Earlier this week Marvel teased the return of Norman Osborn and the Dark Avengers. Today in their “Next Big Thing: Avengers” press conference  Brian Michael Bendis and Tom Brevoort announced a crossover tentatively called “Hammer War.”  Starting in New Avengers #16.1, drawn by Neal Adams, and running through Avengers and New Avengers,  “Hammer War” will unite HYDRA, AIM, and the Hand all under the leadership of Norman Osborn.

The New Avengers will be dealing with the new Dark Avengers while the main Avengers will have to deal with the newly re-assembled HAMMER. This will lead to both New Avengers and Avengers uniting in spring of 2012. Mike Deodato will continue to draw New Avengers, while Daniel Acuna will now be the regular artist on Avengers (since John Romita Jr. is working on a special project with Brian Bendis). All of this is setting two as yet unannounced Avengers projects for this summer. They also said that Ultron will return  after “Hammer War” in a story drawn by Bryan Hitch.

When talking about  Norman and his state of mind Brevoort said, “Norman is stepping back into shoes he left behind, but shoes that have changed in size, form and function. It’s possible the people who have come to believe in his ideas will realize he’s more valuable as an ideal or a martyr than as a reality.” Bendis elaborated, “Norman Osborn will get his hands dirty. This support system could be just what he needs. Even if he becomes the Green Goblin again, it will be the perfect Green Goblin. A Norman who is not crazy is the one you need to be afraid of.”

We will also see the repercussions of Norman’s freedom in Amazing Spider-Man. Fans of Jonathan Hickman’s Secret Warriors will be happy to know Daisy Johnson will show up in next week’s  Avengers #17. For the time being both Secret Avengers and Avengers Academy will be dealing with the repercussions of Fear Itself and not really involved in “Hammer War” until the summer.

Bendis concluded the conference talking about this year really being THE YEAR for the Avengers, “We really are building to the summer of the Avengers in the best possible way. We dedicated ourselves to telling the biggest stories we can tell. This is going to be a year of tremendous Avengers stories from everybody involved.

All in all it sounds like an exciting time for Avengers fans.

Matt Todd
Matthew@comicimpact.com