It's time to refresh your memories on a modern classic, 2010's the Siege of Asgard. The pieces are being subtly placed to bring this story to movie screens, and it has the potential to reshape the entire MCU and add value to your Siege limited series in the process.
Nine years ago, Brian Michael Bendis brought Dark Reign and the repercussions from both Civil War and Secret Invasion to a fitting end with Siege. It was mature, it was bloody, and the political commentary on the use of propaganda to garner public support wasn't necessarily subtle, but it didn't feel like it was being hammered too much, either. Here we are almost a decade later, and the themes are still relevant. That's how classics are; they persevere with universal themes that appeal to new audiences.
For the past month, I've been on a soapbox spreading my theory that Marvel Studios is cooking up something very exciting with Norman Osborn and the Dark Avengers. I even went so far as to hypothesize that Sentry could be the perfect vessel to introduce Galactus into the MCU. Here's where it's all leading: the Siege of Asgard.
In its original form, Siege is too brutal and violent for the action-comedy formula Marvel Studios holds so dear. However, tone down the bloodshed, and this can transform into a story that could be one of the MCU's best entries (minus the epic panel when Sentry tears Ares in half).
In the MCU, the pieces are already falling into place to bring Siege to life. First, and most importantly, it's all but a certainty that Norman Osborn is coming to the MCU. In the comics, he took over control of SHIELD, renamed it HAMMER, and infiltrated Tony Stark's Hall of Armor after Stark was relieved of his duties following Secret Invasion, giving rise to Osborn's new public persona, the Iron Patriot. Thanks to Endgame, Stark is no more, paving the way for Osborn to take over the Iron Man suits.
Next is the Dark Avengers. Rumor has it Marvel commissioned a Dark Avengers screenplay last year, and with Norman Osborn reportedly being cast soon, it lends to reason that Dark Reign is on the way.
Directly related to an MCU version of Siege is the destruction of Asgard in Thor: Ragnarok. Looking for a new home after their sacred world exploded, Endgame revealed that Thor brought the remnants of Asgard to Earth. This played out similarly in the comics, with Thor planting a magic city in Oklahoma. While things were relatively peaceful for a time, Loki manipulated Osborn into attacking Asgard, resulting in the events of Siege.
On movie screens, a depressed and overweight Thor has left New Asgard unprotected to travel the cosmos with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Will he return to find his new home decimated by Osborn's Dark Avengers? That seems a likely scenario to play out on screens, setting up a huge battle between the Dark Avengers and the New Avengers.
All this attention on Siege will eventually raise prices for the limited series. As with every crossover event, Marvel published a slew of Siege-related issues. If you opt for the standard covers for all four comics, your investment dollars will go far. A graded Siege #1 at a 9.8 sold last year for only $6. Personally, I am a fan of the Gabriel Dell'Otto Iron Patriot cover, but the real money is in the Joe Quesada variant, which sold for over $300 this past April. In fact, all the Quesada variants for Siege are the most valuable, and I'll follow up on that topic in the coming weeks.
