Spider-Man is Marvel Comics‘ greatest icon, a character that was able to rise above the rest to become the most popular hero at the House of Ideas. There have been definitely been missteps on the way and one of the biggest for most fans is the Clone Saga. The Clone Saga is infamous; it brought back the Spider-Clone from The Amazing Spider-Man #149 and stretched it out for over two years. The idea did have legs and there are some awesome stories from the beginning of the whole thing, but Marvel had no exit plan, keeping the story going long past its expiration date. However, it wasn’t a total bust, because it brought back one of the most important Spider-Man villains: Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin.
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Villains have always been an integral part of Spidey’s books – he has the best rogues gallery at Marvel Comics – and Green Goblin has loomed large over his superhero career. By the time he returned, he had been dead for over 20 years, a terrible specter of Peter Parker’s past. His return in the Clone Saga showed that he was ready to retake his place atop the Wall-Crawler’s roster of villains, but that was only the beginning. Since then, Norman Osborn has become an even greater villain, his resurrection leading to bigger and better things.
Green Goblin’s Return Cemented Him as Spider-Man’s Greatest Villain
The Clone Saga had long run out of steam by the time it finally reached its endgame. The Spider-Man books were at their lowest point (two of them would get cancelled after this story) and fans were honestly fed up with the whole thing. The final chapters started revealing the secrets of the story, even revealing that Aunt May’s death in Amazing Spider-Man #400 was just a part of the ruse. It had the miscarriage of Peter and Mary Jane’s child. And, of course, it brought back Osborn.
It revealed that the one behind all of it was Osborn, working with the Jackal, all in attempt to destroy his hated enemy. Osborn had survived his battle with Spider-Man back in the day thanks to a healing factor given to him by the Goblin formula, hiding out in Europe to figure out the perfect plan for revenge. Making him the one behind the whole Clone Saga was a sort of inspired move; sure, a lot of the payoffs for the story weren’t exactly great, but there was something about the idea of Osborn creating this entire elaborate scheme just to destroy Spider-Man. It all ended with a final battle between Peter, Norman, and Ben Reilly, with Ben losing his life.
The return of the Green Goblin didn’t pay off immediately – the post-Clone Saga John Byrne/Howard Mackie run concentrated a lot on Doctor Octopus, but that would change in the years to come. An entire generation of fans had grown up without Norman as the Goblin. Hobgoblin had been introduced to replace him (but Marvel botched the identity reveal and the character never really recovered) and Harry Osborn had become the Green Goblin, with Norman becoming something of a boogeyman, the man who killed Gwen Stacy, a monster from the past.
His return gave readers a character that had been played as the ultimate Spider-villain for years back and it led to some great places. Osborn has been fleshed out fantastically, becoming an A-list Avengers-level villain, and has most recently had his sins removed from him by the Sin-Eater, becoming a partner for the webslinger, even putting on the red and blue fighting togs to protect New York City as Spider-Man. His return allowed him to go in new directions, showing that the villain was better than just a terrible nightmare from the past; he was an interesting, multi-dimensional character who could work in just about any story you could put him in.
Green Goblin Has Reached New Heights Since His Resurrection
If you would have told young me in 1995 that Norman Osborn was going to come back, I would have laughed at you. This was back when certain characters stayed dead because of the impact that their deaths had on the Marvel Universe, and Osborn was one of these. However, his return 30 years ago has led the character to some heights that no one thought he would ever reach. Everyone thought that killing Gwen Stacy was going to be the thing that defined him, but the last three decades have seen the character grow into something new.
His return doesn’t redeem the Clone Saga; it’s still a bloated, overlong story full of lackluster mysteries and bait and switch moments. However, the way the resurrection re-shaped the Spider-Man comics and Osborn as a character has made his return more than worth it. No one ever thought Norman Osborn would become an Avengers-level villain that bossed Doctor Doom around or gallivanting around the city as Spider-Man, friends with Peter Parker. His return made all of that possible, adding some amazing new chapters to the book of the Goblin.
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