Opening notes
Written by Joe Kelly and drawn by Phil Jimenez, Paulo Siqueira and Marco Checchetto.
The new arc kicks off with Amazing Spiderman #595. Peter realizes his latest problems stem from Normans rise to power. Peter is is still in shock that his arch-nemesis has risen to one of the nations highest offices and possibly worst of all Norman is seen as a national hero. Peter begins his planning to "take care" of Osborn. Norman has become to powerful and harder to understand which causes Spidey realizes Osborn is too much for him to handle. A major cause for Spiderman to become involved in American Son is Harry. Once Harry is brought in Parker knows he cannot put his assault on Norman off any longer. With Harry joining his father no one jnows Normans true intentions or Harrys'. The battle for Harrys soul will be fought through Amazing Spider #595-#599 discover who wins...or is this a competition no one can win? Secrets will be revealed, shocking twists will arise and a new character will arrive in the Marvel Universe but who will it be? Someone Said
Story
The story starts with Peter and Harry hanging out in a park. When Peter asks Harry about his father, Harry shows no interest whatsoever in his father's current status. Peter then bursts into the Front Line office and is determined to expose Norman for the criminal he really is but Ben Urich reminds him that he has no proof and until he finds it, there is no way to stop Osborn. Peter leaves the office annoyed. However, Norah Winters was inspired by Peter's determination and decides to infiltrate Avengers Tower herself.
Spider-Man then meets up with Wolverine on a rooftop where they talk about Norman Osborn. Spider-Man blames himself for Norman's rise in power because he had many opportunities to kill him before but he would always spare him. Spider-Man wants to infiltrate Avengers Tower and take Norman down once and for all but when Wolverine asks him weither he wants Osborn out of power or dead, Peter is unsure what to answer. Logan assures him that the best way to beat men like Osborn is with patients but before he leaves he tells him that if and when Osborn does slip up, Spider-Man should end him if has the chance.
At Gracie Mansion, Peter, Harry, Jonah Jameson, Jay and May are having dinner until Norman Osborn suddenly appears, to the annoyment of the others attendants. Norman reveals that he came to offer Harry a spot on his Avengers team but Harry laughs at his father's offer and leaves shortly after. At his appartment, Harry is proud of himself for standing up to his father. Then he is visited by Menace who turns back to his ex-girlfriend Lily and reveals that she is pregnant with his child.
Later that night, while Norman was talking about his son with Miss Hand in his limo, the roof of the vehicul is ripped off by webbing and Norman is carried away by an enraged Spider-Man who tells Norman to leave Harry alone and continues to beat Norman around but Norman stays indefferent and responds to Spidey's anger with sarcasm, stating that his disappointed for missing when exactly he went insane. Before Spider-Man could finish Norman off, Harry calls him and to Peter's shock, Harry tells his father that he accepts his previous offer. As Norman laugh maniacally in triumph, a frustrated Spider-Man swings away. It is revealed that Harry accepted his father's offer because he wants to do what is necessary to protect his family.
At a press conference, Norman, along side his Dark Avengers, welcomes Harry into their ranks as a distraught Peter looks on. Peter confronts Harry who tells him that he's a good friend but he should stay out of the family buisness and trust him.
While Norman is giving Harry a tour of Avengers Tower, Norah Winters goes undercover to the Tower as the new page girl.
After talking with Jay for a bit, Peter visits Gwen Stacy's grave and realizes that Harry needs him. He then bumps into Norah who asks him to help her in her undercover mission but he turns her down because he fears for her safety, causing Norah to storm off. He then notices Darks Spider-Man (Venom) and Dark Hawkeye (Bullseye) going by and decides to act.
While Bullseye is busy killing mice, Spider-Man ambushes Venom using a brown sonic generator that weakens the symbiote and with the Invisible Woman's help, Bullseye does not notice his fellow Avenger's abduction. Spider-Man kidnaps Venom and places him in a special containment chamber designed by Mr. Fantastic. Sue then hands Spider-Man a black costume made of unstable molecules. While Sue doesn't fully agree of Spider-Man's intentions, she assures him that Reed's inventions always work.
As Venom, Peter goes with Bullseye to Avengers Tower where they gather with the rest of the Avengers and Norman reveals a new project called the American Son intended for his son. However, using his enhanced sense of smell, Daken the Dark Wolverine noticed something weird about "Venom"'s smell.
Norman shows his team the American Son Armor which he intends on giving to Harry to have him become the team's "Captain America". A test subject that has been injected with both the Super-Soldier and the Goblin serums escaped and attacked Osborn but was stopped by Peter in order to maintain the guise of Mac Gargan.
