Harry Osborn in the MC2

 

*This post was intended to be uploaded in time for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 but was delayed several times for various reasons. Hopefully you still get something out of it.*

 

With Sony and Insomniac Games’ release of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 on Playstation 5, I thought I might take the opportunity to delve into a related character who appears in the video game; today I want to look at Harry Osborn in the MC2 and his impact on his son.

 

First, some basic information: Harry Osborn first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #31 alongside his friend and fellow former Standard High student Gwen Stacy, who are both unintentionally ignored by Peter Parker. Later, Peter would befriend Harry and date Gwen. How things change!

 

 

Norman Osborn first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #14 as the villain the Green Goblin, in his civilian identity (albeit unidentified) in Amazing Spider-Man #23 before being named and revealed as Harry’s father in Amazing Spider-Man #37. Norman’s apparent death in Amazing Spider-Man #122 is the catalyst for a great many things, prominent among them is Harry’s discovery of his father’s villainous alter ego and later, the revelation that Peter was Spider-Man (Amazing Spider-Man #135). This would lead Harry to assume the identity of the Green Goblin himself, beginning in Amazing Spider-Man #136-#137.

 

 

Following this, Harry would be institutionalised and placed under the care of psychiatrist Dr. Bart Hamilton, who hypnotised Harry and learned all about the Green Goblin before assuming the identity for himself only to die shortly afterwards in an explosion. As a result of Hamilton’s treatment, Harry would lose his memory of Spider-Man’s secret identity (Amazing Spider-Man #151, #167, #177-#180).

 

Resuming a relatively normal existence, Harry marries Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Allan off-panel, as revealed in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man (vol. 1) #63. Harry and Liz eventually have a baby together in Amazing Spider-Man #263 whom they name ‘Norman Harry Osborn’ in Amazing Spider-Man #265. If you are reading this post you almost certainly know the significant role ‘Normie’ plays in the MC2.

 

Suffering a mental breakdown partly due to the events of Inferno and partly as a result of moving into his old family home, Harry’s repressed memories of his father’s alter ego and his own stint as the Green Goblin return and he reassumes the identity of the Green Goblin to battle the Hobgoblin (Jason Macendale) when he threatens Liz and Normie (Spectacular Spider-Man (vol. 1) #146, Web of Spider-Man #47, Amazing Spider-Man #312).

 

Things come to a head after a brief and misguided attempt at heroism as the Green Goblin is ended by Spider-Man, with Harry finally remembering his friend Peter Parker is Spider-Man (Web of Spider-Man #67). Hearing voices, Harry soon begins seeing visions of his father, Norman Osborn, scolding him for how he is raising Normie, which are countered by visions of Peter as Spider-Man until Harry’s psyche sides with his father, and he launches an attack on Spider-Man (Spectacular Spider-Man #177-#180).

 

After inducing a hallucinogenic and traumatic trip caused by one of Harry’s pumpkin bombs and an encounter with Vermin, Spider-Man has a revelation and offers up his own life to Harry, causing the latter to flee, conflicted, but threatens he will reveal Peter’s secret identity (Spectacular Spider-Man #181-#184).

 

After disappearing for a time, Harry returns and begins playing mind games with Peter, having exposed himself to a version of the Green Goblin Formula (Spectacular Spider-Man #188). As the Green Goblin, Harry kidnaps Liz, Liz’s step-brother Mark Raxton and Normie and forces them all to sit down for a family dinner but is defeated by Spider-Man and taken by the authorities in a series of very notable panels (Spectacular Spider-Man #189).

 

In Spectacular Spider-Man #190, Harry is undergoing sessions with Dr. Ashley Kafka but these do not appear to be going well. The Rhino aka Alexsei Sytsevitch is hired by Harry to attack Peter Parker in an assault on his friend’s personal life, a move which will become his trademark. Enraged, Peter changes into Spider-Man and brutally beats the Rhino. Transferred to the Vault prison, Harry learns from a visiting Liz that the charges against him are likely to be dropped as much of the evidence relates to his father, Norman’s actions as the Green Goblin instead. Evidently unwell because of the Goblin Formula, Harry breaks free of his restraints and tells Liz not to let Normie become weak. After being confined, Harry smiles about the news of Peter’s parents apparent return from the dead, something we’ll later learn was another of Harry’s long game manipulations (Amazing Spider-Man #369)

 

Peter gets a big surprise when he returns home to find Harry has been released and the charges against him dropped. The shock encounter and lingering threat causes a fight between Peter and Mary Jane which ends with Mary Jane storming out only to be captured by Harry the Green Goblin (Spectacular Spider-Man #199).

