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Dark Avengers (Earth-616)

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It is my honor to introduce to you... your protectors... your warriors... your... AVENGERS!!!

—Norman Osborn[source]

After supplanting Tony Stark as the head of superhuman affairs due to his performance in the Skrull Invasion, the immoral Norman Osborn assumed legit and official control over the Mighty Avengers as H.A.M.M.E.R.'s director.[5][6] A twisted iteration of Dark Avengers was formed to carry out his personal agenda.[3] Osborn's dark reign was put to an end after he failed at the siege of Asgard, when the classic Avengers reassembled to dethrone and arrest him.[7][8] H.A.M.M.E.R. resurfaced as a shadowy initiative led by Osborn in an attempt to ruin the Avengers' reputation,[9] when a roster of New Dark Avengers was created.[1] Following their defeat,[10] these Dark Avengers were absorbed into the Thunderbolts program supervised by Luke Cage[11] until their decommission.[12]

History

Dark Reign[]

During the final stand against the Skrull invasion of Earth, the unscrupulous Norman Osborn, the unscrupulous director of the Thunderbolts who used to be the villain Green Goblin, killed the Skrull Queen.[13] Using his technology from OsCorp, Osborn was not affected by the corruption of Iron Man's Starktech. Following the extraterrestrial crisis, S.H.I.E.L.D. was decommissioned and replaced by H.A.M.M.E.R., with Osborn as its head in charge of the Initiative, the institution that regulated the activities of the registered super-hero community all over the country.[14][15] A dark reign descended upon Earth's Mightiest Heroes, especially the Avengers as Osborn formed a Cabal, in which different influential individuals joined forces resources to accomplish their own agendas in the new world order.[6]

Dark Avengers (Earth-616) from Dark Avengers Vol 1 4 0001

The original Dark Avengers

The Initiative's most powerful unit was the government-sponsored Avengers once led by Tony Stark, the invincible Iron Man. As Osborn replaced Stark in his position as head of security, Maria Hill, the ex-director of S.H.I.E.L.D. had her position filled by Victoria Hand, a former business affairs operative who publicly criticized her employers' modus operandi. The former Thunderbolts Bullseye, Moonstone, and Venom were promoted to Avengers due to their loyalty to Osborn during the final battle against the Skrulls, despite their utter lack of morality. To hide their criminal past and gain public legitimacy, they took up onthe mantles of classic avengers: Bullseye became Hawkeye, Moonstone was revamped as Ms. Marvel, and Venom was transformed into Spider-Man. Some of the Avengers also aligned themselves with Osborn, namely the God of War Ares, who regarded Osborn as a competent warrior, and the insane Sentry, who stayed due to offers of help for his mental issues. To round up the team, Osborn recruited the deceivtful and murderous mutant Daken, who adopted the identity of his father, Wolverine, and the alien Kree invader Noh-Varr, who became the new Captain Marvel. Osborn himself completed the lineup as the Iron Patriot, evoking the symbolism of both Iron Man and Captain America.[3]

Osborn led his Avengers to their first mission when Doctor Doom, a member of his Cabal was violently attacked by the sorceress Morgan Le Fay in Latveria. The situation was seemingly solved immediately when the Sentry decapitated Morgan. However, as a time traveler, she re-emerged and tortured the Avengers with her dark arts and horde of demons, by corrupting Venom[16] and petrifying Ares. As the Avengers fell, Osborn had Doctor Doom use his time-machine to return in time and find Morgan at her medieval castle.[17] Doctor Doom banished Morgan to the distant past. The Avengers licked their wounds and left Latveria. Back to Avengers Tower, the Sentry was seen alive, having mysteriously reconstituted himself, which sparked fear in Osborn.[18] In the aftermath of the fight, the original Hawkeye and fugitive Avenger, Clint Barton, went to live television and accused Osborn of being an immoral and manipulative criminal. Osborn retaliated by playing victim with a convincing discourse. Simultaneously, Moonstone used her influence to destabilize the Avengers, by informing Noh-Varr the true nature of most of the psychopaths in the team. Horrified with the revelation, Noh-Varr abandoned the team.[19] Osborn had the Avengers track Noh-Varr, but he was able to evade capture after making contact with the Kree Supreme Intelligence and acquire a pair of Nega-Bands.[20]