While in the Tower, Harry meets up with Lily and tells her that he plans on curing her from her Goblin condition and she gives him a keycard that allows him to access any facility within the Tower without alerting security.
While Peter/Venom is on monitor duty, Daken suddenly attacks him and reveals that he knows who he is because of his smell. The two fight and Daken gets the upper-hand by drugging Peter with his pheromones but Spider-Man, closing his eyes and relying only on his Spider-Sense, defeats Daken by throwing him into an electric generator. Harry suddenly appears and asks what's going on. Peter reveals his identity as the real Spider-Man and tells Harry that he's here to help and asks him to find some place to hide the unconcious Daken but Harry declines Spider-Man's interference and urges him to leave. Then on, Norman along with the rest of the Avengers appears and Spider-Man tells him that Daken kidnapped Harry. However, when asked weither this is true or not, to Peter's surprise, Harry does not go along with Peter's ruse and tells Norman that it's not "his" Spider-Man. Bullseye then shoots with two arrows Peter in the legs and Norman procedes to shoot Peter with a gun at point blank. However, Peter survived thanks to the specific nature of his mask. Norman and Bullseye then begin to mercilessly torture Peter but they are still unable to take his mask off despite using sonics, lasers, acid and ballistic trauma.
Norman then tells Harry how he is proud of him and reveals his plans on making him the American Son using the armor of the same name which can only be used by an Osborn. However, Harry tells Norman of his disinterest in the drugs and enhancements involved but Norman tells him that they necessary in him becoming a part of the team and expresses his pleasure in sharing his life with his son.
Norman goes back to torture Spider-Man and has figured out that his mask is made of Reed's unstable molecules so he uses a repulsor with the right frequency to stable the molecules in the mask. Before Norman could finish Peter off with one final repulsor blast to the head, he tells Peter that the only reason Harry joined the Avengers was because Lily is pregnant. Norman reveals that he intends on sacrificing Harry in battle so that he would gain sympathy from the public and the government and be allowed to use his authority unhinged. When Peter asks him how could he do this to his own son, Norman coldely replies that Harry is not his only son. After hearing this, Spider-Man breaks free from his restraints in a state of fury and attacks both Norman and Bullseye and goes to inform Harry of Norman's true intentions.
Meanwhile Harry manages to get from Norman's ;ab the serum necessary to cure Lily from her condition. However, when he presents it to her, she suprisingly knocks it away from him and reveals that she never really loved him and that the child she is carrying is Norman's. With that said, she transforms into Menace and flies away on her Glider,leaving a shocked Harry to go after her. However, Norah managed to seduce a security guard into giving her a pass key and she saw the whole encounter between Harry and Lily.
Spider-Man tries to escape Norman's grasp but fails and succombs to Norman's vicious attacks. Spider-Man's mask has dissolved but Norman is unable to see his face because he was being attacked by an enraged Harry who is using the American Son Armor.
The battle spills into the streets between father and son, both using their respective armors. At first, Norman doesn't understand why Harry is attacking him until Harry mentions Lily and his child. Now that Harry knows the truth, Norman shows his disinterest in his son because Harry was never worthy of his legacy and he is looking for a new heir but the goblin serum in his blood prevented him from having a proper child. However, because of Lily's unique Menace DNA, Norman found mating with her possible so he would have an heir that would not suffer from the side effects the children he had with Gwen suffer from. And accodring to Norman, Lily was far from unwilling, angering Harry. Norman decides not to hold back and procedes to attack Harry. Menace joins the fight and attempts to help Norman but Spider-Man saves Harry from Norman's killing blow, webs Menace to her glider and destroys the engine. This allows Harry to gain the upper hand and with Norman at his mercy, he prepares to finish him off. However, despite remembering Wolverine's advice about finishing Norman if has the chance, Peter refuses to allow his best friend to become a murderer, and convinces him to spare Norman's life because in killing him, he would become the son he always wanted. Harry now understands and leaves his father in an angry and bloody state.
Peter then quickly goes to a hospital and tells May and Jay that he was the victim of a "hit and run". Jay covers Peter's medical expences and Harry delivers him flowers. At her apartment, while watching a video from Avengers Tower, Norah Winters is ready to tell Ben Urich of her latest story until she sees in the video Norman brutally punishing the guard she seduced into giving her the keycard, saying that he never forgets the people who mess with his affair. Upon seeing this image, Norah becomes terrified and decides not to publish her story yet.
In the epilogue of the story, Norman Osborn stands with Lily and tells his unborn child that his brother is dead to them now and that his little "goblin prince" is going to be worthy of his legacy.
Collected Editions
Non-U.S. Editions
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