"It's essentially Noah's Ark with super-heroes," said Peter David, writer of the forthcoming Heroes Return limited series from Marvel Comics, "and my mission is to get the heroes back in the Marvel Universe in good position for writers of each of their regular series to take over."

The heroes, Captain America, the Avengers, Iron Man, and Fantastic Four, have been in an alternate universe for the last year after apparently sacrificing their lives stopping the X-Men villain Onslaught. The real world reason for their departure is a bit more mundane, however. In the hopes of boosting lagging sales, Marvel executives came up with a plan to farm certain books out to Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld. While the plan did boost sales and draw attention to the titles, it alienated quite a few older readers. Now that the initial one-year contract has expired, the heroes are being brought back. The daunting task of returning them home fell to veteran writer Peter David.

Obviously, Heroes Return is going to be a big story, but just how big it will be might surprise quite a few readers. Said David, "Heroes Return will involve the Celestials and one other MAJOR cosmic entity. Thor will also play a prominent role. The series ends with the heroes returning to the Marvel Universe. In fact, they return on the last page of the last issue." He continued, "It will be nice to have the heroes back in the Marvel Universe and make the readers happy. Plus, I get to make that other friggin' Hulk go away, which is something that really attracted me to the series." When asked how pivotal the Hulk is to the Heroes Return, he slyly answered, "Well I'm writing it [Heroes Return].

Also, the writer of the Incredible Hulk, David discussed some of his plans for the jade giant after the heroes return. "The Hulk goes to Hell, and he'll also be fighting the Destroyer and the Maestro in future issues. There are also significant plans for Betty involving Thunderbolt Ross. He is the real Thunderbolt Ross, by the way. Colonel St. Lawrence will be playing a major role in the book as well, especially her relationship with the Hulk."