History Comicbook / DarkReign

%%* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Ares]]

%%* SmugSnake: Osborn.

* NeverLiveItDown: Invoked by Norman Osborn, to Hank Pym, regarding his infamous slap of Janet Van Dyne. [[ShutUpHannibal Pym is quick to fire back with a retort]]:
-->'''Norman Osborn:''' Are you still slapping women around?\\
'''Henry Pym:''' Are you still dropping them from bridges?

%%* BadassGrandpa: Bor, and how!

%%* EarnYourHappyEnding: Did they ever in ''ComicBook/{{Siege}}''.

%%* GrandFinale: Siege.

%%* LaResistance: New Warriors/Avengers Resistance.

%%* ManipulativeBastard: Again, Norman. But Daken has his moments too.

%%* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Norman of course.

After ComicBook/SecretInvasion, the general public blames ComicBook/IronMan, then director of ComicBook/{{SHIELD}}, for not preventing the AlienInvasion. Meanwhile, Franchise/SpiderMan's Arch Enemy ComicBook/NormanOsborn, leader of the ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}, gains himself some ''huge'' points in the battle of public opinion, as news networks featured him being a leader in the fight against the Skrulls, and eventually ending the entire conflict by blowing the head off the Skrull queen before any of the assembled heroes could kill her. This televised act of heroism (which may have been staged, depending on whether you believe ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} or not) led The President to dismiss Stark and replace him with Osborn. Norman, very happy with how things went, quickly replaced S.H.I.E.L.D. with his own organization, H.A.M.M.E.R., and formed the Cabal - an alliance between him, ComicBook/EmmaFrost, [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor]], Comicbook/{{Loki}}, ComicBook/TheHood, and ComicBook/DoctorDoom. He also creates his own, twisted version of the ComicBook/TheAvengers - Dark Avengers, with most of the team members being supervillains in heroes' costumes led by Osborn himself in an Iron Man armor with a Red, White and Blue paint job, under the name of "Iron Patriot". At the same time, he sets up a plan to replace and kill half of his former Thunderbolts teammates, as they might have information that would make him look less appealing to the public at large (the other half joined the Dark Avengers). His allies from The Cabal are plotting against him, many heroes and a few villains want to get rid of him, but Osborn doesn't seem to care -- he has a mysterious ally, somebody who can instill fear even in his fellow members of The Cabal.

* NoPartyGiven: Averted. Norman works for the Barack Obama administration, and it is made explicit. The way to prevent Obama's supporters from feeling alienated is that Norman is written as a DragonWithAnAgenda. In particular, Obama signed a presidential pardon for the resurrected Steve Rogers, and Norman declared war to Asgard against Obama's explicit orders not to do so, getting fired and jailed because of all that mess.

* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:During Siege, Captain America (Steve Rogers) leading the New Avengers, the Young Avengers, and the Secret Warriors against Osborn's forces, starting with Steve [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome throwing his shield at Osborn and crying "Avengers Assemble!" for the first time in some three years.]]]]

* TheVirus: Ultimo Virus, which turns all carriers berserk and gives them eye beams.

** Sentry suffers from it sooo much. Being all powerful doesn't really help much when you're too neurotic to use it effectively in a fight.

* PowerFantasy: Right after the first Cabal meeting Doom imagines how he will overthrow Osborn, kill Namor and Hood and turn Emma and Loki into his slaves.

* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler:After pulling off a major GambitRoulette in ComicBook/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, and doesn't really lead to VillainDecay since, as a Spidey villain, even though he's totally out of his league he's still punching above his weight.

** 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.
** Osborn doing this is the premise of the series; its also his second in just over a decade, the first being when he came BackFromTheDead and, firmly established himself once and for all as Spidermans ArchEnemy, as well as becoming a purer and more powerful CorruptCorporateExecutive than he was in the 60's and 70's.

* OutGambitted: Osborn again by [[ComicBook/XMan Nate Grey]], who plays the entire Dark X-Men and Dark Avengers like a harp, nearly dismantling the entirety of Osborn's organisation in a day. Unfortunately, Osborn has the last laugh, as Nate makes a fatal miscalculation as regards the Green Goblin persona (which he intended to unleash and put in control, destroying Osborn's VillainWithGoodPublicity image). However, since Osborn snapped very shortly afterwards during ''{{ComicBook/Siege}}'', with Goblin make-up on his face, it could be argued that Nate's plan ultimately worked.

