Most proteins consist of one or more domains, tightly folded segments of the polypeptide chain that act as structural, functional, and evolutionary units. Domains sometimes combine with each other or excise to produce new proteins and this process is non-random and highly conserved in evolution. Wang and Caetano-Anollés (2009) reconstruct genome-based phylogenetic trees that define timelines of discovery of domains and domain combinations and describe an explosive combinatorial game that is vastly responsible for the complexity of the protein world. This ‘big bang’ of protein discovery occured during early stages of diversified life and its explosive appearance in the world is here illustrated as a cosmic event that features in the foreground several domain combinations of the membrane-associated guanylate kinase (MAGUK) family.