{"id":33842,"date":"2026-06-29T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/?p=33842"},"modified":"2025-06-18T23:33:22","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T03:33:22","slug":"dark-avengers-1-invincible-iron-man-89","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/2026\/06\/29\/dark-avengers-1-invincible-iron-man-89\/","title":{"rendered":"Dark Avengers 1\/Invincible Iron Man 8&9"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We\u2019re back to Avengers land. And just in time for Dark Reign, the story of Norman Osborn given near absolute power by the US government. Which is\u2026 a lot more messed up than it was in 2009. But, since it\u2019s the story of Norman Osborn, and he\u2019s a pretty big part of our purview here, to say nothing of the ever-more-complicated situation with the Avengers books vis a vie this blog\u2019s whole purpose and whatnot, I\u2019ve decided to cover the whole picture and not just the Avengers title Spider-Man appears in. Which means covering Dark Avengers. But before we get to that, I\u2019ve decided it means showing bits of 2 issues of Iron Man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As we\u2019ve discussed in the past, Invincible Iron Man was launched by Matt Fraction, Salvador Larocca & Frank D\u2019Armata as a 2nd monthly Iron Man title, but the main one was cancelled shortly thereafter. We saw Spider-Man appear in #7, and now, a mere month later, The whole world\u2019s fallen apart around Tony. This kicks of a long, absolutely wild ride that is one of the most interesting Iron Man stories of all time, but which, by necessity, takes him off into his own little corner of the Marvel U for awhile. When George W. Bush failed to prevent 9\/11 from happening right under his nose, he was somehow able to parlay that into convincing the American people he was the only person who could prevent a similar event from happening again. Mass hysteria. But, when you\u2019re the head of SHIELD who let an alien invasion happen without noticing, well, the Marvel U is less forgiving, as it turns out. And that\u2019s before a deranged mass murderer gets your job.We\u2019re not actually going to cover this issue or the one to follow, just bits relevant to our main plot. Thus, as various Iron Man plotlines proceed and Maria Hill grapples with losing her job, we find Tony going to see Osborn\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We have discussed before Larocca being one of the guys who traced celebrities endlessly in this period. His Tony Stark is that one guy from Lost, I dunno, I didn\u2019t watch Lost. As a proud tracer, you\u2019d think he might trace Tommy Lee Jones for Osborn, like his tracin\u2019 buddy Mike Deodato, for consistency, but no. Well, after Tony and Maria leave, later in the evening, Osborn immediately opens the Superhuman Registration database, but his searches come up empty for everyone he tries (Spider-Man is first, of course). He becomes enraged and thrashes his computer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We soon learn that Matt Fraction has unfortunately played on the old \u201cpeople only use 10% of their brain\u201d myth to announce Tony has stashed the Registration database in his own brain using the Extremis process. And that is going to prove one costly choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There\u2019s a lot less Norman Osborn in #9, but not none. As Tony begins the crazy process of basically erasing his own brain, we go back to\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Larocca tracing that one picture of whoever that is over and over is so pathetic. It\u2019s Greg Land pathetic. None of the tracers are usually as bad as Land. Well, HAMMER goons fail to assassinate Maria Hill in a bloody conflict, and Tony Stark tells Pepper Potts she\u2019s the new boss of Stark as he begins shuffling off on his insane mission to keep the Registration database and other info out of Osborn\u2019s hands. And as for Osborn\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And that\u2019s where we leave Iron Man. Tony goes on a really incredible adventure that\u2019s totally worth seeking out, even marred by the shoddy tracing. But that brings is to Dark Avengers #1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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That\u2019s right. Mike Deodato, Jr. is back. Tracers stay winning. For all that Deodato\u2019s \u201cart\u201d only gets more awkward, lifeless and unappealing as more and more of it is just him tracing Poser models, Bendis is ride or die for him for some reason. Bendis was way into the Thunderbolts series by Warren Ellis and Deodato, and now, he\u2019s kind of decided to do it himself. The cover, of course, references New Avengers #1<\/a>\u2019s by now iconic cover. Who or what are the Dark Avengers? Bendis, Deodato, and his inseparable colorist Rain Beredo are gonna introduce us. We begin in the very unexpected place of Morgan Le Fay\u2019s lair in 690 AD. Also, Bendis insists on calling her Morganna Le Fay. He is the only person to do so. She wants to know where in time Dr. Doom is. One of the funny things about Bendis was always how he wore he comics that made an impact on him on his sleeve as a writer. People reference the Kree\/Skrull War every 5 minutes in his comics, like it just happened. And that time Iron Man and Dr. Doom were thrown back to the time of Camelot and got involved in Arthurian legend? Well, he loves that, too. Le Fay thinks of Doom as her betrayer due to that story, and she spots him around the table with Osborn & Co. at the end of Secret Invasion 8, which feels like I read it 4,000 years ago, at this point. Meanwhile, in the present:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Marvel Boy, the Sentry, Ms. Marvel, Iron Man, Ares, Wolverine, Hawkeye, and