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A reboot of Spider-Man’s origin story once had two of his classic villains become cousins.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is currently in theatres, and fans and cinema-goers everywhere are praising the film for how it both takes the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of Peter Parker forward, whilst paying homage to the previous Spider-Man film series. One thing many people have praised is the return of classic Spider-Man villains from the previous films, two of which are the Green Goblin and Sandman. What many fans may not know is that these two characters were once revealed to be related.
Yes, that’s right, at one point Norman Osborn and Flint Marko were once second-cousins, at least in the rebooted continuity of Spider-Man: Chapter One by penciler/writer John Byrne. Strangely, this rather huge retcon of the two major villains’ history never seems to be brought up again or explored by writers since. Let’s look at this bizarre retcon and see if there’s any interesting narrative potential to explore, or is it better left abandoned?
Spider-Man: Chapter One was intended to be an updated retelling of Spider-Man’s origin and early days as a teenage superhero. Byrne had previously handled a similar retelling/reboot of Superman’s origins at DC Comics with his acclaimed The Man of Steel which saw him revise DC’s flagship character’s origins and characters for the modern era. Predictably, Marvel thought that Byrne could similarly update the early Stan Lee and Steve Ditko tales for the ‘90s generation.
From the get-go, Byrne’s remastering of iconic Spider-Man stories does not just retell his origin, but attempts to streamline it so that events are more interconnected. For instance, the radioactive spider that ends up giving Peter Parker his spider powers is caused by the same science-related accident that causes Otto Octavius to become Doctor Octopus. Norman Osborn is also more directly involved with the creation of several of Spider-Man’s rogues’ gallery, instead of freak accidents being the sole reason for them gaining their powers. One of the criminals he hires for his project is his distant cousin, Flint Marko, who is a blood relative from a distant great-grandmother. This is revealed when Norman goes to Flint (now the Sandman) with a proposition to work together to try and kill Spider-Man.
Deciding that these two characters should be related is a bizarre but interesting decision on the part of Byrne. Both Sandman and Green Goblin, while prominent stars in Spidey’s rogues-gallery, are both very different characters and have contrasting personalities. Flint Marko is sometimes portrayed as a reluctant career criminal with a conscience, sometimes wishing to end his life of crime and looking for a second chance, even becoming a hero and joining the Avengers at one point. Norman on the other hand, while suffering from psychosis, is normally portrayed as irredeemable. Even without his Goblin persona, the CEO of Oscorp is portrayed as corrupt and ruthless, elements that his unhinged alter-ego personality only amplify in various stories featuring the character.
While there was some potential for creating this family dynamic between the two villains, writers ultimately ended up not doing anything with it. This may be due in part that the justification for making them cousins is due to them having a similar hairstyle, which may have made creators question the merit of this decision. But this is mostly due to the fact that Chapter One has not been referenced since its original run and that Marvel ultimately decided the original Lee/Ditko stories remained canon. While no writers have retconned the family link between Green Goblin and Sandman, the fact it has not been referenced means it is unlikely to be a plot element to be brought again anytime soon.
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