Normie Osborn is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is the grandson of Norman Osborn and the eldest son of Harry Osborn.
Publication history
Normie Osborn first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #263 (April 1985), and was created by Bill Mantlo and Al Milgrom. He appeared in Green Goblin stories throughout the 1990s, generally portrayed as hating Spider-Man.
Fictional character biography
Normie Osborn is the child of Liz Allan and Harry Osborn and the grandson of Norman Osborn.
Harry's sanity recovered shortly before dying from a modified version of the Goblin formula, saving Spider-Man and saying "You're my best friend"; Normie is shown overhearing this, possibly changing his view of Spider-Man. While still recovering from his father's death, Normie is befriended by Peter Parker, a sort of surrogate uncle to him. A trio of robotic "Goblin women" (one of a number of failsafes prepared by Harry before death) kidnap Normie, intending to turn him into a new Green Goblin. Spider-Man and the Molten Man (Normie's uncle) defeat them before he can be exposed to the Goblin formula.
Norman Osborn returned from the dead, using a robot Goblin to kidnap his heir. This version appears as the standard Green Goblin, and causes Normie to believe his father has returned. This is part of a complex ploy to increase Norman's visibility by playing the unfortunate grandfather.
Norman dismisses the possibility of his grandson being his heir (the new Goblin), saying that Normie has the same weaknesses as Harry.
Normie is seen in a Sensational Spider-Man issue playing baseball, being watched from the stands by the Molten Man and the Chameleon, while Electro is in the shadows. No harm comes to Normie, but the Chameleon uses his safety as a bargaining chip to bring the Molten Man into his plan to attack Spider-Man after the hero's recent unmasking.
Normie reappears after the One More Day storyline. Now Normie hates his father for supposedly abandoning him when Harry was mistakenly believed dead while being high on the Goblin serum. His hatred for Spider-Man is also reignited.
Osborn's re-establishes himself as a major crime lord called the Goblin King, undergoing plastic surgery to also establish himself as a businessman named Mason Banks to provide a suitable inheritance for his grandson, with Liz apparently helping Norman in this endeavor.
When Osborn acquires the Carnage symbiote and transforms into the Red Goblin, Osborn attempts to gain his grandson Normie's aid by infusing a portion of the Carnage symbiote into Normie, turning into "Goblin Childe". Despite the symbiote amplifying Normie's jealousy of his half-brother Stanley, Normie throws off its influence when he witnesses his grandfather try to kill his parents, realizing in the process that the villain was actually his own grandfather and not Spider-Man. The symbiote fragment is subsequently separated from Normie while the main symbiote is apparently destroyed during the final battle between Red Goblin and Spider-Man. It is implied that Liz and Mark kept at least some of the symbiote in storage for some future use. However, it showed that some of the symbiote still remained in his body, swirling in the boy's eye.
When Cletus Kasady was resurrected by a cult who worships the fallen symbiotic god Knull and obtain his power to unleash chaos on Earth, Normie begin to feel its fearful presence and got help from Spider-Man and Eddie Brock, and brought to the Maker where he meets Eddie Brock's son Dylan Brock. He also learn Spider-Man's true identity being his father's friend, Peter Parker.
When it was revealed that Harry Osborn became the demon Kindred, Harry briefly visited Normie while he was sleeping. Upon realizing his father has suddenly becoming too suspicious and no longer his usual-self, Normie found out his father is being succumbed back into insanity as Norman had. It proves to be true when the kid found out that Harry had been preparing the Goblin weapons. He helped Peter to show Liz the truth of Harry's current condition, by showing the prepared Goblin weapons hidden behind his father's closet, not long before his recently cured grandfather arrive to warn Peter of the Inner Demons attack on F.E.A.S.T..