Of the coast of New York, the Sub-Mariner (Namor) emerges from the waters and flies to Avengers Tower. Inside, he sits down to a meeting of Norman Osborn’s Cabal, which consists of Doctor Doom, Loki,[1] Emma Frost, and the Hood (Parker Robbins). Osborn demands to know why Atlantean warriors are attacking the west coast of the United States, and expresses that he cannot allow it continue. Because Atlantis is no more, Namor has no idea what the attack is all about and demands proof.[2]

Osborn pulls up satellite imagery of the battle, and Namor confirms that the perpetrators are his own people. That’s when Doctor Doom pipes up and complains about being summoned for this. Norman reminds Doom that they all agreed to meet when there were affairs that affected them all. More over, had Doom not been invited, he would have demanded to know why he wasn’t included. Getting back on topic, Namor asks what Osborn would have him do. Norman asks that the Sub-Mariner publicly denounce the attacks and lead the attack to capture these terrorists to maintain Norman’s public trust. The Sub-Mariner scoffs at this and asks why he would do such a thing. This causes Norman to abruptly lose his temper and scream at Namor that he will do as he is told.

The others sit in silence to see how this plays out. After composing himself for a moment, Namor reminds Osborn that he will not be ordered to do something and to watch his tone. Norman tells Namor to cut the crap, reminding him that he needs their help to rebuild his empire. The Sub-Mariner retorts angrily, saying that he doesn’t view this as an act of terror, but in defense of the planet Earth which the surface dwellers who seem to be doing everything to push the world to the brink of destruction. He also says that the reason why he hasn’t flooded the United States in a massive tidal wave is a sign of his unending patience. Osborn shoots back and tells Namor to think over his request and what he can gain from it and walks out of the meeting. When the Sub-Mariner follows, Emma Frost asks if the meeting is over. Loki, merely sits and smirks.[3]

Meanwhile, Victoria Hand — Norman’s second-in-command — has the Dark Avengers up early. Bullseye complains about being up so early when Victoria notices that Noh-Varr isn’t present. Since Ms. Marvel (Karla Sofen, aka Moonstone) was the last one to see him the night before, Victoria questions her for his location.[4] Karla doesn’t know, saying he left early in the morning. That’s when Norman arrives and is informed that Noh-Varr is missing and Ares hasn’t returned from his apartment in the Bronx.

When he asks where the Sentry (Bob Reynolds) is, the hero suddenly appears in the room in a flash of light. Norman tells the team that he and Bob will be going to Los Angeles as the first wave in response to the Atlantean attack in LA, with the rest of the team following behind. Victoria protests this idea and pulls Norman aside to talk. She points out that he hasn’t had a moments rest since taking on his role as the head of National Security and it seems to her that he’s starting to run himself ragged. She insists he sit this mission out and get some rest.[5] Norman eventually gives in to this suggestion and agrees to send Bob as the first wave by himself.

Seeing Bob to the outside landing strip atop Avengers Tower, Norman tells the Sentry that he wants him to kill all of the Atlanteans except for one. When Reynolds balks at this, Norman says he isn’t asking the Sentry to do this, but the Void. This confuses and frightens Bob because Norman previously told him the Void wasn’t real.[6] Norman only repeats his orders, kill them all but one. With that, the Sentry flies off toward Los Angeles, his eyes filling with inky darkness. He arrives in California in mere moments and dives deep into the ocean. He soon finds the Atlantean terror cell’s base of operations on the sea floor. He completes his mission in a matter of moments.

As the reports are coming in about the successful mission, Norman uses National Security as a means of obfuscating exactly how only one of the terrorists survived to be captured. Norman then gets a call from the President of the United States commending him for a job well done. Osborn promises that the prisoner will be expertly interrogated. In reality, the Atlantean terrorist is tossed into a cell with Venom (Mac Gargan) who eats him alive. Before ending his call, Norman is asked to look into the “mutant situation” next.[7]

With that situation out of the way, Norman asks Karla what happened to Noh-Varr. When she offers nothing but excuses he gets fet up and tells her to shut up. Norman then quickly retreats to the vault where all of his pilfered suits of Iron Man armor are kept.[8] There he tries to keep his mind together. However, a voice in his head — the voice of the Green Goblin — tells Norman that he is always there and to stop kidding himself.[9]