* ReedRichardsIsUseless: And after ComicBook/SecretInvasion he got tired of it, went to look for an AlternateUniverse where he wasn't, and it inspired him to start working to solve ''everything''. Unfortunately, this is still making him useless in a sense, as while he's busy with this, the rest of the team is having to deal with Osborn.

** One of the last pages of ''[[GrandFinale Siege]]'' shows the skyline of New York, as a digitally written "[[spoiler:Superhero Registration Act thrown out]]" scrolls on a building. It almost seems the panel originally had confetti in it, really. Just add confetti and you'll have evidence that most of the writers had really ''had enough'' of the bucketload of crap Creator/JoeQuesada has put the MarvelUniverse through. But since Quesada (as you can see in his comments about ''Siege'' in the pages of the miniseries itself) was so ''proud'' of the whole [[FromACertainPointOfView epic]] saga made up of the various [[StoryArc Story Arcs]] (ComicBook/AvengersDisassembled, ComicBook/CivilWar - and by extension, given it was exactly what Quesada was aiming at, ComicBook/OneMoreDay - ComicBook/SecretInvasion and now this), maybe he himself demanded the confetti to be removed.
* TangledFamilyTree: Considering Ultron originally ''created'' Jocasta to be his bride, the fact that they finally marry (albeit a "political marriage", as she still really hates him) isn't too bad. Then you remember that Jocasta's brain is based off his "mother". And that he created her, making himself her "father" in a sense. And she was dating ''his'' "father" at the time...who was her brain-source's ex-husband. Jesus Christ, this family.

* EscapedFromHell: Glorianna, Captain Britain's wife managed to start a revolution in hell and even defeat one of the Hell-Lords before she returned to the world of living.

* FaceHeelTurn: Subverted by Emma in ''Utopia''. Ares and Sentry joining Dark Avengers can be seen like one (HeelFaceRevolvingDoor in Ares case).

* GambitPileup: Pretty much possible this will happen in Siege with Norman revealing his secret ally, Loki setting his schemes to the final phase, Daken and Moonstone with Bullseye making their moves against Osborn, Taskmaster looking for a chance to get the hell out of there, [[spoiler:Scourge]] brainwashed by Agents Of Atlas to kill Norman, Pym's and Barton's Avengers with Captain America getting in the middle of it, Tony Stark trying to help, [[spoiler:return of Ultron]], Hela revealing her deal with Dani Moonstar, Thor or Balder's defense plans and Sentry/Void as unpredictable factor.

** ComicBook/IronMan, who in a subversion of this trope, DID fuck things up big time and pretty much brought all of his troubles upon him. [[ComicBook/SpiderWoman Jessica Drew]], because the Skrulls' [[spoiler:leader was disguised as her, and even some heroes think she might still be the Skrull Queen.]] Not exactly an easy reputation to live down, especially when in the past she's been a member of HYDRA, a terrorist/spying group.
** Subverted with Hank Pym, who was able to not only shake the taint of being replaced with a Skrull, but made most of the world fall in love with him and his new Avengers team by stopping several major threats that Norman refused to lift a finger to stop. As of Mighty Avengers #32, apparently, most of the other national governments see ''his'' team as the real Avengers, not Osborn's crew.
** [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]], who has been [[spoiler:exiled from Asgard after Loki's scheme led him to killing his own grandfather]].

** The Spider-Man tie-ins are worse: Norman keeps dropping the ball on Spidey and vice versa. It's made worse when Marvel decided that Norman was affected by the One More Day reality warp, meaning he no longer knows that Peter Parker is Spider-Man and seemingly doesn't care.
** Norman not killing Iron Man when he had him on life support and brain dead in the recent issue also counts, especially Norman had no problem beating Iron Man nearly to death in public prior to taking him into custody.

*** The former has a valid explination: Osborn had to get it pulled but didn't have the medical authority and since the H.A.M.M.E.R. Helicarrier was a national embassy, Osborn had no way to overlook it without causing a national incident. The latter, meanwhile, was presumibly deleiberate and his trying to kill tony both times is portrayed as a bad move.
* IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: Spidey delivered it at last twice to Clint Barton and once to [[spoiler:Harry Osborn]]. Clint, however, has the balls to respond by pointing out how much misery Norman's been able to cause because of Peter's moral high horse.

