Merge:Green Goblin

The Green Goblin is a Marvel Comics supervillain, considered one of Spider-Man's greatest and most infamous foes. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #14 (July 1964).

The first, current and best-known Green Goblin is the alter ego of industrialist Norman Osborn. A serum that granted Osborn superhuman strength also caused him to become a mentally unbalanced megalomaniac. Osborn dresses in a garish green and purple goblin costume and uses an arsenal of high-tech weapons, notably grenade-like "pumpkin bombs" and a flying "goblin glider" to terrorize New York City. Ironically, his troubled son Harry was a close friend of Peter Parker, who is secretly Spider-Man.

In a landmark 1973 storyline, the Green Goblin murdered Peter's girlfriend Gwen Stacy and was apparently killed in the ensuing battle after his glider malfunctioned. Osborn was believed dead for several years during which several other characters assumed the title, most notably his son Harry, who died in the role. The Hobgoblin is another character who imitated the Green Goblin and used his equipment. Norman Osborn was revealed alive in the late 1990s and resumed his role as the Goblin. Recently, he was exposed, arrested and convicted for his crimes.

The Green Goblin also appeared in several Spider-Man animated series throughout the years and, more notably, in the 2002 Spider-Man film, in which he was played by Willem Dafoe.

Character biography
The original Goblin was Norman Osborn, a ruthless industrialist who co-founded a major firm with Dr. Mendel Stromm. To seize total control, Osborn had Stromm framed for embezzlement and then searched his possessions, discovering an experimental strength/intelligence enhancement formula. When Osborn attempted to create the serum, it turned green and exploded in his face. The accident changed Osborn, greatly increasing his intelligence and strength, but also drove him insane.

Osborn adopted the bizarre identity of the Green Goblin with the goal of becoming the Boss of the city's organized crime. He intended to cement his position in the city by defeating Spider-Man in order to enhance his reputation. To this end, Osborn created a personal flying device, which started in a broomstick-like shape and evolved into his Goblin Glider, and hand grenade-like explosive weapons resembling pumpkins, sharp shuriken-like Razor-Bats and gloves which fired energy blasts from the finger tips. Thus equipped, Osborn set out to achieve his twin goals, only to be frustrated at every turn by Spider-Man.

Frustrated, Osborn decided to lie low until he was sure his enemy's guard was down. When he was ready, Osborn arranged to have Spider-Man exposed to a special gas designed to suppress his spider sense. With that done, Goblin shadowed him until he learned he was really Peter Parker, and then captured him. In turn, Osborn revealed his own identity to Peter and ranted about his origin and his intentions of killing his greatest enemy, before releasing Peter to do battle. Peter defeated Osborn, who lost his memory and had his costume destroyed by Spider-Man to eliminate his menace.

For a long while, the Goblin personality periodically re-emerged in Osborn to bedevil Spider-Man, only to be forced down in turn when he was defeated. Finally, the Goblin took control one final time and threatened the love of Spider-Man's life, Gwen Stacy, by kidnapping her and taking her to the top of a bridge in New York City. During the resulting battle, the Goblin committed one of his most brutal crimes, pushing Gwen from the bridge and Spider-Man's attempt to save her failed. With blood in his eyes, Spider-Man pursued the Green Goblin for revenge, but managed to control himself after defeating him in battle. In one final attempt to kill him, the Goblin tried to spear Spider-Man with his remote control glider, only to be himself impaled by the gilder's sharp points when Spider-Man avoided the attack. The Goblin was presumed dead for years.

Other Goblins
While Norman was assumed to be dead, several villains and one hero took up the mantle of Goblin villain.

Nels Van Adder
Before Norman Osborn became the Green Goblin, he tested Stromm's serum on an Oscorp employee named Nels Van Adder. The serum had an adverse effect on him, he was mutated into a demon-like creature called the Prototype Goblin or Proto-Goblin for short. Adder constantly harassed and attacked Osborn until he was shot dead by detectives and his body fell into a nearby river.

Harry Osborn
Harry, Norman's son, became a new Green Goblin up until his death.

Bart Hamilton
Before his death, Harry was put under the medical care of Dr. Barton "Bart" Hamilton who managed to make Harry bury his vendetta and identity as the Goblin in his subconscious. Unfortunately, Dr. Hamilton wanted to use Harry's secrets to become the third Green Goblin. Eventually, the underpowered amateur was killed by a bomb intended for Spiderman, and the Goblin menace was buried yet again. There was some speculation that Hamilton was the Hobgoblin, though this was disproven.

Hobgoblin
Roderick Kingsley, a fashion designer, found information that lead him to one of Norman's many abandoned Goblin caches, full of equipment that he altered and took up the mantle of the Hobgoblin, looking to become an Underworld leader. He resorted to brainwashing and framing Ned Leeds, a friend of Spider-Man's. He later went into hiding, and another Hobgoblin came forth. This one was killed by Kingsley years later.

