Avengers (2018) # 27-30

"Starbrand Reborn"

Cover Date: December 2019 through February 2020; On Sale Date: October through December 2019

Writer: Jason Aaron; Artist: Ed McGuiness, Paco Medina, & Francesco Manna; Letterer: VC's Cory Petit; Colorist: Justin Ponsor; Editor: Tom Brevoort; Associate Editor: Alanna Smith; Editor-in-Chief: C.B. Cebulski; Cover Artist: Ed McGuiness & Mico Suayan

The Avengers travel to the Ravenstarr Prison Galaxy after Gladiator of the Shi'ar sends them a distress signal related to the emergence of a new Starbrand. The team is split up after entering the prison galaxy, with Thor being infected by the Brood. Split off from the rest of the team, Ghost Rider races through space with Black Widow and the dying Blade (affected by the proximity of numerous red suns) against the Silver Surfer.

The Silver Surfer, along with his fellow former Heralds of Galactus Firelord and Terrax the Tamer, have come to kill the Starbrand host before it can destroy the galaxy. Ghost Rider confronts the Silver Surfer in space and blasts him with hellfire before stealing his surfboard. The Surfer recovers and retrieves his board, sending Ghost Rider back into his car in defeat before they crashland on a nearby planet. With Ghost Rider and Blade out of commission, Black Widow unpacks a suit of advanced War Machine armor to fight a gathering of inmates looking for a way out of the prison.

The War Widow takes out the inmates but is attacked by the Silver Surfer, who tells her that the Avengers will not claim the Starbrand. While Ghost Rider is wired into his car to facilitate his healing, Blade is covered in his own suit of organic armor by the Boy-Thing, saving Blade's life and allowing him to join in the fight against the Surfer. While the other Avengers do battle with Firelord and Terrax, Gladiator discovers the Starbrand's host on a nearby planet: a pregnant woman who will destroy the galaxy to save her unborn child.

The Avengers fight the Heralds and Gladiator to save the life of Suzanne Selby and her unborn baby, with Selby dying during childbirth and the infant gaining the power of the Starbrand. The Silver Surfer had a change of heart and helps the Avengers fight off his fellow Heralds, and the Avengers bring the baby back to Earth to raise themselves.

Avengers (2018) # 6

"Planet of Pathogens"

Cover Date: October 2018
On Sale Date: August 2018

Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Paco Medina & Ed McGuiness
Inker: Mark Morales & Juan Vlasco
Letterer: VC's Cory Petit
Colorist: David Curiel
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Associate Editor: Alanna Smith
Editor-in-Chief: C.B. Cebulski

Cover Artist: Ed McGuiness

In Russia the Avengers are making their final stand against the Final Host, the Horde, and Loki.  While the "giant sized" Avengers find themselves outmatched by the Final Host, Doctor Strange battles Loki, and Captain America joins Black Panther and Captain Marvel to fight back against the Horde.  The heroes are eventually overwhelmed, with Ghost Rider piloting the fallen Celestial and succumbing to an overload of information.  Iron Man attempts to fly the Final Host to space and then blow up his giant armor, but is stopped by the First Celestial Host, who have been reanimated as "zombies".  The Avengers listen to Ghost Rider's rants about "god's vomit" and make the leap that they were left by the First Host as the living virus vaccine against the Horde.  Using the knowledge planted in his mind by the Eternals, Iron Man instructs the Avengers to combine their power as the Uni-Mind inside the Ghost Rider Celestial, who burns out the Horde infection of the planet.  Realizing that the Final Host are still a threat, the Avengers team up with the First Celestial Host to defeat the Final Host while the captive Loki watches and laughs, welcoming back the Avengers.

Avengers (2018) # 5

"The Secret Origin of the Marvel Universe"

Cover Date: September 2018
On Sale Date: July 2018

Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Paco Medina & Ed McGuiness
Inker: Juan Vlasco w/ Mark Morales & Karl Story
Letterer: VC's Cory Petit
Colorist: David Curiel
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Associate Editor: Alanna Smith
Editor-in-Chief: C.B. Cebulski

Cover Artist: Ed McGuiness

Beneath the Arctic Circle, Loki tells Captain America about the Progenitor, the first Celestial who came to Earth to die from the Horde infection billions of years ago and whose body remains buried in the ice.  Loki explains to Captain America, and to the listening Ghost Rider who is sneaking up in his Hellcharger, that humanity was borne of that infection of "God's vomit".  Another Celestial came to Earth in one million B.C. and was beaten by Odin and his band of heroes, a group that were unable to defeat the entirety of the First Host when they arrived to check on their brother.  However, instead of destroying the Earth the First Host left, quarantining the planet's infection.  The Horde infected many of the Celestials, transforming them into the Final Host that Loki has brought to Earth.  Ghost Rider rescues Captain America and captures Loki with his chains, interrupting the history lesson.

