Siege continues from New Avengers #62…

Three Days Ago

Victoria Hand has grown concerned over the well being of her boss, Norman Osborn. He has spent long hours in Tony Stark’s lab in Avengers Tower and been working non-stop. She raises these concerns and suggests he get psychological help. Osborn is resistant to this and when she says that both Nick Fury and Tony Stark used to get help, Osborn angrily reminds her where that landed both of them.[1]

Victoria presses the issue, unphased by his angry outburst. She convinces him to assign her to make all the necessary appointments. She also admits candidly that she worries that if he doesn’t get the help he needs, Norman might become the Green Goblin again.

On top of that, after their traumatic battle with the Molecule Man, he needs to get his team back in line.[2] To illustrate her point, she shows him security footage of Ms. Marvel (Karla Sofen) and Hawkeye (actually Bullseye in disguise) making out on the Avengers meeting table. However, this isn’t just an act of insubordination, as Victoria understands that this is Karla’s way of compromising Norman’s team so she has more loyalty than he does.[3] Osborn tells her that she can deal with this as she sees fit. As his second-in-command heads out, he also asks her to check in with Ares to find out how the plans to invade Asgard are going. Hearing about this planned invasion shocks Victoria because they don’t have the authority to do so. Norman angrily tells her to do as she is told, saying that she had her moment and to not push it.[4] After Victoria leaves the room, Norman glares at the security monitors.

Victoria gets a pair of HAMMER operatives and confronts both Ms. Marvel and Hawkeye in the meeting room. She orders Karla to head back to her quarters while they talk with Bullseye. When they both balk at Hand giving them order, Victoria pulls out an alien weapon and blasts Sofen with it, incapacitating her. As the guards drag Karla off to her quarters, Bullseye admits that he likes this new Victoria Hand. By this time they are joined by Spider-Man (Mac Gargan and the Venom symbiote posing as the web-slinger), and Wolverine (actually his son Daken). That’s when the alarm begins going off. Norman Osborn is alerted back in the lab and sees through the security monitor what this new threat is and is immediately horrified.

It is the Sentry (Bob Reynolds), he has returned from space and the sky is filled with dark energy tendrils that strike down at the city like lightning. This is because Bob has been taken over by the Void.[5] Suiting up as the Iron Patriot, Norman flies out to try and talk the Sentry out of attacking the city. Bob reminds Norman how he had convinced him that there was no Void. Osborn clearly sees that he is wrong and asks if there is any of Bob or the Sentry left inside. The Void says that there is a little before unleashing another bolt of fury upon the city. Seeing the carnage below prompts Victoria to order the rest of the Dark Avengers to get onto the street and start helping the civilians.

In the sky above, the Iron Patriot asks to speak to the real Bob, because he needs to know why the Sentry would suddenly do this and undo all the work they have done together. The Void explains that he is tired of being at war with himself and has decided that he wants to turn the world into a place where Bob and his wife Lindy Lee cannot live. He explains that Bob’s love for Lindy prevents him from killing her directly so he is lashing out at the world to punish Lindy by forcing her to watch the wholesale destruction.

Norman doesn’t understand what the woman could have said to him to make him lash out like this and tries to reason with him. However, the Void isn’t as easily manipulated as the Sentry was. Norman warns the Void that if he doesn’t stop, he will get himself killed. The Void scoffs at this, thinking Norman is threatening him. However, Osborn is actually talking about Reed Richards, or Tony Stark, or even Doctor Doom. After a tense moment of silence between the two men, the Void stops his attack. He then asks Norman what the next move is. Osborn warns Bob that if he does something like this again he won’t stop him, but he also won’t interfere with anyone’s attempt to stop him either. When the Void asks what the plan is for the second time, Osborn tells him that he’ll be briefed later in the evening and promises that their next mission will be in line with what the Void wants to make the world. That’s when Osborn looks down at Sentry’s Watchtower and sees that Lindy is watching this in horror.

Later that evening, Norman Osborn pays Bullseye a private visit in his quarters. Bullseye gripes about the Sentry’s outburst earlier that day, but quickly hushes up when Norman says that he needs his assassination skills. When Bullseye asks who the target is, Norman says that he wants him to eliminate the Sentry’s wife.

Recurring Characters

Dark Avengers (Iron Patriot, Ms. Marvel, Hawkeye, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Sentry), HAMMER (Victoria Hand), Lindy Lee, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman

Continuity Notes

1. Lets talk about Osborn, Stark, and Fury and their various mental health issues. All three men were former heads of National Security:

   • Nick Fury was previously the Director of SHIELD, the precursor to HAMMER. This was until he went AWOL after staging an illegal coup d’etat in Latveria, as seen in Secret War #1-5. While Fury has never been characterized with an long running mental health problems, he has been depicted as suffering from PTSD during World War II, as seen in Sgt. Fury #114. It stands to reason that he’d need therapy for all the years he has spent as a soldier.

   • Tony Stark succeeded Nick Fury as SHIELD Director in New Avengers #25. Having a great deal of trauma in his life, he has often fell into bouts of alcoholism as a coping method until he went sober. His drinking problem was first fully addressed in Iron Man #128. Stark was fired from his job in Secret Invasion #8 when he was made a scapegoat for SHIELD’s inability to prevent a Skrull invasion of Earth.

   • Osborn succeeded Stark because he killed the leader of the Skrull invasion. Osborn has had a long history of mental instability. As revealed in Amazing Spider-Man #40, he was driven criminally insane when his original Goblin Formula blew up in his face. However, in more recent times, Norman has been undergoing treatment back in Thunderbolts #110. However, he has been under a great deal of pressure since taking command of HAMMER and his sanity is being pushed thanks to the machinations of Loki, as we learned in Siege: Prologue #1.

   2. The Dark Avengers previously fought the Molecule Man in Dark Avengers #10-12.

   3. Victoria mentions how Ms. Marvel already drove off Noh-Varr. Noh joined Norman Osborn’s team in Dark Avengers #1. After bedding him in issue #5, Karla drove him of in the following issue.

2. Norman Osborn has been planning an invasion of Asgard along with his secret organization known as the Cabal. This invasion primarily plays out in Siege #1-4, and various crossover issues and limited series, see below for the full flist.

3. The Sentry has a history of child abuse and addiction that has manifested as the Void, a dark counter-entity. See Sentry/The Void #1, New Avengers #7-10, and Sentry (vol. 2) #1-8. Osborn mentions the deal he and the Sentry made. Norman made it when he recruited Bob onto the Dark Avengers as seen in Dark Avengers #2 and 13.

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