Avengers #40 sends Earth's Mightiest Heroes into a tournament to become the new host of the Phoenix Force in the kick-off of the story 'Enter the Phoenix' – and as part of the tournament, all the characters involved will receive a small portion of the Phoenix's power.
To that end, Avengers artist Javier Garrón has designed at least 20 new looks for Phoenix-imbued heroes and villains, according to series writer Jason Aaron, and we've got a look at a few of those designs.
"As part of the fight, all the characters are imbued with a portion of the Phoenix. So it's not just Captain America doing his normal thing – we get to see what Captain America can do when he's imbued with the power of the Phoenix," Aaron tells Newsarama.
"We've got Phoenix Black Panther, Phoenix Doctor Doom, all these different characters, who are designed by Javier Garrón. He put together maybe 20 designs for different characters, and they're all amazing."
Here's a gallery of several designs, including Captain America, Namor, Black Panther, She-Hulk, Shang-Chi, and Wolverine.
Aaron and Garrón's working partnership began with the previous Avengers arc, 'Age of Khonshu,' and according to Aaron, that story cemented Garrón as the ongoing artist of Avengers for some time to come, replacing Ed McGuinness.
"I love working with Javier. He came on board 'Age of Khonshu' and he was so excited and he had a ton of ideas that wound up on the page. All of that goes up a notch here in 'Enter the Phoenix'," Aaron explains. "He's an incredibly talented artist that people may not have been familiar with.
"He was excellent on Miles Morales, before coming to Avengers. And now the plan is, he's gonna be on Avengers for the foreseeable future. I'm gonna keep doing more and more stuff with him."
Avengers #40 is due out December 30. Look for Newsarama's full conversation with Aaron later this month, before Avengers #40.
Check out our list of the best Phoenix hosts of all time - including some from outside Marvel even!
