The Evolution of Stinger in Video Games

Here's my latest addition to the MC2 Evolution video series over on YouTube. Naturally, the series is focused on MC2 characters and those who originate in this alternate universe. In the case of Cassie Lang, who first appeared in the Main Marvel Universe, I've focused on only the video game appearances of her MC2-originated alter-ego Stinger, because obviously kid Cassie appears in many other works and adaptions and there are derivatives of those derivatives. Basically, this allowed me to draw the line somewhere so I could focus on making the video. Hopefully my reasoning makes sense.

Anyway, enjoy and leave any suggestions below!

Until I find more time to produce these videos, I remain

frogoat

Phil Urich: Secret Villain? (MC2 Theory)

 

 

Phil Urich is something of an anomaly in the generations-long line of Green Goblin’s. Despite his alias, he strived to be heroic and help others. But what if I told you, that may not have always been the case in the history of the MC2? Today I want to discuss a theory that I am sure some readers have had. This theory might have even proved true at some point in the Main Marvel Universe’s own history, if not for editorial interference: Was Phil Urich secretly a villain?

 

First, a brief history lesson! Phil Urich was the fourth character to take up the mantle of the Green Goblin, but the first to primarily use his abilities for good. First appearing in Web of Spider-Man #125, we don’t learn Phil’s origin until his solo title in the pages of Green Goblin #1. While helping his uncle reporter Ben Urich investigate an old hideout of Harry Osborn’s during his latter stint as the Green Goblin, Phil inadvertently uncovers a hidden cache containing new Goblin equipment, costumes and designs. One such design of Harry’s included a Goblin mask which directly stimulating their brain to activate the wearers Goblin Formula-derived powers. Phil is accidentally drenched in the Goblin Formula and shortly after uses the high-tech Goblin mask to save his Uncle Ben by scaring the gang members and Phil makes the decision to use these powers for good. One of these new abilities includes his distinctive ‘Lunatic Laugh’.

 

After a brief stint as the good Green Goblin, including encounters with the likes of Angel Face, Phil’s Glider and Goblin mask was irreparably damaged during a battle with a Sentinel amid the events of Onslaught. Seemingly unable to access his Goblin powers without the mask to activate them, Phil soon after retired from heroics and returned to college after losing his intern job at the Daily Bugle (Green Goblin #12-#13, Amazing Spider-Man #422, #425).

 

The last time we see Phil Urich in the Main Marvel Universe prior to the major divergence of events we know occurred to lead into the MC2 is a small appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #433. Here’s where I pivot and discuss a mysterious new Green Goblin who debuts in Peter Parker: Spider-Man #88. This Goblin is next seen in Sensational Spider-Man #25; their face obscured as they are subjected to a ‘final treatment’ by Norman Osborn’s agent Dr Angst which will enable them ‘to become [The Green Goblin] again!’ Shortly after, Norman Osborn arranges for this Goblin to kidnap his own grandson Normie Osborn as part of a plot to distance himself from his villainous identity in the minds of the public. Notably, this new Goblin is a poor combatant and has difficulty on his glider.

This Green Goblin was also used by Norman Osborn during his conflict with the original Hobgoblin Roderick Kingsley in the fantastic ‘Goblin at the Gate’ story seen in Spectacular Spider-Man #259-#261. During this arc, we see more of this Green Goblin’s less than stellar ability in combat and while riding his glider but more importantly, he is apparently very much under the control of Norman Osborn. After performing poorly against Kingsley and being unmasked (though not identified) by Spider-Man, Norman threatens to ensure he ‘loses something far more valuable’.

 

This is the last time we see this incarnation of the Green Goblin prior the Spider-Man titles reboot where after going unmentioned for some time and despite the clues provided previously, the character is revealed to be literally no one at all; a genetic construct of Norman’s. Not only was this an unsatisfying resolution, it ignored the established information readers were given (Amazing Spider-Man and Peter Parker: Spider-Man (vol.2) #18).

 

Now let’s look at an alternative resolution to this mystery, one that could have played out in the Main Marvel Universe if not for editorial interference and one that just might have occurred in the MC2! A flashback in Spider-Girl #97 depicts a scene from Spectacular Spider-Man #261 confirming that at least the events established prior to this occurred in both the MC2 and the Main Marvel Universe. What’s interesting- though possibly unintentional -is that the Green Goblin’s glove is depicted as fingerless thanks to the colouring. This is curious because Phil was the only Green Goblin to use fingerless gloves.

 

In Part 33 of the brilliant Life of Reilly column (which can still be found online here and here) editor and writer Glenn Greenberg discussed with Andrew Goletz his brief mention of Phil’s Green Goblin in the one-shot Spider-Man: The Osborn Journal (I refuse to misspell it!) and his personal belief that Norman should have ‘taken action against Phil for daring to take on the Goblin identity’. Further to this, Greenberg adds he ‘had plans for this to happen in a later Spider-Man story line I wrote, called “Goblins at the Gate.” The story line saw print, but the Phil Urich element was dropped at the request of the editor.’ With this in mind, Norman’s new Green Goblin lackey makes far more sense, don’t you think? Due credit, this point was brought up by Minor Irritant in a profile for this fifth Green Goblin over on the Marvel Appendix.

