Osborn’s Dark Reign Ends In Siege

Posted by sean in Comics, Latest News on November 9th, 2009

Marvel’s released a trailer for its Siege event, which will be introduced with the Siege: The Cabal one-shot in December, with the main action happening in a four-part miniseries starting in January.

Basically, everything that’s happened since Brian Michael Bendis was put in charge of the Avengers has led up to the current bizarre status quo that exists in the Marvel U. The events of the Avengers Disassembled, House of M, and Secret War crossovers led up to schism among the superheroes in Civil War. The events of that crossover, along with other events like Messiah CompleX and The Initiative, eventually culminated in the disappointing but visually stunning Secret Invasion. And, of course, the climax of that event – which saw Norman Osborn save the day while Tony Stark basically failed in every possible way – brought us to where things stand now. Where things stand now is that some of the most nefarious megalomaniacs in Marvel continuity – and Osborn in particular – have more power and influence on a global scale than they’ve ever had before. And Siege, it seems, will be where they finally get their due.

In the miniseries, Osborn will set his sights on what may be the very last force that could oppose him: Asgard. And I can’t really blame him: if there was an immortal city of omnipotent god-people floating above your country, you’d see it as a threat, too. The point is, this is promising because clearly Thor will be involved. Captain America, meanwhile, has just been resurrected, which is a pretty weak plot point, but I think it’s pretty clear where it’s all going. With Iron Man’s “World’s Most Wanted” arc just wrapping up and Tony coming back home, is it time for a classic Avengers reunion? Methinks so.

Bendis, who’s joined on this event by House of M and Thor artist Olivier Coipel, has also said that the Young Avengers and the Secret Warriors will also have a part to play. Nick Fury “is there front and center,” which is both fitting (Osborn does have his old job) and awesome (Nick Fury is, in fact, awesome).

But back to the trailer. Basically, it paints Siege as the culmination of everything that’s happened in the Marvel Universe in the last five years. This is almost, but not quite, true. Certainly, Dark Reign, as an extension of Secret Invasion, is the climax of all these events – Bendis was planting seeds for Invasion as far back as the very first arc of New Avengers, and Norman Osborn’s rise to power has been bubbling since the beginning of Civil War. And Siege will certainly be the climax of Dark Reign. So, in a way, it’s the culmination of the culmination – but to suggest that five years of Bendis’ Avengers-driven, universe-wide events have been leading up to this one four-part miniseries really sets the bar unnaturally high. I’d rather view it as the conclusion to Dark Reign and enjoy it for what it is. One thing seems sure, though – this will be the end of an era in Marvel continuity.

The trailer’s below. It’s mostly art from previous events with some over-the-top narration, but it’s worth your minute and twenty-four seconds. Enjoy!