WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Amazing Spider-Man #72, on sale now
Spider-Man's deal with Mephisto in "One More Day" is still having repercussions in the Marvel Universe -- opening up the kind of conflict spurred on by Kindred and his demonic intentions. It's spread to even affect not just the other Spider-Heroes but even dragged Doctor Strange into the crosshairs of the devilish Mephisto.
However, it turns out he's not the only character within his orbit to have made a deal with the literal devil. Amazing Spider-Man #72 by Nick Spencer, Federico Sabbatini, Ze Carlos, Marcelo Ferreira, and Carlos Gomez reveals that Norman Osborn made a deal with Mephisto over a decade ago that radically changed not just his life, but the lives of everyone who came into contact with him and his son.
In the aftermath of the Sin-Eater's crusade to bring down the worst villains in the Marvel Universe at the behest of Kindred, Norman Osborn -- the former Green Goblin -- remained seemingly cured of his darker impulses and desires. He's done his best to try and help those he has hurt, recognizing that everyone in his life has plenty of due cause to despise him. But his attempts to help save his son Harry from whatever influence transformed him into Kindred has only revealed more about the dark designs Norman once had for the world, and what he was willing to sacrifice to gain it. This leads directly to Norman's role in Amazing Spider-Man #72, where he discovers a secret lab and is forced to once again to confront the side of himself that fuels the Green Goblin.
It turns out that years earlier, Mephisto approached Norman Osborn in the guise of a businessman, interested in investing in Osborn's development. Norman recalls how the initial times he met the mysterious man, he refused his offers. But with his business failing and with no other option, Norman gave in to temptation and listened to Mephisto's offer. With the intervention of the devil, things would begin to change for the Osborn family. His rivals would be brought down, he would make miraculous discoveries and would even become the legacy of Mephisto "made flesh" by embracing his role as the Green Goblin to become a manic murderer. The only thing he had to exchange was the soul and future of his firstborn son, Harry.
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Norman took the bargain, and as such the lives of himself, his son, and everyone in their orbit was radically transformed. The issue implies that the consequences of everything that had happened to Harry -- his drug addiction, the death of Gwen Stacy, his own evolution into the second Green Goblin and eventual death fighting Spider-Man -- were all the direct result of Norman's deal with the devil. If taken at face value, this means that perhaps one of Spider-Man's greatest foes wouldn't even exist without the intervention of Mephisto. In many ways, this positions Mephisto as the true ultimate Spider-Man villain, the true man behind the monster that was the Green Goblin.
On top of the countless dead by his hand, some of Peter Parker's greatest losses in life -- such as the death of Gwen Stacy and the apparent stillbirth of his daughter with Mary-Jane -- all came about because of Norman Osborn and his vendetta against Spider-Man. The vile side of the villain was seemingly born from this deal, making every crime that Norman was involved with lead directly back to Mephisto. It seems that on top of targeting the Avengers over the centuries, Mephisto has been far more involved in the fate of Spider-Man than even the Wall-Crawler has ever been aware of. It paints Norman in a surprising light as a victim of Mephisto's mission -- while also proving how truly terrible a father he was, with Norman's desperation leading him to doom his son to a genuinely difficult and troubled life.
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