We’ll end this with a true monster.
An unfeeling, hate filled creature that is hell bent on causing as much misery
and pain that he can. This man is one of Spider-Man’s most dangerous and powerful
foes, the Green Goblin. Norman Osborn is one of Spider-Man’s oldest villains,
and one of the most dangerous baddies of the Marvel Universe. Be it as Norman
or the Goblin, he’s capable of causing misery and woe on a colossal scale. Let’s
get to it.
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| He'll reign fiery death on Spider-Man. |
Norman Osborn’s life, like so many
villains, started with an abusive father. His father, Amberson, was originally a
brilliant scientist and business man. But after losing control of his company
he became an alcoholic, wife and son beating butt-face. These tendencies made
Norman despise his father, and also caused the young man to believe that you're only worth something if you are literally worth something. Basically money > everything else. In Norman's eyes, at least. He felt that the worst parts of
his father came from his inability to provide for himself and his family.
Norman vowed to never be like that, but I’d argue that his obsession with
success made him as bad a human and parent as his father. But I’ll get more
into that in a bit. Norman also started torturing small animals as a stress
reliever. Which is an early sign of a serial killer, FYI.
When Norman went away to college,
he studied chemistry and electrical engineering. Two skills that will help him
with his business, and personal, supervillainy endeavors. He also met and married his college
sweetheart, who gave birth to their son Harry a short time later. Around this time, Norman founded
Oscorp Industries with one of his professors, Mendel Stromm. Oscorp quickly
flourished, but Norman’s personal life took a major hit. His wife died just
before Harry’s first birthday. This led to Norman becoming obsessed with work,
which made him neglect Harry. I wonder which is more damaging, the physical
abuse Norman suffered, or the emotional abuse he dished out to Harry? A conversation
for another day. As part of his new need to be the best in the business, Norman
set his sights on being the sole owner of Oscorp. To do so, he framed Stromm
for embezzlement and called the cops. After Stromm was put away, Norman started
leafing through Stromm’s stuff for ideas to market. He discovered Stromm was
working on an experimental formula that Stromm theorized would increase the user’s
strength and intelligence. Norman, I’m assuming with cartoon dollar signs in
his eyes, attempted to create the serum. Either because he rushed the formula,
or because he was a less skilled chemist than Stromm, the formula turned bright
green and blew up in his face. The formula had the desired effect, greatly
increasing Norman’s strength and intellect, but also completely unhinging
Norman’s psyche. He designed a purple and green costume, built a glider and
some specialized grenades, and started calling himself the Green Goblin.
Green Goblin planned to become the
top crime lord of New York. He planned to kill Spider-Man, to cement his status
as New York’s top criminal. He attacked Spider-Man several times, either personally
or by hiring other criminals to attack the wall crawler. Around this time,
Stromm got out of prison, and plotted vengeance. He built a robot army and
attacks Norman and Oscorp. Spider-Man saved Norman’s life, and Stromm died of a
heart attack. Wanting to know Spider-Man’s identity, he created a gas grenade
that would nullify Spider-Man’s Spider Sense. As the Green Goblin, he quietly
stalked Spider-Man until he changed back into his street clothes. He was
shocked to discover that Spider-Man was Peter Parker, a smart classmate of his
son Harry. He uses another gas grenade to knock Peter out, and then kidnaps
him. He took Peter to his waterfront base, and unmasks himself to gloat over
his captured foe. Peter tricked Norman into monologuing about his
transformation into the Green Goblin. This gave Peter enough time to escape his
bindings and the two fight. In the fight, Peter knocked Green Goblin into some
electrical wires, mildly electrocuting Norman and wiping out his memory of
being the Goblin. To help his friend’s father avoid the shame of being outed as
a Supervillain, Spider-Man burned the costume and the base to the ground, and
told the authorities that Norman had been kidnapped by Gobby and helped him
defeat the menace. Peter would later regret this decision.
