Consider a person whose sole mission in life is to offer all living things a reason to worship him or die. Oh well, that is Magus for you, or, to put it another way, Adam Warlock’s dark, wicked doppelgänger. The character of Magus was created by Jim Starlin and originally appears in the 178th issue of Strange Tales in 1975, titled Who Is Adam Warlock?
The figure of Magus was created by the In-Betweener, the servant of the forces of Order and Chaos, and was originally intended to be a forthcoming version of Adam Warlock. He led his zealous and loyal followers on a mission to vanquish the galaxy and exterminate all things ‘impure’ after he came to believe he was a God. So, basically, anything non-humanoid was going to be exterminated, especially ‘undesirables’ like trolls.
The only option for the remaining forms of life was to worship him or die. It is no surprise that Magus founded the Universal Church of Truth, where he was unmistakably the center of worship. Would you be surprised if we told you that the church’s major goal was to convert the entire cosmos to Magus’ ideas, or, to be more exact, his perverted beliefs?
So get ready for today’s video, when we will discuss Magus, his origins, his involvement in the Infinity War comic book, and the powerful creature that could literally fight Thanos. Are you prepared? Let us get this party started!
A Brief History Of Magus
There was a time when Magus along with his empire was at odds with the Adam Warlock of their timeline thanks to a temporal paradox being created. Magus bogged him down with harmless radiation, which in turn, caught the attention of the In-Betweener. As a result, Warlock was sent to a different dimension, one that was outside space and time by the In-Betweener.
There, he was schooled by Chaos and Order in their own ways, something that eventually drove him insane thereby transforming him into Magus. It is only after Magus managed to come five thousand years into the past timeline on an unknown planet that he overpowered the denizens and finally formed the Universal Church of Truth. No points for guessing that he wasted simply no time in expanding his church into an intergalactic kingdom via holy war of course!
Here’s putting further stress on his encounter with Adam Warlock. Apparently, exactly four years ahead of the day that his past version would end up becoming him, Magus began reconstructing each group of the Universal Church of Truth that he recalled having faced as Adam Warlock and handed over his physical control of the empire to his assistant, the Matriarch in particular, just so that his futuristic version would come about.
But if one is to look at behind the scenes, Magus did his very best to guide Adam Warlock towards fulfilling his destiny. However, not everything fell into place; the intervention of Thanos who by the way had acquired a knowledge of the plan by commuting to the future steered Warlock into disrupting the karmic path that would have eventually led to the creation of Magus. This not only obliterated the existence of Magus but also swerved his reality from Earth-616 into Earth-7528.
Magus In Infinity War
INFINITY WAR #1
There’s a reason that we have to quote Thanos here – “The entire universe stands in grave peril”.
You know it is going to be a full-fledged war when Magus unleashes a horde of evil doppelgängers of our very own Marvel heroes and the last resort happens to be none other than Thanos. Yes, that’s right, every word of it. Here, let’s go a little more detailed with the first issue of the six-part mini-series.
Mysterious energy patterns are felt all over the universe, which no one can analyze or make proper sense of but what is given is that these incredible energy patterns are a definite threat to reality. While Thanos leaves the planet to find the source of the energy, Doctor Doom has plans of his own; he intends to shape a strategy so as to gain the power for himself. After Thanos is able to find the source of the mysterious energy he gets confronted by Magus.
Well, it does not take Thanos much time to comprehend a few things – to begin with, the power that he was once in possession of was certainly not meant for him and definitely not for Magus. Before sending Thanos back to his dimension, Magus also briefly shows him the horde of evil doppelgängers that he has created to triumph over those who would go against him.
As for the evil doppelgängers who have been sent to Earth, they have found their equals and no point in guessing that a major fight ensues between them. While some of them are defeated, the fate of some lies uncertain. Mr. Fantastic upon realizing the gravity of the situation calls for a meeting with the Avengers, X-Men, X-Factor, West Coast Avengers, New Warriors, and Alpha Flight.
On the other hand, Galactus post losing the energy trail that he was pursuing makes up his mind to take the help of a mage. Doctor Doom seeks the help of Kang forming what apparently looks like some kind of an alliance to lay his hands on the energy source. The issue ends with Thanos requesting the aid of Adam Warlock and the Infinity Watch.
