10 Worst Things The Green Goblin Has Done To Spider-Man
4. Faking Aunt Mays Death
Going back to her debut in Amazing Fantasy #15, Peters Aunt May had always been portrayed as sickly and frail. Peter always worried that if she ever discovered he was Spider-Man, the shock would kill her. So when Marvel finally decided to kill off the character in Amazing Spider-Man #400, no one was terrible surprised. Still, writer J.M. DeMatteis managed to script one of the most beautiful and poignant stories in Spider-Man history, where May emerges from her coma to spend one more day with Peter, revealing to him that she knew for years that he was actually Spider-Man, before passing away. Thus marked the end of one of the most inherently kind and nice characters in comic book history. Except that it wasnt. Just 40 issues and a few years later, Marvel was getting ready to relaunch its Spider-Man books. Amazing Spider-Man #441 kicked off a storyline involving Norman, who was seeking the omnipotent power of the Gathering of Five. During the storyline, Norman baits Spider-Man by telling him he has another secret to tell him. Thinking it had something to do with the whereabouts of his baby May, Peter takes the bait and pursues Norman. Instead of his baby, he finds an elderly woman who looks like Aunt May. Thinking its another trick, Peter takes the woman to the Fantastic Four and Reed Richards runs some tests and determines shes the real deal. Flabbergasted, Peter demands to know the truth. Norman explains that he hired an actress to look and act like May, while he kidnapped the real one. As an added layer of cruelty (and perhaps absurdity), Norman installs a device in Mays brain that would trigger a DNA bomb, killing thousands, or even millions of people if somebody tries to remove it. Peter finds a way to save May, but the storyline demonstrates just how far Norman is willing to go to personally strike at Spider-Man. If you ignore the actual plausibility of Normans plan, you have to admit its pretty sinister. Plus this heinous act undid a few years of storylines, not to mention reverses DeMatteiss beautiful Amazing Spider-Man #400. The old May still has no idea her nephew is Spider-Man, something she wouldnt discover for real (until Brand New Day wiped it out years later), until The Conversation storyline by J. Michael Straczynski and John Romita Jr. in 2002.
Mark is a professional writer living in Brooklyn and is the founder of the Chasing Amazing Blog, which documents his quest to collect every issue of Amazing Spider-Man, and the Superior Spider-Talk podcast. He also pens the "Gimmick or Good?" column at Comics Should Be Good blog.
Going back to her debut in Amazing Fantasy #15, Peters Aunt May had always been portrayed as sickly and frail. Peter always worried that if she ever discovered he was Spider-Man, the shock would kill her. So when Marvel finally decided to kill off the character in Amazing Spider-Man #400, no one was terrible surprised. Still, writer J.M. DeMatteis managed to script one of the most beautiful and poignant stories in Spider-Man history, where May emerges from her coma to spend one more day with Peter, revealing to him that she knew for years that he was actually Spider-Man, before passing away. Thus marked the end of one of the most inherently kind and nice characters in comic book history. Except that it wasnt. Just 40 issues and a few years later, Marvel was getting ready to relaunch its Spider-Man books. Amazing Spider-Man #441 kicked off a storyline involving Norman, who was seeking the omnipotent power of the Gathering of Five. During the storyline, Norman baits Spider-Man by telling him he has another secret to tell him. Thinking it had something to do with the whereabouts of his baby May, Peter takes the bait and pursues Norman. Instead of his baby, he finds an elderly woman who looks like Aunt May. Thinking its another trick, Peter takes the woman to the Fantastic Four and Reed Richards runs some tests and determines shes the real deal. Flabbergasted, Peter demands to know the truth. Norman explains that he hired an actress to look and act like May, while he kidnapped the real one. As an added layer of cruelty (and perhaps absurdity), Norman installs a device in Mays brain that would trigger a DNA bomb, killing thousands, or even millions of people if somebody tries to remove it. Peter finds a way to save May, but the storyline demonstrates just how far Norman is willing to go to personally strike at Spider-Man. If you ignore the actual plausibility of Normans plan, you have to admit its pretty sinister. Plus this heinous act undid a few years of storylines, not to mention reverses DeMatteiss beautiful Amazing Spider-Man #400. The old May still has no idea her nephew is Spider-Man, something she wouldnt discover for real (until Brand New Day wiped it out years later), until The Conversation storyline by J. Michael Straczynski and John Romita Jr. in 2002.