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Quote1 I've done a lot of bad things. There's a good chance I'll do a lot more. But not today. Today, no one else gets hurt because of me. Quote2
Normie Osborn[src]

History

Early Years[]

Normie Osborn is the firstborn son of Liz Allan and Harry Osborn. He is generally portrayed as hating Spider-Man for hurting his father, but otherwise being surprisingly well-balanced. Normie is frighteningly loyal to Harry; at one point, when Liz is disgusted by Harry returning as the Green Goblin, she begs him to stop for their son's sake if not for hers. Harry asks if Normie thinks his father is crazy but Normie says no, a moment that brings Liz to tears.[5]

Norman Harold Osborn (Earth-616) from Spectacular Spider-Man Annual Vol 1 14 001

Normie in his early years

At one point, Harry organized an elaborate plan to detonate his own house with everyone he hated inside. Following a fight with Spider-Man, Harry realized that he had left Normie inside and rescued him. With the shock restoring his sanity, he then returned to rescue Peter, only to find the Goblin Formula was killing him. Harry's last words to him were "You're my best friend". Normie was shown overhearing this, possibly changing his view of Spider-Man.[6]

Some time later, a trio of robotic "Goblin women" (one of a number of failsafes prepared by Harry before his death) kidnapped Normie, intending to turn him into the new Green Goblin. Spider-Man and the Molten Man (Normie's uncle) defeated them before he was exposed to the Goblin Formula.[7]

When Norman Osborn returned from the dead, he also used a robot Goblin to kidnap his heir. This version appeared as the standard Green Goblin, causing Normie to believe his father had returned. This was part of a complex ploy to increase his visibility by playing the unfortunate grandfather. Norman has since dismissed the possibility of his grandson being the new Goblin, saying Normie has the same weaknesses as Harry.[8]

The Chameleon used Normie's safety as a bargaining chip to bring the Molten Man into his plan to attack Spider-Man after he had unmasked himself.[9]

Eventually, Normie started to hate his father for supposedly abandoning him when Harry was mistaken to be dead while being high on the Goblin Serum. His hatred for Spider-Man had for some reason been reignited, though most likely through remembering his father's words to Spider-Man years ago - a hate through association. Liz was able to open up a new business with her son's holdings in OsCorp.[10]

Red Goblin[]

When his family discovered Norman had returned, Normie excitedly celebrated the idea of seeing his "Pop-Pop", but was stunned when his nanny, Emma, darted everyone but himself and his younger half-brother Stanley, proceeding to kidnap both of them. Normie struggled against her, and his parents and uncle soon found him, his mother having implanted tracking chips in him and Stanley. They were soon found by the Red Goblin, but managed to momentarily escape when Spider-Man, Silk, Clash, the Human Torch, and Agent Anti-Venom attempted to subdue him.

Norman Harold Osborn (Earth-616) and Carnage (Symbiote) (Earth-616) from Amazing Spider-Man Vol 1 799 001

Normie as the Goblin Childe

The heroes failed, however, and were brutally incapacitated, saved only by Flash's healing touch. Harry intended to split up, himself with Stanley which spurred Normie's jealousy of his half-brother, and anger at his father's seeming favoritism further. Norman caught up to his family, engulfing Normie with a part of the Carnage symbiote and the Goblin Formula, much to the horror of all present.[11]

Norman and Normie then abandoned their family and split up, going after separate targets: Mary Jane Watson and May Parker. Normie went after May and was almost successful in his assault, but he was foiled by the Superior Octopus, who at first subdued him, until Normie transformed, christening himself "Goblin Childe", and proceeded to fight Otto, managing to rip off one of his arms. Normie quite easily took on Otto, who was no match for his power and ferocity. However, J. Jonah Jameson interfered in the form of a Spider-Slayer, and Normie was soon rescued by his grandfather. Angry that they attacked his grandson, Norman made short work of the two.

The two Goblins left for Alchemax to take over Oscorp. However, when Norman started to become violent, Harry revealed himself in the next room with a Goblin Glider and an army of Humanitrons which had Norman as their target. Harry grabbed Normie, promising that he wouldn't let go of his son like he had done in the past, though Normie, in his anger, resisted him. However, Normie was horrified when Norman shot down his father's glider and threw Liz out the window.

