The Beyonders are a race of immensely powerful entities who exist in a dimension other than of Earth. No one from anywhere within Earth's dimension has ever seen one or more of the Beyonders, and apparently no one ever will. The Beyonders are so different in nature from the known beings of Earth's dimension that it is beyond the scope of human comprehension to understand what kind of entities the Beyonders are. It is known that the Beyonders are not "beings" in the sense that that term is used to describe the known living beings in the Earth dimension. The Beyonders apparently do not experience time as a chronological progression, as the known living beings of Earth's dimension do. The limit of the Beyonders' power are unknown. However, teir nature is so alien that they are unable to leave their own dimension. Hence, in their dealings with the Earth dimension, they must operate through agents. It is known that the Beyonders are dedicated to the desire for change.

Having become aware of the universe containing the Earth and of the Earth itself, the Beyonders intend to study the process of evolution (a form of change) on that planet. Therefore, the Beyonders contact an extradimensional race of the Earth dimension known as the Nuwali through an unusual artifact. Having made no notable accomplishments of their own, the Nuwali are said to be distinguished soley for their ability to follow orders. The Beyonders offered to pay the Newali gold (which the Nuwali, like Earth people, consider highly valuable) if they would create a game preserve on Earth stocked with fauna and flora different periods in Earth's history, ranging from Triassic (the first part of the Mesozic Era, the so-called Age of Dinosaurs) into the then present. Hence the Nuwali created the Savage Land, a tropical area circled by volcanoes within Antarctica. In the Savage Land, dinosaurs and other life forms from the entire span of the Mesozoic Era have co-existed with the various life forms that evolved in the later Cenozoic Era, the Age of Mammals, and even with human beings, right into the present day. For tes of thousands of years, the Nuwali stacked the Savage land with fauna and flora and watched over it. At some part, the Nuwali's contact with the Beyonder came to an end. The Beyonders continues to study evolution as demonstrated by the living beings of the Savage Land.

Thousands of years after the Nuwali's relationship with Beyonds ended, the Beyonders used the knowledge of evolution they had gained to create the alien race called the Fortisquians. The Beyonders used the Fortisquians to observe the progress of sentient races on many worlds in the Earth dimension. At regular intervals each world under observation would be studied by a Fortisquian observer who approached the planet in a starship camouflaged as a comet. Having been created by the Beyonders, the Fortisquians' minds are somewhat alien to this cosmos. Hence, only exceptional Fortisquians can avoid going insane when surrounder by large numbers of non-Fortisquian beings. Through the Fortisquians's observations, the Beyonders learned about interactions within societies within sentient being in this universe. The Beyonders learned that all sentient beings are driven by desire to possess what they do not have.

Favorably disposed toward this universe, the Beyonders gave its sentient beings the opportunity to control and advance their own development. The Beyonders provided this opportunity by making possible the creation of the Cosmic Cube. A Cosmic Cube is a cube-shaped matrix that holds vast energies that are responsive to the wills of sentient beings. A sentient being can use a Cosmic Cube to manifest his thoughts as reality, and thus to accomplish virtually anything he or she desires. Sentient beings can create a Cosmic Cube by generating a particular king of force field which opens a rift into another dimension. A force will slip through the rift which can be collected within a matrix, which the force then shapes into a perfect cube. This force provides the power of the Cosmic Cube that has thus been created. Eventually, a Cosmic Cube will evolve and develop its own sentience, which is influenced by the minds of the sentient beings which have wielded it. A Cosmic Cube created by the alien race of the Skrulls eventually evolved into the being called the Shaper of Worlds. Another Cosmic Cube, created on Earth by the scientists of the Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.) had evolved into the still-mutating entity called Kubik.

A nuclear accident triggered by laboratory worker Owen Reece had two effects. It opened a rift into the dimension from which the energy that powers Cosmic Cubes comes. But there was no matrix waiting to collect the force that now could enter the Earth dimension through this rift. Some of this force transformed Reece into the superhuman Molecule Man, who was increasingly compelled by the nature of the force to curb the use of his own newfound superhuman power. The rest of the released energy began developing its own sentience and started to observe Earth and its dimension. It is this sentient force that eventually named itself the Beyonder, after its unconscious awareness of its true creatures.

The Beyonders later employed an alien named Sphinxor and other aliens called the Prime Movers to take possession of Counter-Earth, a relatively miniature duplicate of the Earth, complete with its inhabitants that had been created by the High Evolutionary, an Earthman who had evolved himself into a superhuman being. Learning of the Beyonders from Sphinxor, the High Evolutionary accepted to their taking possession of Counter-Earth and accompanied Sphinxor on his mission to bring it to them. Exactly what happened there after is unclear. Counter-Earth was apparently somehow displayed in the Beyonders' equivalent of museum, and the High Evolutionary went temporarily insane. Apparently the High Evolutionary visited the Beyonders' own dimension if he was in their "museum." Possibly his insanity was the result of an inability to comprehend the Beyonders' dimension.

The entity that was released by Reece's accident and called itself the Beyonder eventually entered Earth's dimension and arranged a "secret war" between champions from Earth and their criminal adversaries as a means of studying the nature of desire. Later, the Beyonder went to Earth himself, where he assumed human form, and became a menace seeking to destroy the planet. Seemingly killed by the Molecule Man, the Beyonder instead journeyed as pure energy into another dimension, where he created his own universe.

In Antarctica at the site of the Savage Land, members of the Fantastic Four discovered a Nuwali inscription of the word "Beyonder." In the course of their investigation, three members of the Fantastic Four, joined by their adversary, Dr. Doom, traveled to the universe created by the Beyonder. The Molecule Man, the Shaper of Worlds, and Kubik also traveled there. The Shaper explained to the Earth people and the Beyonder about the true Beyonders' involvement with the Earth dimension. The so-called Beyonder learned that he was actually not the omnipotent being he believe himself to be, but an immature Cosmic Cube that had not been contained within a proper matrix. The Beyonder merged with the Molecule Man in order to become a true Cosmic Cube, and the universe created by the Beyonder ceased to exist. That Cosmic Cube's present whereabouts is unknown.

First Appearance: (first mention of the Beyonders) MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #63