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"You've spun your last web, Spider-Man. Had you not been so selfish, your little girlfriend's death would have been quick and painless, but now that you've really pissed me off, I'm gonna finish her nice and slow. MJ and I... we're gonna have a hell of a time!"
―Green Goblin[src]

Norman Osborn was the founder of defense contractor Oscorp Industries. He is the father of Harry Osborn and after using a performance enhancer became Spider-Man's first enemy: the Green Goblin.

Biography[]

Spider-Man[]

Dr. Norman Osborn was a brilliant scientist and businessman/industrialist who was known for his contributions to nanotechnology. He had a somewhat distant and unhappy relationship with his son, Harry. When he met Harry's friend, Peter Parker, he took an immediate liking to the young science whiz, who was able to understand his work, and later admired Parker's desire to make his own way in the world, rather than accepting Osborn's help. Later at Peter and Harry's graduation, he offered condolences to Peter on the recent death of his uncle Ben. Osborn was the head of Oscorp, a company contracted by the United States military to create a new super-soldier. He was also a friend of Otto Octavius.

Osborn's colleague, Dr. Mendel Stromm, felt it important to reveal to the General Slocum who was overseeing the project that some of the test subjects had gone insane. Hearing this, Osborn was threatened with a tight deadline. Needing to prove his formula could succeed, Osborn experimented on himself and became stronger, faster and more intelligent. The process drove him insane and he killed Stromm. The military decided to give the contract to Quest Aerospace and in revenge, Osborn became the Green Goblin and killed Slocum and the Quest scientists who were present at the test of the prototype Badger Exoskeleton. Although Quest Aerospace's prototype was destroyed, the company decided to expand and, in doing so, assumed control of Oscorp on the condition that Osborn step down as co-owner.

Green Goblin

Norman making his first public appearance as the 'Green Goblin'.

In retaliation, the Goblin killed the board of directors during a festival in Times Square, thus removing the last threat to his takeover of Oscorp and inadvertently almost killing Mary Jane Watson. His appearance at the festival also marked the beginning of his animosity towards Spider-Man. Instead of hating his new enemy, however, Norman viewed Spider-Man as the son that he always wanted; strong and intelligent, and attempted to recruit him to his side.

The Goblin next led an attack at the Daily Bugle to question J. Jonah Jameson for the identity of the photographer who took pictures of Spider-Man. Peter was at the office during the attack and soon showed up as Spider-Man. The Goblin gassed him and took him to a rooftop, where he offered Spider-Man a partnership and belittled his choice to become a hero, warning that eventually, the city would turn against him. This started to become true when the Bugle, in response to the attack, printed a story claiming the Goblin and Spider-Man were allies.

A few days later, the Goblin baited Spider-Man into a burning building and asked him if he had decided to join him. When Spider-Man refused, the Goblin attempted to kill him with razor bats and eventually slipped away. Norman deduced Spider-Man's identity when he was visiting his son Harry, who was Peter's roommate, for Thanksgiving. He discovered that Peter had an identical wound to one he had inflicted on Spider-Man in the earlier fight. After deducing Spider-Man's identity, he decided to leave, though Harry tried to stop him. Norman told Harry to do what he wanted with Mary Jane and then dump her fast, as he believed she was only interested in his money as his own wife was. After hallucinating that his other persona informed him to attack Spider-Man's heart, he attacked and seriously injured Aunt May, then kidnapped Mary Jane and told Spider-Man that he must choose either to save her or to save a group of children in a cable car. Both were thrown off the Queensboro Bridge, yet Spider-Man managed to save both the children and Mary Jane.

After saving the children and Mary Jane, Spider-Man was lured into an abandoned building. Goblin threw a pumpkin bomb and it exploded in Spider-Man's face, sending him through a brick wall. Goblin immediately hopped off his glider and showed pity on Spider-Man for betraying his friendship, he slid his lenses up and immediately lunged at Spider-Man saying "you spat in my face". As the Goblin brutally beat on Spider-Man, he told him how he will kill MJ slowly, saying that "MJ and I, we're going to have a hell of a time" while drawing a trident. In a rage, Spider-Man attacked him and gained the upper hand. After being defeated, and with his own personality apparently resurfaced, Norman removed his Goblin helmet to reveal himself to Spider-Man, and asked Spidey to forgive him and protect him from the Goblin persona. At the same time, however, Norman (with the Goblin still controlling him) secretly directed his glider to impale Spider-Man from behind. Norman stated he was like a father to him and begged him to be a son to him, to which Peter retorted that he had a father: Benjamin Parker. The Goblin responded by launching his glider.