INFINITY WAR #2
Almost everyone has assembled at Four Freedoms Plaza for the meeting. As for Doctor Doom and Kang, the duo whilst examining the mysterious energy emissions are able to locate receptors that are there on every star and planet in the galaxy. As for Thanos, he is able to meet the Infinity Watch on Monster Island. Next, he has Pip deliver them to Death’s realm to make use of the Infinity Well in order to get more information.
That’s where they learn how Adam Warlock in possession of the Infinity Gauntlet had unconsciously separated the good and evil from himself, and in the process revived Magus. The Well also tells them about Magus’ big plans of assimilating the heroes with their evil doppelgängers but unbeknownst to Thanos and the Infinity Watch, this is all part of Magus’ plan who lets Mistress Death know that she has intruders in her very realm.
On the other hand, Galactus, Nova, Doctor Strange, and Silver Surfer make their way towards finding the true source of energy unaware that they are being followed by Doom and Kang. Back at Four Freedoms Plaza, Reed starts the meeting and lets everyone know of the copy that attacked him the previous night. Wolverine accuses both Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic of being copies.
This results in a fight and Daredevil realizes that the duo is imposters too. It becomes clear that Reed wanted everyone gathered there in the first place to blow them off with a gamma bomb that’s disclosed later. The issue ends with Thanos and the Infinity Watch reaching Earth to see the bomb get detonated.
INFINITY WAR #3
Although the gamma bomb annihilates the top part of Four Freedoms Plaza, Invisible Woman is able to hold the explosion with a shield and Thor is able to create a whirlwind and send the nuclear fallout into outer space. Magus teleports in with the doppelgänger of Thanos and easily manages to escape with the copies. By the way, both of them are mistaken as Adam Warlock and the real Thanos when they arrive.
Only Shaman is able to sense that the portal was related to magic and proposes to take the help of a powerful mage to aid them. Meanwhile, Galactus and the rest are headed towards finding the true source of energy still unaware that they are being followed by Doom and Kang. With Magus realizing that Galactus is reaching his destination way faster than he had expected, the former destroys the latter’s ship. Doom and Kang find themselves off the trail and are able to locate the closest link to that particular dimension.
With Thanos and Infinity Watch arriving there later, Doom and Kang cloak themselves. Thanos prepares Adam Warlock for what must be done. Suddenly, earth’s heroes forming an expeditionary force teleport in there and look at Thanos, they blame him for everything that has happened. Well, that is exactly what Magus wanted and everything has been a part of his grand scheme so far. He wastes no time in sending an army of doppelgängers to attack the heroes that are there back at Four Freedoms Plaza.
INFINITY WAR #4
With one section of our heroes battling against their doppelgängers and the other section engaged in a battle with Thanos and the Infinity Watch, everything is taking place just the way Magus wanted. All except for the fact he just could not make out when Kang and Doom arrived.
As for Galactus, he makes use of his power to rebuild the ship. Speaking of Kang and Doom, the duo is able to locate the actual source of Magus’ power by breaking into his stronghold and defenses. It is finally disclosed that he has five cosmic cubes, each from different dimensions and if meddled with, they are bound to explode. It is only after Galactus intervenes in the battle taking place between the heroes and the Infinity Watch that the fighting stops. He freezes everyone with a stasis field and gets them on board his ship.
Next, he sends some kind of an ion beam to earth and destroys every last of the doppelgängers sent by Magus. Galactus subjects everyone to a cerebral scan to let them know the truth and the heroes are literally shocked to learn that Thanos is surprisingly on their team. Thanos along with Warlock brings together every member of the Infinity Watch to reassemble the Infinity Gauntlet but soon realizes that the gems are powerless in unison.
As a result, Galactus takes along Gamora to meet the Living Tribunal and have the power restored back to the gauntlet. But the moment they leave, Magus appears along with the doppelgänger of Thanos and kidnaps Warlock along with the Infinity Gauntlet. The issue ends with Thanos finding the Ultimate Nullifier from Galactus’ ship and nominating Quasar to become its wielder.
