Is Harry Osborn being introduced in Spider-Man: Brand New Day? Viral rumor, explored

Those thinking if they'll see a Green Goblin in the MCU again, chances are, they will in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Though it will be Harry Osborn, son of Norman Osborn, who appeared in No Way Home (2021), Willem Dafoe reprised his role, with Alfred Molina also joining him as Dock Ock.

MCU Source, which claims to be the best source of Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) news on Twitter (formerly X), posted this with an image of Harry Osborn from Marvel's Spider-Man (Scott Porter in the first game and Graham Phillips in the sequel) saying his character is confirmed. That should be taken with a grain of salt, though, given that it's not official yet.

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But fans sure are happy seeing this; they already had things to talk about since Spider-Man: Brand New Day was announced and now some of them are excited, though some were angry, asking why this "loser" is spreading misinformation.

If he's coming in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, it should be James Franco

Harry Osborn is the son of Norman Osborn. (Image via Sony Pictures)

We are playing multiverse-multiverse here, so we don't have a fixed storyline, and characters should be appearing in future MCU movies. But then we can always take a closer look, which may give us some hints as to what we can expect.

It's Willem Dafoe; it has always been Willem Dafoe for fans when it comes to Green Goblin. Spider-Man (2002) saw his character dying by his own Goblin Glider, with Dafoe giving us that casual 'oh' that sticks to this day. Later, James Franco, who played Harry Osborn, vows revenge on his father, thinking Tobey Maguire's Spidey killed him.

We then saw in Spider-Man: No Way Home that Dafoe's character is pulled into the multiverse in the last few seconds before he went 'oh.' He was equally insane as he was in 2002; we loved it.

Now if there's a Harry Osborn in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, it should be James Franco. He doesn't have to be a villain, in fact. Yeah, yeah, he died. But then the multiverse doesn't really take death seriously. We would like to again bring your attention to Dafoe's 'oh' moment.

But here's something that shrugs off this rumor and makes a no-Harry film inevitable

Jacob Batalon plays Ned Leeds in Spider-Man: No Way Home. (Image via Marvel Entertainment)

Know that in the Spider-Man: Brand New Day comic book story, events play out pretty much similarly if we take into consideration what happened in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Peter Parker is a nobody after he was erased from people's memories, including his best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) and Michelle Jones, or MJ (Zendaya).

That is kind of similar to how the comic book story advances; the only thing is, Harry Osborn is his best friend here, and Mary Jane's his love interest. Though Doctor Strange didn't cast a spell back then, how Peter is living in the story is perhaps how we will see him in the film: broke, financially and mentally.

And then finally we have to consider that Ned Leeds was the first Hobgoblin in Marvel, and there were conversations around giving Jacob's character in MCU that role. This might be the perfect time for the MCU to introduce Batalon as a supervillain. The original one was brainwashed; do it with him. Though we know how daunting it will be for Peter Parker to face this threat, that'll certainly be interesting.