Marvel Introduces Literal Giant-Size Avengers

Marvel's Avengers may be facing their biggest threat ever. Can they measure up? Based on today's Avengers #5, it seems like maybe they can, at least in the most literal sense.

SPOILERS For Avengers #5 by Jason Aaron, Ed McGuinness, Paco Medina, Juan Vlasco, Karl Story, Mark Morales, and David Curiel follow.

The story of Avengers so far has been about Loki bringing The Final Host to Earth to cleanse the planet. The Final Host is a group of Dark Celestials. Where the Celestials are cosmic gardeners that seed and cultivate life throughout the Marvel Universe, these Dark Celestials seem intent on ending life on Earth.

The issue reveals that Loki is here to help The Final Host correct an ancient mistake. It seems that eons ago a Celestial became ill for the first time, infected with a living disease called the hoard. The Celestial fell for years before landing on Earth, where it's dying body and the infection both seeped into the soil and altered Earth's evolution forever. This led to the creation of the first Marvel heroes, the prehistoric Avengers led by Odin, and every superhero since then. Now The Final Host has come to clean up the mess.

With no active Avengers team in place, the new lineup has formed mid-crisis. Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, She-Hulk, Black Panther, Ghost Rider, Doctor Strange, and Captain Marvel have assembled, but how do even Earth's Mightiest Heroes defend against an assault by beings that are so large they dwarf entire cities?

It turns out, the Avengers have a solution for that. Actually, they have several.

As seen in the previous issue, Thor and She-Hulk traveled to Asgard and retrieved the Blood of Ymir (and kissed for the first time). In this issue, they consume the blood and grow to frost giant proportions.

Iron Man has an armor for everything and so he summons his Godkiller Mark II armor.

Robbie Reyes just discovered that the power of the Ghost Rider resides in him as opposed to in the Hell Charger when he turns a tractor into a flaming vehicle. He takes the concept to its furthest extreme and climbs inside one of the dead Celestials that had fallen to Earth earlier in the series, turning its body into his new ride.

The result? Giant-Size Avengers:

But will even the combined might of four giant-size Avengers be enough to combat The Final Host with Loki at their side? Fans will have to keep reading to find out.

What do you think of the Giant-Size Avengers? Let us know in the comments!

Avengers #5 is now on sale.