Here Be Goblins
Normie spent much of his childhood away from his father, due to him either being in prison for being the Green Goblin or thought dead. His actions as the Green Goblin often put Normie in danger, particularly when he plotted to take out his own father’s betrayers, using the cover of the philanthropic Norman Osborn Foundation and its opening gala. At the gala, he planned an explosion but Normie was in the building and realizing this, Harry raced to save him. He saved his son, along with Mary Jane and Spider-Man. Though the Goblin formula coursing through his veins had poisoned him and he died.
Normie was also frequently kidnapped due to his association with his father and grandfather’s Green Goblin legacy. The Cabal of Scrier under Matthew DeRoma’s leadership desired to turn Normie against his grandfather. Furthermore, robotic “Goblinettes” were preprogrammed to immerse young Normie in the Goblin formula and perpetuate the Goblin legacy. Often, Spider-Man came to Normie’s aid, as did investigative journalist Ben Urich and Normie’s uncle, the reformed Mark Raxton, AKA Molten Man.
After Normie’s grandfather, Norman, seemingly died and then returned, he too kidnapped Normie but as the Green Goblin. Seeing the Goblin confused the young Normie as he thought his father had returned. Norman came to realize that his grandson Normie was as weak as Harry and couldn’t carry on the legacy.
Normie blamed Spider-Man for his father’s death, but Harry eventually returned from his seeming demise, having been in Europe recovering the whole time. Meanwhile, Normie’s mother Liz opened up a new business, Allen Chemical. It eventually became Alchemax, making Normie heir to both the Oscorp and Alchemax fortunes. At some point, Harry had another child, Stanley, with Lily Hollister, making him a half-brother to Normie.
Normie and Stanley were kidnapped by their nanny Emma, though thanks to Liz having implanted trackers in both boys, Liz and Harry found the boys. They were all discovered by Norman who had become one with the Carnage Symbiote and became the Red Goblin. Though he was subdued by heroes Spider-Man, Cindy Moon, AKA Silk, Johnny Storm, AKA Human Torch, Clayton Cole, AKA, Clash, and Flash Thompson, AKA Agent Anti-Venom. But the heroes couldn’t subdue Norman for long and Harry suggested that the family split up with him taking Stanley. Normie became jealous of his father’s apparent favoritism. Despite the heroic efforts of the others, Norman escaped their clutches and caught up to his family. He wrapped Normie in the symbiote, making Normie the Goblin Childe.
As the Goblin Childe, Normie went after Peter’s Aunt May to hurt Spider-Man, but he was temporarily subdued by Otto Octavius, AKA Doctor Octopus. They fought until J. Jonah Jameson intervened using Spider-Slayer armor. Nearly defeated, the Red Goblin saved Goblin Childe and they absconded to Liz’s company Alchemax where Liz and Raxton awaited them. The Red Goblin presented himself as Norman and attempted to kill Liz to seize her company. Liz was saved by Spider-Man, who had bonded with the Venom Symbiote. Harry arrived on a glider and saved Normie, who having witnessed his grandfather’s murder attempt on his mom, turned on him. Though he was nearly slain by the Red Goblin, Spider-Man saved his life and took the fight with him elsewhere. Normie and Harry embraced. At Alchemax’s R&D Labs, technicians removed the symbiotic residue from Normie. Harry also embraced both his sons and committed to being there for them in a way that his father never was. Despite the extraction of the symbiote, a remnant of it flickered in Normie’s eyes but no one noticed.
Carnage soon sought all symbiote remnants, or codices, to free the God of Symbiotes Knull from his cage. Spider-Man put Normie and Eddie Brock’s son, Dylan, into hiding with an evil Reed Richards, AKA The Maker, from a parallel universe. The Maker had a machine to remove codices, but the adults in the room were too wary of using it on the children, so they left to find another test subject: Norman. While they were gone, the Maker tried to use the machine on Normie but Dylan protected him, and they were all soon attacked by Carnage’s minions—the Life Foundation Symbiotes. Normie and Dylan defended themselves until a spawn of the Venom symbiote, the Sleeper, saved them. Though, the Maker locked up all the attacking symbiotes and eventually Sleeper as well. Normie and Dylan shot at the containers holding them, and the Life Foundation symbiotes bonded with the Maker, creating a new hybrid. As Normie and Dylan attempted an escape, Spider-Man arrived with his heroic allies. Dylan liberated the Sleeper, who helped them explode the hybrid symbiote with its own organic napalm. The heroes then took the boys to Bruce Banner, AKA Hulk, who safely removed the codex from Normie.
