Re: West Village-Spidey and Norman
[Norman Osborn wasn't an Avenger. He wasn't a hero. New York City was under attack, and he felt no desire to rush out onto the street and save innocent people. He was generally apathetic towards most of humanity, to be honest, with only a few exceptions. All he cared about was himself, his company, and maybe, sort of, to a degree, his son. The aliens could do what they liked elsewhere but no one, no matter how ugly, was going to storm Oscorp like it was some back-alley jewelry store falling victim to a couple of thugs.
And so, it would have been entirely in his character to not give a damn and sit back in relative safety to watch the show. But maybe, he thought, this was an opportunity. After the 'accident' at Oscorp and the aftereffects of the damned pulse, Norman could use some good publicity. Too many people were suspicious of him. Too many people were already carving him into the stereotypical evil genius he no longer wanted to be perceived as. What if he shocked them all? He'd done it back home. Save the world, be the hero, get control of his very own team of super-powered freaks. Sure, he was still a ways away from replacing the Avengers with his handpicked heroic crime-fighting mash up, but everyone had to start somewhere.
This could be his start. His first step in the right direction.
The world wasn't ready for Iron Patriot (yet), and while Green Goblin didn't have much of a reputation here he didn't think a maniacal goblin flying around was very heroic. Instead, he compromised; it was a prototype, the suit. The glider? That was more familiar. Playing hero didn't make him feel warm and fuzzy inside; in fact, he cringed every time he came to the rescue of terrified, pathetic citizens attempting to flee from alien pirates or whatever the hell they were. So they had ships and some very fancy weapons, Norman still wasn't impressed.
And wasn't it just his luck that, in the midst of his heroics, Norman should spot his very favorite spider playing with a group of the out-of-this-world pains in his ass. He slowed the glider to a stop and watched, a little amused, at least until something went wrong. Oh, no. One minute Parker was doing his thing and the next he was yelling at nothing; tsk tsk, Octavius, what horrible timing.
Or maybe not.
He and Spider-Man have history, sure, but Norman can't just stand by and let a bunch of space aliens tie him up and cart him away. Not when he isn't even putting up a fight. He's actually disappointed. And then he's zooming in, leaving behind a series of small explosions in his wake. Whoops. It works, though, distracting the uglies from their spider prize.] Sorry, boys, but today's just not your day. [The glider dips low, low enough for him to hop off for some hand-to-hand combat; that's where the fun is. One alien gets a bullet straight to the face, and another receives a heavy backhand that sends him flying. Fear not, Spider-Man, help is here.]