Spider-Man: Revenge of the Green Goblin #1
Madness Takes it Toll
Recalling his last battle with Spider-Man, Norman Osborn — the Green Goblin — still can’t believe the facts. Thinking he had obtained ultimate power he thought he had destroyed Spider-Man. In reality, he was driven mad, and after detailing his plot to set off genetic bombs all over the world he was soundly defeated by Spider-Man in full view of the staff of the Daily Bugle.[1] Watching the footage of his defeat with Donald Menkin, his faithful assistant from Oscorp, Norman blames himself for what happened. The flaw in his plan was the Gathering of Five ceremony that gifted him with madness instead of the ultimate power he sought. This allowed Spider-Man to defeat him again and now he has to be fed a drug cocktail in order to maintain his sanity. Menkin promises Norman that they’ll find a better alternative. He then updates Norman on Spider-Man’s activities since his defeat. At first, it seemed like the wall-crawler was retiring but he had resurfaced in recent times.[2] Looking at the latest newspaper stories about the web-slinger, Norman is hardly surprised that the web-slinger came back, as he could never give up the life after defeating his greatest foe.[3]
When Norman’s nurse, Kolina Frederickson, enters the room, Donald gets upset because they were discussing private matters. However, Norman tells him to calm down and apologizes for him. He is instantly smitten by the woman and after she changes his IV bag, Doctor Bendix enters the room to give Norman the results of his PET scan. He tells Norman that the drugs they have been giving him have been reversing the effects of his insanity. This comes as a relief to Menkin who thinks about how he had to get the Brotherhood of Scriers to quickly recover Norman from Bellvue Hospital following his defeat by Spider-Man. Luckily, only two guards had seen Norman’s face and they were easily dealt with.[4] By the time they had gotten Norman to a safehouse he was becoming violent and his glad they were eventually able to secure the expertise of Doctor Albert Bendix to treat Osborn’s insanity. By this point, Norman is unhappy with rate of his treatment and reminds Betrix that he must be in full control when he finally destroys Spider-Man once and for all.
Over the coming weeks, Norman’s recovery continues and his treatment is upgraded so his drugs can be administered via a dermal patch. During this time he keeps track of Spider-Man’s activities, getting footage of his battles at Tri-Corp as well as newspaper stories.[5] That’s when he comes across a story about how Peter Parker’s wife, Mary Jane, has apparently died in a plane crash.[6] This convinces Osborn that now is the right time to strike back against his enemy. However, as Osborn gets better, he discovers that the Bugle isn’t reporting any Spider-Man news for some reason.[7] During this time, Kolina continues to care for Norman, making him feel things he hasn’t felt since his marriage to Emily. He thinks about how happy they were together until Harry was born. Emily later died before Harry was even a year old.[8] Before he is released from the safehouse, Norman convinces Kolina to come and work for him as his private-duty nurse. Frederickson gladly accepts the position and eventually, Norman returns to his mansion. After Kolina is sent with the maid to settle in, Donald expresses his concerns about inviting the woman back to his home, Norman angrily tells him that he knows what he is doing and orders Menkin not to interfere. That evening, Norman has a candlelight dinner prepared for Kolina and the pair dance in the dimly lit room. When Kolina asks if it is safe to dance in the dark, Norman assures her that there is nothing to be afraid of in the dark, remarking that it was something that his father taught him as a child. As he thinks about how his father would lock him in a dark room overnight to get over his fear of the dark, he says his father taught him how to be a man. With that, he waltzes Kolina out onto the balcony where they kiss in the dark.