Harold Osborn (Earth-616), Norman Harold Osborn (Earth-616), Elizabeth Allan (Earth-616), Mark Raxton (Earth-616), and Carnage (Symbiote) (Earth-616) from Amazing Spider-Man Vol 1 800

Carnage remains... what comes next?

Luckily, a Venomized Spider-Man saved Liz, causing Normie to realize what he had been blind to: Spider-Man was never the bad guy - his grandfather was. He attacked Norman, who, furious that Normie had turned on him, almost sliced Normie, before being saved by Spider-Man. Harry then tried to calm down his son, who eventually managed to subdue the symbiote and accept his father's embrace.

A few days after the fight, Alchemax extracted the Carnage symbiote from Normie, and he hugged his mother. His father soon apologized for his failures, and informed his son that he would always love him. Normie asked Harry, "No matter what?", to which he agreed. They embraced, Normie informing his father that was good to know. However, some of the Carnage symbiote managed to escape detection and still remained inside his body.[12]

Absolute Carnage[]

Because of the remnants of the Carnage symbiote still left in Normie, he became a target of Carnage himself, who was now after everyone who had worn a symbiote in order to free their god, Knull. Worried that Normie would be targeted, Spider-Man fetched him and brought him to the The Maker, who was building a machine to extract codices. Spider-Man introduced his godson to Venom and his son Dylan Brock. The Maker proposed to remove Normie's codex, but Spider-Man interfered since they didn't know if the machine was safe, so Venom and Spider-Man decided to get Norman to test it on, leaving Dylan and Normie with The Maker.[13] As Normie and Dylan talked to each other, Maker decided to use his machine on Normie anyway, but Dylan protected him, pointing out that this wasn't the deal. Suddenly, the Knull-controlled Phage, Agony, Riot, and Lasher symbiotes arrived to claim Normie's codex. The two boys tried to defend themselves using the weaponry left from Rex, but they were luckily saved by Sleeper.[14]

The Maker managed to imprison Sleeper and the other symbiotes. In an attempt to free Sleeper, the boys shot the containers but accidentally released the other symbiotes, who merged with the Maker and learned of Dylan's true nature. They tried to get their hands on Dylan but the boys were saved by Spider-Man, Wolverine, Captain America, and The Thing. Normie and Dylan came back to free Sleeper, who tried to bond with Dylan but was repelled by his symbiotic powers. He transformed Sleeper into a giant wolf, which gave Hawkeye the breach to kill the symbiotes while the Maker got away.[15] Later, Normie's codex was removed by Doctor Banner.

Venom arrived at the scene just in time to see it. However, Dark Carnage, disguised as Eddie, invoked his army, which forced the Venom symbiote to merge with Bruce Banner, transforming him into the Hulk. As they battled, Eddie instructed Spider-Man to protect the kids while he stayed and fought.[16] However, a Carnagized Norman pursued them and fought against Spider-Man. The hero managed to defeat him with the help of a human turned demon named Kindred.[17] The Carnage symbiote bonded to Norman left him and tried to kill the kids; however, Dylan killed it with his powers, which made him fall unconscious. Eddie - bonded to the codices extracted from the S.C.I.T.H.E. - and Dark Carnage took the fight to them. Cletus left Eddie with a choice: kill him to save his son and take the codices and awake Knull, or let him kill his son and let the universe live. Choosing his family, he killed the serial killer and absorbed his symbiote, awakening Knull. After realizing that Norman had escaped, Spider-Man returned his godson to his family.[18]

Normie was kept cooped up in the Allan/Osborn household by his parents out of concern that he would relapse and become a Goblin again, coming across a stash of Pumpkin Bombs and a Goblin Glider belonging to his father in a secret room. Blaming his grandfather's madness on the Carnage symbiote, Normie began suffering from nightmares of a "hungry voice" instructing him to hurt those who opposed him. Despite befriending Dylan, Normie initially dismissed him as a wimp before Dylan revealed he had kept a piece of Norman's symbiote. Initially overjoyed that a piece of his grandfather had survived, Normie soon grew terrified of Dylan as the boy fell under the influence of the dark god Knull and began threatening to turn Normie back into the Goblin Childe if he tried to warn anyone. Compelled by the "hungry voice" telling him to avenge Norman, Normie eventually lashed out against Dylan, but their fight was broken up by the Sleeper symbiote. They agreed to stop fighting, but Normie stated that he wasn't Dylan's friend anymore.[19]