Seemingly safe again, the boys were soon pursued by the recently escaped Ravencroft Institute patient, Norman Osborn, who believed he was Cletus Kasady and had been possessed by the Carnage symbiote. Spider-Man kept them safe by fending him off. The real Cletus/Carnage soon resurfaced and used his hive-mind minions to threaten Normie and Dylan. Dylan’s powers manifested and he exploded the minion but passed out. Normie dragged him to safety until his father, Eddie, returned with news that Knull was released from his cage.
While Eddie prepared for Knull’s arrival, Dylan stayed with Normie and his parents. Normie found his father’s Pumpkin Bombs and a Goblin Glider, secreted away in a hidden room, and dealt with nightmares. Dylan continued to come into his powers as a living codex, and showed Normie that he had saved a piece of the Carnage symbiote when it was attached to Norman. They played with it but soon got into trouble at a convenience store, where Dylan threatened the store’s clerk. Normie pulled Dylan off the clerk and called him out for acting crazy. Dylan threatened to turn him back into the Goblin Childe with the Carnage piece and punched him, sending them both crashing through a window. Sleeper was nearby and caught them, and negotiated with Dylan. The boys agreed to go home and explained their way out of the mess they made.
After his father went on a business trip abroad, Normie overheard his godfather Peter talking to his mom, Liz, about how Harry was actually relapsing into madness. Normie entered the room, admitting he overheard them and his mother lied to him about what he heard. Frustrated, he called her out and his father for lying, too, and revealed to the both of them what Harry had hid in the back of a closet: an arsenal of pumpkin bombs and a glider. Suddenly, Norman who was reformed, showed up and took both Normie and Liz to see Harry in Ravencroft, who had apparently become the demonic menace known as Kindred. Upset, Normie ran off to the rooftop where his grandfather comforted him. It eventually came to light that Kindred was not Harry at all, a mere Chameleon-tech illusion that obscured the cloned twins Gabriel and Sarah Stacy. The real Harry had died after having saved Normie from his own explosion at the Norman Osborn Foundation gala. The Harry that had returned from his recovery in Europe was in fact a genetic duplicate, and this Harry clone then perished saving Spider-Man from Kindred.
While Normie lost his father, the legacy of the Goblin saga continued. After Normie’s friend Dylan gave him a fledgling alien symbiote, he became the new Red Goblin, helping Dylan fight his father Eddie, who had become Bedlam. Kamala Khan, AKA Ms. Marvel, interrupted them and broke up the fight, which was hurting innocent bystanders. Bedlam escaped and Normie followed, fighting him off until Dylan and Ms. Marvel arrived to assist. Madelyn Pryor, AKA Goblin Queen, however, teleported Bedlam away from them.
Deciding to become a hero, Normie named his symbiote Rascal, and they set out to stop Goblin Nation from killing a civilian. But Normie lost control of Rascal, who was inexperienced and aggressive, and used Normie to get what it wanted: chocolate. Normie scolded his symbiote and left him at home while he attended Norman’s dedication ceremony for a new addiction treatment center in honor of Harry. Though the Goblin Nation attacked the event, led by Phil Urich, AKA Goblin King, who returned from the dead and sought revenge against the person who killed him: Norman Osborn. Normie was used by Goblin Nation as leverage to distract Norman, whom they captured. After that, Normie started carrying Rascal with him everywhere and they embarked on a mission to save Norman. Their search led them to a fight with the Goblin Nation, and Rascal pulled Normie into his memories to have a chat. Rascal revealed that he was learning from Normie and that he had control over him, the opposite of what Normie thought. Normie then used the symbiote to launch a blizzard of razors at those stopping him from getting to his grandfather, and he soon came up against Urich, whom he nearly ate until Norman stopped him. They both escaped and Normie left his grandfather at a hospital. Normie wandered the streets and came across an elderly houseless woman with a dog that barked at him, but the woman reassured him that he wasn’t going to harm him unless he came after her. She teaches him that there’s no such thing as bad dogs, only bad owners, which brings a tear to Normie’s eyes.
When Norman was on his feet again, he found Normie and insisted on separating him from his symbiote. Normie defended his symbiote, noting that the things he did with it were him and the symbiote was effectively innocent. Convinced though, Norman used a dangerous sonic apparatus to separate Normie from his symbiote . The symbiote on its own attacked Norman and returned to Normie. Normie committed to protecting Rascal from his grandfather.
