Green Goblin #6
The Devil Made Me Do It
The Green Goblin has been spending all night tailing Judge Elias Tomb, a crooked judge who ordered his uncle, Phil Urich, beaten up. The Goblin is suddenly started by the voice of someone calling out to him nearby and crashes on a nearby rooftop. It turns out to be the vigilante known as Daredevil. The Goblin starts to panic and insists that he is not a villain like the past Green Goblins. Daredevil assures him that he isn't looking for a fight and that he is after the same thing as the Goblin: helping Ben Urich.[1] Daredevil then takes the Goblin to a nearby dive bar to look for information. Daredevil brazenly walks through the front door and tells the patrons to carry on their business as he is only looking to speak with Bennie the Broker. When Bennie tries to run for it, he runs into the Goblin who acts like he is going to seriously harm the stoolie. That's when Daredevil gets between the two of them, reinforcing the act by pleading with the Goblin not to harm Bennie. Bennie caves and tells them that he brokered a deal for Judge Tombs to hire an out-of-state assassin known as Purge.
The next day, at the Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson is in a frenzy after news that Spider-Man stole a skeleton in a Spider-Man costume from the city morgue. Jonah has come to the conclusion that this Spider-Man is an impostor who killed and replaced the original.[2] This happens to be the very moment that Phil trips and bumps into Jonah, prompting the publisher to berate him. As he scrambles to pick up all the papers scattered on the floor, Urich is assisted by Lynn Walsh the intern that he has a crush once since he started working for the Bugle. Trying to muster up the guts to ask Lynn out, Phil is suddenly yanked away by his Uncle Ben who has work to do and needs Phil's help. They soon arrive at the city morgue where Ben asks questions about the theft of the skeleton. As they leave, Phil wonders where Daredevil is since he promised to watch over his Uncle Ben, but hasn't seen a single sign of the Man Without Fear. Despite Phil's doubts, Daredevil is watching, and as a master of stealth remains unseen by anybody. When Ben stops to check his messages, he tells Phil that he is setting up a meeting with a snitch who has some dirt on Judge Tombs.
Figuring his uncle is going to be set up again, Phil gets the details and rushes home to change into the Green Goblin. At the meeting place, the Goblin watches his Uncle Ben through the enhanced lenses of his Goblin mask. That's when he is joined by Daredevil who manages to sneak up on and startle the Green Goblin again. Before the Goblin can berate the veteran hero, Daredevil tells the Goblin that the assassin is a few blocks away. The Goblin follows his ally and they soon come upon Purge who is just about to take a shot on Ben Urich. Purge is none to happy to have his moment to make a name for himself on the New York market interrupted by a pair of costumed heroes and opens fire on them. Hearing the gunshots, Ben Urich realizes that he may be in danger and decides to leave and refocus his efforts on the Spider-Man story instead. Back on the rooftops, Purge continues shooting at the two heroes but they are too fast. Daredevil comes in for the attack and tries to kick Purge in the head. However, the assassin manages to catch the vigilante's leg and throws him over the side of the building. When Purge opens fire on Daredevil, the Green Goblin quickly sends his Goblin Glider to act as a shield for his ally.
That's when the Goblin tosses a pumpkin bomb at Purge, sending him over the other side of the building. The villain manages to break his fall by grabbing onto some nearby electrical wires but is still at risk of falling. The Green Goblin is willing to let him fall, but Daredevil insists that they save his life as they don't have the right to play judge, jury, and executioner.[3] However, this debate in ethics goes on too long and Purge loses his grip. Thankfully for him, Daredevil's words have an impact on the Goblin who swoops down and rescues the imperiled assassin. Despite this rescue, Purge attempts to shoot the Goblin again only to be knocked out when the hero slams him onto the ledge. This sours the Goblin's mood who points out that although he did the "right thing", Daredevil has no way of confirming that Judge Tombs won't just send another assassin out to try and kill Urich. Still, the Goblin wants to level the playing field. To do so, he takes on of Pruge's weapons and throws it through Tomb's window and departs while unleashing his Lunatic Laugh in order to instill fear into the heart of Tombs and make him think twice about going after Urich again.
That next day at the Daily Bugle, Phil is still patting himself on the back for a job well done when a woman comes in looking for his uncle. Ben is out of the office at the moment so Phil asks her if he can help. The woman introduces herself as Liz Osborn, the widow of Harry Osborn and the last Green Goblin.[4] She has come to talk to Ben so she can learn everything she can about this new Green Goblin, saying that he stole the equipment created by her late husband and she wants to get it back.
Continuity Notes
Daredevil states that hero vs. hero battles went out in the 80s. This should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616.
The situation is far more complicated than that:
In Amazing Spider-Man #149, the Jackal created a clone of Spider-Man. The clone seemingly died and was disposed of in a smokestack in Amazing Spider-Man #151. The clone survived later resurfacing again in Web of Spider-Man #117.
At the time of this story, Ben Reilly a clone of Peter Parker is active as Spider-Man, after being tricked into thinking he was the original in The Spectacular Spider-Man #226 and Peter Parker retired from the role in The Spectacular Spider-Man #229.
This skeleton was discovered in the smokestack in Sensational Spider-Man #2, the same story in which it was stolen by Spider-Man. Further throwing the identities of Peter Parker and Ben Reilly into question.
In reality, this is all part of a complex, years-long scheme created by the Green Goblin. Ben Reilly is really a clone, as is the skeleton found in the smokestack. It was a failed clone created by the Jackal who dumped it in the smokestack to further confuse Peter Parker. This will all be revealed in Spider-Man: The Osborn Journal #1.
Seeing Purge almost die, Daredevil says "not again", this is in reference to how Daredevil was unable to stop the Punisher from murdering Nick Fury in Double Edge Omega #1. It was later revealed that this wasn't the real Nick Fury but a Life Model Decoy as seen in Fury/Agent 13 #1.
At the time of this story, everyone thinks that Harry Osborn is dead following the events of The Spectacular Spider-Man #200. However, unknown to everyone at the time, Harry survived as explained in Amazing Spider-Man #581. He will resurface again in Amazing Spider-Man #545.
