Osborn, Emily

Background

"Revenge of the Green Goblin"

A rather significant matriarch of the Spiderverse, Emily Osborn, the deceased wife of Norman Osborn and mother to Harry Osborn, has remained rather mysterious over the years. The kind, loving, optimistic woman fell in love with Norman when he was still trying to reclaim his family's name and wealth. It is unclear as to whether or not Norman met her while he was a student at E.S.U. because Norman (or anyone else for that matter) has never explicitly stated how he met Emily.

There is very little known about Emily and she has only been used during flashbacks within stories. When Harry was teetering on the brink of insanity and experiencing ghost-like apparitions of his father, he found comfort in perusing old family photos. Emily was in the album and she's seen carrying an infant Harry and taking him to a local carnival. Unfortunately, that is the extent of Harry's account, a mother sharing a good time with her young son.

But the good times did not last, Emily died when Harry was very young (less than a year old). Norman implicated Harry's birth as a possible cause of her death, but no specific details as to the exact cause of her death are mentioned. One thing is clear, Norman loved Emily greatly. He says that they had "such plans [together]" and that he never felt "as whole--as balanced--as when he was with her." And when she passed away, Norman states that losing her was not worth gaining an heir in Harry. Emily's death is most likely at the core of Norman's resentment toward his son. Her death changed everything for Norman, and he began to refocus on his goal of obtaining wealth and restoring the Osborn family name when he lost her.

Later, when Norman was recovering from the insanity induced by participating in the Gathering of Five ritual, he was placed under the care of a swedish nurse named Kolina Frederickson. Norman noticed an immense amount of similarities between Kolina and Emily, specifically when his nurse suggested to him that he shouldn't brood so much. That comparison is a tremendous honor because Norman has stated that Emily was the best woman he'd ever known. The similarity saved Kolina later on when Norman was going through a fit of blind rage and was about to attack his nurse. Seeing Emily in Kolina caused Norman to turn on his cohort Donald Menken, who was about to harm Kolina.

”Shadow of the Goblin”

Emily showed up when Harry was in high school and wanted her son back. She stayed away from him but coerced Nels Van Adder into kidnapping him. He was a lonely man after his forced transformation into a kind of Proto Goblin and wanted to see his family. Van Adder failed due to the interference of the very inexperienced Spider-Man. Back at his makeshift home, Emily scolded him for his failure and said Norman would increase security after the botched kidnapping. He promised not to fail. (Spider-Man: Shadow of the Green Goblin #1)

Appearances

Cover Date	Appearance Information
Sep 1991	FB, 1st: Spectacular Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #180
	picture in Harry's photo album
Oct 2000	FB: Spider-Man: Revenge of the Green Goblin #1
	Norman recalls memories of his deceased wife
Nov 2000	FB: Spider-Man: Revenge of the Green Goblin #2
Dec 2000	FB: Spider-Man: Revenge of the Green Goblin #3