* IHaveNoSon: After the American Son story Harry is as good as dead to Norman. A DoubleSubversion since Norman's plan in that story was to have Harry ''murdered'' to garner him public sympathy.
** [[spoiler:Pregnant Lilly]] reappears in ''Ms. Marvel'' but mostly because Brian Reed is using this comic in his efforts to join ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' writing staff.

** Reed Richards in Mighty Avengers. The yea or nay decision on whether to give Bill Foster's tech to Pym should have been ''Ben's'', since Bill willed it to him, but Reed bulled his way into being the one to make the call, and then had to be a jackass to Pym on top of it and get snide when Sue called him on said jackassery.

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Daken]], he got away scot-free. Mister X also avoided arrest.

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

*** Somewhat averted in the main [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor title]] and elsewhere, [[spoiler:Loki planned for his own death to avoid going to Hel, the land of the dead, and was both the source and the solution for the key problems plaguing Asgard after SIEGE. He has hinted to wanting to try and change, so it is yet to know how much is an act and how much may have been genuine.]]

** ''ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}[=/=]ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}: Magnum Ops'', where Osborn sends his team of killers after Wilson

* BossRush: can the ''[[ComicBook/SpiderMan "Gauntlet"]]'' storyline count as a comic book example? Given that Spidey has got to fight most of his RoguesGallery ''in a row'', well, yes.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Mr. Negative can do this to people via touch. The more good - person was, the more crazy he/she becomes.

** Zodiac's gang includes the Clown, famously of the Circus of Crime... except it isn't the real clown; it's his illegitimate half-brother impersonating him due to some identity crisis. The real Clown is currently a member of the Gamma Corps as the avian Griffin. Zodiac was aware of all this from the start.

* DarkestHour: This was the DarkestHour of the Franchise/MarvelUniverse: Osborn was in control and the superhero community was either still too divided from ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' to effectively counter Osborn, recovering from being kidnapped by the Skrulls, or actively on the run from Osborn. Additionally, most of it's traditional leadership was unavailable: Thor was dealing with being exiled from Asgard, Iron Man was on the run and wracked with guilt over his actions, and Captain America was dead.

** [[spoiler:Jack of Hearts finally came back to life in Marvel Zombies Supreme.]]
* DebateAndSwitch: This storyline was the tool to undo all the changes of Comicbook/CivilWar: a morally gray situation is turned into a full morally black-and-white situation, so that the heroes can easily "win" and return to the previous status quo. And Stamford? [[AngstWhatAngst Fine, thanks]].

** Somewhat subverted during Spider-Man's ''Siege'' tie-in, when Ms. Marvel manages to pull Mac Gargan's body out from the Venom symbiote's, and it tries to possess her instead.

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Deadpool almost quotes this to Taskmaster in the alternative cover of ''Avengers: The Initiative #33'' ("Dude! You knocked out '''''Thor'''''?"). Too bad [[CoversAlwaysLie it didn't actually happen in that issue, though]].
* DiscardAndDraw: Hood, after losing connection with Dormammu, lost all his powers, only to get an entirely new power set when Loki gave him magic Asgardian stones. [[spoiler:Just to be discarded again when Loki got the Norn Stones back to empower ''The Avengers'' so they could stop Asgard from being destroyed any further. And, as a last resort, Madame Masque takes him to see her father, Count Nefaria, so he can empower the Hood again, but he relents when he hears that he'll have to give all his money to Nefaria to be repowered. The New Avengers nab them before anything can be done.]]
* DistressBall: Clint Barton breaking Norman's base alone and getting caught because of it.

** In-story, it's an intentional evokation of the Stamford Incident that kicked off Comicbook/CivilWar.
* DownerEnding: The ''What If?'' has Clint kill Osborn, but Clint is killed shortly afterwards.
* DragonWithAnAgenda: Norman works for the administration of Barack Obama, but they have polar opposites views of the world.

** Taskmaster and {{Deadpool}} in ''Magnum Opus''

** Osborn's breakdown in response to {{Deadpool}} was particularly indignant, and his instability is made all the more all the more apparent as he [[spoiler:stops piloting the plane he's in just to stomp a mudhole in Deadpool. While the autopilot is ''OFF''.]]

