Dark Avengers

Origin

After the events of Secret Invasion, Norman Osborn became a hero by killing the Skrull Queen on national television. He was put in charge of the Superhuman Defense Initiative. After dismantling S.H.I.E.L.D., Norman makes himself Director of H.A.M.M.E.R., essentially the new S.H.I.E.L.D. Norman Osborn, already in charge of the Thunderbolts, decided that there was a need to make some new Avengers. Norman started recruiting internally from the T-Bolts to form the new Dark Avengers. Bullseye without question became Hawkeye, Ares and Sentry went along with Osborn and when Ms. Marvel was asked to join, she refused. Moonstone then became the new Ms. Marvel, Wolverine's son Daken took his fathers role, Venom was given some kind of medicine to have him appear normal instead of a hulkish monster to become Spider-Man and Noh-Varr took the role of Captain Marvel instead of Marvel Boy. Finally Osborn needed some kind of symbol to replace Captain America and Iron Man altogether, making himself the alter ego of the Iron Patriot. Osborn, with the help of The Ghost, hacked into Iron Man's vault to gain access to all of the Iron Man armors to create himself the Iron Patriot armor. A Press Conference was later held at Avengers Tower where Norman unveiled this newest incarnation of The Avengers.

One Chance

During all this, Osborn was being watched and Doctor Doom was confronted in Latveria by a mysterious woman using magic. The woman turned out to be none other than the sorceress Morgan Le Fay. Morgan summoned up great mystical power and began throwing everything she had at Doom, who found himself struggling against the sheer intensity of the power Morgan had brought to the table along with the army of demonic minions she had summoned to aid her. In New York, Norman and the other Dark Avengers were watching replay footage of their press conference and then told them that none of them were allowed to speak or even wave at the Paparazzi ever again. He also told them that he would not tolerate any macho, testosterone-fueled bickering amongst the team. He wanted them to get to know each other, learn from each other and become friends.

Meeting Ms. Hand

He also introduced the team to Victoria Hand, his Deputy Director, and explained that she would be the team's off-Field Leader whenever Norman himself was not present. Moonstone was not too happy with this, but Norman reassured her that if anything happened to him, that she would become the team's Field Leader and would still have to answer to Victoria. Noh-Varr (Marvel Boy) then brought up the idea of doing a Skrull sweep in order to weed out any remaining infiltrators. Norman said that they would eventually do that, but said that Skrulls were "yesterday's news", and that there was no need to worry about them at the moment. Bullseye then suggested going after Iron Man, which garnered some angry glares from Ares and The Sentry, but Norman said that Iron Man's fate was "up to the Courts".

FATALITY!!

Victoria received the S.O.S. signal sent out by Doctor Doom's escorts over in Latveria. Upon seeing the footage of Doctor Doom being attacked, they decided to head off to Latveria for their first official mission. Meanwhile, Morgan had beaten Doctor Doom down and was preparing to kill him when The Dark Avengers showed up. Norman demanded that Morgan return to her own era but she refused to comply. He ordered Sentry to finish her off, which he did by tearing her head straight off. The others, astonished by The Sentry's ruthlessness, congratulated him, but his only response was him asking whether or not he had done something good or bad. The Dark Avengers then tended to Doctor Doom and found that he had been beaten into a coma. The Sentry began grasping his chest in pain and screamed as his whole body exploded.

There is nothing worse than an Arthurian-era Sorceress scorned

Morgan reappeared shortly afterward, explaining that she was not from the present day Marvel Universe. Killing her in this time period was a futile effort as she could easily return from the distant past, travel to their childhoods and kill them there. Ares boldly stood against Morgan, demanding that she leave. She knew that his father Zeus no longer cared whether or not Ares died, Morgan refused and used her magic to turn Venom into a monstrous, demonic creature which consumed Ares. Morgan then summoned up more of her Demonic Minions and set them loose on The Dark Avengers.

A possessed Venom, along with Morgan and her army of demons, attacks the group. Their numbers are overwhelming, but Hawkeye is able to get past them and kill Morgan again. Although some are glad the fight is over, Karla reminds them they killed her before and she came back, so they need to be ready. She does return and sends another wave of demons at them. Norman decides instead of fighting her head-on, to take Doom away from the fight.

