The Avengers, are about to confront the Phoenix Force. Writer Jason Aaron has upped the stakes with his current Avengers run, confronting Earth's Mightiest Heroes with some of the most powerful forces in the cosmos. The action began with the Avengers battling against a plague that was killing the Celestials, the greatest gods of the Marvel Universe, and things have only gotten wilder from there.
At the moment, they're caught in the firing lin between two powerful forces. In the white corner there's the ancient Moon God Khonshu, whose servant Moon Knight has stolen almost all the Avengers' powers; on the other there's Mephisto, the Hell Lord who dark designs for this world threaten all of existence. This has led to the so-called "Age of Khonshu," one of Aaron's most ambitious stories to date. But it seems things are only going to get worse for the Avengers when the Age of Khonshu is over.
Marvel Comics had just released an official teaser for Aaron's next Avengers story, which will feature the Phoenix Force of X-Men fame. Here's what the publisher has to say:
"Keep an eye on Jason Aaron and Javier Garron’s latest Avengers epic, “THE AGE OF KHONSHU” for startling revelations about Moon Knight amidst a thunderous clash with a disgruntled god bent on reshaping the world in his image! Then, gear up for the grand return of the cosmic chaos-bringer of life and death in Jason Aaron and Javier Garron’s “ENTER THE PHOENIX,” on sale in December!"
The title is an intriguing one, not least because Marvel is avoiding indicating whether this will only be an adventure set in the modern Marvel Universe - or whether it could actually be the secret origin story of the Phoenix Force itself. The Aaron run has introduced the Avengers of 1,000,000BC, who actually included a Phoenix host - one who was in a relationship with Odin the All-Father. Aaron has been alternating his present-day adventures with origin stories set in that distant time, finally unveiling the truth about the first Iron Fist and the ancient curse of the Ghost Rider. A skillful writer, Aaron has been establishing clear narrative links between events in 1,000,000BC and the present day, so it's reasonable to assume the times could interlink again. Perhaps Aaron is about to finally reveal why the Phoenix Force is so interested in Earth.
One thing's for sure; whatever direction writer Jason Aaron and artists Ed McGuinness and Javier Garron are planning, the story will be unmissable. The Avengers have a bad history with the Phoenix Force - they tried to destroy it in 2012's Avengers Vs. X-Men - and they're going to consider the Phoenix's very presence a threat. But the timing of this return could not be better, because the Phoenix is allied with evolution, and the X-Men have currently created a mutant civilization on the living island of Krakoa. Given that context, it will be fascinating to see what the Phoenix Force has to say about the current status quo.