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While his dad might be called Spider-Man’s greatest villain, Harry Osborn strikes Peter Parker and his allies exactly where it hurts the most.
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Amazing Spider-Man #73, on sale now from Marvel Comics.
Norman Osborn, the first Green Goblin, has sat at the top of the list of Spider-Man’s greatest enemies. As a criminal genius with access to vast resources and an arsenal of deadly inventions, Norman is also armed with a unique awareness of Spider-Man’s true identity as Peter Peter. Over the years, he’s wielded these skills and this knowledge together to wreak absolute havoc on Peter’s life over the course of their long and bitter rivalry.
Ironically, both Norman’s position as Spider-Man’s most dangerous villain and his own personal life have recently found themselves under assault by an unexpected enemy: Harry Osborn, his own son. While Harry was originally one of Peter’s closest friends, events outside of his control sent Harry down the same villainous path as his father, and the things that Harry has done to hurt Peter are more devastating than anything Norman could have ever dreamed.
As the Green Goblin, Norman was one of the first villains Spider-Man faced. While the two were initially unaware of who the other really was, Norman eventually discovered Peter’s secret identity by manipulating a low-level gang into spraying Spider-Man with a gas that neutralized his Spider-Sense, allowing Norman to stalk his nemesis in secret. Upon learning that his archnemesis was his son’s best friend, Norman attacks Peter directly by kidnapping his girlfriend Gwen Stacy. In the fight that follows, Norman murders Gwen by throwing her over the side of the Brooklyn Bridge. Norman is supposedly killed soon afterward when impales himself trying to kill Spider-Man with his Goblin Glider.
Norman survives thanks to the regenerative properties of the Goblin Formula and goes into hiding in Europe for many years. There, he arranges and enacts a complicated scheme meant to ruin Peter’s life beyond any hope of repair, which plays out over the events of the infamous “Clone Saga.” By manipulating events from the shadows, Norman tricked Peter into believing that he was actually a clone created by the Jackal and that his clone, now known as Ben Reilly, had been the original Peter Parker all along. Although Peter genuinely believed this for a time, Peter eventually discovers the truth, reclaims his identity and defeats Norman. Nevertheless, Norman manages to claim one final victory over Peter by abducting (and possibly killing) his and Mary Jane Watson’s newborn daughter.
While Norman’s attacks on Peter have been ruthless, the campaign of terror his son launches against his former best friend upon his descent into villainy rivals his father’s in every way. Unlike Norman, who usually had motives for his crimes that were unrelated to harming Spider-Man, Harry’s entire career as the Green Goblin is built around menacing Peter and his family. One of Harry’s most ruthless plans involves the supposed return of Peter’s deceased parents Richard and Mary, who would reintegrate themselves into their son’s life before revealing themselves to be androids created by the Chameleon on Harry’s orders. The shock of the reveal and the android’s traumatic self-destruction pushed Peter to the edge of sanity.
Harry’s career as the Green Goblin would also end with his supposed death. But thanks to a bargain Norman made with Mephisto Harry is resurrected as the demonic Kindred, who follows in his father’s footsteps by enacting an elaborate revenge scheme targeting Peter’s personal life. Amazing Spider-Man #73 by Nick Spencer, Ze Carlos, Carlos Gomez, Marcello Ferreira, Alex Sinclair, and Joe Carmagna reveals that Kindred was the true mastermind behind J. Michael Straczynski and Mike Deodato’s much-maligned “Sins Past” storyline; Harry used Mysterio to implant false memories of an affair between his father and Gwen Stacy in Norman and Mary Jane’s minds and created clones who believed that they were the children of that affair, tainting Peter and Mary Jane’s memory of Gwen and making Norman look like even more of a monster than he already was.
Harry’s actions as the Green Goblin and Kindred show a frightening level of dedication to destroying Peter psychologically. With Harry toping all of this off by holding Mary Jane hostage, Norman’s position as Spider-Man’s archenemy has just been stolen by the son he’d always underestimated.
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