Chapter Fifty-Two: The Death of the Green Goblin

Peter leaped, spinning three hundred and sixty degrees in the air, passing through the gap between the two gliders.

He truly deserved the name Spider-Man—if it had been Michael, he could only have drawn a circle and teleported the gliders away.

Kaisha said, “Are you really ready?”

Michael looked a bit puzzled. “Ready for what?”

“To kill.”

Michael fell silent, unsure of what Kaisha meant.

She continued, “With your data and abilities, even if the Green Goblin was prepared and built a host of gliders to deal with you, his power is still too weak. Yet, you ended up being led by the nose. Why do you really want to kill him—have you figured that out?”

Michael was quiet for a moment. His gaze grew sharp. “To protect Gwen. I have to kill him.”

Kaisha replied, “You’re afraid he’ll hurt Gwen, so you want to kill him. But you’re not sure if that’s right, so you hesitate. To me, that just means you haven’t truly made up your mind.”

“Enough,” Michael said, irritation creeping in.

Kaisha pressed on: “Aren’t you overthinking this?”

Michael frowned, thoroughly confused.

“We are never wrong to want to protect the ones we love. When you love someone, selfishness ceases to exist. Angels are always willing to fight for love. The reason you’re hesitating is because your sense of morality and the law are binding you. If you can’t see past that, I can only say you’re being a bit of a martyr.”

Michael fell completely silent.

He thought, I wanted to protect Gwen, I planned everything out, and yet I overestimated myself.

At this point, to still be wavering—this isn’t about morality or responsibility anymore, it’s about cowardice and timidity.

Just imagining Gwen being kidnapped by the Green Goblin, or Martha being killed by him, left Michael with nothing but rage in his heart.

These were all things the Green Goblin was entirely capable of, things that wouldn’t even trouble him.

Michael lifted his head, looking at the Green Goblin in the sky. He had to kill him here, or there would be endless trouble.

In the next moment, Michael’s body dissolved into smoke, vanishing where he stood, only to reappear behind the Green Goblin.

The Goblin had no idea what was happening before his head was struck with a heavy blow. Dazed, he toppled from his glider.

Michael appeared behind him again, landing a kick to his spine, then followed with blows to the back of the head, waist, ribs, chest, spine, abdomen, and jaw.

The Green Goblin was battered like a sandbag, struck again and again, with no time to react. Even the mask on his face was shattered, exposing a face covered in blood and wounds.

“Michael…” the Green Goblin tried to say something, but a fresh wave of agony from his groin made his eyes bulge and his face contort in pain.

With a heavy thud, the Green Goblin’s corpse crashed onto the street, smashing the ground beneath him under the force.

His spine was twisted into an unnatural shape, his armor shattered into fragments, and the exposed flesh was a mangled mess. Not a single patch of skin remained unscathed.

It was obvious—he could not be more dead.

Spider-Man landed nearby, staring in disbelief as he recalled the scene. This self-proclaimed Batman had flashed around the Green Goblin, every blow landing with brutal force, turning the Goblin into nothing more than a pile of mangled flesh. Even if it were a revenge killing for a murdered father, it couldn’t have been more thorough.

Michael landed, checked the Green Goblin’s body, and confirmed that every bone was shattered, his internal organs torn apart, and not even his echolocation could detect any flow of blood.

No matter how great the Green Goblin’s regenerative powers, he couldn’t recover from this—unless he changed his name to Wolverine.

“You killed him,” Peter said in shock.

“Yes,” Michael replied.

“But why? Shouldn’t he be handed over to the law?” Peter couldn’t understand.

Michael felt a little anxious. The brutal killing had taken only a moment, but it left him drenched in cold sweat.

It was his first time killing. His nerves were still frayed, and only after relaxing did he realize just how much sweat he’d broken, his whole body exhausted—not physically, but mentally.

“You don’t get it. Ever since the death penalty was abolished, some people have been living far too freely,” Michael said, turning to leave.

“Hey, wait—don’t go!” Peter tried to stop him, but Michael easily evaded him and landed a punch to Peter’s abdomen, sending him to the ground in pain.

In the next instant, Michael became black mist and vanished, leaving Peter behind, groaning in agony.

Only as the police closed in did Peter manage to recover. He shot a web and slipped away.

George looked thoughtfully at Peter’s departing figure, giving no order to fire, and then turned his gaze to the Green Goblin’s mangled corpse.

“Clean this up,” he said.

The next day, Batman teaming up with Spider-Man to battle the Green Goblin made headlines, and the new male Spider-Man officially entered the public eye.

As for the Green Goblin’s true identity, it was covered up—no one knew who was behind that. Osborn Industries, meanwhile, fell into unprecedented chaos after all its shareholders were killed.

At Norman’s funeral, Harry greeted the guests politely, his face betraying no emotion. Gwen, watching Harry, couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy.

“I’m sorry, Harry,” she said.

Harry didn’t notice anything amiss, only nodded.

Peter was nervous—he was the one who really knew the Green Goblin’s identity. Looking at Harry, he was consumed by guilt.

“I’m sorry, Harry.”

“Peter, you’re all I have left.”

The two embraced. Harry’s eyes brimmed with tears, while Peter stood there, troubled and uneasy.

Even though Norman would have died without Peter’s presence, Peter was still at the scene, so he felt responsible.

“Peter, I’ll make them pay,” Harry said.

Peter listened in a daze, his expression stiff, but fortunately Harry didn’t notice anything wrong.

Michael glanced at Harry and said mercilessly, “Pull yourself together—there’s a mess waiting for you to clean up.”

“I understand,” Harry replied, wiping away his tears, his eyes turning resolute.

This boy seemed to have grown up overnight.

Michael nodded, then left with Gwen.

If he remembered correctly, in the Amazing version, after Norman’s death, Harry was driven out of the board. But in that version, Norman never became the Green Goblin, so the old board members were still alive.

In the Tobey Maguire version, the whole board was dead, so Harry wasn’t removed from the company.

Who knew what the future held? The thought made Michael curious.

“Michael?”

“What is it?” he asked, turning to Gwen.

“You killed Norman?”

Confronted by Gwen’s question, Michael fell silent.

After a while, he explained, “You know how the law works here. With Norman’s talents and background, he’d never receive the punishment he deserved. They might even blame it all on mental illness—at most, he’d end up in a psychiatric hospital…”

“I know,” Gwen replied, cupping Michael’s face and kissing him.

After a long moment, their lips parted.

Gwen comforted him, “I know it’s hard for you. You did it to protect us. Norman really did go mad.”

Something about Michael felt off—maybe he wasn’t feeling as bad as he thought.

“It’s a pity that Harry was our classmate. But after something like this, all we can do is feel sorry for him.”