WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Avengers #5 by Jason Aaron and Paco Medina, Ed McGuinness, Juan Vlasco, Mark Morales, Karl Story, David Curiel and Cory Petit.


The Marvel Universe's Earth is a place filled with super-powered individuals. The planet has been home to the Eternals, the Kree-created Inhumans, mutants, and enhanced individuals like Captain America, the Hulk, Spider-Man and Daredevil. Ever since humans have walked the Earth, superpowers have followed, as we learned recently with the introduction of the Avengers 1,000,000 B.C. in Marvel Legacy.

While we always thought that this was simply the lay of the land in the Marvel Universe, there is actually a secret origin to it. In the preview pages of Jason Aaron, Paco Median and Ed McGuinness' Avengers #5, the Asgardian God of Mischief Loki reveals the shocking truth of the Marvel Universe, and the reason the Earth is such a hotbed for super-powered individuals.

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Issue #5 picks up right where issue #4 left off, with Loki and his prisoner, Captain America, staring at the dead body of an ancient Celestial sunken deep in the waters of North Pole. There, Loki explains that this Celestial, whom he calls the Progenitor, is the single entity behind humans' propensity to develop superpowers.

Avengers Progenitor secret origin Marvel Universe

As it so happens, this Celestial was the first of its kind to ever come infected by space locusts called the Horde. This infection took its toll on the cosmic giant, who fell to Earth when the planet was still in its infancy, nothing but a swirl of molten lava. There, the Celestial succumbed to the Horde's attack, where it bled and vomited its own radioactive black sludge. This blackness stewed into the lava that would become the Earth as we know it, for millions of years. This, along with the presence of the Celestial corpse, is what would alter the evolutionary course of the planet and what would, ultimately, lead to humans' ability to become enhanced.

This is what has set Earth apart from all others in the cosmos of the Marvel Universe, for millions of years -- the reason it has mighty defenders and enhanced individuals by the hundreds. There was not a purpose behind it. It was only the result of a cosmic accident that saw a dying Celestial crash on a young Earth.

This certainly makes a whole lot of sense, as it would explain why so many individuals have been able to be altered by all sorts of scientific experiments throughout Marvel's history. It also explains the existence of mutants, as early as the X-Men villain known as Apocalypse, who walked the Earth in Egyptian times, at the cradle of humanity. Thanks to a deceased Celestial, the potential was locked into their genes, from the very birth of mankind.

Avengers #5 by Aaron, Medina and McGuinness, hits store shelves this Wednesday, July 18.

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