Utopia[]

San Francisco was attacked by Atlantean terrorist dissidents. The ruler of the broken kingdom of Atlantis, Namor, was also a member of Osborn's Cabal. Osborn ordered Namor to disown the assailants, but Namor refused, raising tensions in their secret group. Instead, Osborn dispatched the Sentry, who quickly finished the terrorists.[21] A parallel crisis in San Francisco involved mutantkind, who lived in the city as a sanctuary. The emergence of Proposition X led to a lot of riots characterized by the X-Men led by Cyclops fighting the Humanity Now! coalition. Seeing it as an opportunity to control the mutant population, Osborn not only dispatched his Avengers to intervene, but also formed his own X-Men, led by another agent of his Cabal, Emma Frost. The membership of the team included Daken, Namor, and others.[22][23]

Osborn's Avengers were not amicable towards his X-Men, with Osborn constantly keeping the Avengers out of action.[24][25] However, Frost revealed herself to be a traitor, having Namor at her side. Their true allegiances laid with mutantkind in a plan to fend Osborn off and protect the X-Men from his sphere of influence.[26] Osborn unleashed his immoral Avengers on Utopia, the island-nation Cyclops had founded out of the government's jurisdiction. Heavily outnumbered, the Avengers were not able to defeat the mutants, while Frost psychically tormented the Sentry to keep him away of the battle. Having no alternative, Osborn admitted defeat and left the battle, but in a mediatic show he argued he successfully dealt with the mutant problem in American soil.[27]

Inner Goblins[]

The hight levels of stress Osborn faced afflicted his mental health as he gradually descended into madness.[28] At some point, he was contacted by a high-ranking member of the government who wished the Avengers to locate his missing daughter. Hand traced her to a small town called Dinosaur, where many people had gone missing lately. In their investigation, Osborn ordered his master weapon, the Sentry to go first, as usual. The mission was shown to be a major crisis almost immediately when the Sentry immediately exploded. Upon arrival, the Avengers were trapped in different fabricated scenarios by the Molecule Man.[29] The Molecule Man tortured the Avengers, especially exploring the fragilities Osborn and the Sentry had. Victoria Hand then landed on Dinosaur by herself and surrendered.[30] As she attempted to reason with the Molecule Man, the Sentry confronted him realizing he had similar capacities of altering the physical world. H.A.M.M.E.R. brutally attacked the Molecule Man, who was ultimately disintegrated by the Sentry. Upon return, Osborn's insanity escalated. In secrecy, his instability was also perpetrated by his supposed ally in the Cabal, the God of Mischief Loki.[31]

Upon returning to New York, the Sentry's wife Lindy shot him with one of Noh-Varr's guns in an attempt to kill him.[28] She appeared to have succeeded and revealed the truth of the Sentry's origins: he was an addict who had stumbled upon a formula that granted him his enormous powers while looking for drugs. The Sentry simply rose back to life however, this time with the Void in control of his senses. In a moment of clarity, the Sentry attempted to kill himself by flying into the Sun, but failed.[32] Back to New York, he unleashed his enormous powers until Osborn managed to talk him down. As a solution to this problem, Osborn ordered Bullseye to murder Lindy in order to make the Sentry more reliant on and obedient.[33] Another rupture in the Cabal involved Doctor Doom, who upon disagreeing with Osborn launched an attack against Avengers Tower. The building was evacuated as the Sentry took care of the crisis.[34] Bullseye took the opportunity to assassinate his wife, claiming she had committed suicide. The Sentry underwent breakdown, becoming the ultimate weapon Osborn wished him to be.[35]

Siege[]

