WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Amazing Spider-Man #58 by Nick Spencer, Marcelo Ferreira, Wayne Faucher, Morry Hollowell, & VC's Joe Caramagna, on sale now.
Spider-Man's relationship with the Osborn family has always been complicated, to say the least. While Norman has usually been Peter's greatest nemesis, Harry alternated from a dedicated friend to a fierce enemy as the Green Goblin or Kindred. However, the future of one of the youngest Osborns, Normie, is still in flux, and there's a precedent for it to be a more noble one than the one his forefathers had.
Now, we're taking a closer look at how Normie Osborn's fate from Spider-Girl teases a potentially heroic destiny for the Marvel Unvierse incarnation of the character.
Normie Osborn is the son of Harry Osborn and Liz Allan, who debuted in 1985's Amazing Spider-Man #263, by Bill Mantlo and Al Milgrom. The boy was initially dedicated to his father and grew to despise Spider-Man for all the ways he'd "hurt" their family -- especially after Harry died as a result of the Goblin Formula he'd used to try and overcome the hero. Normie was briefly taken under the wing of his grandfather Norman following his revival, only for the villain to expose Normie to the Goblin Formula and the Carnage Symbiote during his spell as the Red Goblin. Normie worked alongside Norman as the Goblin Childe until Norman tried to murder Liz right in front of him. Liz was saved by Spider-Man, revealing the truth of the Osborn legacy to the young Normie. Not long after, the Carnage symbiote was expunged from the young boy, although a remnant of it remained within him.
This new direction for Normie is surprisingly similar to his later life in the world of Spider-Girl, where Peter and Mary Jane Parker's daughter Mayday carried on her father's heroic legacy. Earth-982 -- otherwise known as the MC2 Universe -- was very similar to the main Marvel Universe in terms of history for a period. But things diverged severely for Spider-Man and his loved ones during the final battle between Norman Osborn and Peter Parker. The battle resulted in Osborn's apparent demise and Spider-Man losing one of his legs, resulting in Peter giving up his heroic alternate identity. Normie Osborn's hate for Peter festered over the years, mistakingly believing that Peter was solely responsible for the destruction of his family. Taking on the mantle of the Green Goblin, Normie kidnapped Peter, leading his daughter May to become Spider-Girl to rescue him.
Throughout her long-running solo series, Normie was a frequent early enemy of Spider-Girl until May realized that Normie was trying to goad May into killing him and putting him out of his misery. Instead, May reached out to him on an empathic level, helping him process his own mixed feelings about his family. Normie ended up moving past his history as the Green Goblin, hoping to bury the legacy once and for all by becoming a heroic figure. He turned into a consistent ally for May -- who briefly developed romantic feelings for him -- and was in a healthy enough place to begin a relationship with Brenda Drago, another reformed Spider-Girl villain named Raptor. Even when he was bonded with the Venom symbiote, Normie's experience overcoming the Green Goblin legacy allowed him to gain some measure of control over the symbiote.
Normie could be on the way to gaining a similar role within the Marvel Universe. For the moment, Normie may still be dealing with the lingering effects of Norman's influence, but he's clearly grown to acknowledge something is wrong with his family, even willingly showing Peter Parker a new Goblin Cave that Harry had been keeping secret from Liz. He seems to accept that the Osborn line has some dark figures and that he doesn't want to be like that. His experience with the symbiotes even nods towards those of the Earth-982 Normie, who was bonded with Venom instead of its nefarious offspring. Normie could easily be on his way to being a heroic ally for Spider-Man, especially as he gets older and remains more involved in storylines like Absolute Carnage. His wealth could even become a major asset as it did in the Renew Your Vows reality, providing resources and gear for the Spider-People of today and tomorrow.
There's a chance Normie could become a major ally going forward for Spider-Man and the rest of the Order of the Web. But he'll have to stay ahead of the same darkness that ended up bringing about the end of his father and his grandfather, lest he just becomes another cautionary tale.