Okay, so it’s time for the end of the Dark Reign era. And what better way for the power-mad, ego-driven Norman Osborn to go down than by his trying to defeat the Gods themselves?
As a result of Osborn and his partner Loki’s machinations, Volstagg is framed for blowing up a sold-out stadium full of football fans. This is basically the same spark that started the Civil War, except there it was the destruction of a school bus full of children.
This gives Osborn an excuse to rally H.A.M.M.E.R. and the extended Dark Avengers family into a siege of Asgard. They predictably resist at first. Bullseye–correctly–thinks there’s no way they can win this fight. Ares doesn’t want to fight fellow Gods. Etc.
Even POTUS doesn’t want the siege to happen. That’s President Obama, but he’s kept in shadows, presumably to keep this story timeless.
Watching the battle, Steve Rogers is inspired to put on the Cap uniform. Thor, in exile, comes out of hiding. And eventually Iron Man returns–thus restoring Marvel’s “Big Three” as being both alive and on the same side, at last, for the first time since Civil War.
For his part, Captain America plays his old “motivator” role–pulling together a collection of superheroes to do what, frankly, they shouldn’t have needed him for: Take down Norman Osborn. This whole era was pretty disappointing–so many heroes in their own comics foiled various Osborn/Loki schemes, but they never assembled and fought back in a meaningful way. That really never made sense.
Cap also gets his shield back.
When he loses, Osborn finally starts turning green and Spider-Man punches him in the face.
That could (and should) have been the end, but it’s not. Throughout Dark Reign, Norman has been pushing Sentry to release the Void. That finally happens and issue four is the wrap-up of that storyline.
Along the way, what matters? Well, Sentry kills Ares.
By literally ripping him in half. That’s pretty extreme. And yet, believe it or not, he is not permanently dead.
Also, the helicarrier crashes (no surprise there–those things fall more than they fly), but you know what else crashes?
New Asgard.
And you who else dies? Loki.
Loki dies. He dies a lot, actually.He dies trying to stop The Void, although the way it’s executed it’s kinda hard to follow what’s happening. Nor is it entirely clear why Loki does this.
And then Sentry, too, dies–killed by Thor.
In the wrap up, Osborn is captured and jailed. Steve gives the shield back to Bucky and tells him to be the new Cap, while Steve takes Osborn’s place as the leader of America’s defense organization–on the condition that they repeal the Superhuman Registration Act.
Honestly, for all the build up and tie-ins (across many of Marvel’s monthlies+some one-shots/minis), this should have been a lot better. It’s well-illustrated, but the plot is fairly weak, the major points are kinda redundant and/or uninspired, and the resolution feels anticlimactic.
Note: In addition to many of Marvel’s monthly ongoing titles having three (or more) issues devoted to Siege, there were a bunch of redundant tie-ins to Siege. This post should be considered as also including all of them, If you think these books really did matter, drop a comment and tell me why. I just don’t have the patience to fully summarize them–even though a few were actually better than the miniseries itself.
- Siege: The Cabal. Grade: C+.
- Siege: Captain America. Grade: C-
- Siege: Embedded. Grade: C+
- Siege: Heroes and Villains. Grade C. This was just dossiers.
- Siege: Loki. Grade: B. This should be considered the beginning of Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie’s terrific work with the Asgard family.
- Siege: Secret Warriors. Grade: C+
- Siege: Spider-Man. Grade: C
- Siege: Young Avengers. Grade: C+.
Many of these issues came out between issues #3 and #4, to bring all the characters into the story for the big finale.
English (US) · 