Green Goblin

The Green Goblin and his successors- save one- have been the greatest foes of Spider-Man.

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Green Goblin (Norman Osborn)

The Green Goblin, in his original costume.

Born to a wealthy family, Norman Osborn watched as his father, Amberson Osborn, lost the family fortune. Determined to make young Norman a man, Amberson locked him in a dark mansion for a whole night. After getting over his fear of the dark, Norman embraced it, and thus began his journey to obtain power at any cost. He worked hard and saved every cent, and soon attended college, where he took courses in chemicals and business administration. He befriended one of his professors, Mendel Stromm, and together they went on to set up Oscorp.

During this time, Osborn met and married a woman named Emily, who passed away shortly after giving birth to their son, Harry. To Harry, Norman was a poor father, more concerned with his work than raising his child, but like his father before him, Norman wanted to make a man out of his son. At some point, Osborn caught Stromm borrowing money from the company, and used this as an opportunity to take sole control of Oscorp. He had Stromm arrested for embezzlement, and began to go through his former partner's notes. At some point he discovered a formula which would grant a person super-strength and enhanced stamina, but as he created it, there was an explosion which landed him in the hospital for several weeks.

Upon being released, he was quite insane. He became obsessed with becoming the leading underworld figure in New York, and decided to use the resources and technology at his disposal to do it. He became the Green Goblin, and decided to gain the respect of the underworld by killing Spider-Man. However, he repeatedly failed. Stromm eventually returned to exact revenge as the Robot Master, but was defeated by Spider-Man. Soon the Goblin concocted a gas to dull Spider-Man's spider-sense and was able to learn his identity as Peter Parker. He captured Parker, and decided to fight him to the death, but was defeated and left with amnesia, forgetting that he was the Green Goblin.

On occasion Osborn remembered, each time resuming his war with Spider-Man. Finally, when Harry was suffering from a drug overdose, he blamed Peter Parker. Again becoming the Green Goblin, he went to attack Parker at his apartment but found Gwen Stacy there. Thus, he kidnapped her and took her to the Brooklyn Bridge. Spider-Man soon followed, and in the battle, the Green Goblin killed Gwen Stacy. Spider-Man swore revenge, and as they fought, the Green Goblin was killed when he was impaled on his own jet-glider. Or so it seemed.

Osborn regained consciousness in the morgue, having been healed by Stromm's formula. Secretly, he watched as Harry bribed the doctor to fake an autopsy report. Norman soon learned that Harry had removed his costume before the authorities arrived, so as not to be connected with the Green Goblin. Norman murdered a homeless drifter, duplicated the scars from his own body on his victim, and used the drifter's body to replace his own. Making his way back to his hideout, he observed Harry taking on the guise of the Green Goblin. Norman decided to give Harry the chance to be a man by destroying Parker, and left the country for Europe, but always made sure to keep a close eye on things back in New York.

He soon joined (and shortly thereafter assumed leadership of) the Order of the Scrier and began to plot his own revenge on Peter Parker. The goal was simple: strip Parker of his very identity and his happiness, and then destroy him. To do this, he sent one of his Scriers to contact Professor Miles Warren, and assisted him in creating clones of Spider-Man, for a plan that would take five years. Miles Warren assumed the identity of the Jackal, determined to destroy the real Peter Parker and replace him with a clone. Norman thought it was too soon to do this, so he manipulated the Jackal into believing that the true Parker was in fact the clone, and the clone the real Parker.

Norman Osborn.

Later on, Norman revived Mendel Stromm as little more than a living corpse. He outfitted Stromm with mobile life-support armor, and Stromm took the name Gaunt. Norman offered to help restore him in exchange for his services, and Stromm agreed. Soon, Harry died, and Norman blamed Spider-Man. He stepped up his campaign to destroy Spider-Man, and soon returned to New York in secret. The clone, now calling himself Ben Reilly, returned, and was falsely proven to be the real Spider-Man, as Norman planned. Parker went insane, but shortly came to accept it. He retired as his wife, Mary Jane, was with child.

