This week, the good folks at Marvel have given us a sneak peek at three upcoming projects that should have any proper Marvel Zombie marking their calendar for the rest of the year, featuring beloved characters like the X-Men, characters new to Marvel like Angela, and the return of a bad guy who will play a pivotal role in the cinematic Marvel universe very, very soon.

Marvel’s first big announcement  is this coming December’s Uncanny X-Men Annual #1, by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Andrea Sorrentino. This story is set to answer one of the burning questions that has been on the minds of X-Men fans-just what happened to Eva Bell??  Revealed this past weekend at  Comic-Con, the answers you’ve been waiting for are in the oversized Uncanny X-Men Annual #1, which reveals the accidental adventures of the young, time-travelling X-Man.

“It is the utmost grandest X-Men tradition to have your mutant power be the coolest thing about you and the scariest thing,” says writer Brian Michael Bendis in an interview with Marvel.com. “It was only a matter of time before [Eva] was thrust into a situation that revealed the scary side of time related powers.” Without the ability to completely control her powers, Eva Bell, who uses the mutant codename:Tempus, vanished during an X-Men training mission. Although she re-appeared almost instantly,  she had aged many years. Trapped in her own time bubble, Tempus embarked on a journey into the far future of the Marvel Universe. Just how long was Eva trapped in that temporal sphere? What futures did she bear witness to? And why keep it a secret from the X-Men? All will be answered in Uncanny X-Men Annual #1 this December.

But before that X-Men mystery is solved, this November the  Marvel Universe’s newest star is about to show you why she’s the most dangerous in Angela: Asgard’s Assassin #1 –an all-new ongoing series from the creative team of Kieron Gillen, Marguerite Bennett, Phil Jimenez and Stephanie Hans. A part of the Avengers NOW! initiative, Marvel is ready to ” show you a side of Angela you’ve never seen before, as she cuts a bloody swath across the Marvel Universe!” In a press release from Marvel, Angela is described as “The finest warrior of the Tenth Realm, she has been trained all her life to hate Asgard with every fiber of her being. But following the events of Original Sin: Thor & Loki – The Tenth Realm, she must confront the truth of her lineage. She is the daughter of Odin. The sister of Thor. An Asgardian. Now, she has been cast out from the Tenth Realm, and wants nothing to do with Asgard. What does she want? A clean slate. And she’ll cut down anyone in the Ten Realms who stands in her way!”

Witer Kieron Gillen returns to Asgard following his critically acclaimed run on Journey Into Mystery along with rising star writer Marguerite Bennett  “The story is Angela is basically on the run,” says co-writer Kieron Gillen of the first arc in an interview with Marvel.com. “It gives her a chance to interact with a lot of different people so by the end of the first arc we really get a sense of who Angela is vis-à-vis the Marvel Universe. This is how she interacts with Asgardians, this is how she interacts with Angels. This is how she interacts with the Guardians and the cosmic stuff. Here is how she interacts with the Earth. You get a sense of who she is and where she fits into the larger picture.” Each issue features a main story drawn by Jimenez, with a second story drawn by Hans; the variant cover for the first issue below is from Stephanie Hans.

Finally, next week sees the arrival in comic shops of  Thanos: The Infinity Revelation  Original Graphic Novel, which goes on sale Wednesday, August 6th. Featureing the return of Marvel writing legend Jim Starlin (The Infinity Gauntlet, Captain Marvel)  to his most famous creation Thanos for an all-new adventure and a new quest for one of the galaxy’s most ruthless villains. A crusade that will cross paths with the Guardians of the Galaxy, Adam Warlock, the Silver Surfer, the Annihilators and ultimately his one true love, Death! With his once sworn enemy Adam Warlock at his side, Thanos will square off against the most powerful beings in the universe. Check out the cover and three preview pages from Thanos: The Infinity Revelation below.

So which of these upcoming projects from Marvel are you most excited for? Let us know in the comments below.

Images: Marvel