 

So, I propose that Norman Osborn took his revenge on Phil Urich for taking on the mantel of the Green Goblin and stealing from his son Harry’s hideout by either coercion or brainwashing. This would not only provide Norman a method for distancing himself from his villainous identity in the public eye, but also allows him to psychologically target the reporter largely responsible for outing him to the public: Ben Urich, Phil’s own uncle. Obviously, this is just a theory that fits nicely with the ongoing stories being published at the time but I feel it does help to fill in the gaps for Phil’s own curiously undisclosed past in the MC2 between his tenure as the ‘good’ Goblin and his later attempt at heroism as the Blue Wail (Spider-Girl #3).

 

Considering we never learn how Phil regained his ability to use his ‘Lunatic Laugh’ without his Goblin mask (as seen in Spider-Girl #5), nor the details of how he obtained the distinctive scar upon his right cheek I feel there is a lot that could be explored here. If Phil were the fifth Green Goblin, it would stand to reason that he had some or all of his abilities reactivated following the treatments by Dr Angst and new gear provided by Norman Osborn. Supporting this, Norman’s grandson, Normie Osborn states ‘He [Norman Osborn] designed the special mask for us’ (Spider-Girl #93).

 

What doesn’t fit here is that the hideout containing the mask was Harry’s, not Norman’s. But Normie was a child at the time and wouldn’t know all the details, so why does he think Norman designed the mask at all? It would make sense for Norman to make his own version of the hi-tech mask so that the treatments Dr Angst used to re-empower Phil could be just as easily stripped away, allowing him more control over his lackey? I can certainly imagine a climactic battle wherein Phil’s mask is again damaged (and along with it his face scarred) in battle with Spider-Man. Wild speculation here but this could also help to strengthen the connection between Peter and Phil, explaining how they came to be such close friends and colleagues.

 

As I mentioned, I can’t take credit for this one because I’m certainly not the one who conceived of the idea but it is one I enjoyed expanding upon and working into an MC2 theory. It neatly ties up loose ends from a period in the Spider-Man books that were abruptly cut short. Furthermore, I like the way it deepens Phil’s connection to the Goblin legacy without him being outright evil and it would go some way toward explaining his overwhelming desire to do good afterwards under various monikers. Anyway, it’s just a theory, an MC2 Theory. Thanks for reading!

 

Until I find a crazier theory to outdo this one, I remain

 

frogoat

The Fisk Family Tree

 

I said back when I wrote about The Kingpin in the MC2 that I should have made the post when it was most relevant. This time, I’m going to try and seize the recent resurgence in popularity of Wilson Fisk thanks to his appearance in the Hawkeye series on Disney+ by bringing back my series of MC2 Family Trees. Here is the Fisk Family Tree.

 

Wilson Fisk aka the Kingpin of Crime first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #50 in 1967 but we didn’t learn of his origins until far later. In 1993’s flashback series Daredevil: The Man Without Fear #3 we find Wilson Fisk working for the Maggia Crime Family boss Don Rigoletto. We witness the moment Fisk takes control of the various gang leaders not only here but with added context in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man #-1 written by the legendary Tom Defalco in 1997. Needless to say, from here on out Wilson would be known as the Kingpin of Crime, a title he would hold until his death in the MC2 as seen in Spider-Girl #63-64

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Vanessa Fisk is first mentioned in Amazing Spider-Man #69 and makes an obscured cameo in Amazing Spider-Man #70 before her proper first full appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #83. While we don’t know a great deal about Vanessa, we get some details in the Marvel Graphic Novel: Daredevil Love and War written by Frank Miller. There Wilson recounts that Vanessa was brought to him at age 15 as an amnesiac by his ‘band of petty thieves’ as chattel twenty years prior. This would make Vanessa around 35 years old during the events of that story.

 

Richard Fisk made his debut in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man #83 under the mask of The Kingpin’s rival The Schemer, only revealing his true face in Amazing Spider-Man #85. Richard would go on to use many aliases through the years, including The Supreme Hydra, The Rose and The Blood Rose. In Web of Spider-Man #86 we learn that when he was a child, Vanessa would shield him from the life of his criminal father. Richard watched Vanessa’s health deteriorating through the years with the strain of her relationship to Wilson until he was sent away to school in Europe. While it appears Richard first learned of his father’s criminal empire when The Kingpin was outed in the news, this issue seems to suggest Richard may have known at some capacity and was simply shamed when it was made public. Either way, Richard faked his death and assumed the identity of The Schemer to oppose his father while posing as a crime lord. It stands to reason that Richard couldn’t have been more than 18 or 19 years of age given that his parents only met 20 years prior.

It’s worth noting the MC2’s Kingpin’s origins are briefly depicted during his dying vision on the operating table in Spider-Girl #63. Here learn he was an overweight young man from a poor family and no one ever liked him until he grew tired of being beaten and began to lift weights and study martial arts, becoming an intimidating figure. We also see the aforementioned death of Rigoletto at Fisk’s hands. It’s also during Wilson’s vision that he is confronted by his son and wife and we learn that they are both already dead. The MC2 diverges from the Main Marvel Universe prior to Richard’s death in 2002’s Daredevil (Vol.2) #31 but it’s entirely possible events unfolded in a similar way. Additionally, Vanessa didn’t even die in the Main Marvel Universe until years after this issue was published in Daredevil (Vol. 2) #92-#93, meaning the MC2 predicted her demise.

 

It seems obvious that the life of a crime boss is destined to leave a man lonely and eventually end in tragedy for the whole family. That’s a wrap on this shorter MC2 Family Tree. I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know if you want me to cover another family in the near future.

 

Until I fake my own death in Switzerland only to return wearing an old man mask, I remain

 

frogoat