Soon the time came to exact his revenge. Norman captured Reilly, and faked the death of Mary Jane's daughter right after she gave birth, having the child taken to Europe by his agent, Allison Mongrain. Norman then revealed himself to Parker and began a great climatic battle between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin, with the lives of those closest to Spider-Man at stake. In the battle that followed, Ben Reilly perished, and the Goblin was defeated and seemingly killed; but he had still taken Parker's child from him.

Norman was down, but not out. He secretly bought the Daily Bugle, and soon publically took control as well. He also retook control of Oscorp from his daughter-in-law, Liz Allen Osborn. He began a huge campaign to distance himself from the Green Goblin and discredit Spider-Man. He manipulated Spider-Man into attacking him in his penthouse apartment, and turned him into a hunted criminal. Norman was gaining power, popularity and trust from the people of New York City, which included writing the national bestseller Survivor of the Big Lie. However, he wasn't trusted by the majority of the Daily Bugle staff, including Joe Robertson (who quit in disgust) and J. Jonah Jameson, who was planning to kill him.

To further distance himself from the Goblin, Norman created a stand-in to be seen at the same time he was. His plans almost came to a halt when thanks to the Hobgoblin, Roderick Kingsley. Kingsley said that he had evidence proving that Osborn and the Green Goblin were one and the same- in the form of old journals he stole from Osborn's old hideouts- and offered it to the District Attorney in exchange for an early parole. Osborn broke him out of prison with the intention of killing him upon receiving these journals, only to discover he'd been played, as the journals were destroyed. The Hobgoblin escaped, but Osborn managed to gain control of Kingley's companies, so it wasn't a total loss.

After being targeted for assassination by the Kingpin, Osborn called the Gathering of Five, an ancient ceremony in which five gifts were bestowed, one for each: Power, Death, Madness, Immortality and Knowledge. Osborn sought Power so he could become a god and fullfill his master plan, to set off bombs with a gas that broke living beings down to their basic DNA structures. As a god, he'd then have the power to reshape them as he wished. He stopped Jameson from killing him, and went ahead with the ceremony, after which he believed he gained the gift of Power. In the ensuing battle it was revealed to all that he gained Madness, and became delusional, believing that he killed Spider-Man even as he was carted away to a penitentiary. The doctors unmasked him, and were shocked to see the face of Norman Osborn. But they did not live long enough to tell anyone, as several Scriers killed them and took Osborn to his mansion.

Several months later, he regained his sanity (at least what he had of sanity). He fell in love with his nurse Kolina, who later learned that he was the Green Goblin. Rather than kill her, he had her taken to his upstate retreat, determined to keep her love. He also reformed the Order of the Scrier as the Order of the Goblin, and had them kill his doctor (while wearing a Spider-Man costume) when he had no further use for him.

He began his latest scheme against Parker: to slowly drive him insane and turn him into his new heir. He put chemicals into Parker's toothpaste which got him to don a Green Goblin costume in his sleep and terrorize his loved ones. Osborn soon captured Spider-Man and brought him to the very mansion his father locked him is as a boy. He kept him there, depriving him of food or water for two weeks, determined to get Parker to embrace the darkness. Once he did, he would become his heir and the new Green Goblin. Even at the end, Parker resisted. Norman realized he was a fool for even trying, which led to another battle between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin. The Goblin escaped, but not before making it perfectly clear that, eventually, either the Goblin would kill Spider-Man or Spider-Man would kill the the Goblin. It was inevitable.

And as expected, the Green Goblin did eventually return. For the first time since Harry's death, Norman visited his son's grave before embarking on a plan to destroy people around Peter Parker, determined to drive him to kill. First he offered "Flash" Thompson a job driving trucks for Oscorp, only to get Flash drunk, put him behind the wheel of a truck and have him crash into the high school Peter now taught at. Osborn arrived in person the next day to pay for damages to the school and mess with Peter.

