Peter Parker: Spider-Man #47
A Death in the Family Part 4
After the Green Goblin threatened to kill his own grandson, Spider-Man has vowed to kill Osborn before he has the chance. After a brief tussle across the Oscorp chemical plant, the Green Goblin vows that his grandson will be killed the moment he walks out of the building and his death will be followed by everyone important in the life of Peter Parker. This puts Parker in another fit of rage and he attacks Norman anew, vowing that he’ll prevent the Goblin from succeeding. This is exactly where Osborn wants Spider-Man and he reveals that he has sent some of his operatives on some very specific missions depending on the outcome of the battle. If Norman walks out of the building, Aunt May will suffer an “accidental” fall down the stairs. If they both leave, Mary Jane will be doused in acid. However, if only Spider-Man emerges alone, then his entire family will be spared.
This enrages Peter so much that he blindly charges at the Goblin, who quickly moves out of the way. Peter ends up running headfirst into the wall, knocking himself out. Grabbing Peter by the hair, the Goblin points out how he has the edge over Peter because he has learned how to hone his anger instead of lashing out blindly. He then dunks Peter’s face into a vat of chemicals in an attempt to drown the wall-crawler. As he flails in the chemicals, Peter thinks of all the people he failed and is about to give up but finds new strength at the last minute. and pulls free.[1]
The Green Goblin is shocked that Spider-Man is still alive and is knocked to the ground with a single punch. Picking up Osborn, Peter thinks it’s pretty clever that his foe was trying to make him angry enough to take a life. Realizing that Parker might actually go through with it, the Goblin panics. Breaking free, he tells Spider-Man to stay away from him and tries to escape on his Goblin Glider. Regaining his courage again, he boasts that he’ll enjoy seeing Parker’s family killed. However, Spider-Man refuses to let Norman escape and snares the Goblin Glider with a web-line, causing Osborn to come crashing down to the ground. With the Goblin at his mercy, Spider-Man prepares to take the final blow, with Norman telling him to do it. However, Peter gets ahold of himself and backs off to the wall behind him.
Pulling himself up, Norman admits that he didn’t always plan on becoming the Green Goblin and admits that in the beginning, he was thinking of calling himself Mister Coffee and asks Peter to consider how weird it would have made their rivalry over the years. This causes both Peter and Norman to laugh out loud. After the laughter stop, Peter decides to tell Norman about the dream he keeps on having, saying that only Osborn could possibly understand what it might mean and relate. He says that in the dream he is witnessing a plane crash and knows that his wife, Mary Jane is on board.[2] When the plane crashes, he goes digging through the rubble to find Mary Jane. However, instead of finding her, he finds Gwen among the wreckage. He then wonders what it would have been like if Gwen had survived and figures that if Norman had gotten to know her she could have cured him of being the Green Goblin. He remembers how Gwen used to laugh and how it made her seem perfect. He then thinks about how he thought his entire life would fall apart after she died and how there wouldn’t be a day that goes by where he doesn’t think about hating and wanting to kill Norman Osborn. However, he doesn’t. He then tells Norman that for every day he doesn’t give in to despair over her death, and doesn’t allow himself to hate Norman Osborn he keeps Gwen’s memory alive. If he gives in to it all, then Gwen is dead for good and that this memory is worth more than anything else.
As Peter gets up to walk out of the chemical plant, the Green Goblin warns him not to walk outside. However, Peter knows that Norman is full of shit and that he’d never kill his grandson. He also dares Norman to kill his Aunt May and everyone he loves as Peter could never stop him if he really wanted to do it. He then explains that despite the Goblin’s efforts to push Peter to the point of murdering him, he’ll never cross that line. The reason is simple: He doesn’t have to kill Norman or even send him to jail, just leaving Osborn with who he is a worse sentence.
The following morning, Peter Parker arrives at Flash Thompson’s hospital room to visit. There he finds Liz Osborn reading to him and apologizes for not being able to come sooner. Leaning next to Flash, he tells his long time friend that everything is going to be okay now. Meanwhile, Norman Osborn returns to his office and is told that there is a delivery waiting on his desk from Peter Parker. Storming into his office, he finds a box of pizza and a five-dollar bill waiting for him. On the pizza box are the words “Nice Try” scrawled on it. Remembering how he made a wager for five bucks and a pizza that he could push Peter over the edge, Norman Osborn furiously throws the pizza across the room where it splatters against the wall. Sitting in hs chair, Norman opens his desk drawer and considers using the gun inside on himself. Instead, he only breaks down and starts to cry.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Green Goblin, Liz Osborn, Flash Thompson
Continuity Notes
1. Peter goes into a laundry list of all the people he’s failed over the years. Although he names a number of people there are only a few that have tangible things that Peter feels responsible for:
No list of failures is complete without mentioning the death of Uncle Ben in Amazing Fantasy #15.
Flash Thompson was recently hospitalized after Norman Osborn manufactured a drunk driving accident in Peter Parker: Spider-Man #45.
Gwen Stacy was murdered by the Green Goblin in Amazing Spider-Man #121.
2. Peter refers to Mary Jane as his wife here. However, years later, their marriage is erased from existence by Mephisto in Amazing Spider-Man #545. As such, Peter would call Mary Jane his fiancee here instead of his wife.
