What Role Will Norman Osborn aka The Green Golbin Play in Silk's Arc?

[Winter]

One thing I've really liked about Insomniac's Spider-Man is all the buildup to the series final villain, the Green Goblin. I love how in most of the games Norman is responsible for most of the major problems the heroes have faced.

He created Mr. Negative, indirectly created Doctor Octopus, created Devil's Breath which resulted in the death of Aunt May and unleashed Venom on the world. I will admit that I have mixed feelings on how Norman has been written as he's at his most sympathetic here and Norman Osborn in the comics, even before he became Green Goblin, wasn't a good person. In the comics his wife faked her death just to get away from him and he was very abusive towards his son. He is, as Peter puts it, a bad man made worse.

That's mostly been forgotten about in most adaptations most notably the Sam Raimi films where Norman is presented as a harsh but ultimately good man who does love his son and sees Peter as a surrogate son. And it's been pretty much abandoned in the games as Osborn while being a nasty piece of work does what he does to help his son. His wife didn't fake her death she actually died and, as far as we know, was in a loving relationship with her husband, he may be a bit over protective of his son but he never shows any sign of being abusive and during Venom's rampage he outright admits that this whole situation is his fault not Harry, something Norman in the comics would never do.

I do think that Norman is well written in the games but this is a case of In Name Only as he really doesn't have that much in common with his comic counterpart other then the name Norman Osborn.

But putting that aside I have to wonder what role will Norman play in Cindy's story in this series? To take a look at Miles as stated before Norman created Mr. Negative and several genetically altered Spiders which means that Norman is indirectly responsible for the death of Miles' father and directly responsible for giving Miles his powers. He is also indirectly responsible for Peter becoming bonded to the Venom Symbiote which caused Miles no end of grief. In SM2 Miles makes peace with Martin Lee but his conflict with Norman has yet to be addressed and likely will be put front and center.

And then there's his relationship with Peter whom he has a rather complicated relationship with. It's clear that Peter lost a lot of faith in Norman before the events of the games even started yet he still cares for him somewhat and is still best friends with Norman's son Harry. However, by the time SM2 comes around Norman is has cost Peter his only living relative, two friends of his, got him bonded to an alien that nearly killed both his girlfriend and his surrogate son. Not to mention what it did to Harry and while none of this has been intentional on Norman's part it still happened.

And in regards to Norman's feelings on the Spider-Men, they've both played a part in ruining his reputation which caused him to loose his position as mayor, exposed him as the one who created Death's Breath and most importantly is the reason his son is now in a coma. Sure he had it coming and Peter and Miles did everything they could to save Harry but that clearly doesn't matter to Norman who's now made it his goal to avenge what's happened to him and his son by getting back at Peter and Miles.

And thus the question becomes what will Norman's relationship with Cindy be?

I've no doubt that Cindy's character will be set up in the upcoming DLC/Expansion Pack but how will Norman be tied into Cindy's character journey as the two have no connection in the comics whatsoever. In the comics Cindy was locked away in a bunker for a decade as a result of a villain named Morlun hunter her down.

While Morlun may yet be involved in Cindy's story the question is how will Norman be invovled. What will he do that results in her having a personal connection to him as well?

Now you may ask, why does Cindy need to have a connection to Norman, can't one of the Spider-Heroes just be unconnected to him? Well yes, but that would be boring for the final game. Again Norman is indirectly responsible for the deaths of Miles' Father and Peter's Aunt and hurt them both by indirectly inflicting Venom on them. If Cindy comes into the story and has no connection to Norman then it would be dull and uninteresting by comparison as he's not someone who caused her any grief in her life he's just a villain she has to help take down.

At this point we don't have enough information but if I was to guess we may get something like this.

Seeing that Cindy's mother is likely dead I wonder if Norman will have something to do with that, maybe she was a victim of Devil's Breath which not only gives her a connection to Peter as both lost someone as a result of that plague but also means that Norman is responsible for her loosing someone she loves. Also I'm pretty sure that Norman had other genetically altered spider's in his lab so she could get bitten by one of those which means, just like Miles, Cindy's powers are a result of Norman's spiders.

There's also Carnage to take into account which is also a result of Norman's actions so maybe that will be tied to Cindy's story. I don't maybe a friend of her's will be killed or maybe her mother isn't dead but just divorced from her husband (with the two still being on good terms with one another) and she's killed by Carnage during his rampage.

Next question then is what does Cindy do to get on Norman's bad side? Norman's main reason for hating Peter and Miles is them hurting Harry while trying to save him. My guess this part will be put off until the third game which might be Harry dying and Silk being blamed for it even though she was trying to save him.

Again, I don't know but I do hold that there NEEDS to be a connection or the third game will suffer for it by only having Peter and Miles having a connection to Norman. This has to be personal for all parties involved or it will be boring for the players.

[Thebestoftherest]

Please don't pull a Darth Vader, Silk I am your father.

[Winter]

Please don't pull a Darth Vader, Silk I am your father.

I doubt that will be done as it hasn't been setup in the slightest and just about everyone would know it was contrived even when compared to her origins in the comics. Not to mention Cindy's fans would be PISSED since it would hurt her relationship with her family since her relationship with her parents is rather important to her overall growth.