After Harry told his family that he would leave to travel the world doing consultant work, Normie heard Peter telling Liz about the relapse his father was suffering. After revealing Harry's Goblin armory to them, a reformed Norman showed up to their apartment and took Liz and Normie to see imprisoned "Harry" in Ravencroft. While Liz mourned for him, Normie ran up to the balcony, where his grandfather tried to make amends with him.[20]

All-New Red Goblin[]

Norman Harold Osborn (Earth-616), Rascal (Symbiote) (Earth-616), Dylan Brock (Earth-616), and Venom (Symbiote) (Earth-616) from Free Comic Book Day 2022 Spider-Man-Venom Vol 1 1 001

Normie's debut as the Red Goblin.

Normie later met with Dylan on roof of the Alchemax building. Dylan presented Normie with the a new symbiote, asking him join his mission to fight the Absent Throne and save his father from them. Normie accepted and bonded to the symbiote, becoming the second Red Goblin. Normie as Red Goblin helped Dylan in his new identity of Codex fight the latter's father after he transformed into the monstrous Bedlam, but were interrupted by the arrival of Ms. Marvel.[1] She attempted to break off the fight as the symbiote-augmented heroes were endangering innocent people. While Dylan bickered with the heroine, Bedlam took his chance to escape, prompting Normie to go after him alone. Normie fought the hulking Bedlam but found it difficult as with the help of Meridius the monster was able to regenerate himself from the damage inflicted by Dylan. Soon both Dylan and Ms. Marvel arrived and together fought Bedlam, until the Goblin Queen teleported the latter to her location. The three teenagers then began discussing over the boys' decision to don the symbiotes and become heroes despite being young and inexperienced.[21]

Nicknaming his new symbiote "Rascal" and directing it to assume a less-monstrous form, Normie set out to patrol as a superhero and came across a resurgent Goblin Nation. Annoyed at having to clean up his grandfather's mess, Normie intervened to stop a group of Goblin Nation thugs from killing a civilian but lost control of his symbiote, which went berserk and tried to eat one of the Goblin Nation thugs before being distracted by a chocolate bar. Knocked unconscious by a pumpkin bomb, Normie awakened the following morning to discover Rascal had used his body to break into a bodega and eaten its entire stock of chocolate. Arrested by the police, Normie was picked up by his grandfather, who scolded him -- prompting Normie to angrily blame him for his father's deaths. Scolding Rascal for its actions and threatening to return it to Dylan if it didn't start behaving, Normie left his symbiote at home and attended Norman's grand opening of an addiction treatment center dedicated to Harry. The Goblin Nation attacked -- having been sent by their leader, the undead Phil Urich, to enact his revenge on Norman -- and without his symbiote Normie was taken hostage to force Norman to surrender.[4]

With his grandfather taken as a prisoner of the Goblin Nation, Normie began keeping Rascal with him all of the time, but when attending school he was assaulted by some bullies. Although he decided to endure the beating and not use Rascal, Normie was saved by fellow student Tim Anders since he himself used be a bullying victim. The two boys became friends, with Anders giving Normie his jacket since his own was ruined, and as Anders warned Normie that bullies, like sharks, were attracted to blood this gave Normie an idea to use his symbiote to track down his grandfather's location through his blood. This led him to the Goblin Nation's sewer base where Norman's blood was being harvested. Normie fought the Goblin Nation, but because they were augmented with the Goblin Formula from the blood, coupled with the Goblin King's sonic scream, he found himself overwhelmed. In his mindscape, Rascal confronted Normie and showed him the reason why it behaved aggressively was because of Normie's inner demons. This led to Normie accepting who he was and let himself get unleashed, taking down the Goblin Nation before bringing his grandfather to a hospital.[22]

Carnage Reigns[]

In their home, Normie witnessed his little brother attempting to kill his mother with a knife while she was distracted. He quickly intervened and learned that Stanley was under the control of Cletus Kasady who through his symbiote-infused Iron Man Armor had taken over the Stark communication system. He and Rascal went to confront Kasady, finding him engulfing the Stark Unlimited HQ while countless civilians under Kasady's control caused chaos. He witnessed Spider-Man and a group of semi-reformed villains trying to contain the chaos, and came to their aid. They were suddenly attacked by Carnage's follower Kenneth Neely possessed by a symbiote-infected armor, but luckily Normie was able to absorb the armor into his own symbiote, freeing Neely in the process.[23]

