The police remove the apparently dead body of Norman Osborn, previously stripped of his Green Goblin garb by a mysterious figure. Jonah Jameson is sure Spider-Man is to blame for Norman’s death and offers Luke Cage, hero for hire, fi ve thousand dollars to bring the wall-crawler in dead or alive. Meanwhile, Peter, Aunt May, Mary Jane, Flash and others attend Gwen Stacy’s funeral. Soon after, a distraught Spider-Man is considering quitting when Cage attacks. Angered, Spidey knocks Cage through a skylight and warns him to stay away. Later, Mary Jane takes Peter to an ESU concert to try and get his mind off things. Cage, knowing Spider-Man is often seen on campus, crashes the party, and calls the wall-crawler out. Peter becomes Spidey and attacks, initiating a brutal fight. However, soon realizing that his feelings are clouded by grief, Spidey pins Cage’s arms with webbing and offers to talk. After the two heroes get to know each other, Cage visits Jameson and shoves his money into his mouth while Peter realizes he’s not so alone after all.
Misty Knight revealed among police on scene (Mv10, ’04). Norman Osborn survives due to the Goblin formula healing factor (revealed in SM #75, ’96). Reviving in the morgue, Norman kills a drifter to take his place and allows Harry to take up the Goblin mantle while he heads to Europe. There, Norman takes over the Cabal of the Scriers and uses one of their agents to help Professor Miles Warren in his cloning experiments (SM:OJ #1, ’97) resulting in Gwen Stacy (ASM #144, ’75) and Spider-Man (ASM #149, ’75) clones. Harry apparently dies from his Goblin formula (PPSSM #200, ’93), but revives w/Norman taking Harry to Europe while employing Mysterio to switch autopsy reports & insert a genetic duplicate in Harry’s coffin (ASM #581, ’09). Norman then masterminds the “Clone Saga” bts before returning as the Green Goblin (SM #75, ’96).
