Following the descriptive-text-as-silhouettes images of Iron Fist, Doctor Strange, Red She-Hulk and the Silver Surfer, mysterious "Fear Itself" teaser image messages have taken shape, giving readers a whole new mystery to ponder. Through the excellent cryptology skills of CBR's forum-philes, the color-coded words have been unscrambled and grouped by color and chronological order to reveal four distinct phrases from the word silhouettes of the Marvel heroes. While all four phrases do not currently seem to fit together, only time will tell if they link in any meaningful way.

  • Orange message: "Shut the engines down"
  • Yellow message: "The universe will break"
  • Red message: "Everyone you love dies"
  • Maroon message: "Fight to save everything"

Speculation is running wild on the forums, but the most prevalent theory is a modified reunion of the Defenders -- based on the repeated appearance of the word "DEFENDER" in the images -- with Iron Fist and Red She-Hulk added to the roster. A fifth teaser is likely to emerge Friday and will no doubt increase speculation by adding another possible member and (hopefully) wrapping up the hidden phrases.

More details will undoubtedly come to light at Marvel's "Fear Itself" panel at Comic-Con International at San Diego. The panel features writers Greg Pak, Cullen Bunn, Nick Spencer and editor-in-chief Axel Alonso. Keep your eyes on CBR for the next decrypted keywords and coverage of the "Fear Itself" panel at CCI next week.