The Avengers Recruit the Marvel Universe’s Most Powerful Villain

The big battle for the Marvel Multiverse includes the Avengers recruiting a big gun in the form of a cosmic villain. “Avengers Assemble” is the event currently playing out in the pages of Avengers and Avengers Forever. Both titles are penned by Jason Aaron, who is wrapping up his time on Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. “Avengers Assemble” features not only the current-day Avengers, but also heroes from across the Multiverse, as they team up to stop Mephisto, his Council of Red, and the Multiversal Masters of Evil. Just as the tide appears to be turning in Mephisto’s favor, a surprising villain shows up to lend a helping hand.

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Avengers #66. Continue reading at your own risk.

Avengers #66 is from the creative team of Jason Aaron, Javier Garrón, David Curiel, Morry Hollowell, Erick Arciniega, Rachelle Rosenberg, and VC’s Cory Petit. It includes a lot of twists and turns, such as Mephisto double-crossing his Council of Red variants to supercharge his powers, turning him into the size of a Celestial. There’s also an army of Doctor Doom variants, and Doom the Living planet for our heroes to contend with. Avengers Prime, a repentant Loki, is the person responsible for assembling the Avengers from across the Multiverse, and one of his final recruits comes flying in, in the form of Ka-Zar, who is powered by the Power Cosmic.

The Power Cosmic is given by the Devourer of Worlds, which means Galactus has shown up to help Earth’s Mightiest Heroes as an honorary Avenger. Readers last saw Ka-Zar in December 2021’s Avengers #50, which had the Legacy number of Issue #750. Ka-Zar is a member of Black Panther’s Agents of Wakanda and was traveling through the timestream thanks to a time knife. Ka-Zar was one of the first heroes to fight the Multiversal Masters of Evil, and once he was lost in the timestream, he met and befriended Galactus. The World-Eater gifted Ka-Zar the Power Cosmic and turned him into a herald to find new worlds for him to eat. Luckily, there’s a Doctor Doom the size of a planet for Galactus to feast on.

What Is Avengers Assemble?

Tying together plot threads from throughout Aaron’s run and first announced at San Diego Comic-Con, “Avengers Assemble” is 10-part showdown at the edge of reality between an army of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and the evilest forces in the multiverse. At Infinity’s End stands Avengers Tower, which has fallen under assault by the ultimate forces of evil including the Multiversal Masters of Evil and Mephisto. The Avengers that fans know and love will unite with heroes from the past, future, and far reaches of the multiverse to defend Avengers Tower and the fate of Marvel history as we know it. Can they work together? And will their power be enough to prevent the end of all that is?

The description of Avengers Assemble Omega #1, the finale of “Avengers Assemble,” reads: “In his nearly five-year run, Aaron assembled one of the most powerful Avengers lineups ever and took them on grand-scale adventures throughout Earth, space, and time, all while unearthing bold new discoveries behind the very fabric of the Marvel Universe and taking some of Marvel’s most popular heroes on character-redefining journeys. Now he’ll tie everything together in an operatic story that will leave a tremendous imprint on the Avengers mythos!”