Meanwhile, Iron Man and Doctor Strange are attempting to save a crashing airliner when Stark receives a call from Ghost Rider, who claims to have been given Stark's number by his deceased father via the Hellcharger.  Ghost Rider and Captain America are in Russia when the Final Host catches up, causing them to crash.  The rest of the Avengers arrive, including the Horde-powered Captain Marvel and Black Panther.  She-Hulk and Thor consume the egg of Frost Giant blood, which transforms them into giants, and Iron Man's giant Godkiller armor arrives.  Ghost Rider is given a pep talk by Captain America, which gives Robbie the idea to power up a nearby dead Celestial with hellfire, transforming him into demonic giant. The four giant-sized Avengers then prepare to do battle with the Final Host for the fate of the planet.

Avengers (2018) # 4

"A Battle That Was Lost a Million Years Ago"

Cover Date: September 2018
On Sale Date: July 2018

Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Paco Medina & Ed McGuiness
Inker: Juan Vlasco w/ Mark Morales & Jay Leisten
Letterer: VC's Cory Petit
Colorist: David Curiel
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Associate Editor: Alanna Smith
Editor-in-Chief: C.B. Cebulski

Cover Artist: Ed McGuiness

In the ruins of Old Asgard, Odin tells Thor and She-Hulk about the Prehistoric Avengers and their battles against the Celestials a million years ago.  Odin takes them to a room that may contain a weapon to aid them, but the item is protected by layers of ice that the two Avengers must smash their way through.  Meanwhile, in Olympia, Iron Man and Doctor Strange discover that the Eternals have all killed themselves, driven mad by the dying Celestials.  They find one of the Eternals, Ikaris, barely clinging to life, and before he dies he implants knowledge of the Uni-Mind in Iron Man's brain.  On the Alpha Flight space station, Captain Marvel and Black Panther study one of the alien insects, identifying it as part of the Horde, a race of cosmic locusts that devour solar systems and are longtime enemies of the Celestials.  They've started emerging on Earth, burrowing out of the bodies of the fallen Celestials.

At the North Pole, Loki continues telling Captain America about the Progenitor, the first Celestial who fell to Earth 4 billion years ago and was buried in ice.  The Final Host have come to Earth to stop the cycle of disease billions of years in the making.  Ghost Rider, having driven his Hell-Charger across the ocean, comes up on the Final Host and breaks his way through the ice to travel underwater.  Back in Asgard, Thor and She-Hulk make their way through the cold to find an egg containing the blood of Ymir, fist of the Frost Giants.  Thor succumbs to the cold and She-Hulk gives him warmth with a kiss, which revives him.  As they emerge from the chamber, Odin reminisces about his battle with the First Host alongside his allies, and how it ended with all of them defeated and at the space giants' mercy. 

Avengers (2018) # 3

"Where Space Gods Go to Die"

Cover Date: August 2018
On Sale Date: June 2018

Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Paco Medina & Ed McGuiness
Inker: Juan Vlasco w/ Mark Morales & Jay Leisten
Letterer: VC's Cory Petit
Colorist: David Curiel
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Associate Editor: Alanna Smith
Editor-in-Chief: C.B. Cebulski

Cover Artist: Ed McGuiness

Ghost Rider and She-Hulk have destroyed the alien insects that had attacked them, and in response to the voice in her head She-Hulk smashes a path through the ground down toward the center of the Earth.  Ghost Rider reluctantly follows her in his Hell-Charger.  Meanwhile, In New York City, Loki had incapacitated Thor, Iron Man, and Captain Marvel while explaining that the Final Host have arrived to exterminate all human life on the planet.  Captain America, held in stasis by the Host, manages to throw his shield at the warp grenades held by Loki.  Loki, the Final Host, and Captain America are all teleported into the sun.

At the Earth's core, Black Panther and Doctor Strange are being overwhelmed by the insect horde and are rescued by Ghost Rider and She-Hulk.  Captain America wakes up in a bubble created by Loki inside the sun, where he finds that all of the Final Host survived.  Back in New York, Ghost Rider arrives with the other heroes inside his car, and they confer notes with Iron Man, Thor, and Captain Marvel.  The Final Host have arrived at the North Pole and Loki explains to Captain America that he's actually the hero, that he found one of the Final Host inside a crater where he'd been left to die by Odin a million years ago.  Back in New York, the heroes start making plans, and Thor teleports himself and She-Hulk to the ruins of Old Asgard to get answers from Odin.  Captain Marvel and Black Panther go to the Alpha Flight space station to come up with a way to combat the insects, and Iron Man goes with Doctor Strange to find the Eternals.  Left alone, Ghost Rider uses a piece of the Celestial technology as a homing beacon and drives off across the ocean to find the Final Host.  At the North Pole, beneath the ice, Loki shows Captain America the corpse of another Celestial that he calls the Progenitor, the cause of the planet's infection.