A Spider-Man AU:
After her estranged husband dies in mysterious circumstances, Emily Osborn (Lena Headey) does not die herself, but rather takes over Oscorp, begins using it as a force for good, and raises her son Harry into a heroic young man.
harry osborn
Anonymous: You posted something related to Harry Osborn. You also spoke about his mother. Can you please tell more about her mother.. Some sources say she died when he was a year old, some say she died when he was 9 or 10.. I don’t understand!
Well! In the 616 universe, Emily Osborn died shortly after giving birth to Harry, because of assumed complications in the pregnancy or the birth. As for your sources that say that she died when he was around nine or ten, those might (might!) be talking about the Ultimates, but I couldn’t find a reliable source saying one way or the other, and I’m not at home at the moment to sort through my comics to find any references.
But, since the TASM movies seem to be doing an odd mash up of the Ults, we can maybe assume that she died in the movies around the time that she died in the Ults comics. However! I’m not claiming to be an expert here, and if anyone has anything to add, that’d be so great thank you ;3;
I’ve always been fascinated by Emily (I mean, dude. This is the person Norman described as the best woman he’d ever known.) Here’s what I know:
616 continuity: She died when Harry was still very young. As complications from the pregnancy may have weakened her, that’s the core of Norman’s resentment towards Harry- that he killed his mother, the person he loved more than anyone, just by being born. (Incidentally, as fascinating a character detail as that is, it’s almost never brought up.)
Ultimates universe: Nothing of Emily is seen apart from her charred corpse (sigh) but we know from Norman that she’s a drinker and probably an alcoholic. She dies in the very early days of Ultimate Spider-Man…fifth issue maybe? Norman burns his house down with his wife and son inside it, Harry wakes up to hear his mother screaming at him to get out, but he’s too late to save her. She’s brought up once or twice after that, as Harry outright says about his father “He killed my mom.”
Raimiverse: We only hear one line about her, Norman to Harry: “Your mother was beautiful too, they’re all beautiful til they’re snarling after your trust fund like wolves.” So he didn’t think much of her, but then again this Norman doesn’t think much of women in general really. (I really hope someone’s written something somewhere about Norman and his misogynistic traits, because I want to read it.) Emily – a brown haired woman in a black dress – can also be seen in a painting in the Osborn house and in a picture frame at Peter and Harry’s apartment. (Okay, no-one ever said outright it was her, but who else could it be?!)
Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark: Apparently Emily is an actual living character in this! Sadly I neither a) live in New York or b) have a ton of money, so I have not seen it.
Webbverse: We haven’t heard anything about her and considering that series’s dismissal of most of the mothers, we probably won’t but I’m assuming she’s dead. Although I’d have loved to know if/why she married Norman knowing their child would inherit a horrible disease. And just more about her in general, really, she’s one of the cogs the entire story of Norman and Harry pivots around and we don’t even know her maiden name!
ttakooo21: *whispers* what if norman died and harry’s mom had to raise him alone. what if because of norman’s cause of death (could be suicide or OD), harry’s mom became fiercely protective of harry. what if harry grew up as a momma boy. what if harry goes to some random college at town instead of some fancy uni overseas and meets peter. what if peter gets interrogated by harry’s mom. what if harry’s mom lets harry choose whatever he wants in life and that includes whom he marry and what job he takes.
YES
little!Harry clinging to his mom on the first day of school and refusing to let go.
Emily Osborn’s wrath when she finds out someone bullied Harry at school.
Harry and his mom going out shopping together.
Emily Osborn smiling while threatening to torture and kill Peter if he ever hurts her baby.
Peter being absolutely terrified of her at first.
Mama!Osborn warming up to Peter after seeing how much he loves Harry, and how much Harry loves him back.
Happy Osborn family without Norman there to screw things up!
Someone oughta write this, there aren’t nearly enough fics about Emily.
Obviously no-one has much to go on with regards to her personality, but I sort of like the idea of her being as terrifying as Norman, but ultimately on the side of good.
[via pamivy]
I love Harry to bits, I honestly do, and I think over the next two movies he matured quite a bit…
…but dude, you don’t get to decide how your girlfriend dresses. The shit MJ had to put up with, man.
This isn’t really a AU as I have no idea where it would go, but I do sometimes wonder “What if Gerry Conway, Stan Lee etc had instead of killing off Gwen hit on the idea of having Harry die of his overdose, therefore covering Conway’s desire to have a shock factor in the comics, Lee’s desire to educate kids about drugs, and the apparent necessity to kill off a main character?”
Would it have been good? Bad? Sensationalist? Embedded in the public conciousness the way Gwen’s death is? No-one will EVER KNOW
reluctantheroine asked: What is your opinion on the theory that Harry’s drug addiction might have started sooner than what was depicted in the comics?
I really like that idea! I think there’s just enough evidence for it (Peter noticing that Harry’s always had bottles of pills around, MJ’s “it’s a long story”) to make it plausible. Not nice, but…plausible.
Although obviously this couldn’t be a plot point or even mentioned in any of the 60s-70s Spider-Man comics, it actually wouldn’t surprise me if Harry, Flash, MJ and maybe even Gwen had taken drugs recreationally at some point. They were teenagers and it’s the kind of thing teenagers actually do, after all. So I can see Harry going to parties and taking drugs with the others, and finding himself getting addicted to them in a way the others weren’t, and not being able to tell anyone apart from MJ because Norman would be disgusted, Gwen was the devoted daughter of the police chief, Flash had joined the army and Peter was just plain never around.
Which would make a hell of a flashback story if any future comic writers fancy re-visiting that period…