* NeverLiveItDown: {{invoked}}

--> You can read minds enough to be able to predict any attack your opponent will make. So you will be able to -- anticipate every move I make -- and do absolutely — '''nothing''' about it — because -I-am-the-'''fastest'''-man-on-earth.

* BadassGrandpa: Bor, and how!

* BadassNormal: Zodiac, Nick Fury

* CaptainErsatz: For some people, Zodiac is a little too similar to Film/TheDarkKnight's version of ComicBook/TheJoker in his actions. And he looks like [[Manga/DeathNote Light Yagami]].

-->'''Ronin:''' So that's Bullseye? Bullseye, the crazy assassin?! Dressed like me?!
-->'''Spider-Man:''' And you're dressed like Maya.

-->'''Spider-Man:''' They didn't even get the good Venom!

* CreepyChild: Phobos.
* CurbStompBattle: Doctor Doom vs ComicBook/BlackPanther, where Victor proved that not even a GodModeSue like T'Challa is a match for him.
** Quicksilver vs Mr. X.

* DeathEqualsRedemption: [[spoiler:Sentry]]
* DeathIsCheap: Explained in ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules'' as resurrection having become ''literally'' random chance, represented by casino games, thanks to assorted gods of the dead either having been destroyed or having abandoned their positions. Multiple heroes (including the recently offed Wasp), villains, and civilians are gambling for either an afterlife or a second chance, and in a joke harking back to the Creator/GeoffJohns run on the Avengers, and ''Avengers Disassembled'', Jack of Hearts wins his resurrection while Herc and Cho are visiting (though he has yet to actually return).

* DemonicPossession: Hood by Dormammu. Quicksilver by Chthon. Nightmare was trying to do this with Trauma.

* DependingOnTheWriter: To a lesser extent than ''Comicbook/CivilWar'', but still there all the same: The ''ComicBook/DarkAvengers'' series and a few others have Norman Osborn buying into his own hype and genuinely opposing menaces he regards as threats to America and the status quo, while tie-ins like ''Dark X-Men'' and ''Captain America Reborn'' show him PuttingOnTheReich and working hard to put the ComicBook/RedSkull into Captain America's body.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Osborn wants to take out the Asgardians in order to make himself look more necessary to the government, but the President won't allow him to do this "without due cause", prompting the need for an "incident" to turn public opinion against the Aesir. It's basically every conspiracy theory about 9/11 with a coating of Norse God.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: Did they ever in ''ComicBook/{{Siege}}''.
* EldritchAbomination: From the looks of things, [[spoiler:The Sentry/The Void]] is, and always has been this.

-->[[spoiler:Ares to Sentry]]: I thought us friends. My mistake.
* FemmeFatale: Moonstone, Madame Masque
* FinalBattle: Siege

* GrandFinale: Siege.
* GroinAttack:
-->'''Sentry:''' Do you really want me to unleash the power of million exploding Suns?
-->'''[[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules Hercules]]''': Of course not. I'll do it. ''[kicks Sentry in the nuts.]''

* HesBack: [[spoiler:Steve Rogers]]. '''AvengersAssemble!'''

* IdiotBall: Subverted with "Utopia" as the X-Men successfully outplay Norman and humiliate him via exposing his sadistic abuse of mutant prisoners for the whole world to see, then successfully flee to their new island home off the coast of California. Made even worse for Norman, in that Emma Frost also cuts a deal with Namor to get him to betray Norman, effectively robbing Norman of one third of the Cabal and alienating Doom (who doesn't take kindly to Norman's vows of revenge against his friend).

* IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: Spidey delivered it at last twice to Clint Barton and once to [[spoiler: Harry Osborn]]. Clint, however, has the balls to respond by pointing out how much misery Norman's been able to cause because of Peter's moral high horse.
** CriticalResearchFailure: The writers seem to have forgotten that Osborn has a HealingFactor and is thus damn hard to kill, particularly since Clint's grand plan seems to have been simply to shoot Norman with an arrow. It also ignores the fact that Clint has historically been more against killing than even Captain America, making him the one who opts to try and kill Norman out of character. Though, Brian Michael Bendis' take on Hawkeye generally tends to be rather kill-happy.

* JerkAss: Reed Richards in Mighty Avengers. The yea or nay decision on whether to give Bill Foster's tech to Pym should have been ''Ben's'', since Bill willed it to him, but Reed bulled his way into being the one to make the call, and then had to be a jackass to Pym on top of it and get snide when Sue called him on said jackassery.

