New Avengers #25

The ominous banner declaring "In 7 Months… Time Runs Out!" sets an urgent, foreboding tone for this 2014 entry in Jonathan Hickman's sprawling New Avengers run. Butch Guice's cover depicts two figures — one crouching in a Black Panther suit, the other bearing a Fantastic Four emblem — moving through a candlelit hall lined with draped coffins bearing the symbols of various Marvel factions, flames licking the background. It's a striking, elegiac image that makes clear the stakes for the Illuminati have never felt heavier.