Monday, March 22, 2010

Harry Osborn

Real Name
Harold "Harry" Osborn

Occupation
Owner of the Coffee Bean cafe; former owner and president of Osborn Industries

Citizenship
U.S.A.

Place of Birth
New York City, New York

Known Relatives
Elizabeth "Liz" Osborn (ex-wife), Norman "Normie" Osborn Jr. (son), Norman Osborn (father), Emily Osborn (mother, deceased), Sarah Stacy (half-sister), Gabriel Stacy (half-brother), Amberson "Ambrose" Osborn (grandfather, deceased), Alton Osborn Jr. (great-grandfather, deceased), Alton Osborn Sr. (great-great-grandfather, deceased)

Group Affiliation
None

Education
College degree

Height
5'10"

Weight
170 lbs.

Eyes
Blue

Hair
Reddish brown

Powers
As the Green Goblin after using the Goblin formula, Harry had enhanced strength, speed, reflexes, endurance, and healing, but at the cost of his sanity. Whether the Harry that is alive today has been affected by the Goblin formula is unrevealed.

Other Info
Harry Osborn is perhaps Peter Parker's first true friend. His upbringing was difficult due to the lack of nurturing warmth from his father, Norman Osborn. Harry lost his mother, Emily, before he turned one year old. Norman had little time for his son, and was frustrated by Harry's failure to demonstrate academic excellence or a competitive drive. Harry was unaware that his father had been permanently altered by a chemical explosion, and that his father had assumed a secretive criminal lifestyle as the Green Goblin. (However, according to later discoveries, it was revealed that Harry possibly had sabotaged the original Goblin formula, bitter at his father for consistently choosing work as a priority over his son). (Click on the highlighted names above to learn more about the characters.)

Harry graduated from Standard High and, along with friend Gwen Stacy, went to Empire State University (ESU). There, Harry and Gwen met Peter Parker. After some time, Harry and Peter became friends. Harry invited Peter to move in to his apartment rent-free (thanks to his father's wealth). Peter was able to repay Harry by helping him as a tutor. While Harry and Gwen socialized with Peter and aspiring model Mary Jane Watson, Peter and Gwen began to date and they fell in love. Mary Jane dated Harry, though she found flirting with Peter, the man she secretly knew was Spider-Man, irresistible. Mary Jane's flirting infuriated Harry. With the pressure of school, his father's high expectations, and rejection from Mary Jane, Harry turned to illegal drugs. One while he was high on drugs, Harry told Mary Jane that he forgave her for flirting with Peter; however, she became angry and broke up with him. Harry initially blamed his breakup on Peter for stealing Mary Jane's attention from him. Peter found out Harry had overdosed on LSD, and sought medical attention. Peter then confronted and beat up Harry's drug pusher, delivering the message that he should never return. (To learn about the characters and school above, just click on their highlighted names.)

Later on, the Green Goblin killed Gwen Stacy. Witnessing his father's apparent death battling Spider-Man, Harry was driven to the brink of madness. While no one was watching, he removed his father's mask and costume before the police discovered the body. Harry held Spider-Man responsible for his father's death.

Sometime later, Harry discovered his roommate's costume and secret identity. Insane and full of hate, he donned his father's costume and attacked Spider-Man as the new Green Goblin (shown as the first picture posted above. Harry was proficient in the use of his father's equipment as the Green Goblin including the Goblin Glider, exploding pumpkin bombs, razor-edged bats, gas-releasing ghosts, and laser-emitting gloves). With no superhuman powers, Harry was quickly defeated. Spider-Man removed the Goblin costume and paraphernalia from Harry before Harry was taken into custody. The police did not believe Harry's ravings that he was the Green Goblin since he looked too young. Therefore, they also did not believe Harry's claims that Peter was Spider-Man.

Harry was sent into psychiatric care under Dr. Barton Hamilton. Hamilton successfully cured Harry of his insanity, and induced him into forgetting about his life as the Goblin and his knowledge of Spider-Man's secret identity. (Click on the doctor's name above, to learn more about him.)

Harry returned home, and was reunited with his friends. He met Liz Allan, Peter's friend from Midtown High. The two began dating. Liz left for a short time, ashamed that Harry would not want to be with her after she was caught stealing for the sake of her step-brother, the Molten Man. Harry, however, accepted her when she returned to him. (To learn about the above highlighted characters, just click on their names.)

Under hypnosis Harry had revealed everything about the Green Goblin to Dr. Hamilton. Coveting the Goblin's power, Hamilton eventually decided to become the Green Goblin himself. Taking Harry prisoner, Hamilton infiltrated New York's criminal underworld as the Goblin and soon after encountered Spider-Man. Harry escaped captivity and also assumed the identity of the Goblin. Hamilton knocked Harry unconscious, but was then killed by the explosion of a bomb with which he had tried to kill both Harry and Spider-Man. Upon reviving, Harry had again lost the memory of being the Green Goblin and Spider-Man's secret identity.

