My Kind Of Villain

I think I've mentioned before that as far as the Goblins go, I generally prefer Harry Osborn to Norman as a Spider-Foe. Harry has that extra kick of being someone Peter actually cares about, whereas Norman's just related to someone important to Pete. it also gives Harry an edge because he understands Pete better, plus his father's shadow looms over it all.

That's also part of what I like about Suwan as the Jade Claw, the new leader of a new international organization trying to take over the world Jimmy Woo's going to have to stop. He cares about her, which makes it harder to fight her*. Whether she's evil or not is up for debate, since we don't really know what she's been up to since she took control of half of Atlas, or what methods she's used to accomplish her goals, which is also probably going to make Jimmy want to hold back a little.

On her side of it, she appears to have some anger towards Jimmy, since she thinks he just used her to get near her pops**. So in that same sense that Harry questioned whether Peter was actually his friend, since he killed Harry's dad and all***, Suwan doubts that Jimmy ever actually gave a damn. And even if she's dedicated herself to running this vast empire, being reunited with someone she thinks used her is going to be painful for her. She never had closure, and now she has the means to exact extreme, permanent closure.

Plus, Yellow Claw/Golden Claw/Master Plan casts his shadow over the whole thing, much like Norman did Harry and Peter's friendship. Harry had to deal with the fact that his father was often distant, and seemed more impressed by Pete's scientific acumen than whatever his son might be up to. Though it came after Harry's death, Norman's tried to turn Peter into his heir on a couple of occasions, while usually denigrating Harry as being too weak to be a true Osborn****.

Suwan worked hard to ready herself to take control of the Atlas Empire, but her ad blew her off, 'cause she was a girl. He was more interested in Mister Super-Special FBI Agent Jimmy Woo, who was spending all his time trying to arrest Plan. That has to sting. Even when she took half the empire and ran it well, which certainly should have been a sign of her strength and capability, her dad still wouldn't give her the nod. So that frustration probably drives her as much as Harry's desire to live up to his father's memory did.

Those distant villains, focused on their long-term goals, who regard the hero as a mere annoyance can be fun, but I really like an antagonist who can hit the hero on the personal level, at least as a change of pace.

* Looking at the issue, I think Jimmy keeps trying to convince himself this is really a joke, or hallucination, or something, and Suwan will stop any time now.

** It certainly can't help they went decades without seeing her, and by the time they meet again, he's running her father's operations.

*** Well, that's what Harry thought at times.

**** I have no idea how Brand New Day changes those, though if anything it could potentially be even worse, since Harry would actually still be alive and Norman's basically discarding him in favor Pete.