Infinity: Details Emerge on Marvel's Upcoming Cosmic Crossover

The Avengers are headed to space, with an eye toward taking on the Mad Titan Thanos yet again in Infinity, a new series from Avengers scribe Jonathan Hickman that fans will get a first look at on Free Comic Book Day next month. The six-issue event series, launching in August from writer Jonathan Hickman and artists Jim Cheung, Jerome Opena and Dustin Weaver, will send the vastly-expanded roster of Hickman's Avengers title into space to take on the villain known around the world as "that guy from the end credits" of Marvel's The Avengers last May. But when they head to space, apparently it's not to deal with Thanos right away. In fact, he'll be headed to Earth, which is left mostly unprotected by their departure, according to a new story in USA Today. Of course, that will put him squarely in the crosshairs of the Guardians of the Galaxy, whose job seems to be making sure people leave Star-Lord's homeworld alone. "The universe's greatest serial killer is cut loose to do bad things to our most precious world," Hickman told the newspaper. "Somebody like Daredevil, who's used to dealing with more street-level problems, has to suddenly face foes and situations that are a little bit out of his ordinary weight class," said Marvel executive editor Tom Brevoort of a story that the newspaper says sets them up against the Builders, an ancient race of universe-building beings targeting Earth for destruction, who "can raze worlds and have basically seeded life through the galaxy," Hickman said. Paging Douglas Adams...? Both Hickman and Brevoort, though, tease big things for The Inhumans.

"They're not like a team of superheroes. They're a demographic — being an Inhuman is like being Cuban, like being Irish," Brevoort said. "Within that strata, there are good guys and bad guys and bystanders and guys who just want to do their job and go home and drink an Inhuman Löwenbräu and kick back." "There are huge plans for the Inhumans. They're such great characters, and this will be a pretty good example of why," explained Hickman.