To be... or not to be.
"Let these heroes rise."
"Let them fight."
"Let them save us."
The Marvel Comics Crisis Crossover from late 2009/early 2010, following Civil War (2006), Secret Invasion (2008) and Dark Reign.
Asgard, which has always been located in Another Dimension, has been recreated in Oklahoma. Loki wants it to return to its own dimension, and convinces Norman Osborn to launch an all-out attack on the city. Norman agrees; he does not like to have a city of gods on U.S. soil. They stage an incident similar to the one that began the Civil War, to get public acceptance for the attack. The president orders to stop it, but Norman goes on anyway... and H.A.M.M.E.R. is outlawed in the process. All the other fugitive heroes team up as well, to defend Asgard from Osborn's forces.
In the end, Osborn is defeated, but the battle left many casualties and the city was destroyed in the process. The heroes that were outlawed since Civil War become legal again, the superhero registration act is repealed, and Norman Osborn is sent to prison.
For the trope, see The Siege.
Seige provides Examples Of:
- Alas, Poor Villain:
- Loki orchestrates the entire conflict as part of his plan to remove Asgard from the mortal dimension. When the Void proves to be far more powerful than expected and devastates the city, Loki redeems himself by magically empowering the heroes, but is mortally wounded by the Void in the process. He dies while feebly begging his brother Thor for forgiveness.
- The Sentry says his split personality, the Void, made him do all the horrible things he did throughout the event, before pleading for the heroes to execute him.
- American Robot: Iron Patriot is Osborn's persona that combines the physical appearances of Iron Man and Captain America, thus resembling a suit of armour coated in the colours of the US flag.
- An Arm and a Leg: Nuke literally does this to U.S. Agent with the Spear of Odin.
- And the Adventure Continues: Siege was the end of the Mighty Avengers comic book. The team had dispersed, and only Henry Pym and Jocasta stayed at the mansion to deal with Ultron. They get rid of him, just in time to join the battle in Asgard. And although the team had dispersed, they met by their own at the place; the final panel of the comic book shows Pym leading them to battle for the last time.
- Any Last Words?: Tony Stark, once again Iron Man, shuts down Iron Patriot's armor. Which, after all, is his armor. He mocks Norman with this... and it does not end as expected. His "last words" in the few seconds before the Iron Patriot armor shuts down were "Bob! Bob! Don't let them win! Bring it all down! BRING IT ALL DOWN, ROBERT! DON'T LET THEM WIN!" Hearing this, the Sentry promptly tears through Asgard, causing the entire city to crumble and fall from the sky.
- Back for the Finale: New Avengers Finale ties up the loose end involving the Hood and brings Wolverine back into the fold after leaving the team to deal with Utopia.
- Bat Family Crossover: Aside from the main Siege series and some one shots revolving around characters who weren't getting much page time in the main story (Such as Spider-Man and the Young Avengers), the only titles that tied into Siege were New Avengers, Mighty Avengers, Avengers: The Initiative and Thunderbolts. The Mighty Avengers ties to the event were at first tenuous at best, with the tie-in issues focusing on Ultron's attack on the Infinite Avengers Mansion at the same time as Siege takes place but leads into the Thunderbolts tie in; comparatively The Initiative focused on some of Osborn's more sane allies like Taskmaster realizing the plan had gone completely off rails and the Avengers Resistance mounting an attack on Camp H.A.M.M.E.R. to keep the cavalry at bay, and New Avengers provided the lead-up to the Avengers heading to Asgard, with the later issues serving the same purpose as the one-shots by focusing on Hawkeye and Mockingbird.
- BFG:
- Nick Fury dosn't go anywhere without one.
- Bucky uses one, after he gives Steve the shield so that he can lead the Avengers in to battle as Captain America.
- Maria Hill with her massive bazooka, which she uses as she rescues Thor.
- Big Damn Heroes: The Avengers arrive together to help Thor and the Asgardians when the tide of battle is heavily in favour of the villains.
