History Comicbook / DarkReign

* NobodyCouldSurviveThat: WordOfGod says that's why [[spoiler: Ares]]' death was specifically demanded to be [[NightmareFuel "as gory as possible"]] - as a signal he got KilledOffForReal.

* *BadassBoast: Quicksilver, while fighting with Mister X, please note that every dash equals Mister X being punched.

* Quicksilver overhelming Mr. X - he took perfect killer, who can anticipate his opponents moves, armed with weapon equal or stronger than Mjolnir, and handed his ass over to himm with a metal pipe, while slowlny [[BadassBoast monologuing]] how X's powers are completely useless against fastest man on Earth.

** And Mr. X - he murders people because it's fun.

Dark Reign spawned several tie-ins, but some plot points are also being resolved in titles not officially marked as such, like the current plot arc of [[TheMightyThor Thor]]. Due to this, fans still consider everything which deals with Norman or any other member of Cabal as a part of the event.

* BettyAndVeronica: Harry's girlfriend Lilly has been choosing between Harry (Betty) and Norman (Veronica) [[spoiler: She choose the crazier Osborn.]]

* CaptainErsatz: For some people Zodiac is a little too similar to TheDarkKnight's version of The Joker in his actions. And he looks like [[DeathNote Light Yagami]].

* YouShouldKnowThisAlready: Kind of hard for the return of [[{{Captain America}} Steve Rogers]] to be a surprise, given that it was ''blown all over mainstream news sites months ago''. In terms of the comics themselves, the [[ScheduleSlip delays on]] ''Captain America: Reborn'' mean that he had reappeared in at least three titles ''and a special'' before he was even supposed to be back.

*** TheLancer: Daken
*** TheDragon: Ares

*** EvilGenius: DrDoom

* TookALevelInBadass: Brother Voodoo.
** Rhodey did as well for a while. Becoming a walking , talking instrument of War that could add any arsenal to his body and unleash new levels of destruction. Impressing even Ares and earning the title Champion of War.
* TheUmbridge: Norman himself. Also, thanks to him, Henry Gyrich become one for S.W.O.R.D., and Taskmaster and Hood for The Initiative.
** Taskmaster doesn't exactly control the Initiative with an iron fist, what with the wild parties he likes to throw and all...

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/marvel_dark_reign_7139.jpg

* AntiHeroSubstitute: Hard to count.

* TheAtoner: Osborn ''loves'' playing this card in televised interviews whenever somebody attempts to remind the public that he was the fricking ''Green Goblin''.

** Norman gets one at the end of the series: after suffering a humiliating and complete defeat he is stuck, alone with a nightmarish [[spoiler: Green Goblin spectre]] and instead of showing the fear and anxiety he had towards the personality all throughout the event, he stoically looks it in its burning eyes and says almost annoyed, "Leave me alone."

** Somewhat subverted during the ''Siege'', when Spider-Man manages to pull the Venom symbiote off of MacGargan's body, and it tries to possess Ms. Marvel instead.
* DePower: TheHood after losing to [[spoiler: Doctor Voodoo]]; Bruce Banner.

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Deadpool almost quotes this to Taskmaster in the alternative cover of ''Avengers: The Initiative #33'' ("Dude! You knocked out '''''Thor'''''?").

* XanatosSucker: [[spoiler: After pulling off a major XanatosRoulette in SecretInvasion, this quickly becomes Norman Osborn's role over the course of the storyline, as every other member of the Cabal betrays him for their own purposes by the end.]] It's rather strongly foreshadowed from the beginning, though.

* AmericanRobot: Normon's Iron Patriot persona, [[DangerouslyGenreSavvy deliberatly]] meant to [[{{Expy}} echo]] both CaptainAmerica and IronMan. [[spoiler: However, star-shaped ARC Reactors [[DeathByGenreSavvy don't]] [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome exactly]] [[AwesomeButImpractical work]] [[ShutUpHannibal well]] ]].

** Ares sometimes has to act like one, both doubting Osborn's actions and calling his teammates out when they act too crazy.

** OhNoHeDidnt: Amadeus Cho says "Ooh, snap!" in response to this. [[SpitTake Stature's reaction]] can also count.

* OhCrap: GoshDangitToHeck version - Amadeus Cho says "Ooh, snap!" when Reed Richards tells Henry Pym he knows more about Pym Particles than him. [[SpitTake Stature's reaction]] can also count.

* PersonOfMassDestruction: Sentry and Molecule Man. [[spoiler: Bob proved to be bigger one]]. Whoever Norman's ally is, he's possibly one too.

* TheUnreveal: After all the guessing about which new or forgotten character would turn out to be Norman's "secret weapon" against the Cabal, it turned out to be [[spoiler: the Sentry/Void]], which many readers had dismissed as too lazy or obvious.

* [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch This Is For Emphasis, Bitch!]]: [[http://oddandfunnycomics.blogspot.com/2009/08/oh-its-on-now-bitch.html Pym's reaction]] when Reed Richards said he know more about Pym Particles than him.

* WildMassGuessing: Marvel's encouraging this when it comes to the identity of Osborn's mysterious and scary friend. One popular EpilepticTree is that it's the newly-acquired Marvelman/Miracleman.

* XanatosSucker: [[spoiler: After pulling off a major XanatosRoulette in SecretInvasion, this quickly becomes Norman Osborn's role over the course of the storyline, as every other member of the Cabal betrays him for their own purposes by the end.]] It's rather strongly foreshadowed from the start.
the beginning, though.

