Avengers: The Initiative #35

The Hammer Falls, Conclusion

Credits

Siege continues from New Avengers: Finale #1…

Removed from his position of power, the Iron Patriot (Norman Osborn) has ordered the Sentry (Bob Reynold, now under control of the Void) to destroy Asgard, causing the city of the gods to come crashing to the ground.[1][2] Emerging from the rubble, Taskmaster sees Osborn trying to make a run for it and realizes that it’s all over. He decides to flee as well and as he moves through the wreckage of Asgard he finds the Constrictor (Frank Schlichting) and helps him to his feet. Frank was looking for his girlfriend, Diamondback (Rachel Leighton) and is helped to his feet. The Taskmaster then spots her just as she is being helped out by her ex, Captain America (Steve Rogers).[3]

Taskmaster uses this sight to convince the Constrictor to cut and run. Believing that Rachel was only interested in being on the winning team, Frank agrees. When Rachel spots Frank and Taskmaster making a run for it on two Goblin Gliders, she is disheartened to see it. Since she no longer needs to find Frank, Cap returns to the final battle with Osborn which is still in progress.

As they leave, the Taskmaster watches as the Iron Patriot’s helmet is broken, revealing that Osborn has painted his face green, like his old Green Goblin identity.[4] Taskmaster uses this opportunity to boast about how he was the one responsible for the recent humiliations that Osborn suffered at the hands of Deadpool.[5] With that, Taskmaster and Constrictor retreat.

Meanwhile, Norman Osborn tells the gathered heroes that they are all dead as he was the only one keeping the Sentry in check. Now that he has been taken over by the Void, there is nothing that can stop him.

With this recent development the Hood (Parker Robbins) and Madame Masque (Whitney Frost) also it is time to retreat. However, when Parker tries to use the Norn Stones, they are taken away from him by Loki. Loki uses the power of the Stones to boost the strength of the heroes during their fight against the Sentry. However, Parker can sense it when Loki is killed in battle.[7] They then quickly steal and armored vehicle and flee the scene.

Meanwhile, at Camp HAMMER, the Avengers Underground — Justice (Vance Astrovik), Gauntlet (Joe Green), Night Thrasher (Donyell Taylor), Rage (Elvin Haliday), the Scarlet Spider, Slapstick (Steve Harmond), Tigra (Greer Grant), and Ultragirl (Suzy Sherman) — and the Shadow Initiative — Bengal (Doc No Tranh), Batwing (Jimmy Santini), Butterball (Emery Schaub), and Penance (Robbie Baldwin) — are fighting a fierce battle against members of the Hood’s Gang. The villains had their powers augmented by the Norn Stones, but once Loki had reclaimed the mystical artifacts it causes the tables to suddenly turn.

Inside the facility, Baron Bon Blitzschlag gets reports about Norman Osborn’s defeat and the death of the Sentry.[8] Seeing that his cushy job is over, the Baron begins using his electrical powers to try and destroy all evidence of the illegal things that were going on inside the Initiative. He is stopped by Melati Kusama, formerly the heroine known as Komodo. Although she is confined to a wheelchair, she can still shoot a gun. That’s when her fellow graduates Cloud 9 (Abby Boylen) and Hardball (Roger Brokeridge) arrive. Roger injects Melati with an anti-dote to the SPIN tech that nullified her powers. Now Komodo again, Melati tells Roger that this does not change the animosity she feels towards him.[9] Seeing that he isn’t getting away with this, the Baron offers them all the data on Osborn’s illegal activities in exchange for a lesser sentence. Outside, with the news that the President has stripped Osborn of his power, the HAMMER soldiers surrender immediately since they never really liked working with him. With Osborn taken down, the Avengers Underground celebrates their hard won victory.

