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As Spider-Man’s Sinister War rages on, Harry Osborn reveals the devastating true cost of his father’s deal with Marvel’s devil Mephisto.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Amazing Spider-Man #72, on sale now.
Ever since he was cleansed of his evil by the resurrected Sin-Eater, a reformed Norman Osborn has repeatedly found himself face-to-face with the consequences of his actions as both the ruthless CEO of Oscorp and the supervillain Green Goblin. One of the people most affected by Norman’s life choices is his son Harry, who was driven to inherit his father’s title as the Green Goblin because of the psychologically abusive upbringing Norman put him through.
But as Nick Spencer, Federico Vincentini, Ze Carlos, Marcelo Ferreira, Carlos Gomez, Alex Sinclair, and Joe Caramagna reveal in Amazing Spider-Man #72, a forgotten Spider-Man villain, an artificial intelligence modeled after Harry, revealed that Norman is even more responsible for his son’s tragic life than he remembered.
RELATED: Spider-Man: No Way Home’s True Villain Might Actually Be Mephisto – For Real
Following a series of clues left in the will of his late business partner and fellow supervillain Mendel Stromm, Norman arrives at a dilapidated building and discovers a secret Goblin lair that he doesn’t remember building. Here, Norman is confronted by a digital recreation of himself and Harry, which was created by his son during his tenure as the Green Goblin. The A.I. reveals that Norman’s transformation into the Green Goblin actually began long before Norman was exposed to the Goblin Formula. F
aced with financial ruin thanks to Stromm taking credit for Oscorp’s success a desperate Norman was approached by the devilish Mephisto, who offered Norman a deal; in exchange for his son’s soul, Norman would finally achieve the success he had spent his entire life striving for.
This “Cyber-Goblin” debuted in 1996’s Spider-Man: Legacy of Evil, by Kurt Busiek and Mark Texeira, a one-shot that further shows how deeply Norman’s actions affected his son’s life. The issue follows Daily Bugle reporter Ben Ulrich as he attempts the unravel the hereditary mystery of the Green Goblin. During his investigation into the Osborn family, Ben interviews Liz Allen, Harry’s wife and the mother of Norman’s grandson Normie. During their conversation, Normie is kidnapped by the Goblinettes, a trio of mysterious women wearing Goblin-inspired costumes who claim that the time has come for Normie to inherit “the Goblin Legacy.” Ben and Spider-Man team up to find and rescue Normie, with Spider-Man secretly that Normie’s kidnapping is only the most recent of several plots that the then-deceased Harry has enacted post-mortem. While Spider-Man investigates the Osborns’ ties within the criminal underworld Ben speaks to a number of people who knew Norman and Harry and learns more about their complicated relationship, as well as both Goblins’ personal vendettas against Spider-Man.
RELATED: Green Goblin: Why Norman Osborn Is Spider-Man’s Most Dangerous Villain
Spider-Man and Ben’s investigation eventually leads both of them to the Brooklyn Bridge, where Norman murdered Gwen Stacy. and discover that the Goblinettes are robots. Putting together the clues they’ve gathered, Ben and Spider-Man realize that there is only one person who could have enacted Harry’s plan: Liz. Returning to Liz’s apartment Spider-Man and Ben discover an entrance to a secret lab and are confronted by the A.I. who reveals that it plans on transforming Normie into the third Green Goblin and has brainwashed Liz to be his accomplice. Working together, Spider-Man and BEn stop the A.I. from lowering Normie into a vat full of Goblin Formula and snap Liz out of her mind control, with all four barely escaping the lab as the enraged A.I. seemingly destroys itself. Under the false impression that Norman and Harry are dead, Ben happily announces that the A.I.’s apparent destruction marks the end of the Green Goblin’s multi-generational reign of terror.
The A.I.’s return and the revelations it brings with it is yet another painful reminder of Norman’s mistreatment of his son. Norman’s deal with Mephisto is implied to be the cause of most of the misfortune Harry suffered throughout his life, from his addiction to drugs to his short-lived death. What’s more, Harry’s recent activities as Kindred are implied to be directly linked to Mephisto’s corruptive influence over his soul. Armed with this knowledge, Norman’s quest to stop his son’s rampage may become a matter of undoing the first transaction he ever made.
KEEP READING: Spider-Man: Kindred Reveals Why He Sent Marvel’s Villains Into Sinister War
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