Recently, Marvel Editor Tom Brevoort teased on his Twitter account that there would be "Three deaths" in Marvel's forthcoming Siege crossover - at least one of which would "surprise" us. In my eyes, that's nothing if not a call for speculation. So, let the games begin:

Ms. Marvel
We know from the solicitations that AN AVENGER WILL DIE - and Ms. Marvel's low-to-mid-selling book is ending with #50. Writer Brian Reed has been suspiciously silent on the issue, suggesting that a relaunch will be announced in due course, but perhaps the book isn't going to relaunch because Ms. Marvel herself is going to die. She's prominent enough that it would be a significant moment, but not so important that she can't be shuffled off, and after a 50-issue run, Marvel can't be accused of failing to give her a chance.

Captain America
Surprising death? How about Captain America? You won't get more surprising than that. After all, Steve Rogers is barely fresh out of the ground, so shoving him back in it would certainly be...surprising. Still, there's also Bucky-Cap, who hasn't formally renounced the role of Cap, and his death might give us a decent answer as to who gets to be Captain America in the long run without forcing someone to quit. Unlikely, but possible.

Norman Osborn
Given the number of heroes who have been declaring that they'll KILL NORMAN OSBORN, well, it'd be oddly appropriate (though surprising) if one of them actually did. We know that Siege is the series that, to an extent, signals the end of Dark Reign, and where can Osborn go after this? Over the last year, Osborn has taken the concept of ‘over-exposed' to an entirely new level, perhaps taking him off the chessboard ‘permanently' would make sense. On the other hand, he's cheated apparent death several times before; would it really be worth trying to kill him off again? Who would believe it?

Iron Man
Norman Osborn might be Spider-Man's nemesis, but he's increasingly been positioned again Iron Man during the events of Dark Reign - not just because he stole his armour, and nicked his job, but because Stark also fled with the database containing the secret identities of all the registered super-heroes. Siege is the series that re-unites the Avengers trinity of Thor, Cap and Iron Man. It'd be a bittersweet re-union if Stark's death capped it off. Still, with Iron Man 2 released in almost the same month that Siege finishes, Marvel would have to be incredibly bold or incredibly stupid to kill the character off too, though it would finally prove once and for all that their publishing division doesn't take its cues from the movie studios...

Luke Cage
Cage has put a lot at stake recently. He's effectively leading the New Avengers, he's personally squared off against Osborn more than once, and currently has a bomb (or similar) in his chest as a result. Clearly, if he survives through to Siege then there'll be a certain amount of confrontation with Osborn. As one of Bendis' favourite characters, it certainly would be surprising for Cage to get killed off by the writer who clawed him back from the realm of blaxploitation footnotes, but in a story about Asgard, would such a focus on Cage be a little too out of left-field?

As ever, we'll just have to wait and see... though feel free to comment with your own guesses.

James writes Alternate Cover every Monday at Den Of Geek. His previous column can be found here.