Days later, the Hood has been captured and is taken to an interrogating room. There he is confronted by Tigra who has wanted revenge against him ever since she suffered a beating at his hands. She tells Parker how she and her late husband were police officers and because of this, if she decided to kill him the authorities outside wouldn’t step in to stop her.[10] She is disappointed that she wasn’t there to take him down, but is glad she came down to see him in custody. Now that Captain America is back and in charge of things, she knows Parker Robbins is not getting out of jail any time soon.[11] She decided against killing Parker after what she saw in the hallway. As she leaves the room, Parker’s wife Sara enters the room with their daughter Breanne. Greer boasts that Parker will never hold his daughter again, while she will get to hold her own child for the rest of her life.[12]

Later, at Avengers Tower, the Avengers Underground have joined the other heroes to celebrate the downfall of Norman Osborn. With the Super Human Registration Act repealed and the Initiative shut down, Justice and Night Thrasher talk about what to do next.[13] Justice notes that the 50-State Initiative teams that were formed before Osborn’s take-over want to continue operating as they are doing a lot of good. Still, there are many young heroes that still need training, but at least now they have a choice to do that however they want to. That’s when Tigra arrives and shows off her son, William. She explains that she gave birth to him during the Initiative transition between Tony Stark and Norman Osborn. She then left the child in the care of the Cat People until it was safe to bring him home.[14] Deciding their next move, Justice suggests that they talk to Steve Rogers about the future.

Steve is telling Diamondback about how he wants her to be the new coordinator for the Initiative teams that want to continue operation. However, Rachel isn’t sure because she needs time to process Frank abandoning her. When he asks if she has heard anything from the Constrictor, she tells him that she hasn’t. At that moment, in Japan, the Taskmaster and Constrictor are getting paid for their recent job. Frank is distracted from receiving their pay because he is thinking about Diamondback.

Where Are They Now?

Following the dissolution of the Initiative, Bengal retires with his family to Brooklyn where he opens a martial arts school. Requests for interviews are denied. Prodigy (Richie Gilmore) is released from prison and exonerated for standing up to Norman Osborn. He is now a motivational speaker and is considering reforming his old team, the Slingers. Trauma (Terrence Ward) is said to be wandering the globe and has been spotted both studying with Doctor Strange and seeking a man named Karl in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Even though she is not longer a fugitive, Debrii (Deborah Fields) has decided to remain in France where she has become a celebrity judge on a TV talent competition. Butterball and Batwing have both relocated to Morganton, North Carolina, to replace the void left by the U-Foes Initiative team, they are the only members oft this new team so far.[15]

… Siege continues in Dark Avengers #16.

Recurring Characters

Initiative staff: Taskmaster, The Hood, Baron Von Blitzschlag

Graduates: Cloud 9, Diamondback, Komodo, Hardball, Prodigy, Trauma

Shadow Initiative (Bengal, Batwing, Butterball, Penance), Avengers Resistance (Justice, Gauntlet, Night Thrasher, Rage, Scarlet Spider, Slapstick, Tigra, Ultragirl), Captain America/Captain Steve Rogers, Iron Patriot, Sentry/The Void, Hood’s Gang (Badd Axe, Madame Masque, Man-Killer, Ringer, Scorcher), Thor, Iron Man, New Avengers (Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Ms. Marvel, Captain America (Barnes)), Loki, Sara Robbins, Breanne Robbins, Human Torch, Thing, Debrii, William Nelson, HAMMER

Continuity Notes

1. Norman Osborn launched an invasion of Asgard as part of his bid for power. These events are primarily documented in Siege #1-4 and various limited series that are listed below. The events of this issue take place concurrently with the events of Siege #4.

2. The Sentry has a history of mental illness, trauma, and drug abuse that has manifested as his opposite, an entity called the Void as explained in Sentry/The Void #1, and Sentry (vol. 2) #1-8. Recently, he has been pushed to the edge following the death of his wife, Lindy Lee. See Dark Avengers #13-16.

3. Diamondback had a long term relationship with Captain America which ran from Captain America #371 to 417-ish. More recently, she hooked up with the Constrictor in Avengers: The Initiative #29.

4. Norman Osborn started his career as the criminal Green Goblin back in Amazing Spider-Man #14. This was an identity he tried to distance himself from starting in Thunderbolts #110, which allowed him to secure the spot as America’s top cop after he slew the leader of a Skrull invasion of Earth in Secret Invasion #8.

5. Deadpool got into it with Osborn during the events of Thunderbolts #130-131 and Deadpool (vol. 4) #8-12.

6. When the Hood lost his powers in New Avengers #54, Loki gave him the Norn Stones to replace them in issues #56-57 of that series.

7. Loki sacrifices his life to stop the Sentry, as seen in Siege #4. His death will prove short lived as he will be resurrected as a younger man in Thor #617.

8. The Sentry is also killed off in Siege #4. He will be resurrected as a Horseman of Apocalypse Twins in Uncanny Avengers #9.

