When the Skrulls invasion of Earth comes to a close, Norman Osborn—former maniacal criminal the Green Goblin—manipulates events to become humanity’s savior. He exploits the opportunity and seizes as much power as he can. He gathers six of the most dangerous people alive to do rule the world. Forming the Cabal, he promises them whatever they want in exchange for loyalty.
With Tony Stark, AKA Iron Man, taking the blame for the invasion and S.H.I.E.L.D. dismantled, the only peace-keeping task force remaining is handed over to Osborn, who merges the Initiative and the Avengers under one roof known as H.A.M.M.E.R. He calls a meeting with superhuman criminals and rebellious rulers: Namor McKenzie, AKA Namor the Sub-Mariner, the King of Atlantis; X-Men leader and telepath Emma Frost; ousted Latverian monarch, Victor Von Doom, AKA Doctor Doom; Loki Laufeyson, AKA Loki, God of Mischief; and the Super Villain Kingpin Parker Robbins, AKA the Hood. He offers them whatever they want in return for loyalty, to be brothers in arms all so he can say that he was the one who got these unruly rulers under control. His requirement for entry into such a secretive group was that they all register with the Initiative, and thus become legitimate, while supporting his position publicly for living life unpunished. Despite some misgivings from the Hood and Frost, they accept his terms.
Also known as the Dark Illuminati, the Cabal contains some of the most nefarious criminal masterminds. Osborn recruits Frost to read the other Cabal members minds, keeping them all honest, or at least, less able to lie and scheme. He expects that Doom would foster an alliance with Latveria and the U.S., and that the Hood would have his army register with his Thunderbolts team. Loki desires to rule Asgard and return it to the heavens, which Norman agrees to help him in as well. Osborn offers the undersea king Namor cooperation with those on land, something unattainable under Stark, Nick Fury, and S.H.I.E.L.D.’s regime.
Considering the Cabal is full of well-documented villainous members, or at least have a criminal history, their foes are legion. Though, their foremost problems come from within their ranks. First, there’s Loki, who plots to facilitate Osborn’s fall from “grace” and offers the Hood power to join his cause, which he gladly accepts after losing his mystical cloak. Loki even makes a side deal with Doom who offers the Asgardians a place in Latveria, but only if they banish Thor Odinson, AKA Thor.
While all the Cabal members pursued their own agendas, remaining at Osborn’s beck and call, Loki schemed to rule Asgard and be reborn as their former self, having been resurrected in the body of shieldmaiden of Asgard, Lady Sif. To do so, she’d have to speed up Osborn’s downfall. Loki shaped events to play out in her favor by manipulating the Mighty Avengers to be troublesome to Osborn and made a secret deal with Doom to move Asgard to Latveria. Doom, however, had one caveat for the agreement and that was to banish his old enemy Thor. Loki agreed.
Meanwhile, the Hood lost his cloak in a battle with Daimon Hellstrom, AKA Hellstorm, Dr. Stephen Strange, AKA Doctor Strange, and Jericho Drumm, AKA Doctor Voodoo, who relieved him of Dormammu’s possession. Loki saw an opportunity to use the Hood for her own ends, and offered him the Norn Stones, which would restore his lost power. Parker accepted and with his ally Madam Masque, the trio traveled to Cuba to retrieve the stones. They did so and the stones offered Parker the power he was lacking.
When the Cabal was falling apart, Doom demanded that Osborn produce Namor during a Cabal meeting at Avengers Tower, with Anthony Masters, AKA Taskmaster, in attendance. In response, Osborn called forth the mysterious figure he had threatened them with at their first meeting—it was Robert Reynolds, AKA the Sentry’s dark half, the Void, who knocked Doom clear across the room and through a wall. But it wasn’t Doom, and instead emerging from his cloak were a myriad of robotic bugs that swarmed Osborn and infested the entire building, forcing the Dark Avengers out of the tower. Seeing that the Cabal was losing members, and after the Siege of Asgard and Osborn’s imprisonment that followed, the Cabal disbanded.
Base of Operations
Former Members