The great thing about Harry Osborns death is that it effectively mirrors his arc in the comics. In the four-colour classics, Harry's Goblin side comes out to play for the umpteenth time after far too much exposure to his father's serum. He sets a trap for Spider-Man to blow up in his house but the serum wears off when he realises that his own son is in there, too. He saves little Normie, Spidey and Mary Jane, but dies in the process. In Spider-Man 3, Harry's all twisted up because of the knowledge that Peter is Spider-Man, and Spider-Man killed his pops (or so he thinks). So he naturally starts juicing with the Goblin formula, then gets bonked on the head and becomes nice Harry. Then he flip-flops and the Goblin persona emerges for the umpteenth time (sound familiar?), he goes after Pete once more - failing, again - and eventually redeems himself by turning up in the final battle to assist in the fight against Venom and Sandman. Just as Venom is about to skewer Spider-Man with Harry's favourite skateboard, the once and future Goblin jumps in the way giving Peter the opportunity to finish off the Venom symbiote. It hits the grace notes of the Peter/Harry friendship/sacrifice so adored in the comics, and it plays out beautifully, with fine acting from Tobey Maguire and James Franco. A properly earned death, and one of the best parts of an underrated movie.
Cinephile since 1993, aged 4, when he saw his very first film in the cinema - Jurassic Park - which is also evidence of damn fine parenting. World champion at Six Degrees of Separation. Lender of DVDs to cheap mates. Connoisseur of Marvel Comics and its Cinematic Universe.