Seeing him flee, Morgan gives chase on a dragon while the rest battle her monsters. Norman wakes Doom and asks him to give him access to his suit's systems. Doom is reluctant, but eventually he allows Norman to use Doom's armor to activate a time portal. Norman uses this to travel back in time to meet Morgan. Norman arrives, knowing if he kills her in the past she will not be alive to fight them in the present.

Morgan trapped in the past

Meanwhile, the battle between the rest of the team and Morgan in the present goes on. Ares escapes from Venom, but Morgan uses her magic to turn him to stone. Ms. Marvel gets tired of the fighting and goes after the Morgan of the present. Morgan tries to kill Ms. Marvel, but she becomes intangible and shoots off Morgan's head, killing her again. Back in the past, Morgan informs Norman that Doom will not allow her to be killed, because if she dies in the past, she will not be alive to help him throughout his life, changing his timeline. Despite her taunts, Doom has a way around the effects on the timeline and uses a spell in some strange language that even shocks Morgan. She is sent even further into the past to 1,000,000 B.C. Norman and Doom return to the present where Norman finds his team has killed Morgan's demons, and Venom has turned back to normal.

Using a spell, Doom is able to not only rebuild his castle, but also turn the god of war back to his regular self as well. The team board their jet and while flying back home, Noh-Varr and Ms. Marvel show an attraction to one another. When the team returns to Avengers Tower, they are all shocked to see Sentry alive hovering in the sky in front of the jet. Norman leaves the jet and goes out to talk to Bob. That does little good because it seems his recent death and rebirth has caused him once again to enter one of his episodes. He makes little to no sense while Norman is trying to keep him calm, reminding him the Void does not exist.

Hours later, the team is once again relaxing in the Avengers meeting hall and Ms Hand arrives telling them its time for them to take their medicine. Mac chooses this time to tell her that Bullseye threatened him for attacking him while controlled by Morgan. Oddly, Mac seems to be acting quite childish and Ms. Marvel comments it may have something to do with his medicine. Bullseye and Venom continue to argue until Ares breaks it up. He stops the arguing between both by yelling at them, reminding them that they are acting like children, need to act like men, and have an opportunity to become heroes. During the arguing, Ares slaps Bullseye which angers him and states no one hits him. Ares just comments that he could have really hurt him if he wanted to.

Norman on TV Norman goes on TV to address the statements Ronin made warning the public about Norman and his team. Norman makes many good points about his team. Ronin mentioned how Norman was also once a villain and so was the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, but they are now seen as heroes. Back at the tower, Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel sleep together. Noh seems very shocked, as he states he's never been with a human woman. Karla turns on the TV to see Norman, she says the team is made up of former villains, something which Noh knew nothing about. The team is assembled after a group of Atlanteans begin attacking the surface world. The Void goes to Atlantis Norman, in his Iron Patriot armor, brings together the Cabal. Namor says he did not order the attack. Norman tells him that he wants him to kill all the terrorists but one, and drag him through the streets as an example, Namor refuses. Norman later plans to assault the terrorists with the team, but sadly Ares is late getting to the tower, and Noh is missing. Because of this, Ms. Hand decides it is best to send in the Sentry solo. Norman is able to make Sentry go to Atlantis by awakening the Void identity. He causes massive destruction to achieve his mission and later brings back one remaining Atlantean, who is then brought in front of Venom. Later it is revealed that Norman's Green Goblin voice is once again talking to him.

Major Story Arcs

Utopia The H.A.M.M.E.R gets swung down on the X-men! Norman Osborn is called to San Francisco to deal with mutant riots. He decides to make up his own X-Men team consisting of Mystique, Mimic, Weapon Omega, Dark Beast, Cloak and Dagger, Namor, one of his own Avengers - Daken (whose loyalty is uncertain) and to be lead by Emma Frost. His Avengers and X-men do not get along, especially Bullseye, who is outraged that Daken is on two teams. When X-Force infiltrates a H.A.M.M.E.R. facility in San Francisco, Frost and Namor betray Osborn and his fraudulent X-Men. Osborn is outraged and promises to kill Cyclops himself. After his Dark Avengers invade the mutant island Utopia, the X-men prove themselves strong enough to defeat his team of villains, and they quickly retreat after Sentry and Ares are taken out of the game.

