by draco x » Thu Mar 15, 2012 6:24 pm
Did anyone see the point of bringing back Norman Osborn and the Dark Avengers recently given the fact that the basically didn't do anything and got taken down again very quickly? When I was following the story last year where Norman escaped and assembled a new group to stick it to the Avengers, my first thought is how exactly is this going to work this time around given the fact that Osborn and co. were exposed as villains after the Siege fiasco. However, thanks to Bendis rehashing the "Marvel's-General-Population-Are-Gullible-Buffoons-Who-Norman-Can-Manipulate-Routine" I was willing to see where it would go.
Now bear in mind, I like some people am pretty much Normaned out and needed a long break from anything related to him whatsoever-but I knew that Marvel would bring him back as the editorial staff has an obvious crush on the character. So when I he and the Dark Avengers were returning, I was assuming it would be for an important reason and evolution of the character. The fact that Norman and HAMMER were joined by Hydra, the Hand and AIM in sticking it to the Avengers, I was under the impression that Norman would be the new Red Skull and become an ongoing threat throughout the Marvel Universe like in Dark Reign. Did we necessarily get that this time around? Not really. Apart Norman manipulating the general populace into believing he is the good guy again( Really, Bendis?) and gaining new powers from the Adaptoid implants, what exactly did Norman and co achieve this time? Nothing really. All we got was a poor rehash of Dark Reign( Which was barely plausible the first time around) and Norman getting screwed over again by his allies, namely Viper, Gorgon and Victoria Hand-You would think Osborn would learn something from the Dr. Doom, Namor and Emma alliances why working with people with the alpha male and moral ambigious stances will always bite him in the ass.
The end result was even less impressive as Norman got knocked into a coma when his Adaptoid technology overloaded and fried most of his brain and most of his cronies getting sent to the Big House and Viper still at large with Hydra and AIM in tow. Personally I would have had Norman escape and continue to be at large and have him stick it to Viper for betraying him as well as become what Red Skull was by consolidating his hold on HAMMER, Hydra, the Hand and AIM and also have him come through the Spider-books to troll Spiderman, Venom, Scarlet Spider and hopefully kill the Phil Urich Hobgoblin. Also, I would have included Norman and the Dark Avengers in the upcoming Avengers vs X-Men arc where he would try to destroy the Phoenix and use that to gain his credibility after the Siege clusterfuck. If Marvel wanted to bring back a very overrused character like Norman this was an ineffective way of doing so and made me even more Normaned out.