Spider-Man arrived at the Goblin's hide out to take him down. The Goblin did nothing but taunt him, threatening to kill Mary Jane and Aunt May. He even threatened to kill his own grandson, saying he was weak like Harry. Spider-Man came close to killing the Goblin, but realised that was exactly what Norman wanted. He refused to sink to his level. Spider-Man called Norman's bluff and walked out, refusing to give Norman any more satisfaction, feeling that if Norman wanted to kill his loved ones, he couldn't stop him, and that he refused to allow himself to hate Norman because deep inside, Norman was a sad, miserable person. No longer able to make Peter dance like a puppet, Osborn contemplated suicide, but did not go through with it.

Several months later, Osborn started murdering Oscorp employees at random. When a new Daily Bugle reporter named Terri Kidder came to interview him for the Bugle's Most Powerful People in Manhattan article. Osborn flipped out and murdered her in his office, later depositing her body in a lake in Central Park. Ben Urich, who was now in charge of a new edition of the Bugle called The Pulse led an investigation along with Jessica Jones which uncovered both Norman as the killer and in the ensuing confrontation, revealed him to the public at large as the Green Goblin. Jessica was injured in the battle, fearing her unborn child was dead, her boyfriend (and the baby's father) Luke Cage confronted Osborn at City Hall, where Osborn posted bail, and in the fight, was almost captured.

But the Green Goblin escaped, and took a group of people in a church hostage, refusing to let them go unless Spider-Man stabbed himself and bled to death on live television. Spider-Man arrived and the two battled all over the city. When the Goblin was flung off his glider, Spider-Man scrambled to knock him out and at the suggestion of a bystander, he hit the Goblin over the head with a mail box, knocking him unconscious. The crowd afterwards turned on Spider-Man accusing him of "brain damaging the poor guy". The police arrived and captured the Goblin, unmasking him. Shortly after, Aunt May was kidnapped by an unknown villain, and when Spider-Man arrived to confront Osborn in his cell, Osborn said he did not know where she was, but that he let Spider-Man's secret identity slip to a mutual acquantance, who was to kidnap and kill Peter Parker's oldest living relative.

Turned out, Osborn had contacted Mac Gargan aka the Scorpion, and told him Spider-Man's real identity and ordered May Parker's kidnapping, and $5 million donated to the Daily Bugle to award anyone who unmasked Spider-Man as revenge if he was ever captured. But Osborn also feared for his life, as he was part of a secret cabal of industrialists who manufactured super villains to keep superheroes busy, so they would never deal with society's real woes. With Osborn unmasked and now incarcerated, they were breaking into his offices to remove any evidence of their deeds, and had brainwashed Doctor Octopus to murder Osborn in his cell.

In exchange for returning May to Peter, Spider-Man was to break Osborn out of his cell on Riker's Island. Spider-Man and the Black Cat infiltrated the prison and broke Osborn out, but of course Osborn betrayed them. At the docks were waiting eleven of Spider-Man's enemies, all upgraded with new and deadlier weapons, now called by the Green Goblin the Sinister Twelve. With the arrival of Mac Gargan wearing the symbiote and declaring himself the new Venom, the Green Goblin flew off to kill Mary Jane.

The Green Goblin, in his new costume.

After escaping the Sinister Twelve (the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and Daredevil showing up to deal with them), Spider-Man followed the Green Goblin, carrying a captured Mary Jane to the George Washington Bridge, the Goblin cackaling that he "picked a new bridge just for her", Parker once more tried to reason with Osborn, but their confrontation was cut short with the arrival of a brainwashed Doc Ock. In the fight, Mary Jane pulled a revolver and took a shot at the Goblin, only to fall off the bridge due to the recoil of the shot. Spider-Man webbed Mary Jane, not repeating his mistake with Gwen, saving her life. After pulling her up, the Goblin attemped to bludgeon Spider-Man to death with his glider, only to be attacked again by Doc Ock. Lightning struck the glider and both the electrocuted Green Goblin and Doc Ock fell off the bridge into the Hudson River. Though Doc Ock was soon recovered, the Green Goblin was never found.

