So that’s what Dark Reign is!
It was announced nearly three months ago, but it looks like Marvel’s big Dark Reign is finally upon us. I’ll put in a spoiler alert here, in case you just got home from work and haven’t read Secret Invasion #8, the conclusion to the Avengers story that’s been practically five years in the making. Continue at your own risk. You’ve been warned!
Leaving aside my thoughts on Secret Invasion, it seems we finally know what Dark Reign is going to be all about. S.H.I.E.L.D has been disbanded by the President, Tony Stark has been kicked to the curb, and the new Thunderbolts Initiative (which includes everything formerly under S.H.I.E.L.D, the Avengers, and the fifty-state Initiative) is being led by the man who delivered the deathblow to the Skrull Queen. Mr. Norman Osborn. He’s all smiles, and, hey, maybe he’s not such a bad guy after all. Right? Maybe he’ll take this new responsibility to heart and make sure he does what’s best for the Marvel Universe. Right?
Two pages later, and that mystery’s been solved. Osborn holds a closed door meeting with his new cabal of super bad guys, including Doctor Doom, Emma Frost, Loki, The Hood, and…Namor? Is that seriously Namor, or am I just confusing him with some other pointy-eared freak with big gold bracelets? When did he turn bad? Maybe I should’ve read that mini-series of his last year.
Nah.
I’m sure this threat won’t be that big of a deal, though, in the long run. I mean, they’ll be going up against, what, ten different Avengers teams? And, as an added bonus to the good guys, this time, they’ll actually know who the bad guys are.
Here’s hoping this won’t last as long as I think it will.
I actually like this quite a bit, particularly the part about knowing who the bad guys are. Changing the backdrop is good for Marvel — it drops the good guy infighting that’s been going on since Civil War and shifts the focus to genuine bad guys.
I’m actually really intrigued by this too. Why are Namor and Emma Frost pallin’ around with terrorists? Aren’t they supposed to be good guys? Since I’m already going to be getting Mighty Avengers (by Dan Slott) I think I might give all the Avengers books another try.
The New York Times was nice enough to spoil this on Tuesday or Wednesday, so I wouldn’t sweat the spoiler warning too much.
I would’ve been more interested to see the Skrulls in charge of the world. As is, I think I’ll be able to continue not reading mainstream comics.
Did the New York Times mention why Namor and Emma Frost are now bad guys? And was the headline, “HOLY DARK REIGN, BATMAN!”
It will last as long as you think it will. The upshot, though, is that ultimately it will lead to that whole post-Civil War/Initiative set-up being abandoned and super-heroes will be free agents again. The more that things change …
I am quite sick of the “Emma Frost veers between good and bad” thing. They’ve been pushing it for a while, and I like the heroic Emma Frost much better. She’s been reformed for at least 14 years (when Generation X started … I know I’m ball parking it there) and they should just let it go.