Loki's ultimate move in his machinations involving Osborn was to convince him about the danger of having the magical realm of Asgard on Earth. He claimed that this was a threat to Osborn's influence and suggested that a disaster should be crafted to justify a siege to the golden city.[34] Together, Loki and Osborn managed to trick Volstagg of the Warriors Three into fighting the U-Foes in a stadium full of people, who became casualties. This gave Osborn reason to move against Asgard, mobilizing all of the forces under his command such as the Avengers, H.A.M.M.E.R., the Thunderbolts, the Initiative, and the Hood's Gang. He also had Ares believe that Loki had taken over Asgard in order to draw up battle plans for the invasion. The mighty Thor defended his home, but was put down by the Avengers.[36] Amidst battle, Ares realized Asgard did not posit a threat and rebelled against Osborn. However, she was immediately murdered by the dark Sentry under Osborn's orders.[37]

Deciding Osborn should be stopped, Steve Rogers, the original Captain America, reassembled the Avengers to join the war, being backed by other parties, such as Maria Hill, Nick Fury's Secret Warriors the Young Avengers,[37] and Tony Stark. After Osborn was taken down by the heroes, he ordered the Sentry to destroy Asgard, leaving nothing but rubble. The Sentry proved to be an uncontrollable force.[38] In regret, Loki realized that he had gone too far and used the Norn Stones to empower the heroes fighting on the side of Asgard. Noticing the trickery, the Sentry killed Loki to reverse the process. As a last resource, Tony Stark managed to take control of the H.A.M.M.E.R. Helicarrier to drop it on the Sentry which made him revert to his human form. Powerless, the Sentry was mercy-killed by Thor, who disposed of his remains in the Sun.[39] In the aftermath of the siege, Osborn and his Avengers were mostly arrested.[8]

Dark Avengers (Earth-616) New Avengers Vol 2 18 001

The New Dark Avengers

The New Dark Avengers[]

When Norman Osborn was broken out of prison and took control of a new H.A.M.M.E.R., with HYDRA, A.I.M. and the Hand following him, he assembled a new team of Dark Avengers formed by Ai Apaec as Spider-Man, Trickshot as Hawkeye, Toxic Doxie as Scarlet Witch, Superia as Ms. Marvel, Gorgon as Wolverine and Skaar.[1]

His new team made their first public appearance when Victoria Hand advised them about a situation at Miami, while she delayed the New Avengers, who arrived later, when the Dark Avengers already established control. The New Avengers started fighting Osborn's team until they saw they weren't prepared for it, Doctor Strange teleported the team to a rooftop, but then Ragnarok appeared. As Ragnarok nearly destroyed the team with a mighty strike from his hammer, he injured Wolverine and overpowered Luke Cage then tried to kill Spider-Man. Both Luke Cage and Wolverine managed to almost destroy Ragnarok, who they left to Osborn after leaving the scene.[40]

When NYPD S.W.A.T. seized Avengers Mansion under Osborn's command, Cage's team became fugitives and hid in Victoria Hand's apartment. When the team was about to hunt the New Avengers, Skaar betrayed and attacked them.[41]

Thunderbolts[]

When the Thunderbolts went missing in time, the Dark Avengers were recruited as their replacements. Luke Cage volunteered to be their supervisor with Skaar acting as Luke's muscle on the inside. The Dark Avengers were sent the Sharzhad on their first mission. They quickly came into contact with the forces of Dagan Shah in the form of monsters. They defeated them, displaying great team work; however it became clear that the Dark Avengers had an agenda of their own after taking off and leaving Skaar and Cage behind. They tracked down Wender and invaded Shah's palace in order to reach the source of his power; a Rigellian subspace pocket. After bringing Wender here he began to channel all of the energy present.[42]

The Dark Earth[]

After the end of their involvement with the Thunderbolts, Toxic Doxie, Ragnarok, Trickshot, Ai Apaec and Moonstone were loaded onto a transport ship, escorted by John Walker and Skaar. When an explosion hit their ship, Man-Thing panicked and opened a wormhole. They found themselves stranded in an alternate Earth. In this world, all the major superheroes had become warlords of their factions, fighting over New York City.[43]