Meanwhile, Spider-Man is web-slinging on this rainy night and comes across a billboard that still features a photo of Mary Jane. Once again he thinks about how much he misses her, especially how busy she was with modeling before her death. Pulling himself away from the billboard, he wishes he can find something to get his mind off her. Thankfully, gang of bank robbers provides just the distraction he needs. Landing on the hood of their getaway van, the web-slinger tricks them into crashing into the back end of a cement truck. He then quickly webs the robbers up just as police arrive on the scene. With the sun rising, Peter decides he’s done enough and changes back to his street clothes and heads back to his apartment. In doing so, he walks past a Department of Water and Power van doing work on the street, obliviously passing through a green cloud coming from the equipment. When he arrives, the mailman is making his daily delivery. He hands over Peter’s mail when he asks for it and Peter is pleased to find a free sample of toothpaste as he just ran out and money is tight. The mailman is actually Norman Osborn in disguise. He is pleased that the gas from his phony utility truck deadened Parker’s spider-sense allowing him to inititate the first step in his plan.[9]
Recurring Characters
Green Goblin, Spider-Man, Donald Menkin, Kolina Frederickson, Albert Bendix, (in flashback) Brotherhood of Scriers, Emily Osborn, Amberson Osborn
Continuity Notes
There is a lot to unpack during this recap of events but the key point is two different story arcs that happened in succession with one another:
The first was the Gathering of Five arc (Sensational Spider-Man #32-33, Amazing Spider-Man #440, Spider-Man #96, Spectacular Spider-Man #262) which saw Norman participate in a mystical ceremony called (you guessed it) the Gathering of Five in an attempt to gain ultimate power.
The second was the Final Chapter arc (Amazing Spider-Man #441, Spider-Man #97-98, Spectacular Spider-Man #263) where Norman launched his “final” attack on Spider-Man. By this point, it became clear to everyone but Norman that the gift he received from the ceremony was madness. He was soundly defeated by Spider-Man but was too deranged to remember it.
At the end of the Final Chapter arc, Peter decided to retire as Spider-Man. However, this didn’t last long and was soon back in the webs in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #1-2 after the inexperienced Mattie Franklin tried to fill the gap and started wearing the webs again.
The newspaper story is of a then-recent team-up between Spider-Man and Thor against the Dark God Tokkots. This happened in Thor (vol. 2) #8 and Peter Parker: Spider-Man #2.
Donald Menkin comments about how Norman reformed the Brotherhood of Scriers into an organization loyal to him. Norman’s involvement with the Scriers is explored in detail in Spider-Man: The Osborn Journal #1.
There are two vague references to Spider-Man’s recent activities during this montage they are:
The battle at Tricorp was between Spider-Man and Captain Power from Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #9-10.
The blackout referenced in the newspaper headline is a reference to the events of Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #4 where Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four fought the Sandman and Trapster in a blackout, duh.
There is a lot of complicated continuity about Mary Jane here the facts are:
First and foremost, Mary Jane is referred to as Peter’s wife here. However, a few years later, their marriage is erased from existence by Mephisto in Amazing Spider-Man #545. In the new timeline, Peter and Mary Jane are engaged. Any reference to her being married to Peter here would change.
Mary Jane seemingly perished in a plane crash in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #13. However, this was all a ruse by a stalker to make people think she died. She is actually in captivity until Peter rescues her in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #29/Peter Parker: Spider-Man #29.
The headline on the Bugle references an attack on the paper by Venom. That happened in Peter Parker: Spider-Man #9-10. The reason why there is no Spider-Man news in the Daily Bugle is that at this time Jameson was being blackmailed by Alistair Smythe as revealed in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #20.
Actually, Emily faked her death in order to get away from her abusive husband as we’ll learn in Amazing Spider-Man #800.
The narrative of this story tells readers to see Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #23 and Peter Parker: Spider-Man #23 to watch the fallout from the events of this story. In a nutshell: Norman has drugged the toothpaste sample that Peter so gleefully accepts in this issue. It causes Peter to have vivid nightmares while also going out masquerading as the Green Goblin at night. Peter won’t figure this out until Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #25/Peter Parker: Spider-Man #25.
Topical References
Norman states that his mansion was built by his great-grandfather in the 1800s. The era in which the mansion was built should be considered topical since Norman Osborn is a man with a natural life span that exists in the Modern Age of the Marvel Universe. As such it would become increasingly impossible for Norman’s great-grandfather to have built their home in the 1800s as the Sliding Timescale pushes time forward.
The original twin towers of the World Trade Center can be seen as part of the New York City skyline in this story. This should be considered topical as these towers were destroyed in a terror attack in 2001 and have since been replaced with the Freedom Tower.
