Those Goblin Double Whammies Are Killer

This is going to be in reference to the current story arc in Amazing Spider-Girl, for the record.

In #20, Normie Osborn shows Peter something he discovered in a property owned by his grandfather in Europe. It's another Mayday Parker, floating in a tube of some chemical. And Normie's tests says this one is the real deal. In #21, Peter turned a convenient spigot and collected a sample of the liquid. A sample that, once exposed to air, exploded in his face. In #22, he insisted he was fine, but has neglected to mention this to May or even Mary Jane, and is acting a little odd. Also, next month's cover showed him apparently going berserk on Kaine, the one who saved the person he calls his daughter, which seems a bit unusual for Peter, even with his trust issues towards his first clone.

Theory: The liquid was the original Goblin Serum, the one which gave Norman Osborn his powers all those years ago. As I recall, it was the chemical Norman was working with that exploded, giving him his powers, but also driving him quite insane.

Consider the implications. Whether the May in the tube is the real one or a fake (my money's on a fake), she's been soaking in that stuff for sixteen years. Whether she's the real May or a clone, she likely has spider-powers, too. Spider-powers, combined with the power (and insanity) bestowed by the Goblin serum, in a person that looks just like May. Given the self-doubt May's been struggling with, it would be possibly her most difficult fight*. Even assuming he was in shape for it, could Peter fight someone that looks like her own daughter? What are the other heroes going to do, especially if this May garbed herself as Spider-Girl, and approached them as a friend? She could lay waste to them.

But then there's Peter. He just had whatever that stuff was blow up in his face. Perhaps he's been driven insane, Goblin-style. Given that since he came back from the dead at the end of the '90s Clone Saga, Norman was portrayed as some sort of scheming genius, I wouldn't put it past him. He know how Pete thinks, knows Pete's a scientist at heart, so he could have been planning on giving his old adversary a face of looniness. That would keep to the Osborn style of piling on the misery on the Parkers, and it would explain Pete's erratic behavior.

I suppose the explosion could have been a false lead, but I think it has to mean something, and a callback to the Goblin's origin seems likely.

* Besides her tussles with Seth, the Serpent God of Death. Unless you're Galactus, fighting someone who can go toe-to-toe with Odin is always going to be your toughest fight.