This act enraged Carnage who sought to kill them all. Seeing what his symbiote could do, he suggested that he could absorb Kasady's consciousness into Rascal and asked Spider-Man and Scorpion to assist him in climbing the building. The three managed to reach Carnage near the top of HQ, but as Normie connected to Carnage he and Rascal found themselves overwhelmed by Kasady's psyche and was rendered unconscious,[24] forcing Spider-Man to bring him to safety. Normie was brought alongside a manic Neely into the helicopter of NYPD's Agent Gao,[25] and as it flew over the battle, Carnage in the form of a massive dragon attacked the helicopter. In that moment Normie woke up and immediately descended down to help in taking the brainwashed civilians away from the scene so they wouldn't get harmed when the recently arrived Iron Man set off his EMP. The heroes were successful in obliterating Carnage and with the crisis over, Normie returned home.[26]

Symbiote Struggles[]

Normie and his fellow classmates went on a trip to the American Museum of Natural History, but during the trip he went into his subconsciousness to talk to Rascal since both of them had been left mentally disturbed since accessing Kasady's mind. Rascal told Normie that because of his sadness it was compelled to hurt people. Before their conversation could continue, Anders brought Normie to the outside, inviting him to go somewhere to eat a snack. However, the school trip was suddenly attacked by the Goblin Nation, going after Anders as they believed he was the one who had previously attacked them. Normie had Rascal engulf him, despite causing severe pain to the symbiote, and confronted the Nation's goons led by a Goblin Knight. As the students and teachers fled the museum, Normie fought Goblin Knight, but was unable to prevent one of the goons from kidnapping Anders. Normie soon lost complete control, attempting to outright kill the Goblin Knight, but thankfully was able to regain momentary control, allowing the Goblin Nation to escape.[27]

As the police arrived, Normie attempted to go after the Goblin Nation to rescue Anders, but was prevented by the armed officers. This enraged Rascal who took complete control and attacked the police until Spider-Man intervened. Normie attempted to calm Rascal down, but to no avail as the symbiote then attacked Spider-Man who fought back by electrocuting him, knocking both Normie and Rascal. Seeing that he was just a child, Morales got Normie to safety and after he regained consciousness he explained to Spider-Man who he was and how he came to be bonded to a symbiote. Morales decided to assist Normie in his rescue but if he were to lose control again then he would have to bring him to Mister Fantastic to separate him from the symbiote.[28] Going into the sewers to confront the Goblin Nation, Normie and Spider-Man were instead met with Crossbones who had been hired by Urich to take out his own subordinates. Morales managed to defeat the already injured Crossbones, and with that over Normie told Spider-Man that the Goblin Nation had another base in Astoria. This was actually a lie, as Normie wished to go after the Goblin Nation and rescue Tim all on his own.

Arriving to an abandoned manor where his grandfather had killed Urich, Normie confronted the Goblin Nation's leader. Urich revealed that he wanted Normie's symbiote for himself and demanded the boy to give it to him. Normie refused, but in that moment Rascal attempted to leave him, seeing it was causing Normie only pain and didn't want plague him any longer. Normie managed to convince Rascal to stay with him by telling it that they would get back at everyone who had wronged them, starting with Urich. Upon killing Urich, Normie and Rascal let themselves loose and began going after those who had hurt them, while Anders successfully escaped.[29] Rascal then attempted to attack one of Normie's bullies, only to be taken aback by the boy's dog. In their mindscape, Rascal went through Normie's memories, seeing how his father Harry had hurt him. Normie implored Rascal to get him out of these painful memories, but upon doing so he saw that Rascal had brought them to Harry's grave. The symbiote exhumed the body, intending to crash the bones as payback for making Normie sad, only to be interrupted by Gold Goblin. Norman attempted to again separate Normie from the symbiote, forcing Rascal to go underground and ambush him from behind. Rascal began beating Norman since he too had hurt Normie, but was stopped by Normie telling it that despite what his grandfather did he still lover him and Rascal was the one hurting him now.

