracts his creations by undoing their origins.[2] Wendell finds this all very hard to believe, that’s when Billy reveals that he was Quasar and the Unbeing undid his origin, hence why he doesn’t remember his superhero life.

The boy even fills in the gaps in Wendell’s memories, saying that he was the one who summoned him to Oshkos, with a letter that revealed he knew he was secretly Quasar and to meet with him to learn about a cosmic level threat. However, when Quasar arrived at the local water tower, the Unbeing struck, erasing the letter. Using his Quantum Bands to track the source, Quasar was drawn to a local retirement home where the Unbeing erased his superhero past, leaving him in the situation he now finds himself in. Billy then reveals that the Unbeing is posing as his elderly grandmother at the retirement home.[3] In order for Wendell to reclaim his origins, he has to kill the Unbeing. Wendell is uneasy about killing an old lady, but Billy insists that the Unbeing is only disguised as an elderly person and is a dire threat. Billy then shows Wendell his true form, proving that there is some truth to his story. He agrees to do the job, but he still feels uneasy about it and wonders why a creation force like Origin would want him to kill.

When Wendell returns home, he asks his mother a hypothetical, asking if she was given the opportunity to stop Hitler by going back and killing him as a baby. Lisa finds this a heavy question to answer and suggests that Wendell get some sleep. Struggling to fall asleep, Wendell figures he’ll at least go and see Billy’s grandmother and make up his mind then.

The next day, Wendell takes Billy to the retirement home where his grandmother is staying. What he sees is a kindly old lady. However, in the middle of their meeting, Billy uses his power to change Wendell back into Quasar, covers her mouth and orders Quasar to kill her. Instead of blasting the old lady, Quasar blasts Billy instead, decapitating his body. From the stump of his neck emerges the Unbeing who was posing as Billy all along. Furious over being defeated, the Unbeing then vanishes in a whisp of smoke. The old woman then reveals that she is Origin. Seeing Quasar in the flesh, she admits that he doesn’t look as good as the drawing she had done of him. She decides to rectify this by giving Quasar a brand new costume, based off of the one worn by Captain Marvel. She then thanks Quasar for saving her life, but admits that soon she will eventually die anyway, saying nobody will have any memory of her existence after that and suggests that they perhaps will meet again in another life.[4]

As Quasar heads for home he wonders if Eon is aware of the existence of Origin and decides to ask him next time they meet. However, Quasar instantly forgets about he encounter with Origin and the Unbeing, only remembering that he came to visit family and flies away. Little does he know that the Unbeing and his two masters have been observing him. The two mysterious entities are furious that the Unbeing failed, but the mastermind behind all of this vows that death and oblivion will soon claim the entire cosmos.[5]

Recurring Characters

Quasar, Lisa Vaughn, Gayle Vaughn, Origin, Kayla Ballentine

Continuity Notes

1. Per Fantastic Four #10, in universe, many superheroes license their adventures to Marvel Comics who publish these stories. Two of the comics in Billy’s collection include Captain America #250 and Ghost Rider (vol. 2) #68.

2. Billy makes the following bold claims:

   • He claims he allowed the Fantastic Four to gain their powers via cosmic rays, gave them the idea for their names and costumes. The FF got their powers and came up with their names in Fantastic Four #1. They started wearing matching uniforms in issue #3. In Fantastic Four #530-532 it was stated that the Fantastic Four got their powers from an alien being called the Entity who sent the cosmic rays to Earth in the first place. According to Fantastic Four #126, Johnny Storm named himself after the original Human Torch who fought in World War II. While Fantastic Four: First Family #3 states that their uniforms were actually inspired by the space suits they first wore into space that were likewise affected by the Cosmic Rays.

   • He also claims that he showed the Asgaridans how to come to Earth in the past, leading to their worship by the Vikings. Asgardian history is shrouded with myth and conflicting tales of their first communion with humans. Marvel Legacy #1 points to the Asgarians’ first encounter with humanity dating as far back as 1,000,000 BC.

   • He also claims to have put the location of Earth in the minds of the Skrulls, Silver Surfer, and Galactus. In the Modern Age, the Skrulls were first documented coming to Earth in Fantastic Four #2. However, later stories show that they have come multiple times in the past. Avengers #133-134 shows that they have known about Earth as far back as 10 million years ago. The earliest recorded encounter between humans and Skrulls dates back to the 14th and 15th century, per Europa #0.

   • It’s commonly believed that the Silver Surfer and Galactus first came to Earth in Fantastic Four #48. However, S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 revealed that Galactus has been to Earth as early as the 14th century.

3. Here, Billy states that the reason why most heroes exist either on the east and west coast is due to the fact that the Unbeing is more powerful in the mid-state area. The only exception being the Great Lakes Avengers. This group was first formed in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #46.

4. Although Origin does die, she is reborn into a new body in space. See Quasar #36-37, 40 and 47-48.

5. There is more to this story than meets the eye. The Unbeing’s two masters turn out to be Maelstrom and Oblivion. Maelstrom is the cosmic threat Quasar has been chosen to stop and he has been working behind the scenes to collapse the entire universe and plunge it into Oblivion. Also, Quasar’s sudden change in costume isn’t just cosmetic. Origin actually changed Quasar’s origin so that he was always wearing this new costume. This makes him an anomaly and able to withstand Maelstrom’s attack since the madman had become the personification of anomalies. See Quasar #19-25.

Topical References

• In this story, the letter that Quasar receives is said to have been received by fax machine. This should be considered a topical reference. While fax machines are still a thing, they are not as prominent a form of communication thanks to the proliferation of digital communications such as e-mail making the fax machine a near obsolete technology on its way out.