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Study Guide
Spider-Man Madness
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Madness
NORMAN: You can't do this to me. I started this company. You know how much I sacrificed?!
The board just stares at him blankly.
NORMAN: Oh, Max. Please.
FARGAS: Norman, the board is unanimous. We're announcing the sale after the World Unity Festival. I'm sorry.
BALKAN: You're out, Norman.
NORMAN: Am I?
This might just be the spot where Norman Osborn truly breaks. Sure, the toxic performance enhancers he ingested probably played a role (as they're prone to do), but here is where Norman feels utterly betrayed and sees his world begin to crumble. He built Oscorp; now he's o-u-t.
GREEN GOBLIN: Out, am I?
This callback to that fateful board meeting reinforces the idea that Norman's ousting from the company that has his name on it is what caused him to go full Goblin.
GREEN GOBLIN: We killed them.
NORMAN: We?
GREEN GOBLIN: Remember? Your little accident in the laboratory.
NORMAN: The performance enhancers.
GREEN GOBLIN: Bingo. Me! Your greatest creation. Bringing you what you've always wanted: power beyond your wildest dreams. And it's only the beginning. There's only one who can stop us. Or imagine if he joined us.
Unregulated performance enhancers and major workplace trauma are a lethal combination. For Norman, they result in a totally scary, totally split personality. The Green Goblin is like Norman's id personified. He's thirsty for power and hungry for revenge.
GREEN GOBLIN: What about my generous proposal? Are you in, or are you out?
SPIDER-MAN: It's you who's out, Gobby. Out of your mind.
GREEN GOBLIN: Wrong answer!
Um, we're with Spidey on this one. The Green Goblin is straight up crazy, a maniacal fragment of Norman's fractured mind.
NORMAN: Aunt May, I'm sorry I was late. Work was murder.
Oh, Norman. You have no idea…or does he? As the narrative progresses, it's unclear just how soon Norman becomes aware of the Green Goblin and his actions—and how soon they begin acting in concert instead of as two separate parts of Norman's personality.
PETER: You killed those people on that balcony.
NORMAN: The Goblin killed! I had nothing to do with it! Don't let him take me again. I beg you. Protect me.
PETER: You tried to kill Aunt May. You tried to kill Mary Jane.
NORMAN: But not you. I tried to stop it. But I couldn't stop it. I would never hurt you. I knew from the beginning, if anything ever happened to me, it was you I could count on.
Norman secretly presses a button that calls for his glider, which appears behind Peter.
Here, we finally know for sure that Norman and the Green Goblin are in cahoots. Gone are the days when Norman awoke with zero idea of what the Green Goblin had done the night before. Norman is in on the terror now, as evidenced by the fact that he secretly calls his glider and attempts to impale Peter with it, all while insisting that he would never hurt Peter. Nice try, Norm.