The Green Goblin has been antagonizing Spider-Man since 1964, with Stan Lee and artist Steve Diko introducing the iconic character in The Amazing Spider-Man #14. Fans of the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies know the supervillain well, but comic book readers know there is much more to the legacy of the Green Goblin.
The Green Goblin is part of Spider-Man's rich history, with the villain behind one of Spider-Man's most heartbreaking deaths. Beyond some truly iconic moments, there is much more to the Green Goblin in the comics than fans may realize.
10 Movie Star Villain
Co-created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, the Green Goblin would become the villain of the first Spider-Man movie in 2002.
In a nice bit of symmetry, a movie set is where Peter Parker first encounters the Green Goblin in ASM #14. In "The Grotesque Adventure of the Green Goblin," the Goblin goes to Hollywood to offer a producer a movie about Spider-Man. He then turns around and offers Spider-Man a role in his own movie, but it's all an elaborate trap to take down the wall-crawler. It goes sideways when they battle in a cave, which turns out to be where the Hulk sleeps.
9 Secret Identity
Steve Ditko initially did not want the Green Goblin to be Norman Osborn or even anyone that Peter Parker knew. His identity was a mystery for a long period of time. However, in The Amazing Spider-Man #39, fans got the answers they desperately sort.
Stan Lee felt Norman Osborn being the Green Goblin added a lot more drama to the storyline, and potential for more down the line, but Ditko never came around to the concept. Steve Ditko actually left the title with the previous issue, and John Romita Sr. took over on pencils.
8 The Pumpkin Bomb
The Green Goblin has a very iconic look, easily recognizable to most comic book fans. One of the most unique visual aspects about him is the pumpkin bomb. The Pumpkin Bomb is actually a grenade in the shape of a Jack O' Lantern that produces heat and smoke effects.
Norman Osborn first used the bombs in his second appearance in the comics, The Amazing Spider-Man #17. In that issue, he faces off against Spider-Man and the Human Torch, one of Spider-Man's surprising friends.
7 The First Goblin Glider Was A Broomstick
Another iconic element of the Green Goblin is his bat glider. Like a lot of early Marvel Comics characters, not all of his signature elements were in place at the beginning. Before he gets the glider, the Green Goblin actually flies around on a rocket-powered broomstick.
The broomstick folds in with the Jack O' Lanterns as a Halloween theme but doesn't really work visually, so it's easy to see why it was ultimately switched out. The bat-glider would become synonymous with the Green Goblin going forward.
6 Death Of Norman Osborn
Norman Osborn dies from injuries sustained from his own glider in the comics, as he does in the 2002 movie. Green Goblin was one of the best Spider-Man movie villains and he was perhaps the most famous in the comics, so it came as a great shock when he was killed off. It came in one of the best Spider-Man story arcs, The Amazing Spider-Man #122 after he killed Gwen Stacy.
This would not be the end of the Green Goblin in the comics, however. The legacy of the Goblin would be taken up by other men in future decades, and eventually, by Osborn himself once again.
5 The Rise Of Harry Osborn
Harry Osborn had been a major part of Peter Parker's life even before the introduction of his father in The Amazing Spider-Man #38. When his father dies, the story takes a massive twist with Harry, the friend of Peter Parker, taking on the identity of the Green Goblin.
He vows revenge against Spider-Man, who he thinks killed his father. He would battle his own nature for many years, before ultimately dying in The Spectacular Spider-Man #200, regaining his senses and saving the lives of Peter Parker and Mary Jane.
4 Bart Hamilton
Before Harry died, he was 'cured' of his Green Goblin persona by a psychiatrist named Bart Hamilton. Hamilton helped Harry suppress the Goblin identity for a time. While he did, Hamilton assumes the identity of the Green Goblin for his own purposes.
He tries to find the secret Goblin formula that Norman Osborn intended to use to give him superhuman powers but fails to do so. In the process, he's killed by one of his own exploding bombs in The Amazing Spider-Man #180, leaving the Marvel Universe without a Green Goblin for a time.
3 Return Of Norman Osborn
In one of the biggest retcons in Marvel Comics history, it's revealed in The Amazing Spider-Man #400 that Norman Osborn actually survived his death. His use of the secret Goblin formula gave him a healing factor that brought him back from the dead. He operated in the shadows for years until revealing that he had survived.
He is shown to the architect of the complex plot of the Clone Saga, intended to bring down Spider-Man and get revenge on him once and for all. The overly complex comic book storyline is probably best avoided by the MCU in future movies.
2 The Goblinettes
The Green Goblin would inspire other supervillains in the comics. Some of the most interesting were the Goblinettes. In the Spider-Man: Legacy Of Evil comic book series, Norman Osborn is abducted by the Goblinettes, who are virtually identical versions of each other.
These female Green Goblins were actually androids created by the late Harry Osborn. They are automatons connected to a supercomputer that runs off of the combined intellect of Harry and Norman's copied consciousness.
1 Dark Avengers
Norman Osborn veers out of being a supervillain into a hero - at least in the public eye - at the end of the Secret Invasion comic book series by killing Queen Veranke.
With his reputation restored, Osborn goes about putting together an unlikely superhero team in the form of the Dark Avengers. He himself becomes the Iron Patriot and leads the team into questionable acts driven by his own corrupt ambition.
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