Ultimate Spider-Man Reveals Origin of New Green Goblin

The latest issue of Ultimate Spider-Man puts the focus on Green Goblin. One of the highlights of Marvel’s new Ultimate Universe is it gives readers a different perspective on familiar characters, which is how the Ultimate Universe was originally set up in the first place. For example, Peter Parker becomes Spider-Man as a married man and father of two kids. Green Goblin is another character that has a different origin compared to his Earth-616 counterpart, and readers finally get to see what caused Harry Osborn to put on the Green Goblin suit and become a vigilante, and not a villain.

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Ultimate Spider-Man #5. Continue reading at your own risk!

Ultimate Spider-Man #5 comes from the creative team of Jonathan Hickman, David Messina, Matthew Wilson, VC’s Cory Petit, and VC’s Joe Sabino. It begins by taking readers back in time, months before there even was an Ultimate Spider-Man. Norman Osborn and his wife Emily are at an event in a high-rise building, waiting for Harry to arrive. Norman gives Harry a fatherly speech about what the Osborn name means, and his expectations for Harry when a blast rockets from the sky and vaporizes the building Norman and Emily are in, as well as the surrounding area. Harry can only watch helplessly from the street below.

Green Goblin’s Ultimate Universe origin revealed

Fast-forward a few weeks and Harry, with his wife Gwen Stacy, attend a meeting for Norman Osborn’s estate. Everything is left to Harry and Gwen, along with a spade trading card that just showed up at the attorney’s office that day. The card is from Wilson Fisk, and Harry meets him the next day. With the fall of Stane/Stark, Wilson is now the Kingpin of Manhattan, a man with extraordinary power. And with that power, he hands the Stane/Stark company over to Harry. 

Harry, Gwen, and Otto Octavius, who fans will recognize as Doctor Octopus, dig into one of Stark’s labs and come across some of his Iron Man armors. But what’s more interesting are the files that Otto uncovers. They reveal how there is a secret council ruling over this Ultimate Universe, which The Maker set up during Ultimate Invasion. Maker’s goal was to recreate the Ultimate Universe without superheroes, appointing various characters as the rulers of different regions. Not only are they responsible for keeping heroes like Spider-Man from reaching their full potential, but Harry believes they are the ones responsible for Norman’s death. Also, with Tony Stark’s inventions, Otto Octavius is able to create Harry Osborn’s first Green Goblin armor.  

One of Harry’s first stints as the Green Goblin involves tracking down Shocker and taking his gauntlets, which are Stark proprietary tech, back. Finally, we jump back to the present, where we see Ultimate Bullseye, one of Wilson Fisk’s cronies, captured by the Green Goblin.

This was a nice departure from what has already been an entertaining installment of Ultimate Spider-Man. Getting to learn Harry Osborn’s motivations, and see just how he’s trying to correct the wrongs that have taken place on his Earth, and hopefully avoid the villainous turns Earth-616 Harry Osborn committed. We’ll have to see if he sticks to the hero’s path, or if something turns Green Goblin and Spider-Man into mortal enemies.