The Avengers prepare a Siege on Norman Osborn

It all started with Secret War, an ambitious event comic by then newcomer to Marvel Comics, Brian Michael Bendis who had already made a name for himself with his run on Daredevil and Ultimate Spider-Man. Secret War was meant to be a major story that had an impact on the entire MU, but scheduling delays kept anyone from caring about the series, keeping some much-deserved attention from the story.

In Secret War, Nick Fury assembled a covert operation against the new leader of Latveria. His team consisted of Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Captain America, Wolverine and others (no doubt a planned new line-up for Bendis’ Avengers). Without any official backing, Fury essentially committed an act of aggression against a foreign country with the aid of the super-powered community. Both S.H.I.E.L.D. and the superheroes were furious when this was revealed, leading to his fall from grace in both capacities. Nick Fury dropped out of sight after finding out that S.H.I.E.L.D. was really run by the villainous international terrorist organization known as Hydra.

What followed was a rather brilliant series of stories that has made the Marvel Universe more interesting than it has been since it was first created.

While Fury gathered intel, the Scarlet Witch lost her mind and decimated both the Avengers and the mutant population. With just under 200 mutants planet-wide in existence, the government protected them with Sentinels as an endangered species. The mighty Thor disappeared after Asgard was destroyed during Ragnarök. A well-conceived jailbreak of the high security prison the Raft lead to the formation of a New Avengers team. A proposed Superhero Registration Act split the superpowered community in two, resulting in a bloody civil war. In the ensuing destruction, Captain America was assassinated on the way to trial for started a revolution against a government he could not support.

Seeking to control the tide of violence, Tony Stark supported the bill and placed former supervillain the Green Goblin, Norman Osborn, in control of the Thunderbolts who rounded up any superpowered individuals who refused to register. I have surmised that Stark made this seemingly insane move because he himself did not wish to fight former comrades and thought that while Norman is insane, he could be controlled. This is supported by the numerous opportunities that Tony Stark allowed fugitives to escape his capture and the many successful captures Osborn’s Thunderbolts have made.

With the destruction of the Skrull home planet during the Annihilation wave, the Skrulls sought out a new home. Turning to ancient religious texts, the decision was made to occupy Earth as their new seat from which to rebuild their empire. In the resulting war, Stark’s technology became compromised and Norman Osborn, himself a brilliant weapons manufacturer, produced armaments that would not become corrupted by alien invasion. After killing the Skrull Queen (in the guise of Spider-Woman), Norman Osborn was declared a national hero. Donning a custom-made Iron Man armor decked out in Captain America’s colors, Osborn took on the name Iron Patriot and formed his own team of Avengers.

Becoming the new head of S.H.I.E.L.D., Osborn renamed the international intelligence and security organization H.A.M.M.E.R. As the leader of a major power group, Osborn called in his associates in the supervillain world, forming a Cabal, to split the reigns of control evenly. The status quot essentially turned on its head, the heroes of the world are in hiding, constantly evading Osborn’s H.A.M.M.E.R. troops while still trying to protect the common man from the forces of evil. It has not been easy. Not content to rule, Osborn has compiled a laundry list of problems that need to be addressed including the elimination of Spider-Man, the Hulk and Punisher. So far, things are going very well for Norman.

That is all about to change.

(I just noticed the comment that the crash at the end may be Asgard… wow)

January 2010 begins the next chapter in this continuing story. Entitled ‘Siege,’ the event will develop over the course of two 4 part mini-series and the usual tie-ins. Marvel Editorial has stated that they are aware of the grumblings of ‘event fatigue’ from the readers and are trying to keep this one more contained than usual. Looking at the solicitations in January, the Siege banner is on only a couple of the monthly comics of the Avengers family of book, making it appear that Marvel may be making good on their promise of a smaller event.

Upon closer examination, there are more events going on than ever before, but they are miniature, impacting select titles or families of books rather than crossing titles.

Nation X will continue to take over the X-Men family of books, no doubt leading into the third act of the Messiah storyline this Spring/Summer. Black Panther will have its own event entitled Doom War and the Amazing Spider-Man’s ‘Gauntlet’ will begin crossing over into the new Web of Spider-Man ongoing series. The Fall of the Hulks will take up The Hulk and Incredible Hulk series as well as a two stand-alone books and a new Savage She-Hulks title. Agents of Atlas may no longer have a monthly book, yet they will continue to appear in the back of The Incredible Hercules (entrenched in the Assault on New Olympus story), an Avengers Vs. Agents of Atlas mini-series and a few character-centric minis.

Siege promises to close the circle begun in Secret War with the reformation of the classic Avengers team of Captain America, Iron Man and Thor as well as removing Osborn from power once and for all. Trawling the Internet fort information, I have seen many very vocal comic book fans declaring their disapproval of the all of the events I just summarized. This may be a case of dissenting opinion being louder than support and I can certainly understand that. It’s much easier to complain than praise. That being said, sales figures have pretty steadily risen for Marvel since this series of event comics began with Secret War, especially where the Avengers are concerned. What was once an all but forgotten superhero comic book has become a top money maker for Marvel Comics and even out-sells the X-Men comics.

For both camps of supporters and dissenters, I hope that this upcoming Siege storyline delivers on the promise laid out by Joe Quesada that it will both redefine the Marvel Universe and give it some breathing room.

Siege hits the shelves the first week of January 2010.

In collected editions:
House of M
Secret War
New Avengers
The Death of Captain America
Civil War
Secret Invasion