Recurring Characters

Dark Avengers (Iron Patriot, Ms. Marvel, Hawkeye, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Captain Marvel, Ares, Sentry), The Cabal (Doctor Doom, Sub-Mariner, Loki, Emma Frost, The Hood), Victoria Hand, Atlanteans, HAMMER

Continuity Notes

1. Loki appears as a woman through complicated means. Loki and the other Asgardians all perished in Ragnarok in Thor (vol. 2) #85. Since Loki was revived in Thor (vol. 3) #5 he has been in female form. As explained in issue #12 of that series, Loki has stolen the body of Sif, trapping her in the body of an elderly cancer patient named Rose Chambers. This will remain the status quo until Thor #602.

2. It is mentioned here that Atlantis is no more. This is fallout from the events of the superhero civil war that took place in Civil War #1-7. His cousin, Namorita, was killed in the inciting incident that kicked off the war. Namor then enacted sleeper cells and assisted Captain America’s anti-registration forces in the final battle. Further terrorist actions committed by Atlantean sleepers forced Namor and his people to abandon Atlantis, see Civil War: Front Line #1-11, Wolverine (vol. 3) #42-48, and Sub-Mariner (vol. 2) #1-6. This will remain the status quo until New Atlantis is established beneath the mutant nation known as Utopia in Uncanny X-Men #520.

3. This is because Loki is plotting the fall of Asgard and is using Osborn as a tool to those ends, as we’ll see in Siege #1-4.

4. Karla seduced Noh-Varr into her bed last issue. For more on what happened to Noh-Var, see Dark Avengers Annual #1.

5. Norman Osborn had taken over as the head of National Security in the wake of the Skrull Invasion after he eliminated the leader of said attack in Secret Invasion #8. He will hold this position until Siege #4.

6. The Sentry has a history of mental health problems due to a childhood of addiction and abuse. This has manifested as the Void, his dark half that tries to undo all the good he does as the Sentry. See Sentry/The Void #1, New Avengers #7-10, and Sentry (vol. 2) #1-8. Norman convinced Bob that the Void wasn’t real in Dark Avengers #3.

7. The “mutant situation” is growing racial tensions as the city of San Francisco has welcomed mutants with open arms starting in Uncanny X-Men #500.

8. No trip into Tony Stark’s Iron Man vault is complete without the obligatory showcase of the various Iron Man suits he has built over the years. The suits we see are:

   • The gold version of the original suit of Iron Man armor that was built in Tales of Suspense #39. It was painted gold in the following issue of that series.

   • A suit of Iron Man’s “classic” red and gold armor, first built in Iron Man #85.

   • The “Silver Centurion” armor which debuted in Iron Man #200.

   • The red and gold armor that succeeded the Silver Centurion in Iron Man #231.

   • The original War Machine armor which was constructed in Iron Man #281.

   • The modular Iron Man armor first invented in Iron Man #300.

   • The armor that Tony created during the Crossing event, circa Iron Man #319.

   • Iron Man’s “Renaissance” armor created in Iron Man (vol. 3) #1.

   • The SKIN Armor created in Iron Man (vol. 3) #42.

   • The follow up to the SKIN armor that first appeared in Iron Man (vol. 3) #50.

   • The Iron Man armor that Tony built while working for the Department of Defense in Iron Man (vol. 3) #84.

   • The anti-radiation armor that Iron Man built in Incredible Hulk (vol. 2) #72.

   • Lastly the Stealth Argonaut armor that was built in Iron Man (vol. 4) #7.

9. Norman has struggled with his sanity since his original Goblin Formula blew up in his face, as told in Amazing Spider-Man #40. This madness often manifests as the Green Goblin being a voice in his head compelling him to do the bad things he does. At the time of this story, Osborn was experiencing a period of lucidity after starting a treatment plan in Thunderbolts #110. In Siege Prologue #1, we learn that the voice in his head here is actually Loki gaslighting Osborn into going crazy once more.

Topical References

• The footage of the Atlantean sleepers attacking LA was collected from Google Earth, according to Norman Osborn. Google Earth is a Google product that creates a 3D rendering of the Earth using available satellite imagery. It first went online in 2001. That said, its reference here should be considered a topical reference as this is a real world brand.