Distraught by this realization, Rascal decided to ultimately separate from Normie, now going after Dylan to have him separate them.[30] Stealing Norman's Goblin Glider, Rascal ambushed Dylan as Venom, with Normie demanding him to separate them even if it killed him. Venom refused, angering Rascal who hit him with the Glider, knocking Dylan out but misdirecting it to the Brooklyn Bridge. Seeing that the bridge was caught on fire, Normie and Rascal worked together to save all of the people caught in the explosion. With Venom's assistance, Normie and Rascal were successful in saving everyone, making them realize they could still be a hero together. Dylan apologized to Normie for involving him in all of this, telling him that he just needed a friend who could help him save his father. He further added that although it was difficult to live with a symbiote, it was worth it to help people. Normie and Rascal eventually returned home and reunited with his family who although knew he had a secret were understanding and didn't press him on.[31]

Attributes

Powers

Red Symbiotic Costume: Once bonded to a newly spawned symbiote given to him by Dylan, Normie gained powers as expected from a symbiote host.

  • Superhuman Strength
  • Superhuman Speed
  • Superhuman Agility
  • Superhuman Senses
  • Superhuman Stamina
  • Superhuman Reflexes
  • Superhuman Durability
  • Regenerative Healing Factor
  • Wall-Crawling
  • Constituent-Matter Generation
  • Constituent-Matter Manipulation
  • Shapeshifting
  • Organic Webbing
  • Tracking: Normie's symbiote can track down previous hosts of symbiotes through their codices.[32]

Weaknesses

Incomplete Bond: Normie's bond to the Rascal symbiote is incomplete, leaving it prone to lashing out, referred by Normie as "Goblin Mode".[4]

Paraphernalia

Weapons

Carnage-Bombs: Normie, like his grandfather, could manifest out of his symbiote numerous Carnage Bombs which could float and bite into his enemies before exploding.[35]

Transportation

Carnagized Glider: After bonding to the Rascal symbiote, Normie began using a symbiote-infested Goblin Glider just like his grandfather.[1]

Trivia

  • Despite being called "Norman Osborn Jr.", "Norman Osborn II", and "Norman Osborn III", he is not necessarily entirely named after his grandfather, as his grandfather's name is Norman Virgil Osborn.
  • Peter Parker, a.k.a. Spider-Man, is Normie's godfather.[12]
  • According to Zac Thompson, Normie is around ten years old, and a few years younger than Dylan Brock, despite having been born before Anne Weying bonded to the Venom symbiote.[36][37]
  • He was born in December,[38] shortly after the 13th.[39]
  • Normie appears to be Christian.[40]

See Also

Links and References

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Venom (Vol. 5) #15
  2. Amazing Spider-Man #799800
  3. Red Goblin #210
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Red Goblin #1
  5. Spectacular Spider-Man #189
  6. Spectacular Spider-Man #200
  7. Spider-Man: Legacy of Evil #1
  8. Spectacular Spider-Man #255
  9. Sensational Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #30
  10. Superior Spider-Man #19
  11. 11.0 11.1 Amazing Spider-Man #799
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Amazing Spider-Man #800
  13. Absolute Carnage #1
  14. Venom (Vol. 4) #17
  15. Venom (Vol. 4) #1819
  16. Absolute Carnage #34
  17. Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 5) #3031
  18. Absolute Carnage #5
  19. Web of Venom: The Good Son #1
  20. Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 5) #5859
  21. Venom (Vol. 5) #16
  22. Red Goblin #23
  23. Red Goblin #5
  24. Carnage (Vol. 3) #14
  25. Miles Morales: Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #7
  26. Carnage Reigns Omega #1
  27. Red Goblin #6
  28. Red Goblin #7
  29. Red Goblin #8
  30. Red Goblin #9
  31. Red Goblin #10
  32. Red Goblin #2
  33. Absolute Carnage #3
  34. Amazing Spider-Man #792
  35. Red Goblin #3
  36. Thompson, Zac (26 October 2019) Zac Thompson on Twitter: "Writing Normie Osborn is such a treat. I feel like I was born to write psychotic ten-year-olds." Twitter. Retrieved on 18 January 2020.
  37. Thompson, Zac (17 January 2020) Zac Thompson on Twitter: "Dylan is older than Normie. By a few years. But it's all relative. Time is a rubber band in Marvel comics. I don't know Dylan's specific age. But when Donny and I talked, he was brought up around 12-years-old." Twitter. Retrieved on 18 January 2020.
  38. Gold Goblin #3
  39. Dark Web #1
  40. Venom (Vol. 5) #19
  41. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #11
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