Molecule Man

Molecule Man as he meets Osborn

Back from the events of Utopia, the Dark Avengers are back to their old games. Karla Sofen, a.k.a Ms. Marvel, persuades Bullseye into bed. He states that she can't handle it, but she is still curious. As always, the team has the familiar humor of everyone dropping their jaw. Arguments between Victoria Hand and Daken emerge, as thoughts of her having something up her sleeve arise. Norman Osborn enters the room and diffuses the situation. Asking if her director is okay, Victoria informs Osborn of two girls going missing over in Dinosaur, Colorado. The state in which the law-enforced Thunderbolts once handled their business. This allows her boss to understand that one of the men that finances H.A.M.M.E.R and the Dark Avengers requires the help. Sending in the Sentry first, Osborn awaits any peculiar information. Within moments Reynolds is killed, just a day after his wife shot him with a gun that once belonged to Noh-Varr. The cavalry comes forth, but Venom is side-lined for his emotions. Karla takes the lead only to disappear, seeing the Molecule Man just seconds after she figured out the complication. Scared and paranoid, the Iron Patriot dwells within his psyche only to encounter what seems to be the Beyonder, the Enchantress, Molecule Man, Mephisto, Zarathos, and a devious serpent from the beginning of time. With shock and awe, time pauses!

Molecule Man, the others only being creations of his, slowly begins to torture the team one by one. He makes Osborn see terrible visions of Spider-Man and his own evil deeds. He separates Mac from his symbiote only to dissolve the both of them. Daken is being turned into plants. Both Ms. Marvel and Ares are petrified and Bullseye is now water. With all hope lost, Ms. Hand decides to go to Reece and surrender. Sentry is able to reform himself once again. This time he is now aware that, like Molecule Man, he can control the molecules of his world. He threatens Molecule Man to undo everything he has done or he will kill him. Molecule Man complies and then Sentry causes him to vanish. Ms. Marvel remarks that his new found power could end up leading to a disaster worse than the Scarlet Witch incident.

Siege

Loki manipulates Norman into believing that Asgard is a threat to the natural order of things. He assembles all of his Avengers, H.A.M.M.E.R and all the heroes of the Initiative to attack Asgard. As his forces do battle with the Asgardians, Ares sees the error in Norman's ways and turns against him. He orders Sentry to attack Ares. He kills Ares in the ensuing battle. To help the gods, the Avengers and Secret Warriors arrive to attack Norman. As the Avengers and Army beat Osborn's forces, he begins to lose all his sanity and orders the Sentry to destroy Asgard. After he is finished, Sentry transforms into the Void. The heroes look on in horror as they have to fight this monster. Seeing the mistakes he has made, Loki uses the Norn stones to empower the heroes to fight the Void. In turn, the Void kills Loki to take away the power boost. As a last resort, Iron Man crashes a helicarrier on the villain, which causes him to power down into Bob Reynolds. In horror at what he has done, he asks Thor to kill him. At first he refuses, but when the Void begins to return he has no choice. He finishes him off and then takes his corpse into the Sun. Norman is imprisoned along with Moonstone, Bullseye, and Venom. Only Daken is able to escape and Victoria Hand is given a new position working with Captain Steve Rogers.

The New Dark Avengers

After Siege Norman Osborn is being held in a high security prison where he makes friends with some villains and is able to escape.After his escape,he has a master plan to destroy the Avengers again with the power of H.AM.M.E.R,A.I.M. and his new team of Dark Avengers .His new team is by Ragnarok , Gorgon who is their Wolverine now,Skaar,The Decapitator ,June Covington ,Superia, Barney Barton .After his return and gathering his team he goes straight up to Avengers Mansion saying that he is still in charge of being the Super Cop of America and that he has to be the hero and his New Dark Avengers have to be the heroes with him.The Avengers and the New Avengers goe straight up in a fight with him but he is able to capture the Avengers and to have the President doing what he wants.His plans don't go straight as he thought and the Avengers escape and are ready for the last battle with him,but that is when they learn that Norman Osborn is a Super-Adaptoid and he overcharges himself and loses control.The Avengers wouldn't have won if it wasn't for Skaar who was the mole in Norman's team and defeated the New Avengers.

After this and from Thunderbolts #175,Skaar,Ragnarok and The Decapitator will be joining Luke Cage's Thundebolts team.