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Daken]], he got away scot-free. Mister X also avoided arrest.

* LaResistance: New Warriors/Avengers Resistance.

* ManipulativeBastard: Again, Norman. But Daken has his moments too.

* TheMole: [[spoiler: Grim Reaper]] in Lethal Legion. [[spoiler: Diamondback]] in Osborn's Initiative. Zodiac had Whirlwind feeding him information on Osborn.
* MoleInCharge: The premise of the series.
* MotiveRant: Norman at the bitter end of Dark Avengers to [[spoiler: the Goblin]], espousing both his surprisingly valid fears and good intentions.

-->'''Norman Osborn:''' Are you still slapping women around?
-->'''Henry Pym:''' Are you still dropping them from bridges?

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

* OnlySaneMan: You know something is ''messed up'' in a group when ''Venom'' looks like the normal one. He even lampshades it in his mini, saying that compared to the nutcases on his team, he looks like Creator/TomHanks.

* OutGambitted: Dracula by Pete Wisdom.
** And Osborn by Cyclops and Emma.
** Osborn again by [[ComicBook/XMan Nate Grey]], who plays the entire Dark X-Men and Dark Avengers like a harp, nearly dismantling the entirety of Osborn's organisation in a day. Unfortunately, Osborn has the last laugh, as Nate makes a fatal miscalculation as regards the Green Goblin persona (which he intended to unleash and put in control, destroying Osborn's VillainWithGoodPublicity image). However, since Osborn snapped very shortly afterwards during ''{{ComicBook/Siege}}'', with Goblin make-up on his face, it could be argued that Nate's plan ultimately worked.

* ThePlan: Several
** Zodiac managed to pull a big one in his mini.
** Osborn pulls dozens of them, some more successful than others.
** Emma Frost pulled one in ''Utopia''

-->'''Namor:''' Sometimes I wonder what's up in that head of yours.
-->(Doom imagines himself killing Namor)
-->'''Doom:''' Doom. ''Always'' Doom.

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler: Ares]]

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Subverted - [[spoiler: Kelda]] ''started'' to go on one after [[spoiler: Bill]]'s death, only to be [[spoiler: [[NotQuiteDead not quite killed]] by Doom]], without doing any harm.

* SelfMadeOrphan: Bullseye, who claims to have killed both of his parents [[spoiler: [[DoubleSubversion Double Subverted]] when his father appears only to be murdered by Lester]].

* SmugSnake: Osborn.

* TakeThat: The books read like a snub to all of the readers who thought the ''Stark'' Administration was evil.
** One of the last pages of ''[[GrandFinale Siege]]'' shows the skyline of New York, as a digitally written "[[spoiler: Superhero Registration Act thrown out]]" scrolls on a building. It almost seems the panel originally had confetti in it, really. Just add confetti and you'll have evidence that most of the writers had really ''had enough'' of the bucketload of crap Creator/JoeQuesada has put the MarvelUniverse through. But since Quesada (as you can see in his comments about ''Siege'' in the pages of the miniseries itself) was so ''proud'' of the whole [[FromACertainPointOfView epic]] saga made up of the various [[StoryArc Story Arcs]] (ComicBook/AvengersDisassembled, ComicBook/CivilWar - and by extension, given it was exactly what Quesada was aiming at, ComicBook/OneMoreDay - ComicBook/SecretInvasion and now this), maybe he himself demanded the confetti to be removed.

** War Machine provides trope page's image.

* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler: After pulling off a major GambitRoulette in ComicBook/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, and doesn't really lead to VillainDecay since, as a Spidey villain, even though he's totally out of his league he's still punching above his weight.

* 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.

* UnexplainedRecovery: Sentry. [[spoiler: ''Four times.'']]
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Norman of course.
* VillainousBreakdown: Recent comics have depicted Norman as being a hop, skip and a jump away from one of these, and his constant need to be a VillainWithGoodPublicity appears to be taking its toll. Perfectly in-character, though, as he was always portrayed as being mentally ill, more so than most.
** And it doesn't help that Loki's making a good attempt at kicking him over the edge by manipulating him into increasingly risky plans. Like [[spoiler: Having the U-Foes take on the Warriors Three in such a way that it ''might'' get the Asgardians blamed for the destruction of Chicago's Soldier Field and the deaths of everyone there, thus giving Osborn the right to invade Latveria to get at them. Key word on that: ''might''.]]
** [[spoiler: Siege #3. As everyone expected he eventually would, he's lost it. Though, frankly, it wasn't nearly as impressive as some of the breakdowns he's had previously.]]