Soon afterwards, Harry became the successor to his father and president of Osborn Industries. He eloped with Liz Allan, and moved first to Long Island and then to a large house in Englewood, New Jersey. Harry and Peter drifed apart during this time, but were reunited by the return of the Molten Man and rise of the Hobgoblin (Roderick Kingsley) threatening the Osborn family with demands for his father's strength enhancing serum. After a difficult labor, brought on by the trauma of facing the Hobgoblin, Liz gave birth to a son: Norman Harold Osborn. Peter and Mary Jane were asked to be the godparents. When the Parkers were evicted from their apartment, Harry and Liz took them in as tenants. (To learn about the Hobgoblin, just click on his name above.)

To defend his family from the Hobgoblin, Harry resumed his role as the Green Goblin. The stress began to take its toll, as Harry gradually lost mental stability again and returned to menacing Spider-Man as the Green Goblin. He kidnapped Mary Jane, and took her to the top of the Brooklyn Bridge where Gwen had died. Mary Jane refused to beg for her life, startling Harry to remember the love he felt for her, and promised she and Aunt May would be kept safe in the war between himself and Spider-Man. Harry remembered Peter's secret identity, and played mind games with Peter, making living in the apartment below the Osborns very uncomfortable. (Click on Aunt May's name to learn more about her.)

Harry enhanced his strength by taking a version of the Goblin serum, and tried to kill Spider-Man once and for all; however, the new formula was a failure and it poisoned him. In his final moments before death, Harry reverted back to being Peter's friend.

Later on, due to an time altering event, Harry has actually returned to life. In this new altered timeline, Harry has no memory of being the Green Goblin, nor of Peter Parker's alter-ego. He is now the owner of a chain of cafes based on his old college hangout, the Coffee Bean. He considers Peter his best friend, but he hates Spider-Man with a vengeance. In this timeline, he isn't married anymore, and he is currently dating Lily Hollister, daughter of New York District Attorney Bill Hollister. (Click on Lily's name above, to learn more about her.)

After some time, Harry is actually recruited by his father, Norman (now know as Iron Patriot), to join his new group Avengers called the "Dark Avengers." As a member of the Dark Avengers, Harry would have a armored suit and he would go by the alias, "America Son." However, both Harry and Norman had alternative motives to joining forces. (Click on the highlighted team above to learn more about them. Marvel.com doesn't have a good description of the Dark Avengers yet, but here is a link to a different website if you would like to learn more about the "Dark Avengers," http://www.comicvine.com/dark-avengers/65-55990/)

Later, Harry learned that Lily had, without Harry's knowing, received the Goblin serum from his father. The serum was absorbed into her skin, allowing her to transform into the Goblin. In an attempt to stop Lily, Harry donned the Green Goblin once again, and he wanted to inject Lily with a serum that would reverse the affects of the Goblin serum; however, she refuses. After this, Harry finds out that Lily and Norman had been working together to get Harry to join the Dark Avengers. Also, they planned on Harry to act as a martyr to increase the public's view of Norman's Dark Avengers team. Upon learning of the betrayal of Lily and Norman, Harry retaliates and dons the American Son armor and beats his father up. At the end of the battle, Harry tells his father that he won't consider himself Norman's son anymore.

After this, Harry is cut off financially from his father. Harry is then forced to move from his apartment, and is currently staying in Peter Parker's old room at Aunt May's. He has also begins secretly dating Peter's cousin, Amy Reilly.

To learn more concerning the life of Harry Osborn/Green Goblin/American Son, click on the following link, http://marvel.com/universe/Harry_Osborn.

Except for a couple twists, the movies did a pretty good job at staying to the storyline from the comics.

3 comments:

  1. Kinda of like a movie... it's weird how many of these guys who die come back to life!

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  2. So, how do these stories come about??? Are they in current comic books or did someone just make them up on a website? It all seems like a super huge web of Superheros and Villans that all cross paths and lives...very interesting. Is there one author who created them....or are they really out there and someone is just telling ther story! :)

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  3. So, there is lots of story lines (time lines) for every character in Marvel. There is an original storyline (which is what I try to focus on), but depending on the writers, the stories may take random turns off of the original story line. Also, there are many different writers for all the different characters/story lines. Many times, they even create new time lines. Also, as you have noticed, all of the superheros/villains seem to show up in each others' story lines very often. Hopefully that helped in answering your questions. :-)

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