Kindred (Marvel Comics)
Kindred | |
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Publication information | |
Publisher | Marvel Comics |
First appearance |
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Created by | J. Michael Straczynski (writer) Mike Deodato (artist) |
In-story information | |
Alter ego | Gabriel S(tacy) Osborn Sarah S(tacy) Osborn |
Species | Human Clones Demon (as Kindred) |
Team affiliations | Interpol (Sarah) |
Notable aliases | Kindred Grey Goblin (Gabriel) American Son (Gabriel) Harry Osborn |
Abilities | Gabriel Stacy: Gifted hand to hand combatant Superhuman strength, speed, stamina, durability and reflexes Healing factor Genius-level intellect Use of goblin-themed weapons and glider American Son armor grants: Superhuman strength and stamina |
The Kindreds, or simply Kindred, is the name of several
Fictional character biography
Sins Past
The story arc "Sins Past" by
Sins Remembered
A follow-up story titled "Sins Remembered" was written by Samm Barnes with art by Scot Eaton. Peter locates Sarah in
Straczynski ultimately wished to
Gabriel: American Son II
Gabriel officially returned in the American Son mini-series (although Sarah's whereabouts are still unknown) as the second version of
Return as Kindred and new origin
An apparent demon going by the name of Kindred rose through the ranks and ultimately hand picked Mysterio to assist him in carrying out a plan of retaliation against Peter Parker, whom Kindred held accountable for an unpardonable sin. When Kindred meets with Norman Osborn in Ravencroft, Norman's Cletus Kasady persona states to Kindred that he has a message for him from Norman, who states that he is "so proud of him".[17]
Norman, cleansed of his sins via Sin-Eater, claimed to the clone of Ashley Kafka that Kindred was his son,[18] and when Kindred revealed itself to Peter it had the face of Harry Osborn. Kindred torments Peter by showing him the corpses of his dead friends and family, putting Peter's soul through the reenactment of Harry Osborn's return,[19] and killing him over and over again as Peter experienced flashbacks to better times with his friends.[20] Norman is able to capture Kindred with the help of Kingpin and speaks to it believing it to be the true Harry, voicing regret over having birthed the sickness in Harry's mind. Planning to redeem the Osborn name, Norman states to Kindred that he will find the truth that he talked about. Spider-Man arrives stating to Norman that he would like to talk to him,[21] and declares he is finished with Harry forever.[22] However, after MJ helps Peter talk through the incident, Peter admits he was lying when he said that and begs a vision of Kindred to tell him what to do.[23]
Kindred begins his next plot starting with Doctor Octopus.[24]
Carlie Cooper is asked to investigate the corpses dug up by Kindred, and is particularly horrified on uncovering an extra one. At that moment she is captured by Kindred[22] and later awakens to find herself a caged prisoner. She finds the non-demonized Harry Lyman is her cellmate, and he tells her that they have no chance of escape.[25]
Kindred tells Doctor Octopus to gather five more people in exchange for helping him with his memories. He starts by helping
Carlie learns from Harry that he was lured to Europe by Kindred after following a trail of transactions from several dormant Oscorp bank accounts. Arriving at one of his father's former real estate holdings (which bears a resemblance to the building that raised Sarah and Gabriel Stacy), Lyman was attacked and captured by Kindred. He has remained a prisoner for many months. Unbeknownst to Harry, Carlie is keeping something from him...the identity of the corpse she discovered in the morgue belongs to Harry Osborn himself. After Doctor Octopus coerces Curt Connors in using the Isotope Genome Accelerator on himself in order to separate his Lizard side, Kindred plans to add Mysterio to the Sinister Six.[28]
During the "Sinister War" storyline, Kindred prepares for his final meeting with Spider-Man as the Sinister Six get Mysterio into their ranks while fighting the Savage Six.[29]
Carlie attempts to motivate Lyman, reminding him of his family. Harry tells her this is not the first time he has failed them, and that no matter how happy he is, how hard he tries to put things right, something is always there to remind him that none of it is real, and that none of it will ever last. After more coaxing from Carlie, Harry suddenly notices that the door to their cell is open and suggests there is a way to escape.[30]
As Spider-Man struggles against
Harry and Carlie race through Kindred's catacombs, and find that some of the walls are easy to push over. They find Carlie's morgue on the other end of one, containing a body. Carlie warns Harry not to look, but he does anyway. It is also revealed through flashbacks dating back to Harry's childhood that the cause of most of Harry's personal problems, from addiction to insanity, comes from him having a tortured soul which was traded to the demon Mephisto by Harry's father in exchange for a more prosperous quality of life, which Norman had been struggling to provide for him and his son. Norman is reminded of these deeds when he visits the house in Europe, discovering two cloning pods as well as the old artificial intelligence unit which houses Harry's brain waves. This version of Harry taunts his father.[33]
The A.I. Harry reveals to his father that his half-siblings
In a final battle with the Kindreds, Norman reveals the A.I. Harry had been influenced by Mephisto the entire time and apologizes to Harry for selling his soul. Harry then tells Peter he "made up" the twins and fights with his friend against them. During the battle Harry tells Norman to get to safety; Norman is shocked at this to which Harry replies "Guess the apple fell kinda far from the tree." When Harry steps between Norman and a blow from Gabriel's Kindred body, he is fatally wounded. Collapsing into Peter's arms, Harry tells Peter this was always how it was "meant to be" and dies. Doctor Strange decides to gamble with Mephisto for the fate of Harry Osborn's soul and succeeds. His victory exorcises Mephisto from the twins, allowing them to degenerate and pass on for a final time, and Harry's soul is freed from Mephisto's grasp.[35] Peter and MJ grieve the loss of their friend.[36]
Powers and abilities
Gabriel Stacy and Sarah Stacy aged about 2-3 times faster than normal and were adults within the span of a few years. Their enhanced blood also gave the twins a slight increase in strength, reflexes, healing and endurance. But the aging causes the twins to suffer severe headaches. Sarah's condition was stabilized through a blood transfusion from Spider-Man, leaving her significantly more mentally stable (although her precise strength level is unclear). Meanwhile, Gabriel took the Goblin serum to have his condition stabilized which granted him further increased superhuman strength while also driving him insane as he adopted a Halloween-themed appearance as the Grey Goblin and used an arsenal of high-tech weapons (grenade-like "Pumpkin Bombs" and a bat-shaped "
As Kindred, the twins were bestowed by Mephisto with the demonically enhanced capabilities of immortality, super-strength, and control over the centipedes like the ones that can protrude out of them. Each of the Kindreds possesses super-strength, superhuman stamina, enhanced durability, enhanced reflexes, a healing factor, and genius-level intellect. Their demonic abilities enable them to perform magic and revive the dead, perform entomancy (the ability to control insects like centipedes), dream projection, teleportation, and empowerment.
