The Other Son

Harry Osborn has been introduced to his half-brother, Gabriel Stacy, with a gunshot to the chest. Harry survived this, which is unfortunate as Gabriel wanted to kill Harry as painlessly as possible. That’s when American Son comes crashing in through the window. Telling Gabriel was warned, the armored hero blasts the gun out of his hand. With Stacy flees out the back, American Son picks up Harry and flies him to a nearby hospital for immediate medical attention.

At the hospital, American Son tells the doctors that he didn’t see the shooter. When he asks if Harry will live, they tell him that it will be touch and go. With the authorities on the way and the media tipped off, American Son departs before either can arrive.

Soon the news media is abuzz with one question: Who shot Harry Osborn? There is a lot of speculation as the media camped outside of the Coffee Bean recorded Gabriel Stacy’s escape as well as documented Spider-Man being in the area.

Soon, the authorities have the hospital surrounded and Harry is placed under the protection of FBI Agent Owen. However, Harry is not very confident that Owen will keep him safe since the last time they met Owen had grilled him about American Son and then Harry got shot moments later. Owen tries to get Harry to remember what happened, but he insists that he blacked out after getting shot and doesn’t remember anything. Owen leaves Harry’s room to go check on the Coffee Bean’s security cameras but tells Harry to call him if he remembers anything.

Outside, Front Line reporter Norah Winters has disguised herself as a nurse and sweat talks the security detail into letting her in to “take” Harry’s blood pressure. She catches Harry getting dressed because he is going to sneak out of the hospital. She asks to come along, admitting that at first she was just chasing the story. Norah then confides in Harry that when she was investigating his father’s American Son program, Norman Osborn threatened her life.[1] This convinces him to let her come along to get answers. Harry barges out of his hospital room, telling the cops that unless they are going to arrest him, he’s leaving.

Harry and Norah hop into a cab and Harry says they are going to pay a visit to his father Norman. Norah is uncomfortable with this because the elder Osborn threatened her life, but Harry reminds her that she is a reporter and should get used to it. When asked why he is taking her along, Harry pops some pain killers and tells her that he wants her to come along to document everything he does and report the truth. They soon arrive at the Raft where Harry insists on visiting his father. When they are made to empty their pockets, Norah notes that Harry’s bottle of pain killers was prescribed to him prior to his getting shot. They are taken deep into the prison’s maximum-security section where Norman Osborn is being held.

Norman is surprised to see his son, as Harry never visited with him when he ran the world and wonders what he could want now that he’s locked away in a hole.[2] Harry wants to know how Gabriel Stacy is and Norman is surprised that Harry now knows this name. However, Osborn the elder plays coy instead of giving answers. Seeing that he is getting nowhere, Harry decides to go. Norman is insulted by this and tells Harry that he considers Gabriel more of a son than he had the guts to try and kill Harry.[3]

Elsewhere in the city, Gabriel Stacy rushes back to his hideout where he finds the empty suit of American Son armor waiting for him. He demands to know why it saved Harry’s life when he tried to kill him but gets no answers.

Later, Norah Winters has returned to the Front Line to write up everything she has learned. Her editor, Ben Urich confronts her about the situation at the hospital earlier but she makes it up to him by showing him the story she is writing up about a previously unknown Osborn child. Ben is shocked to learn this and that’s when Harry Osborn steps out of the shadows and tells Urich that Norah has one hell of a source.

Recurring Characters

Harry Osborn, Gabriel Stacy, Norah Winters, Norman Osborn, Ben Urich

Continuity Notes

1. For more on the development of the American Son program and Norman Osborn’s threats against Norah Winters see Amazing Spider-Man #595-599.

2. Prior to his incarceration, Norman Osborn became America’s top cop after he killed the queen of a Skrull invasion of Earth in Secret Invasion #8. He fell from grace after a failed coup of Asgard in Siege #1-4.

3. Gabriel Stacy is the bastard child produced after an affair between Norman Osborn and Gwen Stacy years earlier. For more on Gabriel and his twin sister Sarah see Amazing Spider-Man #509-514.