Synopsis / Summary / Plot
The events in this comic occupy a week between the forming of the Cabal in Secret Invasion: Dark Reign and the unveiling of the new (Dark) Avengers. It begins by laying down the 2 goalposts.
In 690 AD Morgana Le Fay uses magic to scan the future for her betrayer Dr Doom. She sees Norman Osborn forming his Cabal:- Doom, Emma Frost, Hood, female Loki and Sub-Mariner.
Now the public get to see a new Avengers lineup:- Iron Patriot leading Ares, Captain Marvel, Hawkeye, Ms Marvel, Sentry, Spider-Man and Wolverine.
1 week before that Osborn hires ex-SHIELD accountant Victoria Hand as his Deputy Director of SHIELD's replacement HAMMER - on the basis of how critical she has been of the previous administration. He's Director but she's going to have to do all the work. And her remit includes the Initiative and the new Avengers he's going to set up.
He gives her a long list of tasks starting with inventing something for the acronym HAMMER to mean. He wants all supporters of Tony Stark and Captain America to be weeded out. The Initiative's Camp Hammond must go, as must the red&gold helicarrier that Stark built. The Stark-design Capekiller armour and other weapons will be replaced by Osborn tech. Hand agrees to take the job as long as Maria Hill gets the boot.
This was something Osborn was going to do anyway. Next day he meets with Hill in Thunderbolts Mountain. He fires her because SHIELD failed to detect Skrulls in its ranks and because they did such a bad job in the Invasion (mainly because all their Stark tech failed due to a Skrull virus). Maria is glad he ordered her here to be fired personally. It gives her the opportunity to say that she'll be waiting for when he inevitably falls from grace.
Norman's next appointment is with Bullseye. He commends the Thunderbolt on his excellent work during Secret Invasion. His current meds allow him to function very well. Osborn says he has a new job for him in Avengers Tower.
Next day NO summons Ms Marvel to his office in Avengers Tower. He says that SHIELD owns the place since Stark used their money to rebuild it after it was destroyed during World War Hulk. SHIELD has also been paying for the Avengers, and now he owns SHIELD. And he wants her to continue as leader of the team.
Carol Danvers turns him down and resigns from the Avengers. Osborn reminds her that she is a military officer and can be ordered to do the job. She still refuses and says none of the others will work for him either. But he calls in Avengers Ares and Sentry to arrest her. Ares has no compunction about working for the man who ended the Skrull Invasion (by killing Queen Veranke). Sentry says Norman has promised to help him (with his psychological problems).
MsM flees the intolerable situation. NO lets her go, saying he has his own Ms Marvel.
Then its back to Thunderbolts Mountain where Moonstone is meditating. Norman throws her an old Ms Marvel costume (the design based on the original Captain Marvel, rather than the current blue with yellow lightning flash). He offers Karla Sofen a choice:- Continue as criminal Moonstone under guard in the Thunderbolts. Or operate as a free woman as Ms Marvel in the Avengers. She accepts but asks to be team leader (as she was of the Thunderbolts).
Elsewhere in the Mountain a Skrull captive is given to Venom. Venom gets him to imitate his enemy Spider-Man and then eats him. This version of Venom looks like a monster. Norman gives him a potion that transforms him to human shape, retaining the basic look of the black (ie in comics convention dark blue) Spider-Man costume. Mac Gargan is now more presentable to the public.
The next day Osborn, Hand and Ares are in New Orleans to meet Daken Akhiro, the character with retractable claws who beat up Wolverine. They are astonished to learn that Daken is Wolverine's son. But Norman suggests that's even more reason to annoy Logan by joining the Avengers as Wolverine.
The day after that (3 days before the public début of the new Avengers) NO visits Noh-Varr/Marvel Boy in the deserted Cube prison. Norman is fascinated by Noh-Varr's history as a Kree from an alternate universe who declared war on Earth but then defended it against the Skrulls. He offers him the role of Captain Marvel, another Kree defender of Earth.
Now all the members are gathered in the Tower. Miss Hand says she'll recruit a housekeeping and security staff to take the place of Jarvis. Norman still thinks there's something missing. Ares suggests it's the symbolism of leaders like Captain America and Iron Man.
Osborn has already sent for the Ghost to break into Tony Stark's secure lab in the Tower. Norman tells him he has plans for the anti-capitalist (but not in the Avengers). Ghost phases through the vault door and opens it from the inside. Within they find a large array of Iron Man armours.
Our final interlude is on the morning of the big announcement. HAMMER troops are transporting Dr Doom to Latveria and the ruins of his castle. When they land they don't find the friendly welcoming committee they expected. Instead Doom and Morgana Le Fay start a magical battle.
Now we return to the press conference for the new Avengers. The guy in the Hawkeye costume we realise is Bullseye. Daken is wearing a Wolverine outfit. Noh-Varr retains his own look as Captain Marvel. (Well the original's uniform would have been confusing with Karla's Ms Marvel spinoff.) Iron Patriot wears an Iron Man armour painted in Captain America's colours, and takes his helmet off to reveal himself as Norman Osborn.