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| Cartoony, but still an overall good movie. |
Over the next few years, Norman
would continually regain and lose his memories about being the Green Goblin. The plot lines pretty much go; recover memory, plot something evil, be foiled, something silly happens to wipe out the memory again. This
all culminated in a very dark story line. Norman Osborn met Peter’s girlfriend
Gwen Stacey at a bar. Using his natural charisma, and his ability to manipulate
others, he seduced Gwen and had a one-night stand with her. This left Gwen with
a big problem that would pop up in about nine months. Gwen left for Europe and
gave birth to her and Norman’s twins, Gabriel and Sarah. When Gwen returned,
Norman tried to seduce her again, but she refused. She planned on telling Peter
everything. Being told his least favorite word, No, caused Norman to snap and
revert to his Green Goblin persona. He kidnapped Gwen, and took her to the top of a
bridge. When Spider-Man arrived, Norman threw Gwen to the pavement. Spider-Man valiantly
tried to save her, but instead accidentally snapped her neck when he webbed her
ankle to save her. Spider-Man became obsessed with revenge. He tracked down the
Goblin to his hideout. The two have an intense fight, but in the end Norman
accidentally kills himself with his own glider. Or so it seemed.
The “goblin formula” which gives
Norman his powers, also gave him a healing factor. He regenerated at the morgue,
and escaped. He traveled to Europe, collected his twins, and
plotted revenge. He orchestrated several plots to destroyed Spider-Man. The
coup de grace being manipulating another Spider-Man villain, The Jackal, into
creating several clones of Spider-Man. He also uses his criminal ties to plant
the idea in Spider-Man’s mind that he’s a clone and that another clone, who
called himself Ben Reilly, was the original. Norman was infuriated that Peter
kept fighting despite these problems. He reveals himself as being alive, on
Halloween no less, and attacks New York. In the huge battle that took place, Norman again attempts to murder Spider-Man with his glider. Reilly heroically
sacrifices himself to save Peter, and melts to dust upon his death, which
reveals to Peter that he is the real Spider-Man. Peter defeats the Goblin, and
mourns the death of Ben Reilly. Of course, Norman wasn’t defeated for long. He
quickly returned to menace Peter Parker and Spider-Man once again. I’ll be
returning to Norman again on another post, since he has such a huge impact on
the Civil War and what follows.
Norman Osborn gained super strength
and intelligence by the “Goblin Formula” that he stole from former partner
Mendel Stromm. He specializes in electronics and chemistry, but is also
developed skills in genetics, robotics, and physics. Norman was emotionally
unstable before being exposed to the Goblin Formula, which pushed him into full
on psychopath. As the Green Goblin he uses a variety of bombs to disorientate
or kill his enemies. He also uses his goblin glider to fly around and attack his
foes. He designs or steals all of the technology that he uses.
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| This is a face that screams "Vengeance will be Mine!" |
Green Goblin, as one of Spider-Man’s
“Big Three” antagonists, has appeared in every single Spider-Man related
franchise. The other two being Doc Oct and Venom. I’ll stick to the highlights,
obviously. One thing that I will note, is that most series paint Norman as
being an emotionally distant but still overall a better dad than he actually
is. In the comics, I would never say he loved Harry. Harry was an extension of
Norman’s worth, which is the only reason Harry matters to him. It’s not a
father’s love, but that of an owner.
He was a major antagonist in Spider-Man: The Animated Series back in
the 90s. He was an industrialist that was blackmailed into working with the
Kingpin and the Hobgoblin. Interestingly, in the comics, Norman became the
Green Goblin first, and the Hobgoblin later appeared to fill the power vacuum after
Norman’s disappearance. In this series, it was the opposite. He was exposed to
goblin gas, and found a cache of Hobgoblin’s tech in his own lab. He dons the
now Green costume, having been altered by the green gas, and sets about kidnapping and torturing those that attacked
him personally. The Green Goblin is an alternative personality in this version. Peter discovers this, and saves the individuals Green Goblin had kidnapped. A blow to the head turns Green Goblin back to Norman, but he would revert several times to his villainous person as the series went on.
