Name

Aliases

Rabum Alal[]

The Black Swans were the disciples ofDoctor Doom, who had formed a religion around his identity as Rabum Alal. The Swans were used as his pawns to fulfill his mission of destruction of everyMolecule Man across theMultiverse to oppose the plans of theBeyonders. They operated out of theLibrary of Worlds, a secret library created by the Beyonders themselves which allowed the Swans and Rabum Alal to hide and traverse the Multiverse.^[3]

Eventually, Doom realized that killing Molecule Men was not going to avert the Multiverse's destruction. He changed tactics without informing the Swans, covertly collecting Molecule Men instead of killing them.^[4] Meanwhile, a group of Black Swans, includingYabbat Ummon Tarru, rebelled against Doom's original path after learning his face. Searching a different path,^[3] they destroyed other Earths duringincursions (collision events between realities secretly caused by the Molecule Men's deaths) as offerings to Rabum Alal and to buy more time for other universes, for this stopped those incursions.^[6][1]

When theBlack Priests, led byDoctor Strange, attacked the Library of Worlds, the Black Swans destroyed all the invaders aside from Strange. Doom revealed himself as Rabum Alal to Strange, clarifying to the latter that he was trying to save the Multiverse from the Beyonders. Doom, Strange, and the Molecule Man left the Library of Worlds with the Molecule Men they had collected to confront the Beyonders; they stole the Beyonders' power and used it to createBattleworld.^[2][3][4]

G.O.D.S.[]

Following the restoration of theMultiverse into theEighth Cosmos,^[7] the Library of Worlds became public^[8] and the Swans were removed from it as punishment for their acts during the incursion crisis. With the threat of the Beyonders and the incursions neutralized, the Swans were also abandoned by their master Doom, as they had served their purpose.^[5]

Searching for a new purpose, the Swans disguised themselves as human women and ran an all-female clinic while raising the next generation of Swans. Now misandrists, they lured men into the clinic to have them write down what they saw in a special egg. They sacrificed these men and collected the letters, but they were unable to read them. WhenDimitri Krakov entered the clinic, hoping to place his device in it, they captured him. SinceWyn, theAvatar ofThe-Powers-That-Be, was a male magic user, he was not allowed inside, so he sentMia DiMaria to get him back. The Swans agreed to trade Dimitri for having Mia read the letters; she informed them that the message was not complete and they were missing 62 letters. Wyn left the Swans with a warning.^[5]

A few years afterWyn and theDoctor Strange ended their war with theIn-Betweener, the Swans received the final word of their message, finding a new purpose in serving the In-Betweener. Fifty years after the last Babylon Event, a bevy of Swans approached the In-Betweener and a time displaced Wyn from the future, showing him that his self during that time was being tortured by the In-Betweener.^[9]

Religion[]

The Black Swans worshippedRabum Alal, who was secretlyDoctor Doom. While Doom's real goal was to save theMultiverse,^[4] the Black Swans thought he was the "Great Destroyer" who was born when theearly death of everything began.^[1] (In reality, Doom founded the Swans to help him kill theMolecule Men, and the act of killing the Molecule Men caused the incursions.^[3]) No Swan was allowed to see him, and any Swan who wished to serve him directly had to remove their own eyes.^[2]

In anincursion, twoEarths collide, and if they do, both realities are destroyed. If one of the Earths is destroyed, the incursion stops.^[10] The Swans saw the sacrificing of Earths as "offerings" to Rabum Alal; stopping an incursion was his "mercy" and theantimatter injectors used to destroy Earths was his "gift."^[11] To the Swans, this was "The Wheel," for Earths must continuously destroy other Earths until their own inevitable demise.^[12]Yabbat Ummon Tarru and her group went to Earths to help them destroy other Earths so "that the many may live a season longer."^[1][12]

The Swans practiced human sacrifice.^[12]

Powers[]

Yabbat Ummon Tarru possesses powers such as energy blasts,^[6] super strength,^[1] and telepathy.^[13] She was born onEarth and seems to behuman.^[10][1] Other Black Swans have displayed similar abilities, regardless of their species. They are powerful enough to contend with theBlack Priests.^[12][2]

• AsYabbat Ummon Tarru is the often the only Black Swan present in the story, she is commonly called "Black Swan."

• The Black Swans are likely named after theblack swan theory.

• The Black Swans' relation toother major factions in the Game of Worlds:
  • Black Priests: Whether they knew it or not, the Black Priests and the Black Swans were actually on the same side, asRabum Alal's true intention was to save theMultiverse.^[2][3][4] However, because of confusion from both sides, the Black Priests repeatedly attacked the Swans to invade theLibrary of Worlds.^[12][2] While the Swans accepted theEarths destroyed by the Priests as "offerings" to Rabum Aal,^[1] they saw the Priests as animated things that feigned life and abominations that cheated the Great Wheel.^[12]
  • Mapmakers: To the Swans, the Mapmakers did not useincursions as intended. Red incursions meant order; blue incursions meant infection, an abomination.Yabbat Ummon Tarru showed fear when a blue incursion occured, as she considered those to be much worse. The Mapmakers and theirSidera Maris turned living Earths into dead worlds, robbing them of the chance to be tested by the Wheel. Then, they used their blue incursions to travel and invade other Earths.^[13] As the name suggests, the Mapmakers made maps and they tracked the Swans' movements. Unlike the Black Priests, however, the Mapmakers were genuinely against Rabum Alal's will, as they were created by theBeyonders, Rabum Alal's real enemy and the entities who actually wished to destroy the Multiverse.^[3]
  • Builders: The Swans did not consider the Builders to be a big threat, and they were aware that theSuperflow's collapse had hindered the Builders' ability to move.^[14]

• Fantasy
• Sci-fi
• Marvel