WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Web of Venom: The Good Son by Zac Thompson, Dio Neves, Oren Junior, Rain Beredo and VC's Clayton Cowles, on sale Wednesday, Jan. 22.
Truly epic superhero villains can come in all shapes and sizes. In special instances, they can even be children. Now, the level of villainy a kid can unleash understandably varies, but if it's the offspring of Spider-Man's greatest enemies, then all bets are off.
Normie Osborn and Dylan Brock played major roles in the Absolute Carnage event series. Normie is the son of Harry Osborn and grandson of Norman Osborn, who have both adopted the Green Goblin moniker at various points in their careers. Dylan was first introduced as Eddie Brock's brother, but was later revealed to be his son. Both kids have been tormented by alien symbiotes, with Normie becoming the Goblin Childe when his grandfather wore the Carnage symbiote as the Red Goblin, and Dylan possessing symbiote DNA from Venom.
Dylan surprisingly defeated the piece of the Carnage symbiote that reattached to Norman Osborn in Absolute Carnage, displaying a set of powers he never knew he had. Unfortunately, Eddie was forced to kill Cletus Kasady and absorb the Carnage symbiote to save Dylan's life, which resulted in freeing Knull, the God of the Symbiotes, from his cosmic prison.
With Knull on a collision course with Earth, Eddie has left Dylan in the care of Normie's parents while he fights to free Venom from Carnage's deadly influence. This has allowed Normie and Dylan some more bonding time, and the two boys quickly realize they are each hiding some dark secrets that may turn out to haunt the friendly-neighborhood Spider-Man and Lethal Protector.
A preview of Web of Venom: The Good Son #1 features Normie showing Dylan the big secret he's found in his parents' house. After his time as the Goblin Childe, Harry and Liz Allan have decided to lock Normie up in their home. It's mostly for the kid's own good, but Normie obviously doesn't see it that way. And since Normie spends the majority of his time on lockdown, he has searched every corner of the place. He's discovered Harry's stash of Green Goblin gear, including gliders and goblin bombs.
Dylan is also in a sharing mood, and begins to tell Normie one of his secrets as well. Remember how Dylan made the Carnage symbiote bonded to Norman explode in Absolute Carnage #5? It appears that not all of the symbiote was destroyed in his attack. Though it is only teased on the final page of the Web of Venom: The Good Son #1 preview, we can assume Dylan is about to show Normie that he saved a piece of the red symbiote.
Both Dylan and Normie are overall good boys (as the title of the comic suggests), but darkness and evil may be a part of them now. Normie already has to deal with his Green Goblin lineage, and we still don't have a clear understanding of exactly what Dylan is. They may be "Good Sons" now, but the future might see them turn into a pair of "Bad Boys."