Aliens vs. Avengers: Marvel Comic Overview
Aliens vs. Avengers was a Marvel crossover comic that brought the Xenomorph species into direct conflict with Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Written by Jonathan Hickman and illustrated by Esad Ribic, the four-issue limited series followed an aging, diminished Avengers roster in a dystopian future where a global Xenomorph invasion of Earth had already destroyed civilization. The story combined corporate horror, cosmic Engineer mythology, and mutant science as humanity abandoned its home planet and made a final stand on Mars.
Comic Overview
Aliens vs. Avengers, often abbreviated as AVA, was Marvel's first major Alien superhero crossover after Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, following the earlier alternate-timeline comic Aliens: What If?. It was published from August 2024 through June 2025 and collected in a trade paperback in August 2025. The series was part of the same licensed Marvel line as Predator versus Wolverine, Predator vs. Black Panther, Predator vs. Spider-Man, and Predator Kills the Marvel Universe.
Unlike classic Dark Horse Alien stories, AVA placed the franchise inside a bleak alternate Marvel future. Hickman treated the David synthetics and the Engineers as warring cosmic factions, while Ribic's painted artwork emphasized the scale of planetary collapse. The comic also introduced two significant modern Xenomorph hybrids: the Mr. Sinister Xenomorph and the Venom Xenomorph.
Plot Summary
The story opened in a future where multiple David-model synthetics had unleashed Xenomorph outbreaks across the galaxy. On Earth, the infestation spread so quickly that entire continents fell within days. Chicago became humanity's last fortified city, protected by the Weyland-Stark Corporation and defended by the surviving Avengers. Captain America, Hulk, and many other heroes had already died, leaving an older Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Wolverine, and a handful of allies to hold the line.
The crisis was not limited to the Xenomorphs. The Engineers returned to destroy the species they had originally created, turning the war into a three-way conflict between humanity, the Alien hive, and the ancient Space Jockeys. As Earth collapsed, the remaining heroes evacuated aboard a colony ship built by Tony Stark. Many survivors were wounded, infected, or permanently changed by contact with the Xenomorph species.
The survivors eventually reached Mars, which had become a refuge for the X-Men. There they encountered Mister Sinister, who had begun experimenting with Xenomorph biology and viewed the species as the next stage of evolution. Sinister deliberately infected himself with a Facehugger and emerged as a powerful red Xenomorph Queen hybrid with mutant abilities. His weaponized hive became the comic's final threat after Earth's fall.
During the escape, Miles Morales carried the Venom symbiote while fighting alongside the last heroes. After Valeria Richards died from a Chestburster, Venom assimilated a surviving Facehugger rather than allowing implantation. Tony Stark was later mortally wounded when a Xenomorph embryo began growing inside him. Realizing he could not be saved, Stark ordered Venom to bond with the developing creature before it fully emerged. The resulting Venom Xenomorph gained enough power to challenge Sinister's enhanced hive leader directly.
The finale centered on a brutal battle between the Venom Xenomorph and Sinister's red hybrid form. Venom destroyed Sinister's original Xenomorph body, then bonded with the villain directly and took command of the surrounding hive. Iron Man died during the conflict, and only a small group of heroes remained standing. With Earth lost and the Xenomorph threat still spreading through the multiverse, the survivors resolved to hunt the species across reality rather than rebuild at home.
Key Characters
- Tony Stark / Iron Man - The aging Avenger who built humanity's escape ship and sacrificed himself to create the Venom Xenomorph.
- Captain Marvel - One of the last core Avengers still fighting after Earth's collapse.
- Wolverine - A surviving veteran hero who remained in the fight through the Mars confrontation.
- Mister Sinister - The X-Men villain who engineered himself into a red Xenomorph Queen hybrid.
- Venom Xenomorph - A symbiote-Xenomorph hybrid that took control of the hive during the final battle.
- Miles Morales - The hero who initially carried the Venom symbiote during the evacuation from Earth.
- David synthetics - Multiple rogue androids responsible for unleashing Xenomorph outbreaks across worlds.
- The Engineers - The ancient creators who returned to destroy the Xenomorph species they had made.
Timeline And Canon
Aliens vs. Avengers belonged to Marvel's non-canon Alien crossover continuity rather than the main Alien film timeline. It did not connect directly to the events of Alien, Aliens, or Alien: Earth, but it did reuse franchise elements such as the Engineers, Facehuggers, hive warfare, and synthetic manipulation of the species. Within Marvel's licensed crossover line, AVA was the Alien counterpart to the ongoing Predator stories and helped establish Disney's post-Fox approach of treating Alien and Predator as separate licenses with their own Marvel crossovers, including the later World War II story Alien vs. Captain America.
Legacy
AVA earned a lasting place in Alien crossover history because it finally brought the Xenomorphs into the Marvel Universe at full apocalyptic scale. The comic gave the franchise two instantly memorable hybrids in the Venom Xenomorph and Mr. Sinister Xenomorph, while also expanding Engineer lore through warship designs and multiversal destruction. For readers following Marvel's Alien and Predator line, it also set the tone for later stories where familiar heroes fall quickly and survival matters more than victory, including the follow-up Alien vs. Captain America World War II crossover.
External Sources
Tag Categories: Alien Comics | Alien And Predator Crossovers | Alien Merchandise
