The Final Fall of Norman Osborn
Norman Osborn finds out the hard way that karma is, in fact, a bitch.
Disclaimers: The characters used in this fan fiction belong to Marvel Entertainment Group, now a part of Disney. I use them for my own enjoyment and the enjoyment of others, and get no other benefit from them.
That being said, in this story I am addressing what I believe is one of the worst mistakes ever made at Marvel. Norman Osborn should have been left dead after the death of Gwen Stacy storyline.
Maria Hill, once again the Interim Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. (her first act of business was to return the agency to its original name), sat in her (she was sure temporary) office and watched the multiple screen display in front of her. She enlarged one of a newswoman standing next to the George Washington Bridge.
"Authorities have confirmed that the body recovered from under the George Washington Bridge is Norman Osborn," the woman said. "An anonymous source has said that Osborn was wearing his Iron Patriot Armor, and that the armor and the man inside it, quote, 'were both fried.'"
Hill reduced the screen of the newswoman, and enlarged the one showing footage that was all over the internet. The footage was running on a loop and came from a website titled therealnormanosborn dot com.
There were two scenes in the looping footage. The first scene showed the Green Goblin knocking an unconscious blond woman off of the top of the George Washington Bridge, and Spider-Man's valiant but ultimately futile attempt to save the woman's life with his webbing. The footage very clearly resolved the long running controversy over just who was responsible for the death of Gwen Stacy.
The second scene showed what looked like Norman Osborn's corpse. Someone was stripping the Green Goblin suit off of him.
Hill reduced the screen showing the looping footage and magnified another television feed, this one of that morning talk show featuring four women.
The African American comedienne and move star was talking.
"I'm just sayin'. Norman Osborn went to prison for murdering a female Bugle reporter, but then became America's sweetheart because he killed another unarmed woman on national television."
"That 'woman' wasn't a woman at all, she was an alien," said the blond reality show star. "She was responsible for the deaths of thousands, including Janet Van Dyne. Hardly the same thing!"
"But wasn't it the same thing?" the red haired comedienne said. "I mean, Gwen Stacy, Terri Kidder, they were unarmed women. And the Skrull Queen Veranke, she was female, and unarmed. The fact that she was a bad guy just gave Osborn an excuse he didn't have the other two times.
"I mean, c'mon, can you not notice a pattern here?"
Hill minimized the screen as the four women all started talking at once.
Hill punched a button.
"Terrence, you get anything out of Ares or Reynolds yet?" Hill asked.
"No, they're both still pretty incoherent," Terrence said. "Somebody worked them over pretty good. Are you sure Thor didn't...?"
"No," Hill replied. "Thor was in Oklahoma at the time. We have multiple witnesses to that."
"So who else could put that kind of beat down on the God of War and the Sentry?" Terrence said. "Not to mention blow a hole through both Osborn and the Iron Patriot armor?"
"That's the question I want you to put to them when they become coherent," Hill said. "Don't waste my time with speculation until you talk to them."
"Yes, ma'am," Terrence said. "Anything else?"
He sounded hurt. Too bad.
"No, just get me my answers," Hill said.
Hill broke the connection and went back to the looping footage on the website. Norman's corpse being found under the George Washington bridge was not a coincidence. Hill was sure of that. Somebody was very unhappy about Osborn's murder of Gwen Stacy.
Then, she reduced the looping footage and went back to the newswoman.
"Several witnesses claim that they saw lightning around the George Washington Bridge around 3:44 this morning," the woman said.
There was the buzz of an incoming message.
The message was coming in from A.R.M.O.R.
Hill put the newswoman on mute and punched the button.
"Speak," she said.
"Yes, Director Hill, this is Wallace from A.R.M.O.R.," a woman's voice said. "We've managed to break the encryption on Osborn's computer."
A.R.M.O.R. was a much smaller organization than S.H.I.E.L.D. or even S.W.O.R.D., but with their access to other realities' versions of important people, they were sometimes invaluable for getting encryptions broken, because usually in some reality there was a cooperative version of an important person.
"Very good," Hill said. "Send it to me."
"Certainly, Director Hill, but before I do, I have been requested to make it clear to you that, as a result of the information contained in this file, our office has filed an official request to take over as the investigating agency on this case."
Hill bit back her annoyance. Only one thing would allow A.R.M.O.R. to take over an investigation from the NYPD, the FBI, and S.H.I.E.L.D.
"You suspect the perp is from another reality," Hill said.
"The file you are about to see pretty much confirms it, Director Hill," Wallace said. "Furthermore, from what we can tell, the hit on Osborn was sanctioned at the highest possible level, as far as the multiverse is concerned."
"What's that mean?" Hill asked.
"It means we can't touch this...'perp,'" Wallace said. "And quite frankly, our sources say that even if we could, it might be suicide to try. The file will make it all clear."