Normie and his fledgling symbiote Rascal soon discovered that Cletus Kasady had somehow possessed his little brother Stanley. It turned out that Cletus had become the Extrembiote, part cosmic symbiote dragon and part Tony Stark, AKA Iron Man’s Extremis Virus. He used his new abilities to spread his consciousness across the internet, transforming New Yorkers into a homicidal mob, including Stanley. Normie joined Miles Morales, AKA Spider-Man, and unlikely allies, the deputized Super Villains called the Cape Killers against Cletus and his thralls before they tore up the town. Normie then discovered one of his symbiote’s abilities—absorbing other symbiotes—and saved Miles. He then tested it on a civilian and successfully freed them from Cletus’ hold. He continued to free victims but there were too many. Passing out from exhaustion, the others helped him to relative safety. While protecting him, Iron Man intervened and despite a heavy-duty assault on Cletus, he survived. Normie woke up and re-entered the fray, helping breaking Cletus’ hold on people while the others fought tooth and nail to beat Cletus.
When the Goblin Nation’s power began to rise again, thanks to their zombified Goblin King (Urich), Normie struggled to keep his symbiote Rascal’s aggressive and violent tendencies at bay.
It came to a head when the Goblin King kidnapped Normie’s friend, Tim Anders, and Rascal went berserk. Normie embraced the creature’s nature and they put a permanent end to the Goblin King’s reign of terror. But Rascal was out of control and on the loose, targeting everyone who hurt Normie in the past. Normie’s reformed grandfather, now the Gold Goblin, tried to help him, which led to a battle at Harry’s gravesite. There, Rascal learned that he was the source of Normie’s pain and blamed the one responsible for their bond: Dylan Brock, AKA Venom. In an altercation with Venom, Venom peeled back Normie’s symbiote and Normie begged him to separate him from Rascal, but Venom refused as they were truly bonded now and doing so would kill Normie. A glider the Red Goblin was using then struck Venom, knocking him out. As it flew off and caused destruction, the Red Goblin realized it would endanger people and they resolved to help. It felt good to him, helping people, and when Venom caught up with him, Normie asked Dylan why he gave him Rascal. Dylan admitted that he just needed help with his dad and he trusted both Normie and Rascal.
When Ignacio, AKA Willow-Wisp, attacked Oscorp and Alchemax to take them down and had proof of all their crimes, Normie was shocked to discover said crimes and ran away from home. Using his symbiote, Normie kept himself hidden as his Red Goblin persona. Spider-Man (Morales), gave up his spot and vouched for Red Goblin to attend the Avengers Academy under its new headmaster Carol Danvers, AKA Captain Marvel. Though Danvers was concerned about not knowing the Red Goblin’s true identity, and worried about other students as well, she gave him and them sanctuary as long as they committed to taking care of one another.
At the academy, Normie met the super-intelligent Lunella Lafayette, AKA Moon Girl, and her dino compatriot, Devil Dinosaur; the Daywalker Bri Brooks, AKA Bloodline; the super-strong gem-empowered Justin Jin, AKA Juggernaut; runaway Aaron Fischer, AKA Captain America, and the body-swapping Shela Sexton, AKA Escapade. He soon felt safe enough to reveal his identity to Lunella and she accepted him with open arms. But he kept his identity from Aaron, who was negatively impacted by the shady schemes of Alchemax.
After the newly formed Sinister Six, led by young genius Calvin Cuttle, AKA Squid Kid, attacked Oscorp and Alchemax, the news media outed Normie to the rest of his new friends as heir to said companies. Embarrassed by his family and association with the often corrupt companies, he ran off to fix things and faced the Sinister Six alone, only to be defeated and lost his little brother Stanley in the process.
Normie returned to the academy to get help from his friends. While Captain Marvel went off to handle it and told them to stay put, the group took matters into their own hands. Aaron contacted his ally Qaari Beck, AKA Mysteriant—who was part of the Six and wanted no part in Stanley’s kidnapping—and he helped the group infiltrate the Six’s hideout. A battle followed that led to the rescue of Stanley, and as a result, the Sinister Six ousted their leader, Squid Kid. Normie reunited with his family and went back to the academy, asking if they’d still have him. Aaron accepted him and reassured Normie that people are not their origins. Later at the academy, Normie got caught up in a possession by the energy vampire Emplate that resulted in the villain’s eventual banishment into a prison dimension.
