Avengers Confirms Death of a Major Marvel Villain

Ahead of the next story arc in Jason Aaron's run on The Avengers, Marvel Comics has confirmed that a major villain will be meeting their end in the pages of the series. The official solicitation for Avengers #38 (H/T CBR) reveals the conclusion of the "Age of Khonshu" storyline and the start of the "Enter the Phoenix arc, and with it will apparently come the death of none other than Mephisto. The issue teases "heretofore untold chapters of Earth's Mightiest Heroes" with regard to Mephisto and a lingering threat to the Earth and the Avengers. You can read the full solicitation and see the cover image below!

The most recent issues of Avengers certainly teased an end for Mephisto as Avengers #34 saw one version of the character be killed by Moon Knight while wielding Mjolnir. Even in the story, Moon Knight says: "And that will be the end of Mephisto," while Khonshu the moon god replies, "You know it won't." This wasn't the only version of the Devil of the Marvel universe though as Avengers #35 (release last week) saw Khonshu himself fighting and killing a hundred other versions (mostly off panel). What the solicit for Avengers #38 seems to be teasing though is the prime Mephisto will be taken down as the "Enter The Phoenix" story begins.

Though the Enter The Phoenix event has been confirmed by Marvel Comics, it's still partially unclear what the plot of this story arc will be when it arrives. Aaron has spent some of his Avengers run setting up this storyline as a version of The Phoenix has appeared alongside the "Avengers of 1,000,000 BC," a prehistoric version of the team that has popped up in the series since he took on the title. This version of the character is an unknown cave woman that is the host of the Phoenix Force.

The variant covers for the Enter the Phoenix seems to tease various Avengers and other Marvel characters playing host to the force including Captain America and Black Panther. It's unclear if that will be the focus of the storyline or not.

Enter the Phoenix begins later this year from Coming this fall from creators Jason Aaron, Ed McGuinness, and Javier Garron

AVENGERS #38
JASON AARON (W) • ED McGUINNESS (A/C)
BLACK PANTHER PHOENIX VARIANT COVER BY AARON KUDER
BLACK PANTHER NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE TRIBUTE VARIANT COVER BY JEFFREY VEREGGE
EXIT THE AGE OF KHONSHU. ENTER THE PHOENIX.
The Avengers have saved Earth from the god of the Moon, but the return of a certain planet-burning cosmic firebird isn't going to give them much time to catch their breath. Plus: The devil may be dead, but the threat of Mephisto lingers on, with a legacy interwoven in heretofore untold chapters of Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
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