"Send me..." Hill started to say, but Wallace had already broken the connection, and the next second, Hill had incoming.
She opened the file.
It was an e-mail from Osborn's private, high security e-mail account. It had an enclosed file with it. The e-mail read:
Well, Norman, haven't you done well for yourself?
You're on top of the world. You are your world's biggest superhero. You have built a personal empire on your new reputation.
Of course, building a personal empire on your reputation is building a personal empire on a foundation of glass. And I've got the stones. Your past is about to come back to haunt you.
Go ahead. Click on the enclosure. I'll be here when you get back.
Hill clicked on the enclosed file. She wasn't surprised to find that it was the same looped video footage that had taken over the internet.
Ouch! That would leave a mark on your reputation, now wouldn't it?
As you are reading this, you have about 20 minutes before this thing goes viral. Another murder investigation. Questions about how you seem to have a thing about killing defenseless women.
It will be messy. People will start to think maybe Tony Stark isn't such a bad guy after all. I can pretty much guarantee you will lose your Avengers, H.A.M.M.E.R. Directorship (lame name, by the way), and probably your freedom. Again.
I can guess what you are thinking now:
1) I'll find you.
2) I'll make you wish you'd never been born.
3) You don't know who you're messing with.
But then, that's really your situation right now, isn't it? You don't know who is messing with you.
Let's see if I can help you out with that.
You have done a lot of rotten things in your life to a lot of people, but me, I take what you did to Gwen Stacy personal. Really personal.
You see, I know what you did. How you psychologically, then physically, raped her. How you knocked her up. How you drugged her and took her children from her. How you basically ruined her before you kidnapped her and then booted her off the George Washington Bridge.
You see, this footage doesn't even show the worst of what you did to that poor girl. I could have shown all of it, but in the end I didn't want to victimize Gwen Stacy more just to get at you.
In the end, this really is about justice, not revenge.
Well, maybe just a little revenge.
(Takes deep breath) OK, ready to move on now.
Question: What was the justification you gave to Spider-Man for killing Gwen Stacy?
Remember this one? Remember saying that she was just an "insignificant slip of a girl?" One who wouldn't amount to much of anything?
Heh. Funny thing, that.
You see, on your world, Gwen Stacy might have been an insignificant slip of a girl, but where I come from, Earth 295, she is not so insignificant.
Where I come from, Gwen Stacy waged a successful guerilla war against mutant overlords.
She achieved the Punisher's wet dream of blowing away the Kingpin, Wilson Fisk, in a face to face confrontation.
She faced down the Hulk.
She punched out Doctor Doom.
And, best of all, she did all this while she was the bodyguard of Thor.
It's this last bit that you need to pay attention to.
You see, the Gwen Stacy of my world ultimately failed to protect her charge. Thor died fighting (and isn't that just like him?).
However, that didn't stop Thor's father, Odin, from visiting her about a year later. Her failure didn't stop Asgard's High Father from declaring her a worthy successor to his son's power.
Guess he admired her effort.
Odin wanted to give her a hammer, but Gwen, wacky girl that she is, she had other ideas.
You can make other things from uru.
Things like a replica of a Prebie pump action rifle.
And my new rifle? Way cool. It now shoots thunderbolts!
Ooooooooops! Guess the cat's out of the bag now.
Feeling maybe a little uneasy yet? Bet you didn't know that there was a Gwen Stacy, Thunder Goddess, out there did you?
Wait. Because the news gets even better for me, and even worse for you.
Out there in the multiverse, there is this crystal palace. The multiverse is in trouble, you see, and the folks in that palace, they send out teams, called Exiles, to fix little mistakes that threaten to unravel the fabric of reality.
Turns out, you're one of those mistakes. You were supposed to die right after you killed your world's Gwen Stacy.
And so, the folks in the crystal palace approached me for a one time mission.
Guess they figured I'd be motivated.
You want to keep this video from coming out, you better come and meet me where you last saw a Gwen Stacy. I really want to see if you can throw me off a bridge.
And I wouldn't suggest sending your pet war god, or the king of the universe or whatever the Sentry is supposed to be, or any of your other Avengers, in your place.
You do that, the video comes out, I will beat your surrogates down, and I will still come for you after I've ruined your reputation.
You want to try to keep that video from going viral, you better come see me. Now.
Chop! Chop!
Very Truly Yours,
Gwendolyn Stacy
Final Note: The Gwen Stacy from Earth 295 was the Gwen Stacy from the Age of Apocalypse. Everything she says she did is literally true, although to mess with Osborn's head, she omits context. For example, she was actually the bodyguard for Don Blake. Still, she was pretty much the total badass she implies she was.
This story also presupposed that "Brand New Day" (ugh!) put an end to public knowledge that Osborn murdered the 616 Gwen Stacy.