With Spider-Man: No Way Home on everyone’s
mind, I figured now is a great time to cover some of the MC2 counterparts
of the villains confirmed to appear in the film. For what I believe is the last
entry in this series, we are taking a look at Norman Osborn aka The
Green Goblin in the MC2. This is gonna be a big one.
Norman Osborn first appeared in Amazing
Spider-Man #14 and made his MC2 debut in the pages
of Spider-Girl’s own first appearance in What If #105 via a
flashback to his final battle with Spider-Man. Despite being dead, Norman’s
legacy of evil looms large over much of the MC2, extending from his family,
his Goblin Cult through to his posthumous machinations.
Let’s start with some of the stuff I’ve covered before.
Alison Mongrain is hired by Norman Osborn to carry
out part of his plan to kidnap the newborn child of Peter and Mary
Jane. Disguised as a member of the hospital staff, Alison swapped
out baby May with a recent stillborn baby, leaving Mary
Jane to believe her baby had died at birth. Shortly afterwards, Alison met
with Norman Osborn who paid Alison a ‘sizeable bonus’ to take
an ‘expensive vacation’ through Europe with the newborn May (Spider-Girl
#48, Amazing Spider-Girl #25).
Immediately afterwards chronologically is a flashback to the
conclusion of the Clone Saga, specifically Peter Parker: Spider-Man
#75 where we see Ben Reilly impaled by Norman’s Goblin Glider
(Spider-Girl #44).
The Brotherhood of Scriers arrive to
collect the infant May for Norman Osborn. Alison asks
if she can accompany them as she has grown attached to the child, but the Scriers remind
her not to question Mr. Osborn. The Scriers leave Mongrain with Norman’s compliments
and her ‘final payment’ which turns out to be counterfeit bills and knockout gas. Kaine,
being familiar with Osborn and the Scriers methods,
rescued Mongrain just as the yacht exploded, hoping to learn
what role she had played for Norman Osborn. Upon
learning that Alison had kidnapped May and
helped convince Peter and Mary Jane she was
dead, Kaine leaves Mongrain floundering in
the bay with no care whether she lived or died (Spider-Girl #49).
Meanwhile, terrible months have passed by for
Peter and
Mary
Jane until Mary Jane receives a phone call from the man called
Kaine.
Having located
Mongrain’s yacht,
Kaine begins
by telling
Mary Jane ‘
Your baby’s alive!’ and then goes
on to provide a longer explanation, but insists that
Mary Jane not
tell
Peter until the child is safe in her arms.
Mary
Jane hated keeping secrets from
Peter but did not
wish for
Peter to endanger their baby’s life by confronting
Norman
Osborn (
Spider-Girl #48).
Next up we have a flashback to the events of ‘Goblin
at the Gate’ story published in Spectacular Spider-Man #259-#261, wherein
Norman came into conflict with Roderick Kingsley aka The
Hobgoblin. This actually provides some nice context clues regarding what
parts of the late-90’s Spider-Man comics we can confirm as having occurred
in the History of the MC2, but my placement of this event is by no means
definitive.
Shortly after this, we get a glimpse of a Scrier handing
over baby May to Norman Osborn. Norman cloned
the baby and ‘genetically tinkered’ with both to ensure they would eventually
manifest spider-powers. Later, Norman placed one of the babies
(May) into the care of his good friend Philippe DeJunae.
Retaining the other baby (later known as April) himself, Norman ‘added
a few more enhancements’ including using cells from Venom aka Eddie
Brock’s alien symbiote which
transformed the other infant into a unique hybrid. Also around this time, Norman
also distilled all his thoughts, dreams and desires, his entire essence into his
‘brain-enhancer’ as part of his unfinished plan to make Peter his successor
(Amazing Spider-Girl #29).
Kaine’s months-long mission
across the
globe brings him into conflict with the
Brotherhood of Scriers.
After defeating the group of
Scriers,
Kaine makes
short work of their leader before taking possession of baby
May from
Monsieur
Philippe DeJunae. Unbeknownst to
Kaine,
Norman had
orchestrated the encounter to ensure
Kaine would return
May to
her parents and allow him to continue his
Project: Changeling experiments
with the second baby, which
Osborn intended to put into effect
within a year or two if his scheme proceeded as planned (
Amazing Spider-Girl
#25).
Kaine returns May to Mary
Jane and assures her there are tests she can perform to confirm she’s
not being tricked. Kaine states he is doing this as part of
the debt he owes to Ben Reilly, indicating his intention to punish
the man responsible: Norman Osborn. Kaine’s revenge
ultimately does not come to pass (Spider-Girl #48-#49).
Norman seemingly splits his time between New York
and Europe throughout all this, at least initially, as evidenced by his work
on Project: Changeling in the Swiss Alps and his conflict with
the Hobgoblin in New York, to name a few examples. Additionally,
after their baby daughter May is returned, Peter and Mary Jane
make no mention of Norman and his machinations in the Mr. and Mrs.
Spider-Man stories (Amazing Spider-Man #1-#4). This may indicate
that Osborn had left New York by this point, giving the Parkers a
time of relative peace while he put his plans into action. This in turn perhaps
better explains Norman’s movements: He was in New York until he had
arranged for Kaine to retrieve May and moved to Europe while focused
on Project: Changeling.
It’s unclear exactly how much time passes but at some point,
Osborn returns to New York and recruits Mattie
Franklin, Greg Herd, Cassandra Webb (aka Madame
Web) and Morris Maxwell as willingly participants in
the Gathering of Five ritual. As Spider-Man, Peter interrupts Norman
Osborn’s Gathering of Five ritual and the pair have their
final battle in which Peter loses his leg
and Norman loses his life when the latter detonates a webbed
pumpkin bomb in his hand. Deciding he has more important responsibilities as a
father, Peter retires as Spider-Man (What
If #105, Spider-Girl #7, Spider-Girl #49).
.
While this would usually be the end for anyone else, Norman’s
brain-waves survived within his ‘brain-enhancer’ device until Rene
DeSantos dispatched Fury, the Goblin Queen to capture Peter
Parker. Norman Osborn’s brain-waves were transferred into Peter’s
body and the original Green Goblin was reborn once more. Norman
revealed his ultimate goal when he used the hybrid symbiote-clone of May
to combine with himself, becoming the ‘Goblin God’. Unfortunately for
him, Spider-Girl also joined in this merging and in a combined effort,
managed to defeat and drive Osborn from Peter’s body, seemingly ending
his legacy for good (Amazing Spider-Girl #27-#30).
While this post only details the direct appearances of
Norman
Osborn in the MC2, there is still much left to discuss regarding his
influence upon others. But that can wait for another day and another post. For
now, let us leave Norman to his fate. If you feel I’ve forgotten anything or
perhaps disagree with my placement of events, please reach out and let me know!
Until I find time to get to the cinema to see the Green
Goblin’s theatrical return, I remain
frogoat
