Avengers: The Initiative #31
Poisoned Chalice
Siege continues from Siege: The Cabal #1…
At Avengers Tower, Norman Osborn has a conference call with the Taskmaster. He has been pleased with the progress Taskmaster has made shaping the Initiative and wants to meet with him in the morning.[1] Taskmaster, who is partying with the villains who now operate within the Initiative abruptly ends the party they are throwing, telling them to be up bright and early for Osborn’s visit. He warns them not to piss off Osborn or they’ll all end up in the graveyard they have out back.[2]
Back at Avengers Tower, Osborn tells the Hood (Parker Robbins) of his decision to invite Taskmaster into their Cabal.[3] Parker doesn’t like the idea, but Osborn believes that the new recruit has proven himself adequately and asks Robbins not to let professional jealousy cloud his judgement.[4]
At Camp HAMMER, Taskmaster checks in on Penance (Robbie Baldwin) to tell him that Osborn is coming in the morning and to be on his best behavior. Seeing Robbie playing with his cat Niels, he suggests that he get rid of the cat. Baldwin gives him a grim look and threatens to bring the building down around them if any harm comes to his feline companion. The Taskmaster cowardly does an about face but fears that Osborn is going to throw him off Hoover Dam as punishment.
Meanwhile, the Constrictor (Frank Schlichting) has just discovered that Diamondback (Rachel Leighton) has been secretly feeding information to the Avengers Underground. He figures that she was just getting close to him to pump for information. When Rachel tries to explain that her feelings for him are genuine, they are interrupted by Taskmaster who has come to tell them about the Osborn visit as well. Frank doesn’t mention Rachel’s duplicity and agrees to meet in the office in five minutes. When Diamondback asks why he didn’t turn her in, Frank explains that a guy like him doesn’t usually end up with a woman loving them and wants this to last as long as possible.[5]
At that moment, the Avengers Underground have set up a safehouse at the Inland Empire in California, former hideout of the Cat People.[6] Night Thrasher (Donyell Taylor) is fresh from being rescued by his comrades and meets with Justice (Vance Astrovik), Tigra (Greer Grant), and Ultragirl (Suzy Sherman). He has just learned that Osborn has frozen all the bank accounts that are owned by the Taylor Foundation, cutting off much needed charity funds for people in need. Tigra promises that they’ll get the money back when they take Osborn down. He is then introduced to Melati Kusama, formerly Komodo, who has just joined the group after quitting the Initiative.[7] Melati has been monitoring the trojan horse they infected the U-Foes’ headquarters with. Sure enough, she has picked up that they have been making huge deposits of money at one of the local banks near their headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina.[8] The money is being transferred between two dummy corporations that are owned by Norman Osborn. That’s when Night Thrasher takes over so he can find out anything to incriminate Osborn in illegal activities.
Ultragirl then confronts Tigra about the fact that she knows Greer has been secretly sneaking out and beating up members of the Hood’s gang. Tigra decides to reveal why, and shows her the video of the beating she herself endured at the hands of the Hood’s thugs.[8] Although Suzy is horrified to see what happened, she still doesn’t think it is right because they need to be setting an example of what real heroes are. Tigra doesn’t care, telling Suzy that the world is going to hell in a handbasket since Osborn took over and doesn’t care if she takes this to Justice or if it gets her kicked off the team. However, when she goes to Vance he wants to talk about their relationship. After Donyell’s recent brush with death, he realizes that ending their relationship was the wrong move and kisses her.[10]
Meanwhile, the Constrictor shows up at Taskmaster’s room for their meeting. Taskmaster wants Frank’s advice on his upcoming promotion. He has spent his entire career training villains and isn’t sure he wants or deserves the promotion. Constrictor admits that he doesn’t know what Taskmaster should do, but he says that life is short and people like them do not get many golden opportunities and he should just enjoy what he has while it lasts. This proves to be great advice and Taskmaster decides to take up the promotion after all and offers Frank a drink to celebrate his decision.
The next morning, Osborn arrives for his inspection and in all appearances it seems as though everything is in ship shape to the point where Osborn admits that he is bored. As he prepares to leave, Norman asks Taskmaster what he would do if he was in charge of the Initiative. Taskmaster says that trying to train supervillains — with wide ranging bad habits, insanity, and additions — is a wasted effort. If it were up to him, he’d recruit superpowered teenagers that are blank slates and mold them into operatives he can use. This impresses Norman who offers Taskmaster a spot on the Cabal, an offer that Taskmaster accepts.
However, Taskmaster’s first meeting goes awry when Doctor Doom decides to cut ties with the rest of the Cabal. In the ensuing fight, Taskmaster is seriously injured and hospitalized.[11] While recovering in the hospital, Taskmaster writes to Constrictor to warn him that what he got was actually a poisoned chalice. When Osborn visits him in the hospital, Taskmaster tells him that in light of his injuries he doesn’t feel like he is up with being part of the Cabal. This upsets Osborn who slashes open the oxygen tank in his room and threatens to ignite it. This convinces Taskmaster to back down and Osborn tells him what Taskmaster’s next mission is: To lead the Initiative on an attack of Asgard![12]
… Siege continues in New Avengers #61.