As history has proven, the Green Goblin is a survivor, and will surely return to menace Spider-Man again sooner or later.

Earth X

Altered by Plague X, Norman Osborn became the Green Goblin in physical form as well as identity. Concealing his mutation, he used Oscorp to take over the economy of the United States and became president. He also created the threat of the Hydra as a distraction. Osborn was eventually killed by the Skull.

Green Goblin (Harry Osborn)

Harry Osborn was the son of the original Green Goblin, Norman Osborn. Harry wanted nothing more than to please his father, but was always ignored at best, abused at worst. In college he met and befriended Peter Parker, and dated Mary Jane Watson. When Mary Jane broke up with him, Harry turned to drugs, and later watched his father- as the Green Goblin- "die" in battle. He removed his father's costume to protect his good name, and bribed the coroner to fake an autopsy.

Harry later made his way to one of his father's hideouts and took on the mantle of the Green Goblin, vowing to kill Spider-Man. He was easily beaten by Spider-Man and unmasked. To protect his father's memory, he confessed to being the original Green Goblin as well, but the police thought he was crazy and had him committed. After many treatments he suppressed the memories of battling Spider-Man, as well as the hero's identity as Peter Parker.

He eloped with Liz Allen and soon had a son named Norman II. He donned the Green Goblin costume again and fought alongside Spider-Man to defeat the original Hobgoblin, who attacked him, demanding to know the location of Norman Osborn's other hideouts.

His sanity would not last, as soon he remembered Spider-Man's identity and began a new war on Peter Parker. He found an experimental version of his father's super-strength serum and used it on himself, making him more than a match for Parker. He kidnapped his family and fought Spider-Man to a standstill before being beaten and taken to the Vault- but not before telling everyone that he would one day reveal Spider-Man's identity to the world.

Harry was soon released and he began stalking Parker, following him every where in costume, and soon set up the Norman Osborn Foundation, as part of a scheme to lure New York's rich and powerful into the building to kill them. He again fought Spider-Man to a standstill, and drugged him, right before activating the bombs in the building. However, upon realizing that Mary Jane and his son Normie were in the building, he rescued them, then returned to rescue Peter from the exploding building, then collapsed. The new Goblin formula was killing him. An ambulance picked him up, but he did not survive. He died making peace with Peter.

Green Goblin (Bart Hamilton)

Bart Hamilton was Harry Osborn's psychiatrist, who learned the locations of various Green Goblin hideouts. He took it upon himself to don the costume and become the new Green Goblin, and made an attempt to take over New York's underworld. For weeks, he terrorized New York, until Spider-Man, assisted by Harry as the Green Goblin, defeated him. Hamilton was killed by a bomb he had set.

Green Goblin (Phil Urich)

The fourth Green Goblin, Phil Urich.

Alias Phil Urich, nephew of Daily Bugle reporter Ben Urich. While accompanying his uncle on an investigation in one of Norman Osborn's old warehouses, the pair were attacked by thugs. Hiding, Phil stumbled upon a secret chamber used by the second Green Goblin, Harry Osborn. Accidentally bumping into a canister of the Stromm Formula, Phil was doused with it. Donning a prototype Goblin suit (which activated the formula, giving him superhuman strength) and using its weapons, Phil fought off the thugs, becoming the fourth Green Goblin for the first time.

After some uncertainty, Phil decided to become a hero, but was forced to retire after his suit was wrecked in battle with a Sentinels during Onslaught's attack.

Marvel 2

Phil had a brief stint as the Golden Goblin, before he eventually retook the role after the reform of Normie Osborn, the sixth Green Goblin.

Green Goblin (Harry Osborn Clone)

The fifth Green Goblin was created by Norman Osborn to use as a stand-in for him in his campaign to distance himself from the Green Goblin. He needed someone he could trust, someone who would not betray him, someone who wanted to make him proud. Naturally, he chose to make this new Green Goblin a clone of his deceased son, Harry Osborn. This new Green Goblin's career did not last long, as he soon degenerated into dust.