Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man: Why doesn't Norman Osborn appear in the MCU films?

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man initially started as the series that would finally address the origin tale of Tom Holland's version of Spider-Man. Spider-Man made his MCU debut with Captain America: Civil War. After that, there were three Spider-Man solo movies, of which the third one, Spider-Man: No Way Home finally featured the wall-crawler's scariest foes, the Green Goblin.

However, the Green Goblin we see in No Way Home is the one the world saw back in 2002's Spider-Man played by Willem Dafoe. Turns out, the Goblin, Doc Ock, the Lizard, and Electro had all traveled the multiverse from their previous appearances played by the same actors. This has fans wondering if Norman Osborn exists in the MCU.

However, that does not mean that the Green Goblin/Norman Osborn doesn't exist in the MCU. As we saw this week, Norman Osborn finally made his debut in a non-Sony Spider-Man property in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.

Does Norman Osborn exist in the MCU like he does in the Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man?

On the surface, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man shares a lot in common with his MCU counterpart. Young Aunt May, a universe in which people are aware of heroes as The Avengers are still protecting this reality, and Uncle Ben is dead. It is to be noted that unlike the comics and the 2002 and 2012 origin movies, Uncle Ben died before Peter got bit by the radioactive spider.

However, there is one major change in this reality. Instead of Tony Stark, Peter Parker in this Disney+ animated series is mentored by Norman Osborn. Based on that, fans are hoping to get an answer on the status of Osborn in the mainline MCU continuity. While No Way Home did confirm that Oscorp doesn't exist in the MCU, it could very well be that Norman could very well be hidden for now.

Back in 2018, fan theories were running wild that the person Walter Goggin's Sonny Burch spoke with over the phone in 2018's Ant-Man and the Wasp was none other than Osborn himself. But that remains unconfirmed. So, it remains to be seen if, in the MCU, Norman is just hidden in the shadows, biding his time.

It should be noted that Green Goblin's absence gives a chance to other Spider-Man villains not seen in the previous movies. Unitil No Way Home, Tom Holland's Spider-Man movies featured villains like Mysterio and Vulture, beloved Spidey antagonists that not many were aware of. So, even the MCU need not rush the Goblin's introduction.

Norman Osborn in the Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man explained:

But fans are wondering if Osborn in this continuity is genuinely helping Peter or if he is helping Peter until he suits up as the Goblin and takes him out after learning the Web-Head's weaknesses.

He knows Peter's double identity, but it is unclear if Osborn experimented on himself. This uncertainty is what is keeping Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man relevant. If Osborn hasn't undergone the experiment that changes his life, it might be possible that he does so in the finale and plays a role in the second and third seasons, which we know are coming.

As reported by The Direct, the head of Marvel TV and Streaming, Brad Winderbaum revealed the news of the show's renewal for the third season in an interview:

"We’re also greenlit for through Season 3, and in a couple weeks, I’m gonna hear his pitch for the third season of the show, and I’m like a fan, I can't wait."

So, even if Norman doesn't transform into the beloved supervillain in the first season, he has a lot of time to do so and wreak havoc in Peter's life.