INFINITY WAR #5
With Quasar holding the Ultimate Nullifier, he is sent to handle Magus. On reaching outside the fortress, he does take an aim but hesitates to use the device leading Thanos to plan a direct ambush. As for Magus, although he is in direct possession of the Infinity Gauntlet, he can do nothing about the fact that it is depowered but he knows that Galactus will have the gauntlet reactivated soon.
He orders the doppelgänger of Thanos to leave and to prepare an attack on the heroes and finally lets Warlock know of all the things that he has done so far. In the meantime, Galactus and Gamora meet up with the Living Tribunal who tells them that the gems will not be reactivated without the consent of Eternity. As for Doom and Kang, they finally manage to attack Magus but Warlock ends up defending Magus so as to not let Kang and Doom come in possession of the Infinity Gauntlet.
While Magus is able to get the better of Kang and escape, Doom injures Warlock with a blast and then ends up blasting Kang as well. Doctor Doom is just about to lay his hands on the gauntlet when power is restored back to the Infinity Gauntlet by the Living Tribunal. Magus, now in possession of the fully-functional gauntlet regards himself as invincible.
He blasts at Doom, turns the Ultimate Nullifier against Quasar, and starts torturing Warlock. As for Thanos, he opens some kind of a portal, one that seemingly leads into the fortress of Magus only to trick the heroes into getting attacked by their doppelgängers. The issue ends with Thanos teleporting inside the fortress of Magus to get confronted by his very own doppelgänger.
INFINITY WAR #6
Now that Magus controls the Infinity Gauntlet, he knows he has the power to do anything that he wishes to. For that matter, even create a world that he wants to. It dawns upon Galactus that it was a blunder to have the gauntlet reactivated when he learns that Magus is using it to change reality. The scene shifts to the outer courtyard where the heroes are engaged in a war against their doppelgängers.
Magus makes an appearance and with the first snap of his fingers, he simply makes the doppelgängers vanish. With the second snap, he freezes all the heroes. It goes without saying that he has dreadful plans for all of them, especially for Warlock. Magus simply wants to erase him and he is almost successful had Thanos not intervened. A battle follows between them and Thanos is successfully able to distract Magus long enough to have Warlock free himself and touch the Infinity Gauntlet.
This means, that both of them now control all of reality and it is nothing less than a battle of control for the duo. Warlock is eventually able to defeat Magus and with Eternity and Infinity emerging from Warlock’s body, it seems that the universe is about to meet its end. Instead, the heroes get transported to their respective homes back on earth. Thanos and Infinity watch is seen observing a catatonic Warlock on Monster Island.
It is then that Thanos discloses how he had made use of his replication system to create a dummy copy of the Reality Gem, something that eventually stopped Magus from having full authority over the Infinity Gauntlet. Eternity appears and makes the gauntlet powerless once again. As for Magus, he gets confined within the Soul Gem and to his horror, he realizes that he cannot be touched or even seen by others. After all, Magus is just a portion of Warlock’s soul.
Just How Powerful Was Magus?
Well, the universal counterbalance to Adam Warlock possessed every bit of power like Warlock. Yes, we are talking about Magus being an occult expert, a proficient philosopher, and having a very high intellect but as the dark half of Warlock, he possessed superhuman strength, one that was powerful enough to overthrow Thanos.
It should not surprise you at all when we tell you that Magus was in possession of Class 10 strength in the beginning and reached Class 50 strength in no time, augmented human stamina, reflexes, durability, agility, regeneration skills, shapeshifting and supersonic flight speed amongst others. Then there’s energy manipulation which meant that Magus was an exceedingly good manipulator.
As a cosmic sorcerer, he was able to teleport, create portals, time travel and heal from fatal wounds. He was also very much capable of using Quantum Magic such as conjurations, reality transmutations, time manipulations, closing space rifts, enchantments, and magical energy projections.
Besides all these, Magus was also someone very perceptive in nature. A skilful hand-to-hand fighter, Magus exhibited brilliance in swordsmanship. In case you forgot, he did defeat Gamora and Phyla-Vell effortlessly. Let’s not disregard the fact that he was also capable of using the shield of Captain America.