- Bittersweet Ending: Thousands died in both Chicago and Asgard, including Ares, the Sentry, and Loki, and Asgard itself has been destroyed; but Norman Osborn is arrested, H.A.M.M.E.R. is disbanded, S.H.I.E.L.D. is restored under the command of Steve Rogers, the Superhero Registration Act is shut down, the Avengers have reunited, and the superhero community is whole again.
- Body Horror: After being struck by Thor, the Sentry starts transforming into the Void, who manifests as a mass of red tentacles erupting from the Sentry's back.
- Car Fu: Iron Man takes remote control of the main H.A.M.M.E.R. helicarrier and rams it into the Void.
- Colony Drop:
- Iron Man drops the H.A.M.M.E.R. helicarrier on the Void.
- The final fate of Thor's clone, Ragnarok, the one from Civil War. He was beneath Asgard when the Sentry made it fall.
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- Osborn and his men overwhelm and beat the living hell out of Thor.
- Venom goes on a feeding frenzy, devouring countless Asgardians. When he tries to eat Ms. Marvel, however, he's on the receiving end of this trope when she rips Mac Gargan right out of the symbiote. This ends up leading to the symbiote latching to her instead.
- Ares can barely do any damage to the Sentry, who quickly recovers from his blows, grabs Ares and tears him in half.
- Iron Man vs. Iron Patriot. To the point where Stark doesn't even fire any of his weapons or physically attack Osborn to do it. Since Osborn is using one of Stark's armours, the latter simply shuts it down remotely.
- Thor vs Daken is represented by one panel of lightning falling from the skies, followed by a heavily wounded Daken in the next.
- Dragon with an Agenda:
- Norman Osborn technically works for the President, but the invasion of Asgard was his own idea, which was even resisted by the White House.
- Loki is posing as Osborn's assistant, but he had his own reasons for manipulating him into invading Asgard. Unfortunately, his plans got out of control.
- Dynamic Entry: Captain America's entrance is marked by four panels showing his shield being reflected in Iron Patriot's armour, with the image getting progressively bigger as the shield flies towards his face.
- Eldritch Abomination: When The Void begins to manifest, he looks like a cross between a demon and a scorpion.
- Enemy Mine: Loki joins forces with the Avengers once he realizes how much of a threat the Void really is.
- Enfante Terrible: Phobos' rampage through the White House establishes that he is definitely his father's son.
- Fake Ultimate Mook: Most of the Asgardians are muscular warriors who make up one of the best armies in the universe. Unfortunately, their godly physiology has been mostly neutered after they were reborn on Earth. As a result, in this saga, they fall like flies, to the point that even peak humans can kill them by the dozen using common weaponry.
- Gorn: Sentry ripping Ares in half vertically, with all of his intestines spilling out everywhere, was unnecessarily explicit.
- Grand Finale: The event concludes storylines that Bendis had been developing since Secret War (2004), brings an end to Osborn's Dark Reign, and abolishes the Superhuman Registration Act that had split the heroes since Civil War (2006).
- Heel–Face Turn:
- Ares finally leaves the Dark Avengers, and tries to decapitate Osborn in the process. It doesn't last long, as he is killed by the Sentry almost immediately after.
- Victoria Hand has one in the aftermath, after realizing just what kind of whack-job she's been working for.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Loki spends his last moments empowering the Avengers with the Norn Stones. This draws the Void's attention to him, leading to his death.
- He's Back!: Captain America and Iron Man both return to action after spending the previous years dead and as a fugitive, respectively.
- Hollywood Tactics: Instead of sending in the Sentry to destroy the city or using their superior technology to fight from a distance Osborn and H.A.M.M.E.R. fought up close and personal giving Asgardians the edge. Justified in Osborn wanted a big, bloody battle to try and solidify his power base and he has Ares, a Classical Mythology War God and Blood Knight, plan the attack. Ares had previously stated he leaves the thinking side of war to Athena while he focuses on bloody and glorious battles.