Spider-Man sensed the attack with his Spider-Sense and dodged, and the machine killed the Green Goblin by impaling him. Just before dying, Norman pleaded Spider-Man not to tell his son about his second identity. When Spider-Man took Norman's corpse back to his mansion, Harry saw him placing his father's dead body on a bed. Not knowing that his father was the Green Goblin, Harry held Spider-Man responsible for his death. At the funeral, Harry swore revenge on Spider-Man.

Spider-Man 2[]

"You were always weak. You will always be weak until you take control. Now you know the truth about Peter. Be strong, Harry. Avenge me. Avenge me!"
"No!
"
―Norman Osborn and Harry Osborn[src]

Harry hallucinated Norman's ghost who appeared to his son through a mirror, asking him to avenge his death. When Harry refused, Norman got enraged and shouted at him; his son, enraged, threw a dagger to the mirror, shattering it and finding Green Goblin's hideout and weapons.

Spider-Man 3[]

"You know what you must do. Make him suffer. Make him wish he were dead. First, we attack his heart!"
―Norman Osborn[src]

Norman's ghost again appeared to Harry, now the New Goblin, teaching him the art of war; a true warrior doesn't attack the mind nor the body, but the heart, thus suggesting Harry to hurt Peter through his relationship with MJ.

Spider-Man: No Way Home[]

"Green Goblin, impaled by the glider he flew around on."
Sandman[src]

See: Norman Osborn

Character traits[]

As Norman Osborn, he was generally a good man who loved his son, Harry, and cared for Peter, who was like a brother to Harry. However, he was also a very career-focused man who may have cared for science, business and success above all else, and he may be a little disappointed in his son, who was meant to be Norman's heir, but lacked his father's ambition, strength and will to succeed and control.

The Green Goblin was Norman Osborn's second personality, born because of the exposure to the experimental performance enhancing gas. The Green Goblin may perhaps be the unrestrained manifestation of Norman Osborn's ambition for power, desire to succeed, and hatred for anyone who may be a hindrance to his control, such as greedy contractors and board members, and his destined enemy, the superhero Spider-Man. He was a violent psychopath and an over-ambitious maniac who believed that his power gave him endless possible potential and placed him above normal people. He even attempted to invite Spider-Man to join him, believing that as another powerful being above normal people, they both could accomplish many things together. He didn't give any value to human life and killed whoever stood in his way without hesitation. Although being completely mad, the Green Goblin was extremely intelligent and clever, making him even more dangerous.

Norman was initially unaware of the Green Goblin's persona in his own mind, and nor was he aware of the Goblin's murderous actions. But after his discovery, in addition to the stress of running his company, being a father to his son, and fighting Spider-Man, he slowly gives in to the Goblin's temptations to destroy those who have become his enemies, specifically Spider-Man.

Norman possessed vast weaponry and a special glider which allowed him to fly. He had superhuman physical attributes, such as strength, speed, stamina and reflexes. He was a skilled and aggressive hand-to-hand combatant, as proven in his fights against Spider-Man, but usually prefered to fight using his weapons. During the final battle, he uses brute strength and even able to break Spider-Man's web.

Powers and Abilities[]

Powers[]

  • Superhuman Physiology: Through the use of the performance enhancing Goblin Formula, Norman Osborn possessed superhuman physical attributes comparable to that of Spider-Man's; such as superhuman strength, durability, speed, stamina, senses, intelligence, etc. It also caused him to develop a split personality, a high maintenance sociopath with unrestrained desire for power and influence.
    • Superhuman Strength: Green Goblin possessed far more strength than normal humans. He was able to overpower several police men relatively easily. He was even able to brutally damage a weakened Spider-Man. His greatest feat of strength was when he held an entire train cart and Mary Jane, each with one hand. He was also able to use his strength to rip Spider-Man's web during their final battle.
    • Superhuman Durability: Green Goblin possessed far more durability then normal humans. He managed to survive an entire wall falling on him barely fazed.
    • Superhuman Speed: Green Goblin possessed far more speed than normal humans. He could move and react at an incredible pace, as well catching Spider-Man's quick punch with his hand and countering. He was even able to throw his pumpkin bombs with great speed.
    • Superhuman Stamina: Green Goblin possessed far more stamina then normal humans, allowing him to remain physically active for long periods of time. He was able to exert himself and pursue Spider-Man without even appearing to be tiring.
    • Superhuman Senses: Green Goblin possessed more greatly developed senses than normal humans. He was able to hear a tiny drop of blood fall in Peter's room with perfect clearance.
    • Superhuman Intelligence: Green Goblin possessed far more intelligence than normal humans. After being exposed to the Goblin formula, he became a master of manipulation and tactics planning. He was intuitive in the fields of science as well, being able to develop advanced technologies that he would use in combat. Though the high intelligence may have also resulted in his restrained sociopathic tendencies to manifest themselves as a split personality.
    • Accelerated Healing Factor: After Spider-Man dealt multiple brutal beatings after he gave into completely into his rage, Green Goblin was seriously and severely fatigued and weakened but was able to recover from the fatigue and weakening.