* YouShouldKnowThisAlready: Kind of hard for the return of [[{{Captain America}} Steve Rogers]] to be a surprise, given that it was ''blown all over mainstream news sites months ago''. In terms of the comics themselves, the [[ScheduleSlip delays on]] ''Captain America: Reborn'' mean that he's reappeared in at least three titles ''and a special'' now, before he's even supposed to be back yet.

* [[HesBack He's Back]]: [[spoiler: Captain America. '''That''' Captain America]].

* IHaveNoSon: After the [[spoiler: American Son]] story [[spoiler: Harry]] is as good as dead to [[spoiler: Norman]]. Though [[spoiler: Lilly and their unborn baby]] have since dropped into a black hole, as far as disappearing following the arc. Not to mention Bendis's refusal to acknowledge said plotline in any of the other Dark Reign tie-ins [[spoiler:(to the point of having Doom threaten Harry as a plot point in "The Siege: Cabal" one-shot]].
** [[spoiler: Alternatively, this might actually be Doom threatening Norman's unborn son.]]

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Victoria Hand]]
** To be fair, [[spoiler:her job as assistant to Osborn was more administrative than anything else, and she did try to get Osborn some serious mental help. She didn't have a [[IncrediblyLamePun hand]] in the insanity of the entire thing.]]
** But uncontestably, [[spoiler:Daken]] was one.

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Daken was always TheScrappy, but this era garners him some actual fans.

* ArcFatigue: Every Marvel book dealt with nothing but Dark Reign for the entirety of 2009. If you were one of the many people who thought the basic premise of this event was incredibly stupid, you were better off just dropping Marvel entirely for a year.
** Actually, there's a lot of comics that doesn't involve Dark Reign in bigger form than ContinuityNod (like {{Nova}}, ''Captain Britain & MI:13''). Some ignore it at all (GuardiansOfTheGalaxy, {{Wolverine}}: Weapon X and Origins, Deadpool: Merc With A Mouth) and most that deals with Osborn at some point, simply moves away to different things (IncredibleHercules, Spider-Man, {{Deadpool}}) or use his interference as an simple excuse to change status quo (post-Utopia X-Men). Still, event is really big, involves all Avengers' comics, Thunderbolts, few other ongoings and large amount of mini-series.

** TheHood spends the entire arc as one of these. He gets depowered twice over as described under DiscardAndDraw, nearly loses his gang to Jonas Harrow, and by the end, is reduced to literally begging [[spoiler: Count Nefaria]] for a third shot of super-powers when the heroes finally catch up to him. It doesn't work, and when last we see him he's lost everything, with his supervillain gang turning on him to save themselves and [[spoiler: his longtime girlfriend learning the truth about him and taking away their child.]]

* CharacterDevelopment\CharacterDerailment: YourMileageMayVary about Clint deciding to kill Osborn as for his entire history before SecretInvasion, he was second only to CaptainAmerica in the "killing is bad" department. Hell, his views on it were even a big part of the problems that originally resulted in his and Mockingbird's divorce. So either everything that happened to him since ''Avengers: Disassembled'' [[BreakTheCutie has finally broken him]] or Bendis [[TheyJustDidntCare decided to toss that element out]].

* ContinuitySnarl: Several, large part of them happens because BrianBendis has a ''frequent'' tendency to ignore the timelines of any series that wasn't written by him. Some writers took advantage and cleaned up a few snarls during the event (like how TheHood gained so much power, or the mess in Ares and Phobos' history).
** There's one between Dark Wolverine and all other titles – Way and Liu write Daken and Bullseye as a rivals with former using his power to make latter hate him, but every other writer, including Dan Slott, famous among fans as a man who really care about continuity, ignores it and write them as good buddies.
** BrianBendis, from all people has been hit in the face with one by MattFraction – Fraction's take on Sentry/Void doesn't match with anything that Bendis did with character since CivilWar and it's become really funny when in the same month we got Dark Avengers #13 that reveals that Void is [[spoiler: part of larger, more powerful being, maybe even God himself]] and Uncanny X-Men #518, where Cyclops defeats Void with sheer [[strike:willpower]] power of his cohones.

** Osborn looking up to see [[spoiler: (the real) Captain America's shield]] coming straight at him.

** TheHood spends the entire arc geting depowered twice over as described under DiscardAndDraw, nearly loses his gang to Jonas Harrow, and by the end, is reduced to literally begging [[spoiler: Count Nefaria]] for a third shot of super-powers when the heroes finally catch up to him. It doesn't work, and when last we see him he's lost everything, with his supervillain gang turning on him to save themselves and [[spoiler: his longtime girlfriend learning the truth about him and taking away their child.]]

** TheHood spends the entire arc geting depowered twice over as described under DiscardAndDraw, nearly loses his gang to Jonas Harrow, and by the end, is reduced to literally begging [[spoiler: Count Nefaria]] for a third shot of super-powers when the heroes finally catch up to him. It doesn't work, and when last we see him he's lost everything up to and including [[spoiler: his own family's love.]]

** Rodney did as well for a while. Becoming a walking , talking instrument of War that could add any arsenal to his body and unleash new levels of destruction. Impressing even Ares and earning the title Champion of War.

* OhCrap: GoshDangitToHeck version - Amadeus Cho says "Ooh, snap!" when Reed Richards tells Henry Pym he knows more about Pym Particles than him. Stature's reaction can also count.