Norman is one of the main
antagonists of Ultimate Spider-Man. I’ve
said before that I don’t really care for the series, but I have to give it
praise for Norman Osborn and Doctor Otto Octavius. While other characters are
rather watered down, these two are some of the best versions of the characters
I’ve seen. Norman is an indirect baddy for the first season. He finances many
of the villains that attack Spider-Man. He also created Doc Oct, having saved
Octavius’ life after a lab accident left his paralyzed from the neck down. He
makes his first appearance as the Green Goblin in the season one finale, when
Otto injected him with a cocktail of Spider-Man and Venom DNA. Payback for keeping him locked away in a lab for several years. It transforms
him into a hulking green behemoth called the Goblin. He goes from rampaging
monster to full on sadist over the course of the two-part finale. He's a major antagonist in the following seasons, he tries to turn over a new leaf after being cured of the Goblin Formula, but reverts when Octavius give him another dose.
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| One of the most iconic deaths in comics Partially because they haven't brought her back. |
He appeared in Spider-Man back in 2002. He’s portrayed by the amazing Willum
Dafoe. In this version, he’s again an industrialist and an overall better dad
to Harry. He’s desperate to finish a performance enhancing drug as part of a
military contract. Despite the reservations of partner Doctor Stromm, he tests
the formula on himself. This gives him a split personality, driving him insane.
He murders Stromm, and then his business rivals. He also kills his board of directors
when they tell him he’s fired. He meets Spider-Man during the board killing. He
outmatches Spider-Man, but is forced to flee when Spider-Man damages his
glider. He shouts as he flies off, “WE’LL MEET AGAIN, SPIDER-MAN!” After
discovering Peter Parker is Spider-Man, he attacks Peter personally. Striking at his Aunt May, hospitalizing her. He then kidnaps Mary Jane Watson and takes her to the top of a
bridge. He throws Mary Jane from the bridge, but Peter saves her. They have a
final fight, in which Norman impales himself. His death causes a rift between Harry and Peter. Harry blames Spider-Man and resents the fact Peter seems to still "side" with Spider-Man.
Dafoe reprises his role in Spider-Man 2. In it, he’s a
hallucination that haunts Harry after his son learns Peter Parker is Spider-Man.
He demands that Harry avenge him. Harry destroys the mirror he saw Norman in,
and discovers his Goblin equipment.
Chris Cooper played Norman Osborn
in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. In it,
he suffers from a fake disease called retroviral hyperplasia, which causes
green sores on the body and clawed fingertips. Why he couldn’t be dying of a
real disease like Parkinson’s I’ll never know. He dies in the first act. Harry
takes on the role of Green Goblin.
The Green Goblin is an awful human being,
which makes him an amazing villain. He’s an amoral psychopath, hell bent on
destroying Spider-Man. Nothing is sacred to Norman, he’ll attack any perceived weakness,
any personal flaw, anything to destroy those that get in his way. Norman is
such an awful human being that he has, and probably will again, use his own children to further his own designs. I’ll use the Gabriel and Sarah example again.
When he arrived in Europe, he discovered two children that rapidly aged to
adulthood. The Goblin Formula in their DNA having caused the twins to grow at an accelerated rate. He took these two in, shaped them into his perfect heirs, and the
entire time told them that Peter Parker was their father and it’s his fault
their mother died. So they'd hate Peter, so that they'd hunt Spider-Man with all their fury. No bond is sacred to Norman. He’s the psychotic
industrialist, the pumpkin hurling maniac, the twisted sociopath, the all-around
awful human being, Green Goblin. Happy Halloween! Next time, we'll be talking about the Main Man, Lobo.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Osborn#/media/File:Amazingspiderman39.jpg
http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/2/27/Norman_Osborn_%28Earth-96283%29_as_Green_Goblin_001.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130112053603
http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/b/b0/Norman_Osborn_%28Earth-98311%29.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20101101072237
http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/8/8d/Green_Goblin_%26_Gwen_Stacy_%28by_Dan_Brereton%29_1.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20070424151136
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