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Look at the readingsyou took of the Final Host. They'reteeming with the exact same energy as theseHorde creatures.

The Dark Celestials are a breed ofCelestials infected and mutated by theHorde into rabid creatures.Zgreb the Aspirant became the first of the Dark Celestials when he visited theEarth on the search for theProgenitor 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. Weakened and driven mad, Zgreb entered into conflict with theAvengers of the Stone Age.^[6] They felled him and buried him deep within the Earth, underneath the territory that would become the country ofSouth Africa in modern times.^[2]

Loki found Zgreb,^[2] released him from its prison^[7] 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.^[8] Some of Earth's heroes attempted to fend off the invaders to no avail.^[9]

Captain America usedAlpha Flight'sOmega-Level Warp Grenades to teleport the Dark Celestials to theSun in an attempt to destroy them, but it failed. They returned to Earth and traveled to theNorth Pole, where Loki showed Captain America the corpse of the Progenitor.^[10] In the meantime, the Dark Celestials started bringing about the Earth's end, causing the ocean to boil and setting the air on fire.^[11] TheGhost 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 inSweden shortly afterwards.Black Panther andCaptain Marvel charged themselves with the same energy as the Horde, which allowed them go toe-to-toe against the insects.She-Hulk andThor harnessed the power of theBlood of Ymir they had retrieved fromAsgard. Ghost Rider used his powers to take hold of a dead Celestial's armor. Finally,Iron Man suited up on theGodkiller Armor MK II.^[1]

Despite their combined strength, theAvengers 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 aUni-Mind, since he had been passed on the secrets on how to summon it byIkaris 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.^[12]

• TheAspirants are also called "Dark Celestials" although they are unrelated.^[14][15]
  • Coincidentally, the Aspirants and the Dark Celestials suffered similar defeats. Both orchestrated the deaths of the regularCelestials—viaLogos^[16][14][15] and theHorde,^[17] respectively—and were defeated when the regular Celestials got resurrected.^[15][4]

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