Marvel Just Revealed the Dark Truth Behind Its Magic God

Warning! Contains spoilers for G.O.D.S. #5!Marvel has recently redefined the struggle between magic and science in its universe, but a new comic has shown the cost of joining these warring gods. Science and magic are the battlegrounds of petty, vindictive deities, and there’s always a price to be paid when dealing with forces like these. Unfortunately, this is a lesson one character just learned the hard way just as they thought their future was theirs.

In G.O.D.S. #5, series protagonist Wyn reveals the trade-off that the magic user Mia has made by joining the science-based Centum; she’ll never be allowed to join his side, limiting her magic potential.

As Wyn explains, the gods representing science and magic, The-Natural-Order-Of-Things and The-Powers-That-Be, respectively, despise each other so much that one’s underling can never work for the other. As Centum member Aiko notes in G.O.D.S. #1, they’re the only gods in opposition that don’t have some inbuilt way to coexist. This means that if someone like Mia joins one group, the other becomes closed to her.

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In G.O.D.S. #2, Mia answers a summons from Aiko, which leads Mia to join the group despite being, as Aiko says, “a creature of magic.” Aiko claims that she wants to study Mia’s natural affinity for magic, but doesn’t explain that in recruiting Mia, she’s locking off the girl’s natural magical potential. An argument between Wyn and Aiko in G.O.D.S. #4 makes clear that Aiko knows this will happen as a result of her recruiting Mia. It’s unclear in G.O.D.S. #5 whether Wyn means that Mia’s magic will never progress, or whether she’ll never get specific gifts of The-Powers-That-Be, but Wyn’s seriousness implies that it’s a huge blow regardless.

This moment is made all the more tragic because of how it relates to Mia’s struggle throughout the issue. When Wyn meets her in G.O.D.S. #5, Mia explains that her new life feels too good to be true. Right before Wyn’s revelation, she also acknowledges the truth that’s been eating away at her, that she hadn’t known what she wanted to do with her life until seeing Wyn in action. It’s at this exact moment that she learns that this is too good to have been entirely true, and that the life she just asked for isn’t open to her.

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It seems likely that Mia’s character arc from here on will be focused on either accepting or rejecting Wyn’s assertion. Will she have to learn to live with the inherent human struggle of not living up to one’s potential, or will she challenge fate head on and forge a new path, no matter what anyone else says? Wyn’s not infallible, and his own perspective is extremely cynical, so maybe he just doesn’t believe that these fickle gods can ever come together. It might be up to Mia to prove him, and everyone else on either side of the divide, wrong.

Mia losing her magical potential is also an interesting contrast to Jonathan Hickman’s other major current Marvel work, Ultimate Spider-Man with artist Marco Checchetto. In UltimateSpider-Man, a middle-aged Peter Parker learns that his potential as Spider-Man was stolen from him decades ago, and he’s only now reclaiming his powers. This contrasts with Mia, who’s just learned that all her potential has been ripped away from her. It’s two similar crises from opposite positions. Will Mia reclaim what’s hers like Peter, or will she learn that Marvel’s gods aren’t to be trifled with?