An odd variant of Norman Osborn meets his demise in a preview for Spider-Man #4.
A preview for writer Dan Slott and artist Mark Bagley’s Spider-Man #4 features the death of one of Norman Osborn’s strangest variants.
The preview shows a Shathra-controlled Spider-Biodroid (Earth-9221) and Spider-Rex (Earth-66) attacking Norman Osborn of Earth-44145, who is the Spider-Man with six arms of that universe. The two easily force their way through Norman’s security, but Osborn gets the last laugh, luring Spider-Biodroid and Spider-Rex into a trap and sacrificing himself to bring them down with him.
The full solicitation and preview for Spider-Man #4 can be found below:
SPIDER-MAN #4
- DAN SLOTT (W) • MARK BAGLEY (A/C)
- Variant Cover by HUMBERTO RAMOS
- Classic Homage Variant Cover by JOHN CASSADAY
- “The End of the Spider-Verse” rages on!
- Yes, that really happened last issue.
- The tremors will be felt until it all ends.
- That’s truly all we can say until you read #3.
- 32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99
The death of Spider-Man of Earth-44145 is the latest tragedy to befall the Spider-Verse in Slott Bagley’s “End of the Spider-Verse” arc. Spider-Man #1 revealed that Shathra was using enslaved heroes such as Spider-Man Noir and Ghost-Spider to erase various Spider-heroes from across the multiverse from history, including Jessica Drew / Spider-Woman. Peter Parker / Spider-Man (Earth-616) was dubbed by Madame Web as “the chosen one” who could restore the damage done to the Spider-Verse, but he too was erased from existence by Shathra’s forces in Spider-Man #3, leaving the remaining heroes scattered and with little hope.
Created by Aaron Kuder, Norman Osborn / Spider-Man (Earth-44145) made his first comic appearance in 2018’s Edge of Spider-Geddon #4. Gifted with spider powers, Normal sought to travel between dimensions to grow his power and empire. When Peter Parker of Earth-44145 discovered Norman’s plans, he wrote a letter to Norman’s son Harry about them. Norman killed Peter to cover his tracks, putting him on a collision course with his son, who gained access to a superpowered suit. Norman was later enlisted by Spider-Punk to help fight the Inheritors.
2022 was a big year for Spider-Man, who celebrated his 60th anniversary since his August 1962 debut in Amazing Fantasy #15. The Amazing Spider-Man title relaunched in spring 2022 with writer Zeb Wells and artist John Romita Jr., while Amazing Fantasy #1000 brought together top talent to celebrate the Wall-Crawler. There are also several limited series currently running, including Gold Goblin, Mary Jane & Black Cat: Beyond, Deadly Neighborhood Spider-Man and Spider-Man: The Lost Hunt. And those do not even include the other Spider-Man ongoing series, including Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Venom and Carnage.