Toxic Doxie, Ragnarok, Trickshot, Ai Apaec, and Walker were captured by Iron Man's forces. Doxie broke free, taking control of Pym, who worked for Iron Man, and the lab, using it to experiment on her teammates. Meanwhile, Moonstone and Skaar were captured by Doctor Strange, who used magic to enslave them. Doxie used her bio-engineering skills to restore Walker's lost limbs with the Venom symbiote, shrunk Ai Apaec to miniature size, and performed heavy surgery in Ragnarok's brain.[44]

Dark Avengers (Earth-616) from Dark Avengers Vol 1 190 001

New team of Dark Avengers

The Dark Avengers went to kill Strange, hoping to free Skaar and Moonstone.[45] After fighting Thing's forces on behalf of Strange, Moonstone was able to sneak away back to the lab, finding Ragnarok awakening. Iron Man attacked them, but the awakened Ragnarok was able to defeat him, although Stark's consciousness escaped to another suit. Pym was killed in the conflict. After the surgery, Ragnarok was finally aware of his status as a clone cyborg. Moonstone brought him the Mjolnir of the Dark Earth's Thor, and Ragnarok was able to wield it.[46]

Skaar, meanwhile, learned from Reed Richards and a captured A.I.M. agent that A.I.M. was behind the Dark Earth, having twisted reality with temporal manipulation, and this pocket dimension was about to collapse due to to the Dark Avengers' presence. Ai Apaec was able to kill Strange by poisoning him. Moonstone and Skaar were freed, and the united Dark Avengers went after A.I.M. They escaped the pocket dimension as it collapsed, returning to New York proper. Skaar abandoned them, and Toxic Doxie stepped on a still-shrunken Ai Apaec. U.S. Agent appeared to be leading them, but Doxie was in fact controlling his mind.[12]

The team would seemingly be disbanded, considering their members would later appear working on their own, or retired from superheroics.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Weapons

Each teammates' arsenal

Transportation

Quinjet

Trivia

For the most part the Dark Avengers have been comprised of villains posing as heroes, impersonating heroes who have been part of the Avengers or associated with them. A list of assumed identities are:

Some either retained their original identities, or assumed brand new ones. In both cases, their role was often close to a classic function or symbolic of the Avengers:

See Also

Links and References

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 New Avengers (Vol. 2) #18
  2. ↑ New Avengers (Vol. 2) #20
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Dark Avengers #1
  4. ↑ Dark Avengers #177
  5. ↑ Secret Invasion #8
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Secret Invasion: Dark Reign #1
  7. ↑ Siege #1–4
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Dark Avengers #16
  9. ↑ New Avengers (Vol. 2) #16.1
  10. ↑ New Avengers (Vol. 2) #23
  11. ↑ Dark Avengers #175
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Dark Avengers #190
  13. ↑ Secret Invasion #1
  14. ↑ Secret Avengers #8
  15. ↑ Thunderbolts #125
  16. ↑ Dark Avengers #2
  17. ↑ Dark Avengers #3
  18. ↑ Dark Avengers #4
  19. ↑ Dark Avengers #5
  20. ↑ Dark Avengers Annual #1
  21. ↑ Dark Avengers #6
  22. ↑ Dark Avengers / Uncanny X-Men: Utopia #1
  23. ↑ Uncanny X-Men #513
  24. ↑ Dark Avengers #7
  25. ↑ Uncanny X-Men #514
  26. ↑ Dark Avengers #8
  27. ↑ Dark Avengers / Uncanny X-Men: Exodus #1
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Dark Avengers #9
  29. ↑ Dark Avengers #10
  30. ↑ Dark Avengers #11
  31. ↑ Dark Avengers #12
  32. ↑ Dark Avengers #13
  33. ↑ Dark Avengers #14
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 Siege: The Cabal #1
  35. ↑ Dark Avengers #15
  36. ↑ Siege #1
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 Siege #2
  38. ↑ Siege #3
  39. ↑ Siege #4
  40. ↑ New Avengers (Vol. 2) #19–21
  41. ↑ New Avengers (Vol. 2) #22–23
  42. ↑ Dark Avengers #175–183
  43. ↑ Dark Avengers #184
  44. ↑ Dark Avengers #185
  45. ↑ Dark Avengers #186
  46. ↑ Dark Avengers #189
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