 

 

Taken to the bridge where Gwen Stacy was killed by Norman Osborn, Harry promises Mary Jane she has nothing to fear from the Green Goblin regardless of what happens between him and Peter. He brings Mary Jane back home and after a tense confrontation with Peter, returns to his own home downstairs where he flies into a rage, threatening Liz when she tries to convince him to seek help (Spectacular Spider-Man #200).

 

Over the following weeks, dressed as the Green Goblin, Harry begins following Peter as a form of intimidation. He approaches J Jonah Jameson and tells him he is establishing the Norman Osborn Foundation to do charitable work and restore his father’s name in the process. In truth, Harry plans to detonate explosives at the Foundation’s opening gala and level a city block. Mary Jane’s attempts to reach both Liz who is in complete denial and Harry fail and the Green Goblin and Spider-Man engage in a brutal battle. Harry reveals the Goblin Forumla he took was different from his father’s, one that hadn’t been finished when Norman died (Spectacular Spider-Man #200).

 

Drugging Spider-Man, Harry begins the countdown with the intent of killing them both in the explosion, believing the world and their loved ones will better off without them. Suddenly realizing Mary Jane and Normie are still in the building and with Spider-Man barely able to move, Harry races to save them. Returning to rescue his best friend, Harry manages to get Peter out moments before the whole building is destroyed only to collapse to the ground. Realizing the experimental Goblin Formula was the cause, Harry dies soon after, holding Peter’s hand (Spectacular Spider-Man #200).

 

 

Harry’s mental illness and death would go on to leave a deep scar on the psyche of young Normie Osborn, with his hatred for Spider-Man manifesting in his violent play with Spider-Man toys and years later when he assumed the identity of the Green Goblin himself to seek revenge beginning with What If #105, in which he is defeated by May ‘Mayday’ Parker aka Spider-Girl.

 

Undergoing psychological treatment with Dr Fowkes, Normie recounts a reoccurring dream resembling a fairy tale. In the dream he envisions his grandfather Norman as a kind and generous king killed by the monstrous Spider-Man and his father Harry as the son of the king who is also killed before the kings return and eventual final death. Normie says he sees himself as the kings grandson, destined to triumph over ‘evil’. However, this retelling of the same dream is part of a plan to lure the guards into a false sense of security and aid his escape with a fail-safe switch he’d built to call his Goblin Glider. This ‘dream’ suggests Normie was, in some twisted sense, aware of his family’s dark history even if his child-like tale portrayed his father and grandfather as the heroes (Spider-Girl #19).

 

 

Undergoing new psychological treatment under a Dr Lorch, Normie admits he feels happiness was never an option for him and that it was always assumed he’d follow after his father and grandfather as a costumed criminal and eventually die as they did. Seemingly accepting the opportunity to change his perceived destiny and live a long and fulfilled life, Normie instead ties up his doctor and again escapes, intending to end the Spider-Goblin War with the death of himself or Spider-Girl (Spider-Girl #26).

 

Having easily captured the recently de-powered Mayday, Normie taunts and provokes her before brandishing a knife. Normie argues that the two of them must battle until one of them dies but May challenges this by reminding him of how their father’s were friends until the end. May tells Normie she wont give up on him and that she would never kill him, to which Normie declares he wishes she had if only to spare them the grief. May realizes that Normie was hoping she’d break free and kill him in the struggle over the knife because he too can’t bring himself to kill her either. Normie cuts Mayday free and the two embrace, having done what their parents couldn’t and ended the war between their families without bloodshed (Spider-Girl #27).