Spider-Man. Right? Weeeeell\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Boy, this stuff hits different now. Well, next, we see Osborn fire Maria Hill, so she can run off to be in Iron Man. I didn\u2019t read the version of Thunderbolts starring Norman running a bunch of villains in a kind of Suicide Squad situation. Despite being a big fan of Warren Ellis (THAT investment sure paid off!), that book featured both Mike Deodato art and Norman Osborn, 2 things I considered grave mistakes within the comics industry, and I wanted no part of them. Which means, I don\u2019t know if Deo started tracing 3D models there or here, but he\u2019s doing it here. Not for every single panel. That would come later. But there\u2019s no mistaking it. If you\u2019re someone who\u2019s ever played around with software like Poser, especially back then, when the models were less convincing, it\u2019s so easy to spot. And jarring. And infuriating. At any rate, Hill says she\u2019s going to be there when Norman implodes. I don\u2019t think she will, actually, but I don\u2019t remember. He sends her out, calls Bullseye in, saying he did well against the Skrulls, and they\u2019re moving to Avengers Tower. Bullseye is understandably shocked.Speaking of, we cut to said Tower, \u201cfive days ago,\u201d where Ms. Marvel arrives to find Norman. He explains Stark used SHIELD funding to rebuild the tower after World War Hulk, so it belongs to him now. She resigns from the Avengers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Tommy Lee Jones thing is so jarring. Everyone else looks like a generic superhero drawing and he looks like a PERSON. Like a photograph of a head taped on a cartoon body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So, Osborn goes to hand Moonstone, who was his field leader for the Thunderbolts, a Ms. Marvel costume and tell her she\u2019s the new Ms. Marvel. They\u2019re both blonde, who\u2019d even notice the difference? Then we cut to the prison in Thunderbolts Mountain, where a skrull is tossed in a cell and told to turn into Spider-Man, where Venom then proceeds to eat him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Har har. So, Venom is the new Spider-Man. Next up, we need a Wolverine. That\u2019s where things get really dopey. See, once Logan remembered his whole life at the end of House of M, they started showing you all kinds of stuff. One of them was his son, Daken. Daken is a Japanese guy with a giant mohawk, tribal tattoos right off the wall of a tattoo parlor on exactly, precisely one half of his body, and a Wolverine healing factor and Wolverine claws. But his middle one comes out of the bottom of his wrist instead of the back of his hand. He\u2019s a dumber looking, evil version of his dad. He has always struck me as a lazy evil twin character and also a bad visual design. But he has his fans, and now he\u2019s been found by Osborn and Ares in New Orleans, and Osborn is offering him the Wolverine job largely to upset Logan, which appeals to Daken. Then Norman goes to the prison Marvel Boy is being held in, compliments his actions during the Secret Invasion, and offers him the role of Captain Marvel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Norman has brought in the Ghost, last seen in these parts way back in ASM, Vol. 2 #16<\/a> (Were we ever so young?) to use his unique abilities to get inside a big room Tony Stark left locked an inaccessible. Ghost, I think, will be part of the new Thunderbolts team, a comic I still didn\u2019t read and don\u2019t really know about. Ghosty does his thing, and\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Well, that seems bad. Then we cut to Latveria, this morning, as Thunderbolts agents bring Dr. Doom home. But when they get out of the helicopter, things go bad\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Morgan(na) Le Fay, of course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And there you have it, as crazy as that is. The idea that all these villains would be running around as the Avengers, and no one would notice, was pretty absurd to me. Warren Ellis\u2019 Thunderbolts was, by all accounts, a book about Osborn\u2019s warped mind and psychological horror and things, and that\u2019s just not in Bendis\u2019 kit, he\u2019s not gonna be able to do that, even as he\u2019s trying to do that. I don\u2019t think this book is terribly successful. But it\u2019s the law of the land for 16 issues. The Mighty Avengers still exist in an altered form, but now shunted off to being the irrelevant Avengers book that never ties into the main story. These are the new Avengers. But wait, if they\u2019re the new Avengers, what about the New Avengers?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re back to Avengers land. And just in time for Dark Reign, the story of Norman Osborn given near absolute power by the US government. Which is\u2026 a lot more messed up…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33818,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1864],"tags":[2354,1922,1889,186,2511,2509,106,2135,64,2317,1686,829,2364,2404,39,2330,1855,160,1959,409,2510],"class_list":["post-33842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2000s","tag-ares","tag-brian-michael-bendis","tag-bullseye","tag-carol-danvers","tag-daken","tag-dark-avengers","tag-dr-doom","tag-frank-darmata-2","tag-iron-man","tag-matt-fraction","tag-mike-deodato-jr","tag-moonstone","tag-morgan-le-fey","tag-noh-varr","tag-norman-osborn","tag-rain-beredo","tag-salvador-larocca","tag-scorpion","tag-sentry","tag-venom","tag-victoria-hand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33842"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33843,"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33842\/revisions\/33843"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}