9. As explained in Avengers: The Initiative Special #1, Melati lost her legs in a car accident. Later, she took a modified version of Curt Connors’ Lizard formula, allowing her to grow new legs whenever she was in her Komodo form. She and Roger started dating in Avengers: The Initiative #8, but it ended when he chose to side with Hydra and abandoned her in the same Special issue. More recently, Roger was allowed back into the Initiative after he assisted in quelling a riot at Prison 42 in Avengers: The Initiative #27. Refusing to work with her ex, Komodo quit the Initiative and was de-powered in the following issue.

10. Tigra was once married to Bill Grant, a cop who was killed in the line of duty in The Cat #1. Greer later became a cop in Tigra #1-4 in order to uncover crooked cops that were linked to her former husband. More recently, Tigra suffered a beating from the Hood and his gang in New Avengers #35 as a message to others who might interfere with his criminal enterprise.

11. Captain America was believed to have died in Captain America (vol. 5) #25. In reality, he was struck with a chronal bullet that trapped him in a time loop until he was rescued in Captain America: Reborn #1-6. Steve was made head of National Security in Siege #4/New Avengers: Finale #1.

12. Tigra learned that she was impregnated by a Skrull posing as Hank Pym in Avengers: The Initiative #20.

13. Following the Stamford Disaster, the government passed the SHRA making it illegal for superhumans to operate unless they were registered with and sanctioned by the government, this created a divide in the superhero community between those who were for and against registration, as seen in Civil War #1-7. This led to the formation of the Initiative in Civil War: The Initiative #1. The law was repealed at the end of Siege #4.

14. Tony Stark was in charge of the Initiative until he was ousted as SHIELD Director in Secret Invasion #8, leading to Osborn taking over. The Cat People were the source of Tigra’s were-cat powers in Giant-Size Creatures #1. Here, Tigra states that she was pregnant for about two months because of her feline physiology. When measuring this up to the Sliding Timescale, this is entirely possible depending on when she actually got pregnant, remembering that she only found out she was pregnant in issue #20, we don’t know the actual time of conception or when she ducked out to give birth.

15. I guess now is a good time as any to go over the various characters who appeared throughout this series and the references made in the epilogue, and what they get up to next:

    • As of this writing (August, 2024), this issue marks the last appearance of Bengal to date.

    • Prodigy was arrested for having his team, the Heavy Hitters, secede from the Initiative in Avengers: The Initiative #28. The Slingers were the first team he was a part of as seen in Slingers #0.

    • Trauma is stated as looking for a guy named Karl. This is the cult leader that was used as a means for Nightmare to impregnate his mother, driving her mad as explained in Avengers: The Initiative #30. From here, Trauma will be seen again in Invincible Iron Man #600.

    • Debrii fled the United States out of fear that Osborn would eventually capture her. This also happened in Avengers: The Initiative #28.

    • Batwing, Butterball, Cloud 9, Debrii, Hardball, Komodo, Prodigy, Rage, Scarlet Spider, Slapstick, will all reappear next in Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt #1-6.

    • Baron Von Blitzschlag becomes an antagonist in Avengers Academy #1-4.

    • Gauntlet is stated as returning to the Middle East, he will be seen again in Tony Stark: Iron Man #2.

    • Night Thrasher will be seen again in Nova (vol. 5) #10.

    • Tigra, Justice, and Ultragirl will turn up again in Avengers Academy #1, 3 and 5 respectively.

Topical References

• When talking about Baron Von Blitzschlag’s impending arrest, Komodo quips that he’ll be the star of the next season of Lockup. This was a reality TV show that documented the lives of prisoners that ran from 2005 to 2017. This should be considered a topical reference.

• Trauma is stated as wandering the globe and is compared to the character Kane from the TV series Kung Fu. Starring actor David Carradine, this series ran from 1972 to 1975. It spawned a film and 3 spin-off series, the most recent airing 2021 to 2023. Its reference here should be considered topical.

• It is specifically stated that Gauntlet was re-deployed to Afghanistan. When this story was published in 2010, the United States had an ongoing military operation in that country in response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks carried out by Osama Bin Laden, who operated out of that country. However, the US military has since pulled out of that region in 2021, making this a topical reference. Modern readers could interpret this as him returning to the Middle East as opposed to a specific location or conflict.

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