The following contains major spoilers for Defenders Beyond #2, available now from Marvel Comics.
The gods of the Marvel Universe have come in every shape, size, and sentiment imaginable. Apart from being imbued with incredible powers, these divine deities have often embodied some truly astounding concepts. Now, the latest version of Loki has just combined the power she commands and the stories she inhabits to weaponize comics as we know them, and it might make her the greatest Defender of them all.
After being brought together by the Marvel Universe itself, the eponymous heroes of Defenders Beyond #2 (by Al Ewing, Javier Rodriguez, and VC's Joe Caramagna) have found themselves stranded in the depths of the Second Cosmos alongside the impossibly powerful Beyonder and his fellow members of the Omega Council. Despite the potential threat to all the multiverses, their hosts from beyond aren't exactly willing to be of any help. In fact, the Beyonders are determined to see their unexpected guests returned to their own time by any means necessary. Of course, even the Beyonders can't compete with the power of the Fourth Wall and Marvel's Goddess of Stories.
Though the Beyonders exist outside the bounds of all understanding, they are still a part of the story at hand, one of which Loki appears to be aware of. As she explains, her presence introduces the laws of narrative. Not only does this mean that the Defenders as the "plucky underdogs" have a genuine chance to succeed, but it also gives Loki the power to close in the walls of the comic book panels they reside in around her Beyonder foe. Unfortunately, this only draws the full fury of this Beyonder upon the heroes, although showcasing just what this Loki is capable of might have been worth it.
Plenty of other Marvel characters from Deadpool to She-Hulk have broken the fourth wall in various ways, but few if any have turned it into a legitimate superpower in the same way as Loki. Her innate understanding of the power that narratives can hold is more than a little shocking, especially after using it to cage one of the most powerful beings to ever exist. If this foreshadows things to come, then Loki may be the best chance the Defenders have at staving off whatever threat remains to be seen. That is, assuming that threat doesn't have an even greater grasp of stories than their current patron Asgardian.
When the previous Defenders fought their way through time to the Third Cosmos, they encountered some truly astounding sights along the way. The one which stands out the most today, however, is that of the Fourth Cosmos. There, the very idea of archetypes was born, as dozens of barely recognizable heroes and villains battle across the landscape in their most primitive incarnations. The first hero, Lifebringer One, may have been one of the Third Cosmos, but it was the Fourth that laid the groundwork for the legacy heroes fans know best to eventually emerge altogether.
It was also where the concept of narratives was given proper form, which makes it all the more likely that Loki's power over them isn't entirely her own. Or, at the very least, that Loki isn't the only one aware of it as something that can be commanded. Should that prove to be true, the Goddess of Stories could very well find that someone else is writing the circumstances of her situation. With any luck, whatever narrative is weaved around the Defenders will end in something better than abject tragedy.