**This article contains SPOILERS, so if you haven’t seen ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ yet, then you should wait until after you see it to read this.**

With ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ finally swinging into theaters this past weekend, there has been a whirlwind of mixed reviews from fans and critics who loved and hated the superhero film. However, wherever they fall on the spectrum, most people agreed on this: There was not enough Norman Osborn! I touched on this in my own review (which was positive by the way) when I said that it was a shame that they cast such a great actor like Chris Cooper and they only used him for one scene. I was fine with the fact that we didn’t the elder Osborn suit up as the Green Goblin, but I still would’ve liked to see more of the character. Regular cinematic conventions dictate that given the events of the movie we likely won’t see him again, but with this being comic book movie, no one really stays dead for long. Recently, Marc Webb discussed this very topic and addressed the possibility of the return of the founder of Oscorp.

In the movie, we saw Norman die after having a conversation with his son Harry about the “Osborn curse”, a disfiguring disease in the family’s bloodline that they have been trying to cure using Oscorp’s genetic research and various other resources. But like I said, there is a possibility that he could still be alive and appear in future movies as a puppet master of sorts, right? I mean, Norman had the means and technology to fake his own death. Director Webb gives a definitive answer to this question in an interview with CinemaBlend:

“As for his future… I mean, I don’t really want to say anything. He’s dead. He’s dead. He actually died. How about that?”

Well, that’s that then, isn’t it? That should squash any theories about Stormin Norman popping up in Spidey’s web in later movies. Although, there was an important detail surrounding his death that the filmmaker says will come back down the line. After Norman dies, some medical staff appear to be scanning his body with a laser. Apparently, that laser carries some importance:

“Wow. I am impressed. That’s good. There is meaning behind the laser, yes. That will have impact …Whether or not it will be in the Sinister Six movie, or the next Spider-Man movie, I don’t know. That’s the question, and I actually don’t know the answer to that myself. But that [laser] does have meaning.”

While watching the scene, I had assumed that it was just some sort of Oscorp technology that helped doctors since the company produced medical equipment, among other things. But based on Webb’s comments, I guess there’s much more to it than that. But what? Well, a deleted scene may hold the answer to that question.

According to Geek Tyrant, before the ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ post-credits scene was added, Webb shot another one that ended up on the cutting room floor that involves Norman’s cryogenically frozen head! The report says that this scene features Michael Massee’s Gustav Fiers walking up to the head in the secret Oscorp lab that housed such items as the Rhino suit and Doctor Octopus’ arms and saying, “Wake up old friend.” Had this scene appeared in on the big screen, that would have told us for sure that we hadn’t seen the last of Norman Osborn. While chances of seeing this pop up on the DVD or Blu-Ray might be slim, we have some stills that show the head on ice:

Did you think that there should have been more Norman Osborn in ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’? Do you have any ideas about what that laser could have been? And after seeing these stills from the deleted post-credits scene, do you truly believe that the character is dead in this cinematic universe? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ starring Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Chris Cooper, Paul Giamatti, and Sally Field is in theaters now.