The latest trip through Spider-Man’s early years reveals how much of a villain Norman Osborn has always been.

As the titular hero of Spider-Man: Shadow of the Green Goblin #4 struggles to overcome the threat of Nels Van Adder, better known as the Proto-Goblin, his best friend is struggling to come to terms with some truly horrifying family drama. As it turns out, Harry Osborn has finally been given a chance to reconnect with the mother he thought he might never see again. Unfortunately, Harry is more concerned with why she left him behind so many years ago than he is about the fact that she left in the first place, and, Norman Osborn is more than happy to play into his son’s emotions to drive the wedge between Harry and his mother far enough that they may as well be dead to each other altogether.

Written by J.M. DeMATTEIS Art by MICHAEL STA. MARIA Colorist CHRIS SOTOMAYOR Letterer VC’s JOE CARAMAGNA Cover by PAULO SIQUEIRA & RACHELLE ROSENBERG

Although Emily Lyman-Osborn, Harry’s mother, has been referenced on and off for decades in the pages of Marvel Comics, it was only with the release of Spider-Man: Shadow of the Green Goblin #1 that fans got to see their relationship play out from the relative beginning. Her story involves falling in love with Norman and giving birth to Harry, only to discover the monster that her husband had lurking just beneath the surface. This drove Emily to escape Norman’s abuse, though she was unable to bring the then-young Harry along with her.

Decades later, Emily took on the alias of Emma, under which she got a job looking after her grandsons Normie and Stanley without anyone else knowing the truth of her identity. This was done in a bid to protect her grandchildren from Norman. Emily eventually kidnaps her grandsons in the hopes of keeping them away from Norman who was bonded to the Carnage symbiote and operating under the moniker of the Red Goblin.

Throughout Spider-Man: Shadow of the Green Goblin, fans have seen Emily go to greater lengths than ever to prevent Norman’s influence from impacting Harry’s life. Emily even hired Nels Van Adder, the man gruesomely transformed into the Proto-Goblin thanks to Norman’s experiments, to kidnap Harry and bring him to her. Although Nels Van Adder’s story is also one of abject tragedy, his encounters with Spider-Man have only ended up painting him as another villain in his own right, adding yet another layer of tension to the story at hand.

Spider-Man: Shadow of the Green Goblin #4 is on sale now from Marvel Comics.

Source: Marvel Comics