We've known since the after-credits sequence of Thor that Loki will be the central villain of Joss Whedon's The Avengers. There's one problem, however: Iron Man, Hulk, Thor and Captain America vs. Loki isn't exactly what you'd call a fair fight when it comes to hand-to-hand combat. Because of this it's long been rumored that the God of Mischief would be calling in an army of sorts, and now new photos from the Cleveland set seems to confirm that rumor.

WARNING: Those that don't want to know too many details about The Avengers might want to turn away at this point. Are you sure you want to see these images? Super sure? Okay, well, you've been warned.

Coming Soon (here and here) has gotten their hands on a bunch of new images from the action-heavy production currently filming in Ohio that seems to reveal that the ultimate Marvel superhero team will be going up against forces not of this world. First rumors of this began back in May 2010 when it was said that the Skrulls would be invading Earth in the film, but the context back then had the alien race taking control of the Hulk and Loki wasn't involved. Considering all that these images show are alien weapons and a couple guys in a motion-capture suits, it's impossible to tell if the movie will involve the Skrulls or a different alien species entirely.

Check out some of the new images below (as well as a video) and head over to Coming Soon for more.