---> '''Osborn''': ''I'' owe (you)...? After all I've ''done'' for you people?! Do you have ''any'' idea who I ''am?'' All you people ever do is ''take, take, take!'' And it's ''never enough!'' ''I'm ComicBook/NormanOsborn!'' I saved this ''miserable planet'' and ''everyone on it!'' '''''You owe me your lives! Every worthless last one of you!'''''

* WellIntentionedExtremist: War Machine can be seen as this, because he acts like one-man version of ''ComicBook/TheAuthority''. Osborn ''thinks'' he's one of these, but unsurprisingly, he isn't.

* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: It's been awhile since we've seen Molecule Man, but considering that he [[spoiler: made imaginary friend duplicates of some of the most powerful figures in the Marvelverse, created his own pocket dimension to live in, and is vanishing anyone who gets too close to it]], the years clearly have not been kind to his brain. Also, Sentry. In spades. Even once the Void's [[spoiler: no longer in his head (and is off wrecking hell on the X-Men)]], he's still a walking ball of about a billion neuroses.

* TheWorfEffect: Sentry suffers from it sooo much. Being all powerful doesn't really help much when you're too neurotic to use it effectively in a fight.
** It happens so often that it's really scary when he becomes serious in ''Siege''.

* WreckedWeapon: {{Mjolnir}}, after delivering a deadly hit to [[spoiler: Bor]].
* XanatosSpeedChess: Loki managed to play one of greatest {{Evil Plan}}s in his career [[spoiler: by manipulating Thor into killing Bor, thus getting him exiled, and convincing Balder to have the Asgardians move to Latveria]]. But just in case something could go wrong and restore status quo, he's got several other plans prepared, and apparently has backup plans for his backup plans.

Dark Reign spawned several tie-ins, but some plot points are also being resolved in titles not officially marked as such, like the recent plot arc of [[ComicBook/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.

* LyingCreator: Matt Fraction listed several things in interviews that were supposed to come up in ''Utopia'', like a fight between Colossus and Ares or Sentry, or interaction between Noh-Varr and girls from New X-Men. Yeah, we're still waiting on that. Dan Slott said that return of [[spoiler: Scarlet Witch]] in ''Mighty Avengers'' is the real deal, while it turned out [[spoiler: It's Loki]]. Creator/BrianMichaelBendis' has habit of doing it but currently the solicitations of his comics are a better example. Don't even try to guess plot points based on those, because they're wrong.
** [[spoiler: She does come back later, though, and offered to try and undo the Decimation after a CooldownHug with Wiccan.]]

* UnexpectedCharacter: No one saw Nate Grey, who'd last been seen 8 years ago, to return.

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

** Somewhat averted in the main [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor title]] and elsewhere, [[spoiler:Loki planned for his own death to avoid going to Hel, the land of the dead, and was both the source and the solution for the key problems plaguing Asgard after SIEGE. He has hinted to wanting to try and change, so it is yet to know how much is an act and how much may have been genuine.]]

* TheChessmaster: Zodiac - When he entered the scene, ''everybody'', including the ComicBook/FantasticFour, Osborn, and all of H.A.M.M.E.R. turned into his puppets and remained that way until he got what he wanted.
** And he even arranged things like Whirlwind's stint as Osborn's chauffeur and Manslaughter Marsdale's coma before the series started.

* CostumeCopycat: Most of the Dark Avengers members wear the outfits of existing superheroes and Clint had taken Ronin's identity and costume when he resurrected, which was previously used by Echo.

* DepravedBisexual: While he used it only to ''mock'' Venom, Daken has hooked up with people of all stripes, and thinks nothing of manipulating them for something he wants and killing them (directly or indirectly) when he's done with them. He even [[HoYay ''kisses Bullseye in the mouth'']] in his ''Siege'' tie-in. And then readers found out the whole scene was AllJustADream fed into Daken's head to show how screwed over he'd be if he didn't accept help from the fates.