- Humiliation Conga: What finally happens to Norman in issue #3, and most would say, it's fitting. First Captain America, the living embodiment of all the principles Norman has spat on, comes back to life and announces it by hitting the villain square in the face with his shield (accompanied by the first cry of "AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!" in quite a few years), and then beating him in a one-on-one fight. The President of the United States orders him arrested for treason and has his flying base shot down. Iron Man, whose technology Norman stole to turn himself into the Iron Patriot, comes back from brain death and shuts down Osborn's armor. When the costume falls off, Norman is revealed — on national television, no less — wearing clownish facepaint modeled on his old "Green Goblin" identity. And finally, as he rants about how the fight isn't over, Spider-Man, his oldest enemy, says "Oh, will you shut up!" and decks him, knocking him out cold. And for the cherry on top, when he tries to scurry away as the fight dies down, who does he happen to run into but Volstagg — the exact same guy on whom he pinned the blame for the destruction of the Soldier Field in order to justify invading Asgard. Osborn promptly gets knocked out again before being carted off to jail.
- I Warned You: In-Universe. After Osborn's Villainous Breakdown, Wolverine and the Human Torch both comment "Told ya." to Cyclops and Mr. Fantastic respectively.
- Karma Houdini:
- Daken just passed off as an Army officer and slipped away scot-free.
- Subverted by Moonstone and Bullseye, who tried to escape but were recaptured immediately.
- Killed Off for Real: Loki, who is well known for faking his death multiple times in the past, finally meets his end at the Void's hands. While he would remain present in the story through reincarnations Kid Loki and Ikol, the original Loki is dead forever.
- Manipulative Bastard:
- Norman Osborn, but that's par for the course. Specifically, he has the U-Foes attack Volstagg in Chicago in an attempt to manufacture a second Stamford Incident and pin it on the Asgardians, so he has reason to justify an attack on Asgard against the President's wishes. Ares even warns him that if he finds out that this is the case, he will end Osborn — he finds out and is about to act on it, but Sentry gets involved before he can actually kill Osborn.
- The true Manipulative Bastard, however, was Loki, who was pushing Norman's buttons for months and is the one who gives Norman the idea for the attack and the inciting incident. And later we learn that the entire event was only the starting point of his master plan.
- Mercy Kill: Thor kills The Sentry after the latter begs him not to let the Void take him over again.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Loki's reaction to Sentry destroying Asgard - he just wanted Asgard off Earth, not turned into rubble.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Everyone's reaction when Ares is ripped apart by the Sentry. Even the villains.
- While it's hard to tell, due to the impassive face of the Iron Patriot's mask, but it's quite clear Norman is thinking this as Captain America's shield is flying towards him.
- Prophecy Twist: The previous day, one of the Asgardians told Tyr, the Asgardian god of war, that Ragnarok is coming, and that the god of war will die. "Ragnarok" was actually Thor's cyborg clone, and the god of war that would die was Ares, from another pantheon.
- Putting the Band Back Together: Siege ends not just with the fall of Norman Osborn, but the reunification of The Avengers.
- Remix Comic: ''Siege Reloaded
gives the event a good ribbing.
- The Cavalry: Osborn's party is interrupted by the good Avengers.
- Villain Decay: Count Nefaria, who previously was shown to be powerful enough to outfight the entire Avengers roster during their prime (including Iron Man, Captain America, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Yellowjacket, Black Panther, Wonder Man, Thor, and Vision) literally single-handedly, is laid out by Wolverine and Ms. Marvel in three pages because he isn't an A-list villain. Partially justified, in that the New Avengers specifically planned out the quickest and most effective way to take him down, whilst he had no idea of the ambush.
- What If?: A second one takes place where Norman stayed in power as far as the Infinity event. During this time, he managed to locate where the Illuminati had hid the Infinity Gems and used it to become a god. A combination of Thanos and his own abusive father who he resurrected to invoke Who's Laughing Now? manage to drive him fully over the edge, making him wipe himself from existence in a bout of insane fury.
- Zero-Effort Boss: Osborn vs Stark. Stark effortlessly wins by hacking into Osborn's armour, disabling it in seconds.
