Out of the ashes of Marvel's "Secret Invasion" storyline rose the Dark Reign.  Norman Osborn, old crazy Green Goblin himself, set things in motion to dethrone Tony Stark as head of SHIELD (actually getting it decommissioned), and taking over as one of the most powerful men in the world.  Legally!  To make sure that he holds on to that power, he enlisted the help of Dr. Doom, Namor, Emma Frost, Loki and the Hood to consolidate his hold over the rest of the superhero community.

Marvel has sent over some exclusive covers as the company gets into high gear with their villain-themed "He lost. They won." ad campaign.  The 'accept change' part on the bottom of the images seems to tie it in to the Secret Invasion plot, but maybe it's just coincidental.

Iron Man is on the run, and will Emma really go back to her dark ways and stab the X-Men in the back? Many more images after the jump.

Eva Longoria of "Desperate Housewives" fame was photographed leaving the L.A. offices of Marvel Studios clutching a business card and some comic books in her hand. The comic book on top? That would be a copy of the Avengers.

The first thing that popped in my head when I heard this: She's going to be Thor!

No, no, just joking. The first thought is that she wants to be Janet Van Dyne, the winsome Wasp, a founding member of the Marvel super team and eventual wife of Hank Pym, the Ant-Man.

Longoria, at least judging by her prevailing gossip-page persona, does seem to have some of the Wasp's, um, entitlement attitude. Van Dyne was a flighty, sometimes conniving and always spoiled daughter of a wealthy scientist, and after his death she used her inheritance for world-class shopping sprees.

She pretty much had a new costume on every few pages in the comics. And in the early days, she sure was kidnapped a lot.

Her first appearance in "Tales to Astonish" No. 44 introduced her on the cover as "Ant-Man's gorgeous new partner-in-peril," but it could have been "smoking-hot sidekick in distress."

But more than a villain's trophy and a Manhattan social butterfly, the Wasp became an especially perceptive member of the Avengers and a key part of the team chemistry that made it less of a simple boy's club. As the years went on, she was increasingly portrayed as the savvy woman on the team who might have a makeup mirror in her hand but was also more intuitive then a lot of the lab-coat geniuses around her.

Van Dyne could be also pretty calculating, which raises another thought: If you look at these parking-garage photos of Longoria, it sure does seem like the actress is flashing that comic book with a bit of purpose. I wonder if she is trying to stir up a bit of fan chatter that will help her lock in the role... 

-- Geoff Boucher

RELATED Marvel is on a mission in Hollywood

Images of the Wasp courtesy of Marvel Comics.

Photograph of Eva Longoria by Noel Vasquez/Getty Images.

The comic-book biz has been branching out not only to film, but also in the original DVD market.  The strategy, it seems, is to create the same kind of 'gotta-have-it' mentality that they've fostered in their comics.  Marvel's DVD releases have been pretty successful, at least in terms of likability by the fans, with "Doctor Strange," "Iron Man," "Ultimate Avengers" and more.

Last night, the comics company, along with Lionsgate, premiered a new offering in the form of "Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow."  The toon feature paints a grim view of a future in which the crazy and powerful robot Ultron returns after the Avengers have retired and defeats an older, reassembled team.  Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man, is tasked with protecting the children of the Avengers.  So he takes the kids and runs.

Stark doesn't tell the kids much about their heritage or parents, other than through fanciful tales.  James, the son of Captain America and Black Widow; Azari, son of the Black Panther (and Storm?); Pym, the son of Giant-Man and the Wasp; and Tauryn, the daughter of Thor, live their lives in relative seclusive peace. That is until Ultron finds them.

The kids join forces with the son of Hawkeye and an aged and semi-crazed Bruce Banner/Hulk to take down Ultron.  A hasty panel afterward consisted of the project's writer, a producer, a director and two voice actors (Fred Tatasciore, who voiced the Hulk, constantly used his gamma voice during the panel).

There was a lot of angry chatter on message boards and comments sections berating not only this movie, but also the fact that Marvel hadn't done one with the mainstream Avengers characters yet.  This movie was based on kids, and was probably for kids.  We're not sure if it'll hit it's target demo, but it doesn't look to enjoy the success of other Marvel releases.  In a treat for the assembled, a trailer was shown for the upcoming Marvel animated DVD release "Thor vs. Hulk."

An aside ... though I was coming here anyway, the line to get into an adjacent room (6B) was just as long.  People in both of the lines were told that they would most likely not get in to the panel.  The "Next Avengers" panel was within 30 minutes, the other panel and screening were still  more than two hours away.  It was for "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog."  Although the program had no mention of "special guest stars," we did pass Nathan Fillion on the street around 10 p.m. walking back toward the Convention Center.

-- Jevon Phillips