* FanNickname: Lyra is called ''Thulkdra'' which was lampshaded when they put this nickname on one of her mini's variant covers. Molecule Man's team (despite being a [[spoiler: RedHerring]]) is called "The League Of Ultimate Evil [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg And Enchantress]]".
** Bullseye in Hawkeye's costume is called "Bullhawk"
** Daken earned himself the name Trollverine.

* ForTheEvulz: Zodiac doesn't have any general reason to be evil, he just likes it.

* GainaxEnding: The ''Dark Avengers'' lead-in to ''Siege'' seems to show that [[spoiler: Sentry/Void]] is basically an aspect of God Himself. Then, in ''Siege'', [[spoiler: his human side decides to stop living, and lets Thor kill him before any of it goes anywhere.]]
* GambitPileup: Pretty much possible this will happen in Siege with Norman revealing his secret ally, Loki setting his schemes to the final phase, Daken and Moonstone with Bullseye making their moves against Osborn, Taskmaster looking for a chance to get the hell out of there, [[spoiler: Scourge]] brainwashed by Agents Of Atlas to kill Norman, Pym's and Barton's Avengers with Captain America getting in the middle of it, Tony Stark trying to help, [[spoiler: return of Ultron]], Hela revealing her deal with Dani Moonstar, Thor or Balder's defense plans and Sentry/Void as unpredictable factor.

-->'''[[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules Hercules]]''': Of course not. I'll do it. (Kicks Sentry in the nuts.)

* HeroWithBadPublicity: ComicBook/IronMan, who in a subversion of this trope, DID fuck things up big time and pretty much brought all of his troubles upon him. [[ComicBook/SpiderWoman Jessica Drew]], because the Skrulls' [[spoiler: leader was disguised as her, and even some heroes think she might still be the Skrull Queen.]] Not exactly an easy reputation to live down, especially when in the past she's been a member of HYDRA, a terrorist/spying group.

** [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]], who has been [[spoiler: exiled from Asgard after Loki's scheme led him to killing his own grandfather]].

** Doc Samson, after Osborn used ThePlan to force him into nearly killing UsefulNotes/BarackObama and splashed it all over the news. [[spoiler: Samson has a FaceHeelTurn completely unrelated to this incident, and thus doesn't really give a damn about it anymore.]]
* HesBack: [[spoiler: Steve Rogers]]. '''AvengersAssemble!'''

** [[spoiler: Pregnant Lilly]] reappears in ''Ms. Marvel'' but mostly because Brian Reed is using this comic in his efforts to join ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' writing staff.

* YourMindMakesItReal: Sort of. Erebus has always existed in the Marvelverse, but now that Hades/Pluto is no longer interested in maintaining the souls of the dead, it altered itself to become an arena of games of chance. Which, in modern minds, equals casino. It's also been relocated to Atlantic City.

** It's worth nothing that Gyring managed then to be pain even in Osborn's butt, making him possibly biggest tyrant of them all.

** Osborn again by [[ComicBook/XMan Nate Grey]], who plays the entire Dark X-Men and Dark Avengers like a harp. Unfortunately, Osborn has the last laugh, as Nate makes a fatal miscalculation as regards the Green Goblin persona.

* DeathIsCheap: Explained in ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules'' as resurrection having become ''literally'' random chance, represented by casino games, thanks to assorted gods of the dead either having been destroyed or having abandoned their positions. Multiple heroes (including the recently offed Wasp), villains, and civilians are gambling for either an afterlife or a second chance, and in a joke harking back to the GeoffJohns run on the Avengers, and ''Avengers Disassembled'', Jack of Hearts wins his resurrection while Herc and Cho are visiting (though he has yet to actually return).