 

Having been shot four times by the super-criminal assassin Mr Nobody, Normie lay in a coma on the verge of death. A vision of his grandfather Norman appeared before him and violently confronted him about his betrayal, telling Normie he’d failed just like his father. Just then a vision of Harry steps between them to protect his son but soon proves no match for Norman who berates him by telling him his death was a result of choosing Peter and Mary Jane over his father. Fortunately, the spirit of Liz, Normie’s mother drives Norman away and gives her son the choice to keep fighting or pass on. Normie chooses life (Spider-Girl #63).

 

Harry Osborn may have died while his son Normie was young but his impact lingers in varied ways, both for better or for ill in the form of the shadow of the Green Goblin. His tortured life and upbringing led him down a dark path but he still managed to die a good man. These effects are seen through Normie’s own struggle with mental illness, grief and the weight of his family’s legacy. A huge thanks to arias-98105 and The Green Goblin’s Hideout fansite.

 

Until I get a post out on time, I remain

 

frogoat

Moonshadow: Kraven's Daughter

 

With Sony and Insomniac Games’ release of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 on Playstation 5, I thought now was the most opportune time to take a quick look at something the game touches on itself: the Kravinoff Family. No, today we won’t be doing a Family Tree, but instead we’ll be talking about a character who didn’t make it to the printed page: Kraven’s daughter in the MC2. Let me explain.

 

Among the many unused ideas and concepts conceived by Ron Frenz, shared on his own Facebook page is ‘Gazelle Kravenoff’ aka Moonshadow, and I quote Ron here ‘The daughter of Kraven the Hunter and Calypso!’

 

Now a quick history for everyone! Kraven the Hunter first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #15, created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Kraven’s real name ‘Sergei Kravinoff’ was apparently first revealed in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Deluxe Edition #7 from 1986, though it should be noted that the initial 1983 volume of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (vol. 1) #6 gave Kraven’s real name as ‘Sergei Kravin’ and makes what I believe is the first reference to his Russian heritage and parents, the latter of which are strangely absent from the Deluxe Edition’s list of known relatives.

 

Writer J.M. DeMatteis and artists Mike Zeck and Bob McLeod gave the world Kraven’s definitive depiction in the critically acclaimed 1987 story Fearful Symmetry: Kraven’s Last Hunt published in six parts across all three Spider-Man titles at the time in Web of Spider-Man #31-32, Amazing Spider-Man #293-294 and Spectacular Spider-Man #131-132. The story simultaneously elevated Kraven’s status among Spider-Man’s rogues gallery by having the hunter bury the hero alive and assume his identity and remains impactful for its psychological explorations of both men ultimately culminating in Kraven ending his own life.

 

As for Calypso, she’s a Haitian Voodoo priestess and lover of Kraven’s, created by writer Denny O’Neil and penciller Alan Weiss. First appearing in Amazing Spider-Man #209, Calypso would later gain notoriety in the Torment storyline when she enthralled The Lizard aka Curt Connors and forced him to commit murder in a plot to kill Spider-Man following Kraven’s death (Spider-Man #1-5). While she has always been known as Calypso, the character’s full name was first revealed as ‘Calypso Ezili’ in 1991’s Gamer’s Handbook of the Marvel Universe Volume 7. Ezili is a variant spelling for a member of the Vodou or Voodoo pantheon of spirits.

 

We don’t have many additional details for Gazelle’s character, and Ron himself mentions during an interview for the podcast Make Mine Mayday Episode 43 he didn’t even pitch the concept to Spider-Girl co-creator Tom Defalco. What’s noteworthy is her alternative name, Moonshadow, which is a direct reference to Kraven’s Last Hunt writer J.M. DeMatteis’ creator-owned series of the same name, itself a reference to the song by singer/songwriter Cat Stevens. Talk about fearful symmetry!

 

That’s all I have for you all today. If there’s an opportunity to delve further into the Kravinoff Family Tree, I’d jump at the chance so just let me know! Perhaps Gazelle aka Moonshadow will see print someday? A very big ‘thank you’ to arias-98105, Ron Frenz, the Make Mine Mayday podcast and the Marvel Appendix without which this post wouldn’t have been possible.

 

Until I dig myself out of a grave after being buried for two weeks, I remain

 

frogoat