Abilities[]

  • Genius-Level Intellect: Norman was an incredibly intelligent individual even before he was exposed to the Goblin Formula.
  • Expert Hand-To-Hand Combatant: While fighting Spider-Man on three separate occasions, Goblin displayed remarkable prowess in fighting and even showed combat skills superior to Spider-Man's. He was also an incredible acrobat, performing flips and kung fu kicks on Spider-Man with great damaging effort.
  • Resources: Norman had an almost inexhaustible amount of wealth at his disposal. He used this to acquire advanced technologies and other weaponry for his vendetta against those who stand in his path. He could even utilize his own limitless resources from Oscorp, such as his stolen Oscorp glider and Pumpkin Bombs.

Weaknesses[]

  • Limited Strength: Although Green Goblin was incredibly strong, he did have his limits. He was unable to match Spider-Man in terms of physical strength but only when the hero gave completely into his rage, which further amplified his superhuman strength.
  • Limited Durability: Although Green Goblin was incredibly durable, he did have his limits. Objects or weapons with enough force could injure him. A high speed stab from the Goblin Glider was able to penetrate his incredibly durable armor and skin and kill him.

Equipment[]

In the film, Green Goblin pilots a high-tech Goblin Glider, armed with seeking missiles and machine guns. He also wears green armor that cybernetically connects him to his glider and weapons. He is seen using three varieties of his signature "Pumpkin Bombs"; one which was a simple explosive; one that releases a bright, radioactive flash which reduces people to skeletons; and one that splits into flying, razor-bat blades. Rather than carrying a shoulder "bag of tricks", the weapons are contained in the glider and are ejected individually out of their storage compartment when desired. His suit is armed with knockout gas that is released from the wrists. His suit is also linked to the Goblin Glider, allowing him to control it remotely.

Relationships[]

Appearances/Actors[]

Behind the scenes[]

  • Nicolas Cage, Jim Carrey, John Malkovich, Bill Paxton, Mel Gibson, John Travolta, Robert De Niro and Billy Crudup were all considered for the role of Norman Osborn before Dafoe was cast.
  • Dafoe insisted on wearing the uncomfortable costume as he felt that a stuntman would not convey the character's necessary body language. The 580-piece suit took half an hour to put on.
  • The Green Goblin's costume was created after Willem Dafoe was cast, as Dafoe rejected the initially bulky designs created beforehand. The finished design focused on a more streamlined and athletic feel, and the mask in particular was created to be an extreme cartoon version of his face, focusing on his long cheekbones. Some of the early designs were heavily inspired by black ops.
  • One popular idea among the concept artists was to have the Goblin accompanied by adolescent women in costume and have their own gliders. Raimi hated the idea.

Trivia[]

  • In the comics, Osborn's costume resembles a goblin from old folktales. The movie provides a more realistic armored look.
  • In Spider-Man, Green Goblin drops a carriage full of children off of a bridge. He also drops Mary Jane. Spider-Man saves both the children and Mary Jane. In the comics, "The Night Gwen Stacy Died" features a similar situation with Gwen Stacy in place of Mary Jane and Spider-Man was unable to save her.
  • In the film, The Green Goblin's mask seems to be an amalgamation of the masks of both the eponymous character and fellow Spider-Man villain, The Hobgoblin. The mask's design incorporates ridged brows and vampire-like fangs, aesthetic features that were originally introduced into The Hobgoblin's design.

Gallery[]

Spider-Man[]

Promotion, Filming and Concept Art[]

Spider-Man 2[]

Spider-Man 3[]

See Also[]

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