Harry's future

[Venomaniac]

Throughout Spider-Man's history Harry Osborn has had many different roles.
He's been Peter's best friend as a supporting cats member, his arch-enemy as the Green Goblin, and for fifteen years, worm chow.

Going forward into the future what works best for Harry?

The Brain Trust has him as a supporting cats member, allowing for stories like American Son

Kevin Cushing has him as a villain (The Goblin King!) allowing for great moments like kicking the crap out of Gabe Stacy (sorry if I spoiled anyone!)

And there are those who feel that Harry's story has come to an end after the Spectacular issue of Spectacular Spider-Man, and that his death should serve as a sticking point between peter and Norman

What role do YOU think works best for Harry going forward as a character?

[Tabularasa]

Supporting character. He was good as the goblin, but let's leave that to Norman. I think Pete really missed a male best friend so let's just leave him at that.

[Venomaniac]

Supporting character. He was good as the goblin, but let's leave that to Norman. I think Pete really missed a male best friend so let's just leave him at that.

Let's play Mephisto's Advocate:

What about Flash taking over the role of best friend instead? Does the best friend role HAVE to be limited to Harry?

[BertoneBeatle]

I thought his story came to a good conclusion in SPEC 200, and the best friend role could've been filled in by people like Flash or others. It wasn't.

I would've preferred for him to stay dead, but now that he's back that genie is out of the bottle. I'm okay with him as a supporting cast with an occasional villain story every now and then. Under current circumstances Harry is one of the more interesting supporting cast members. Right now he's supporting a mini-series! Could Norah, JJsr or Michelle pull it off?

[Thrawn]

Even though his Spec stories (Child Within, issue 189, and Spec 200) are three of my favorite Spider-Man stories ever, I don't like Harry as a villain. Deep down Harry is a good person. I've always loved the idea that he was the one person to finally break his father's legacy and defeat the specter of the Green Goblin in his life. The ultimate rejection of his father as it were; choosing a friendship with Peter over Norman. Now that he's alive, I would love for him to really take up the role of best friend and confidant to Peter and to learn his identify again. Barring that, I prefer dead.

[Berserkfury819]

Dead.

[Styleshift]

I actually like what they've done with Harry since he's been back.
I don't agree with the HOW he came back, but he's a decent supporting character.
I like what Kevin is doing with him right now, but I really prefer Harry being a confident to Peter.
(Not saying that he can't make an interesting villain. I think Kev proved that!)

I found myself caring about him during American Son.
It was a strong Harry Osborn story because he was set up as a mature character in BND. There is ALOT of growth from this character. (Who was once addicted to LSD and a super villain)

Now he's more mature than Pete. Giving advice to him and telling him like it is when he's doing extremely disturbing things (like taking Paparazzi pictures in the privacy of other people's homes) So yeah. I love characters like that. Harry is cool in my book.

I hope they use him more often.

[dr warren]

I think harry could work as a frenemy, howbout they turn into a superhero (cough cough american son) who has a complex relationship with spiderman/ peter parker

[Funnykay]

The whole point of turning Harry into the Green Goblin was so he could seek vengeance on Peter for 'killing' his father. With Norman running around (Well not at the moment but you get what I mean), I don't see Harry living up to the Goblin legacy.

[butters911]

Im glad Harrys back. this may be weird, but I always wanted peter to step up and save Harry. Im glad to have him back. I hope things work out better than last time.

[Spidey Fan]

I personally didn't mind Harry being dead. It was a logical end to the story and it served it's purpose. I always thought the writers missed an opportunity in having Peter develop a deeper relationship with Flash and having them become best friends. That would have made for some good subplots, but alas it never happened.

The whole point of turning Harry into the Green Goblin was so he could seek vengeance on Peter for 'killing' his father. With Norman running around (Well not at the moment but you get what I mean), I don't see Harry living up to the Goblin legacy.

Agreed. With Norman alive Harry has no reason to take up the mantle of the Goblin for vengeance. He is a good supporting character if used correctly, but unfortunately he has not been used very effectively by the Brain Trust.

[CrazyChris]

I don't think he should have died in the first place. He's a key supporting character in the Spider-Man mythos and it would have been great seeing his character continue to struggle and grow as his experiences and conflicting emotions continue to build on each other. A living character almost always has more to add to a story than a dead one. Dead Harry's only use was to fuel the Green Goblin's hatred of Spider-Man, but now that we know he had a hand in faking Harry's death, none of that makes sense any more. What would have been best would be to see Harry come back from the dead in a way that made sense with past continuity and continue where he left off, with all of his character development and memories of his relationship with Peter and his family intact. I'd rather Harry stayed dead than the nonsense we got, but ideally he'd be brought back as a supporting character and written well.

[Venomaniac]

I voted supporting cast member, but I'm honestly not sure what role there is for him now apart from being the Goblin King...