WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Defenders #4, on sale now from Marvel Comics.
In the face of a classic threat to the Marvel Universe, Doctor Strange has assembled a new team of Defenders to pursue the villainous Carlo Zota through time and space. With the likes of the Masked Raider and Silver Surfer at his side, Strange has little problem overcoming the threats they encounter, even as one member of the team begins to transcend into an unexpected and powerful cosmic role.
Upon arriving in the Fourth Cosmos, the Defenders witness familiar figures waging war against one another, each of them resembling one of the Marvel Universe's many iconic figures. These archetypes seem lost in their struggle, at least until Carlo Zota reveals himself astride the first Devourer, the ominous shadow of what would eventually become Galactus. Amidst the chaos, it is Cloud who finds a way to communicate with the archetypes and turn their attention towards the true threat at hand, discovering a new cosmic role for themselves in the process.
When Cloud was first introduced in 1983's Defenders #123 (by J.M. DeMatteis and Don Perlin), they had been pointed towards Earth by the sentient Cosmic Cube Kobik in the hopes that its heroes could help them. Unfortunately, their quest for allies would end in disaster. Left in a human body with no memories of their true self, Cloud became a target for the Secret Empire before eventually finding a place among the Defenders. Over the years Cloud has returned to their place among the stars, only to return when needed most. Now in the pages of Defenders #4 (by Al Ewing, Javier Rodriguez, Jay Bowen, VC's Cory Petit, and VC's Joe Caramagna), it seems that Cloud has found their place across the expanses of all time, or rather everything that comes after the Fourth Cosmos.
Cloud doesn't just bring the archetypes together to defeat Carlo Zota, they even finally manage to bring out their true self in the process. While Cloud has always literally been a nebulous character, they have also drifted back and forth between human bodies across the gender spectrum between bouts of taking shape as a cosmic phenomenon. Now in the Fourth Cosmos, Cloud has finally found a way to embody who they really are in the form of a distinct entity with three different bodies who has a much larger role to play in the Multiverse. As the other Defenders make their way towards the Third Cosmos for their final confrontation with Carlo Zota, Cloud finds that their time with the team has come to an end in favor of tending to an even greater mission.
Instead of joining the others to complete their quest and subsequently return home, Cloud chooses to remain in the Fourth Cosmos to become one of the many archetypes who inhabit it. It's a genuinely touching moment that finally affords Cloud the freedom to exist outside the boundaries and expectations of the Multiverse they were born into.
Cloud's shift from a relatively unknown character to one of the archetypes of the Marvel Universe is surprising. The promise that Cloud will see the Defenders again once they "reach the mystery," isn't necessarily an ominous statement coming from such an entity, although it does appear to generate anxiety among the remaining members of the team. There is also the question of what sort of role this will give Cloud to play going forward, or if any of the iterations of them between the Fourth and Seventh Cosmos will have any impact on the Multiverse as a whole. It's hard to imagine Cloud ever becoming the same sort of household name that so many of the other archetypes are, but it is probably safe to say that the unimaginable is now just par for the course.