WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Defenders #3, now on sale from Marvel Comics.
Doctor Strange has unleashed the full force of his mystical powers in hopes of defeating a classic Marvel villain in Defenders #3 (by Al Ewing, Javier Rodriguez, and VC's Joe Caramagna). The Sorcerer Supreme recently formed a new team of Defenders to face the threat, comprised of cosmic entities, science fiction superheroes, and even a gamma-irradiated monster, Betty Ross, aka the Harpy. On her own, Ross already poses an incredible threat, but she has just been made more powerful than ever courtesy of a powerful mystic upgrade provided to her by Strange.
The journey of the new Defenders began with a journey through time and space, where they encountered the Sixth Cosmos' Devourer of Worlds. After defeating the massive threat, the team journeyed to the dark, desolate landscape of the Fifth Cosmos, the plane where magic first originated. This was also the home of the dreaded Moridun, the Cthulu-like sorcerer who has imprisoned Carlo Zota and ravaged his mind to learn of the Defenders' arrival in his realm. Without warning, the heroes are set upon by the ancient villain, and despite Doctor Strange's status as Sorcerer Supreme he is not powerful enough to channel the wild magic needed to defeat their foe. Fortunately, the gamma-fused body of Harpy fits the bill, and Strange sends all of the magic he has been holding back pouring into Ross, making her the most powerful of all the Gamma Mutates.
Ross was one of the more reluctant recruits to Doctor Strange's team, wanting only to be returned to her life. However, Harpy now seems to understand that she is fulfilling a sort of divine purpose within the bounds of the Fifth Cosmos that has made her more powerful than she has ever been before. It is her drive to be free that makes Harpy so powerful in this place, and also the perfect vessel for all of the wild magic locked inside Strange.
With the magic flowing through her, Harpy lets her wings spread as the energy painfully engulfs Moridun. Much like the High Priestess of the tarot that initially summoned her to the team, Harpy has ascended to something greater than herself, and in doing so she has saved everyone from the Eldritch horror that threatened to destroy them.
Becoming a beacon of raw mystic energy is one of the most incredible things to ever happen to Harpy, even if it is just for a moment. She proved to be the only member of her team who was capable of allowing the magic to run free through her, which is really all that Betty Ross has ever wanted.
Being ripped away to previous iterations of reality as part of someone else's quest was not something that Harpy initially wanted, but so far the journey has tested and proven her on a deeply personal level. At the pinnacle of this, she has experienced great new power, and perhaps even to power to ultimately become a better version of herself once she is returned to her previous life.