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Quote1 Look at the readings you took of the Final Host. They're teeming with the exact same energy as these Horde creatures. Quote2
Black Panther (T'Challa)[src]

Dark Celestials are Celestials who were infected by the Horde, but instead of dying, they became rabid monstrosities.[1] When the first Dark Celestial was awakened in modern times and found by Loki,[2] it infected its brethren. The Final Host of Dark Celestials then attacked the Earth, but were defeated when the Avengers cured the regular Celestials.[3] The Horde were too entrenched in the Dark Celestials,[4] so the Celestials apprehended the Final Host and looked for alternate cures.[5]

History

The Dark Celestials are a breed of Celestials infected and mutated by the Horde into rabid creatures. Zgreb the Aspirant became the first of the Dark Celestials when he visited the Earth on the search for the Progenitor on 1,000,000 BC. The Progenitor had became infected by the Horde four billion years prior, and he fell on the Earth during his agony before dying. Zgreb found him, and he became infected by the Horde as well. Unlike the Progenitor, Zgreb was mutated and went berserk.[1] Zgreb entered into conflict with the Avengers of the Stone Age. They felled him and buried him deep within the Earth, underneath the territory that would become the country of South Africa in modern times.

Loki found Zgreb,[2] released him from its prison[6] and summoned the Final Host of Dark Celestials in order to purge the Earth. Before arriving on Earth, the Final Host infected and killed every Celestial in existence with the Horde,[1] and their bodies were hurled to Earth to herald their arrival. The Dark Celestial's arrival additionally resulted in the emergence of insects from the Horde that had laid dormant deep underneath Earth's surface.[7] Some of Earth's heroes attempted to fend off the invaders to no avail.[8]

Captain America used Alpha Flight's Omega-Level Warp Grenades to teleport the Dark Celestials to the Sun in an an attempt to destroy them, but it failed. They returned to Earth and traveled to the North Pole, where Loki showed Captain America the corpse of the Progenitor.[9] In the meantime, the Dark Celestials started bringing about the Earth's end, causing the ocean to boil and setting the air on fire.[10] The Ghost Rider tracked down the Dark Celestials. He rescued Captain America and abducted Loki, prompting the Dark Celestials to chase after them. All of the heroes convened in Sweden shortly afterwards. Black Panther and Captain Marvel charged themselves with the same energy as the Horde, which allowed them go toe-to-toe against the insects. She-Hulk and Thor harnessed the power of the Blood of Ymir they had retrieved from Asgard. Ghost Rider used his powers to take hold of a dead Celestial's armor. Finally, Iron Man suited up on the Godkiller Armor MK II.[1]

Despite their combined strength, the Avengers failed to overpower the Dark Celestials, and in the middle of the battle, the Horde revived the bodies of the Celestials they had infected and felled. After learning of the connection between the Progenitor's death, the Horde and the genetic makeup of humankind, Iron Man rallied the Avengers to join their energies to form a Uni-Mind, since he had been passed on the secrets on how to summon it by Ikaris while investigating the Dark Celestials' arrival. Using the Ghost Rider as a conduit for the Uni-Mind, the Avengers rendered the Horde dormant, reviving the zombiefied Celestials; however, the Horde within the Dark Celestials were rooted too deep to be affected. The Avengers and the Celestials combined their forces and defeated the Dark Celestials.[4] Afterwards, the Dark Celestials were restrained and teleported away from Earth by the Celestials.[11]

Arishem made a deal with a future Logan to cleanse the Dark Celestials of the Horde using the Phoenix Force. However, Logan refused to help them, leaving the Dark Celestials still contaminated.[5]

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Seemingly those of Celestials. However, Odin believes the armor of Dark Celesitals is actually harder than that of normal Celestials, as he claims neither Jarnbjorn or the Odinsword would be able to crack their armor.[12]

Weaknesses

Normal Celestials that get infected by the Horde are considerably weakened before they become Dark Celestials.[7][10]

Miscellaneous

Representatives

Trivia

  • The Aspirants are also called "Dark Celestials" although they are unrelated.[13][14]
    • Coincidentally, the Aspirants and the Dark Celestials suffered similar defeats. Both orchestrated the deaths of the regular Celestials—via Logos[15][13][14] and the Horde,[16] respectively—and were defeated when the regular Celestials got resurrected.[14][4]

See Also

Links and References

References

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