Summoning sickness

Just who or what is Death?

Well, when the Universe was created several thousand eons ago, two aspect beings were born: Eternity and Death. Eternity is made up of the stars, planets, living creatures, physical objects, and space itself. Death is Eternity's opposite, made up of hatred, famine, plague, and destruction. Ever since their creation, these two beings have been locked in an eternal struggle.

Normally, there was a near-perfect balance of power between Death and Eternity throughout the Universe, with neither force able to grasp an upper hand. Since the events that unfolded with the Cosmic Cube, however Death had been hatching a plot that would finally tip the scales of the cosmic feud in her favor, enabling it to destroy Eternity once and for all and gain dominion over the Universe. Death itself set into motion the Elders' plot against Galactus, knowing full well what would happen when they finally turned the Cosmic Cube upon him. Death correctly guessed that while fragmented into individual components, Galactus would be disoriented and open toward an alliance against almighty Eternity, who would be no match for their combined power.

Death hoped to use Galactus' enormous energies to reactivate the long-dormant creature known as Voyd, an immensely powerful entity that was born out of emptiness which bridged the gap between the old universe and the new. Shortly after Death, Eternity, and the universe were created, Voyd fell into a deep slumber, from which he has never emerged. If Voyd could be reanimated, it was almost certain he would launch an all out assault on Eternity to restore the universe to the nothingness from which created the Voyd in the first place. The two beings would then destroy each other (and, henceforth, nearly all of creation), leaving a somewhat depleted universe for Death alone. Death has never risked using its powers to rejuvenate the Voyd, in fear that doing so might consume it forever.

When the Guardians of the Galaxy unexpectedly interfered and restored Galactus' shattered memories before his energies could be exploited in the events of Ragnarok, however, Death was forced to modify its plan.

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Silver Surfer is plagued with discomforting visions, which were really telepathic messages planted in his mind by Galactus, requesting that Surfer come and rescue him from Death's realm.

Using his supreme magic, Doctor Strange divines the fate of Galactus. Doctor Strange learned that after bringing Galactua back to its realm, Death auctioned off the rights to imprison him among the death gods. At the auction, Mephisto won with a bid of 40 million souls to be distributed amongst his peers, an offer which none of the other death gods could surpass.