Recurring Characters
The Cabal: Iron Patriot, Doctor Doom, The Hood, Loki, Taskmaster
Initiative Trainees/Hood’s Gang: Brother Grimm, Cutthroat, Griffin, Mandrill, Man-Killer, Scorcher
Shadow Initiative (Constrictor, Badd Axe, Penance, Ringer), Women Warriors (Diamondback, Asp, Black Mamba), Avengers Resistance (Justice, Komodo, Night Thrasher, Tigra, Ultragirl), Niels
Continuity Notes
Taskmaster took over the Initiative in Avengers: The Initiative #25, co-running it with the Hood.
When Black Mamba expresses interest in meeting Osborn, Taskmaster warns her that she shouldn’t get too excited unless she enjoys being thrown off a bridge. This is a reference to how Osborn killed Gwen Stacy (then girlfriend of Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man) back in Amazing Spider-Man #121. He also mentions the recent death of Johnny Guitar, who was killed in action in Avengers: The Initiative #27. As of this writing (August, 2024) Johnny Guitar is still considered among the deceased.
After Norman Osborn became America’s top cop (after killing the leader of the Skrull invasion) he formed the Cabal, a secret group of villains seeking to attain world domination. See Secret Invasion #8.
Osborn mentions Taskmaster’s accomplishments: Like how he managed to evade capture at the hands of the original Avengers (Avengers #196), retaking Prison 42 (Avengers: The Initiative #27), and stopping Nightmare (last issue).
Constrictor and Diamondback have fallen for each other after Frank saved her from a runaway commercial airliner in Avengers: The Initiative #29. He mentions how Rachel used to date Captain America (Steve Rogers). Cap and Diamondback dated from Captain America #371 to 443.
Tigra mentions how the Cat People operated under the radar for centuries and are the source of her powers. See Giant-Size Creatures #1.
Komodo refused to work with her ex-boyfriend Hardball who had briefly defected to Hydra and quit the Initiative. Taskmaster allowed her to leave but depowered her with SPIN tech first, as seen in Avengers: The Initiative #28. She then joined the underground in the following issue.
The U-Foes were set up as one of Norman Osborn’s new additions to the 50-State Initiative. The Avengers Underground infected their computer with a trojan horse to track if they robbed any banks, as seen in Avengers: The Initiative #26.
Tigra was beaten in New Avengers #34, which was recorded as a warning to any heroes that threatened his criminal operations. Tigra has been getting her revenge since Avengers: The Initiative #26.
Justice and Ultragirl were revealed to be having a relationship in Avengers: The Initiative #6. It came to an end when Suzy graduated from the Initiative as she was joining a 50-State team and he was remaining on base in issue #12. The two were reunited in Avengers: The Initiative #25, in the following issue he decided that they should just be friends for the time being.
The falling out between Doctor Doom and the rest of the Cabal is depicted in greater detail in Siege: The Cabal #1.
Norman Osborn manufactures a conflict with Asgard to justify an invasion so he can get a hands on the Spear of Destiny and gain immortality. See Siege #1-4.
Topical References
The music at Taskmaster’s party is depicted as being played on a stereo with a CD player built into it. CDs were still quite common as the dominant format to listen to music when this story was published in 2010. However, with digital and streaming formats gaining prominence in the years since they have fallen out of common use and their depiction here should be considered topical.
The video of Tigra’s beating is depicted as being on DVD, which was the dominant video format at the time this story was published. Just like CD’s they have fallen out of common use due to newer formats coming onto the market. As such, its depiction here should be considered topical.
There is a CRT model television in Taskmasters room, this is now an obsolete technology and its depiction here should be considered topical.
Siege Reading Order
Siege: The Cabal #1 , Avengers: The Initiative #31, New Avengers #61-62, Dark Avengers #13, 14, 15, Origins of Siege #1, Siege: Storming Asgard: Heroes & Villains #1, Siege #1 , Avengers: The Initiative #32, Dark Wolverine #82, 83, 84, Siege: Embedded #1-2, Siege #2, Avengers: The Initiative #33, Thor #607, Mighty Avengers #35-36, Thunderbolts #141, Siege #3, Siege: Embedded #3, Thor #608, Thunderbolts #142, Avengers: The Initiative #34, New Avengers #63, Siege: Captain America #1, Siege: Spider-Man #1, Siege: Loki #1, Siege: Young Avengers #1, Siege: Secret Warriors #1 , New Mutants (vol. 3) #11, Siege #4, Thor #609, Siege: Embedded #4, New Avengers #64, New Avengers Finale #1, Avengers: The Initiative #35, Dark Avengers #16, Thunderbolts #143, Thor #610, Sentry: Fallen Sun #1
