WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Defenders #1, available now from Marvel Comics.

The supernatural corner of the Marvel Universe is home to all manner of ancient evils and Eldritch abominations that are usually dealt with by Doctor Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme. Earth's primary magic-user has a greater understanding of the future than almost anyone else, and he's about to get the chance to put his knowledge to good use. When the Masked Raider arrives with a dire warning in Defenders #1, by Al Ewing, Javier Rodriguez, Alvaro Lopez, and VC's Joe Caramagna, it soon becomes clear that a villain has the dangerous mystical power to manipulate time in ways that Kang the Conqueror could only dream of.

Strange has just been visited by the mysterious Masked Raider, the latest in a long line of heroes to wear the Eternity Mask. While the Raider's cosmic accessory hides his identity from all, it doesn't hide the fact that he's telling the truth about the situation at hand. As he explains to Doctor Strange, an old enemy has given way to a new kind of problem for the entire universe.

Carlo Zota, the leader of the villainous Enclave that both created Adam Warlock and resurrected Korvac as a cosmic demigod, has recently employed a less technical method to try and solve his biggest problems. Rather than turning to science to fix the flaws in Korvac, Zota has turned to time travel to change the past entirely. To combat this, the Raider opened fire on the book of spells that Zota was holding, sending the magic within it free and the mad scientist off to some unknown point in time. Unfortunately, the book Zota was using belonged to an even worse villain, Sise-Neg, who has used his time-travel abilities to far greater consequence than any other threat.

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Introduced in 1974's Marvel Premiere #13 by Steve Englehart and Frank Brunner, Sise-Neg hails from an alternate 31st century in which most of humanity is able to wield magic. However, the magic of his world was also finite in supply, leading Sise-Neg to develop a form of time travel that would allow him to acquire more magic without endangering his own existence.

Before traveling back to the dawn of creation, Sise-Neg took a short detour into the 18th century where he took the name Cagliostro and detailed his processes in his self-titled tome. When Doctor Strange's nemesis Baron Mordo caught wind of the Book of Cagliostro's existence, he led the Sorcerer Supreme on a chase through time to claim the secrets held within the book. This put the two mages on a collision course with Sise-Neg, and it didn't take long for Doctor Strange to realize how dangerous the magical time-traveler was.

As Strange and Mordo followed Sise-Neg to the beginning of their universe, they witnessed the evolution of the time traveler into a living god.  Sise-Neg achieved all that he had ever dreamed of, and he also gained an incredible understanding of all things. With this knowledge came the revelation that there was no reality he could craft that would be greater than the one he had already experienced, so Sise-Neg chose to right all of his wrongs and leave the universe as it was.

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The fact that Sise-Neg bested Doctor Strange at every turn and managed to achieve complete ascension makes him the most accomplished time-traveler that has ever existed in the Marvel Universe. Even Kang the Conqueror, who has reigned supreme across millennia, has never seen success so objectively perfect as what Sise-Neg accomplished here.

The fact that Sise-Neg chose to undo his actions speaks to how deeply transformative his ascension was. However, that redemptive turn isn't guaranteed for anyone who uses the magic, and it doesn't speak to Zota's mindset when he's set to wield the mystic's power as their own. While that kind of access to the timestream was enough to enlighten one villain, Doctor Strange and his new team can't depend on history repeating itself.

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