WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Amazing Spider-Man #50 by Nick Spencer, Patrick Gleason, Edgar Delgado & VC's Joe Caramagna, on sale now
Lately, Spider-Man has been in a battle with his own morals over saving Norman Osborn from being "cleansed" of his sins by the Sin-Eater. After saving his longtime foe from the resurrected threat, however, Spider-Man recanted on his morals after enduring taunts by his old nemesis and tossed Osborn out of a rescue craft to become the latest victim of the supernatural cleansing.
Ultimately, it turned out that the villain Kindred was pulling the strings. The demon known as Kindred showed up two years ago, just a few short months following the introduction of the Red Goblin, and has been tormenting Spider-Man and Norman Osborn ever since. Now Kindred has revealed big plans for Spider-Man in the form of a morbid welcome party planned for the Wall-Crawler.
Once Sin-Eater finished with Norman, Kindred betrayed him and took all the powers and sins that Sin-Eater stole. Using the stolen powers, Kindred took control of Spider-Man's allies before initiating the next phase of his plans. The demonic villain stole the bodies of George and Gwen Stacy from their graves and set up a formal dinner for Spider-Man to attend with the stolen corpses of Peter's loved ones as the very first guests.
Prior to this morbid action, Kindred seemed to already know Spider-Man's secret identity, referring to him several times as "Pete." This issue reveals the man behind the demonic mask to be Norman's son Harry Osborn, and the revelation explains not only why the villain sent Sin-Eater after Osborn in the first place, but also his connection with Spider-Man and the Stacy family.
After trying to protect his son from his father in Absolute Carnage, Harry Osborn was last seen in Gwen Stacy, a flashback miniseries by Christopher Gage, Todd Nauck, Rachelle Rosenberg, and VC's Joe Caramagna. This series took place when Gwen Stacy was in high school before she ever met Peter Parker. In this series, she and Harry were close friends, and Gwen got into some trouble thanks to her dad, Capt. Stacy, who was framed by an organized crime ring.
The Gwen Stacy series serves as something that underscores this issue's revelations in a roundabout way, shining a light on the relationship between these characters and where Kindred would get the idea for such a horrific reunion. Although the idea is demented, it is sure to strike an emotional blow to Spider-Man, making the coming confrontation between the two even more of a grueling ordeal for the web-slinger.