I doubt it has anything to do with trust. It's more like one of those high school clique's.
I know. And, as I have said elsewhere, Taskmaster really doesn't have a big win over a named opponent in well over a decade. Osborn's been impressed with him running the Initiative, but he also sees Taskmaster as an eager "blue collar" villain who can be manipulated. Osborn is hardly the first "boss" with crazy, lofty goals that Taskmaster has worked for. Taskmaster's best showing fight-wise this century was in his four issue mini from 2002 when he fought Iron Man to a draw. After that he's gotten his ass handed to him by Moon Knight and Deadpool. He couldn't even beat Rough-House in Madripoor, and Wolverine used to spank him up and down the street in the 80's.
Still, I look forward to Taskmaster's stuff in AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE. Christos Gage has really made that a "can't miss" Avengers book and if SIEGE brings more readers to it, then that'll be good because I won't be recommending it to a wall anymore.
How would Osborn have gotten to his current position if he weren't put in charge of the Thunderbolts, though? His conviction kind of goes hand-in-hand with his rise to power.
It seems pretty much only the Spider-Man fans want to see Spider-Man take Norman down at this point. I understand it since they're nemeses and all, but I think it's a vain hope. Pretty much everything about this event says that the big three are gonna take center stage and do all the climactic stuff, which I imagine would include taking Osborn down. But I'm sure Spider-Man will at least be there when all of the non-Dark Avengers come to Asgard's aid.
Norman Osborn was the head of a company with a lot of assertiveness, a genius intellect, and some sort of P.R. before he was officially unmasked, exposed as Goblin, and convicted. If no writer at Marvel could have figured a way to get Norman into power without the stigma of being a tried and convicted murderer, then they weren't imaginative enough. It makes no rational sense that he would have risen to any position beyond field grunt with that record. Do you think O.J. Simpson would be made the Sec. of Defense even if he shot Osama Bin Ladin on CNN and then saved a baby from a 50 story fall, all while taking a bullet for Joe Biden? No. Or at least not without a whirlwind of media fury and public outrage. And O.J., I should note, never actually killed a newspaper reporter, as Osborn did once in the 90's. A NEWSPAPER REPORTER. For that alone the media should have been against him.
Still...I will say that I do like that DARK REIGN/SIEGE has set up a giant brawl between definite heroes and definite villains. That is something many have wanted for years now after so much hero in-fighting (CIVIL WAR, WORLD WAR HULK, and the drama of SECRET INVASION), and beyond the ridiculous farce that is Osborn's P.R. support, that is what it has done. And also to be fair, SIEGE #1 for the second Bendis book I have read in a year wasn't bad. I don't expect it to even be half as good as, say, WAR OF KINGS (or even, hell, ANNIHILATION CONQUEST), but if it can finish up at merely mediocre level, that will be an improvement for Bendis.
As for the big question of "who will take out Osborn?", I wouldn't be surprised if it is Ares. Bendis is a writer who telegraphs his punches; he will lay an obvious hint, then a few maguffins, and then reveal his big thing as the obvious hint. He also is a writer who enjoys the themes that morality is for weenies, that all heroes are flawed and that even the worst villain is a better hero than they are if the circumstances are right. He isn't as jaded as Mark Millar (who in ULTIMATES gave us a team of Avengers who were so vile they deserved to be murdered, if only their enemies weren't worse), but still in the same camp. I imagine Bendis would believe handing Osborn's fall to a bonafide hero through determination, team-work and willpower would be "too easy". For all we know it could be Moonstone. If ever there was a writer who sought to over-think his audience to a fault, it is sadly Bendis. Many of his stories would have worked out better if he had simply taken a simple idea and executed it well, rather than trying too hard to be crafty and clever.
To be honest I certainly wouldn't mind if Spider-Man took Osborn down. I don't see it as in the cards and at best he's a "dark horse" bet. As I have mentioned before, Bendis does not write Spider-Man as an experienced superhero; he writes him as the world's oldest rookie, the last hero to recognize the oldest tricks in the book. The fact that under his watch, Spider-Man has went from criticizing Wolverine's murder philosophy to having drinks with him is still dismaying. Having heroes line-wide seem to murder henchmen is one thing; but having heroes who classically used to avoid that and look down on heroes who did that give "anti-heroes" props is different. Besides, that tension made for good drama every time Logan and Peter did team up. I could imagine a big showdown with, say, the big three and Osborn and some of his flunkies and Spider-Man gets inspired by Cap and takes Norman down, but....no, I don't see that scene in Bendis.
Ares taking Osborn down like he promised I would say isn't a bad bet. Loki taking Osborn down is another solid bet. Dr. Doom or Hood out of nowhere are also okay bets, given how much Bendis sometimes loves the "guy out of nowhere" ending (SECRET WAR and DISASSEMBLED).
Captain America, since he just came back, has a minor chance, as does Iron Man to sort of redeem himself. Thor has none; in every comic Bendis writes Thor in, from SIEGE #1 to his FCBD issue, he seems to have Thor get his rear handed to him. Luke Cage is the only hero who seems to be obvious of Bendis wanted it to be a hero.
My odds on who beats Osborn:
Ares/Loki = Even
Dr. Doom = 2:1
Hood = 3:1
Someone who Isn't a Hero = 4:1
Luke Cage = 4:1
Capt. America = 10:1
Iron Man = 10:1
Ronin = 20:1
Spider-Man = 1,000,000:1
Thor = 800 trillion :1
Someone Who Won't Make it Anti-Climatic due to Bad Execution when it Matters = Infinity:1
I hope not, I really like [blackout]Maria Hill, Fraction's done wonders with her in Iron Man[/blackout].