Other versions
During the "2015 Secret Wars" event, a vampiric Grey Goblin can be seen chasing Blade and Howard the Duck in the Battleworld domain of New Quack City.[37]
Character development
J. Michael Straczynski later stated originally wanting Peter Parker to be the father of Gwen Stacy's twins but the editors vetoed the idea, feeling that having two adult children would age the protagonist too much. It was then decided by the whole creative and editorial team that Norman Osborn would be the twins' father.[38] Ultimately, the twins were eventually retconned not to be Stacy's and Osborn's children, but clones created by an A.I. of Norman's son Harry, serving as the true dual identity of Kindred, partly due to the huge backlash the original storyline caused among the fans, angered by the distortion of Gwen Stacy's character after the revelation of her supposed sexual intercourse with a creepy and evil man like Norman Osborn.
In other media
- The Grey Goblin appears as a boss in Spider-Man Unlimited. This version is an alternate universe variant of the Green Goblin and a member of a multiversal Sinister Six.[citation needed]
- Kindred appears in Marvel Contest of Champions.[39]
Reception
- In 2020, CBR.com ranked the Kindred 5th in their "Marvel: Dark Spider-Man Villains, Ranked From Lamest To Coolest" list.[40]
- In 2022, Screen Rant ranked Kindred 3rd in their "10 Most Powerful Silk Villains In Marvel Comics" list.[41]
References
- ^ Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 5 #73. Marvel Comics.
- ^ a b The Amazing Spider-Man #512 (November 2004). Marvel Comics.
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #509 (August 2004). Marvel Comics.
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #510 (September 2004). Marvel Comics.
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #511 (October 2004), Marvel Comics.
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #513 (December 2004). Marvel Comics.
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #514 (January 2005). Marvel Comics.
- ^ The Spectacular Spider-Man vol. 2 #23-26 (December 2004-March 2005). Marvel Comics.
- ^ "One More (More) Day? JMS Explains his ending". 2008-01-03. Archived from the original on 2010-08-15. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #549. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Dark Avengers #11. Marvel Comics.
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #598. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Amazing Spider-Man Presents: American Son #1. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Amazing Spider-Man Presents: American Son #2. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Amazing Spider-Man Presents: American Son #3. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Amazing Spider-Man Presents: American Son #4. Marvel Comics.
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 5 #31. Marvel Comics.
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 5 #50. Marvel Comics.
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 5 #53. Marvel Comics.
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 5 #54. Marvel Comics.
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 5 #56. Marvel Comics.
- ^ a b The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 5 #57. Marvel Comics.
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 5 #53. Marvel Comics. 2021.
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 5 #64. Marvel Comics.
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 5 #66. Marvel Comics.
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 5 #67-69. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Giant-Size Amazing Spider-Man: Chameleon Conspiracy #1. Marvel Comics.
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 5 #70. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Sinister War #1. Marvel Comics.
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 5 #71. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Sinister War #2. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Sinister War #3. Marvel Comics.
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 5 #72. Marvel Comics.
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 5 #73. Marvel Comics.
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man Vol.5 #74. Marvel Comics.
- ^ The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 5 #75. Marvel Comics. 2021.
- ^ Secret Wars: Battleworld #2. Marvel Comics.
- ^ Blair Marnell; John Voulieris (1 May 2005). "All The Rage: Don't Panic". Silver Bullet Comics. Archived from the original on 2005-08-17. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
- ^ Stevens, Nathan (July 9, 2023). "MARVEL Contest of Champions Welcomes Spider-Hero Silk and the Twisted Kindred". Gaming Cypher. Retrieved July 11, 2023.
- ^ Motwani, Nishid (2020-09-20). "Marvel: Dark Spider-Man Villains, Ranked From Lamest To Coolest". CBR. Retrieved 2022-11-08.
- ^ Harn, Darby (2022-11-30). "10 Most Powerful Silk Villains In Marvel Comics". ScreenRant. Retrieved 2022-12-03.
External links
- Gabriel Stacy at the Marvel Universe
- Gabriel Stacy at the Marvel Database Project
- Gabriel Stacy Archived 2022-12-12 at the Wayback Machine at Spider Fan
- Sarah Stacy at the Marvel Database Project
- Sarah Stacy Archived 2022-12-12 at the Wayback Machine at Spider Fan