After ComicBook/SecretInvasion, the general public blames ComicBook/IronMan, then director of ComicBook/{{SHIELD}}, for not preventing the AlienInvasion. Meanwhile, Franchise/SpiderMan's Arch Enemy ComicBook/NormanOsborn, leader of the ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}, gains himself some ''huge'' points in the battle of public opinion, as news networks featured him being a leader in the fight against the Skrulls, and eventually ending the entire conflict by blowing the head off the Skrull queen before any of the assembled heroes could kill her. This televised act of heroism (which may have been staged, depending on whether you believe SelfDemonstrating/{{Deadpool}} or not) led The President to dismiss Stark and replace him with Osborn. Norman, very happy with how things went, quickly replaced S.H.I.E.L.D. with his own organization, H.A.M.M.E.R., and formed the Cabal - an alliance between him, ComicBook/EmmaFrost, [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor]], Comicbook/{{Loki}}, ComicBook/TheHood, and ComicBook/DoctorDoom. He also creates his own, twisted version of the ComicBook/TheAvengers - Dark Avengers, with most of the team members being supervillains in heroes' costumes led by Osborn himself in an Iron Man armor with a Red, White and Blue paint job, under the name of "Iron Patriot". At the same time, he sets up a plan to replace and kill half of his former Thunderbolts teammates, as they might have information that would make him look less appealing to the public at large (the other half joined the Dark Avengers). His allies from The Cabal are plotting against him, many heroes and a few villains want to get rid of him, but Osborn doesn't seem to care -- he has a mysterious ally, somebody who can instill fear even in his fellow members of The Cabal.

** ''ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}[=/=]SelfDemonstrating/{{Deadpool}}: Magnum Ops'', where Osborn sends his team of killers after Wilson

* CaptainErsatz: For some people, Zodiac is a little too similar to Film/TheDarkKnight's version of SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker in his actions. And he looks like [[Manga/DeathNote Light Yagami]].

** One of the last pages of ''[[GrandFinale Siege]]'' shows the skyline of New York, as a digitally written "[[spoiler: Superhero Registration Act thrown out]]" scrolls on a building. It almost seems the panel originally had confetti in it, really. Just add confetti and you'll have evidence that most of the writers had really ''had enough'' of the bucketload of crap JoeQuesada has put the MarvelUniverse through. But since Quesada (as you can see in his comments about ''Siege'' in the pages of the miniseries itself) was so ''proud'' of the whole [[FromACertainPointOfView epic]] saga made up of the various [[StoryArc Story Arcs]] (ComicBook/AvengersDisassembled, ComicBook/CivilWar - and by extension, given it was exactly what Quesada was aiming at, ComicBook/OneMoreDay - ComicBook/SecretInvasion and now this), maybe he himself demanded the confetti to be removed.

* AndThenWhat: Clint has a plan to solve all the crisis: kill Norman Osbourne. Captain America first pointed the moral concerns, and then asked. Let's say you do that, then what? The others want to go to California to help Wolverine. He has the same question, go to California, and then what?

** Norman Osbourne has the death of Punisher in his "To do" list. Hammer locates the abandoned warehouse where he has set his base. A tecnician proposed to deploy forces around it, to cover all exits and surround him. Norman refused the idea, that's a waste of time. It's just a man in a truck. You simply have to load the torpedos, aim to the whole port area, fire, and watch it all blow up. [[spoiler:as you may suspect, it was not enough]]

After ComicBook/SecretInvasion, the general public blames ComicBook/IronMan, then director of ComicBook/{{SHIELD}}, for not preventing the AlienInvasion. Meanwhile, Franchise/SpiderMan's Arch Enemy ComicBook/NormanOsborn, leader of the ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}, gains himself some ''huge'' points in the battle of public opinion, as news networks featured him being a leader in the fight against the Skrulls, and eventually ending the entire conflict by blowing the head off the Skrull queen before any of the assembled heroes could kill her. This televised act of heroism (which may have been staged, depending on whether you believe SelfDemonstrating/{{Deadpool}} or not) led The President to dismiss Stark and replace him with Osborn. Norman, very happy with how things went, quickly replaced S.H.I.E.L.D. with his own organization, H.A.M.M.E.R., and formed the Cabal - an alliance between him, ComicBook/EmmaFrost, [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor]], Comicbook/{{Loki}}, ComicBook/TheHood, and ComicBook/DoctorDoom. He also creates his own, twisted version of the ComicBook/TheAvengers - Dark Avengers, with most of the team members being supervillains in heroes' costumes led by Osborn himself in Iron Man's armor, under the name of "Iron Patriot". At the same time, he sets up a plan to replace and kill half of his former Thunderbolts teammates, as they might have information that would make him look less appealing to the public at large (the other half joined the Dark Avengers). His allies from The Cabal are plotting against him, many heroes and a few villains want to get rid of him, but Osborn doesn't seem to care -- he has a mysterious ally, somebody who can instill fear even in his fellow members of The Cabal.

** Dark Young Avengers were a little bit of this for The YoungAvengers.