Phil Urich
Still later, Harry's insanity relapsed and he became the Green Goblin again on numerous occasions, until he died from the side effects of a modified Goblin serum. His equipment and the identity of the Green Goblin was then briefly used by Philip Benjamin "Phil" Urich (nephew of Ben Urich of the Daily Bugle), who tried to gain a reputation as a superhero, although he sometimes seemed to be as maniacal as his villainous predecessors. When his equipment was damaged during a battle against a Sentinel in the Onslaught Crossover, Phil was unable to repair or replace it and the fourth Green Goblin thereafter retired. He would later form the team Excelsior. In the MC2 alternate future, he resumes his career as the Green Goblin (see below).

The Return of Norman Osborn
In a controversial move by Marvel (one deemed necessary by the company's then-Editor-in-Chief to bail them out of the much-maligned Clone Saga), it was revealed that Norman Osborn was still alive and had been manipulating the events of the Clone Saga behind the scenes. For a while, a genetic construct that had once been a human being acted as the fifth Green Goblin following Norman's orders, so that he would not be suspected (despite having admitted in public that he was Norman Osborn, and while wearing the costume). He also bought the Daily Bugle so that he could control and edit out any bad publicity, such as the frequent editorials by Ben Urich. During a period when Norman was driven mad when a mystic ceremony that he participated in went wrong, the genetic construct sought out Osborn's original formula to stabilize itself and discover who it truly was. But it was too late, and in front of Spider-Man's eyes, it melted into a puddle of goo and died.

The Goblin's Heir
After the fifth Goblin died, Norman developed a new plan for Spider-Man&mdash;he wanted Parker to become his new heir. His first move in this game was drugging Parker into flying around in the Goblin's costume and attacking his friends. Norman then took Peter to the old Osborn estate to try to convince him to take up Norman's mantle on his own free will. After days of physical and psychological torture, Peter cracked under the stress, but still refused Norman at the last minute. Norman's next plan involved using a drunk Flash Thompson to drive a truck into Midtown High School, where Peter worked. The accident caused Flash to suffer major brain damage and enraged Peter enough to decide to finish his feud with Norman once and for all. At the end of the fight, which took place in one of Norman's chemical plants, Spider-Man came close to killing the Goblin, but relented at the last second. Peter told Norman that if he gives into his hatred for the Goblin, the last piece of Gwen would die, and that he did not need to kill Norman anyway, as simply being him was punishment enough. Parker left, telling Norman that he was tired of fighting him, and declared a truce.

Exposed
The Green Goblin's true identity was revealed to the public by a dedicated investigation by the Daily Bugle after he murdered one of their reporters. After a battle with Spider-Man and Luke Cage that spanned the length of Manhattan, he was arrested and sent to prison for the first time in the character's 40-year history.

As could be expected, however, Osborn did not stay in prison for long. Even behind bars, Osborn masterminded a plot to get Spider-Man himself to help him escape, which the web-slinger ultimately did, as payment for releasing Aunt May from a kidnapper on Osborn's pay - Mac Gargan, The Scorpion. Spider-Man battled with the Sinister Twelve, a group of his greatest enemies led by Osborn as the Green Goblin, who revealed that he had a hand in financing many of these villains' origins. The Goblin slipped away in the heat of the battle and abducted Mary Jane Watson, taking her to the Brooklyn Bridge, but Spider-Man was able to rescue her. The Green Goblin then found himself grappling with a deranged Doctor Octopus, still drugged from being held in police custody. A bolt of lightning sent the two villains plunging into the river. Doctor Octopus was eventually recovered alive and well, and Peter later received a letter from Osborn, mailed before the fight.

Sins Past
It was recently revealed in a controversial storyline that, prior to Gwen Stacy's death, Osborn had engaged in an affair with her, resulting in twins. After Stacy's death, Osborn took the children into his care during his sabbatical in Europe. The children, named Gabriel and Sarah, aged and matured rapidly after only a few years. The twins emerged after Osborn's takedown and confronted Spider-Man, whom they believed to be their real father, and who they believed had murdered their mother. After a series of confrontations, Gabriel and Sarah discovered their real father's identity after Peter dug up Gwen's grave for a DNA sample; if he had even briefly thought he was their father, he should have been able to use his own DNA to determine their parentage. Sarah rejected Osborn's vendetta, but Gabriel assumed the mantle of the sixth Green Goblin, or "Grey Goblin" Gabriel, deranged and amnesiac after a battle with Spider-Man, disappeared along with Sarah, although she later reappeared in Paris. This apparently explained an awful lot to Peter: why Osborn had killed Gwen, why Mary Jane Watson avoided Peter for a long time, having known the secret, and why Osborn wanted Peter as his 'heir', among other things.

Civil War
Though few details have been released, it is known that the Goblin will be one of the villains taking advantage of the schism developing between Marvel's superheroes over superhuman registration during the Civil War story arc. In "Civil War: Frontline #2", the Goblin watches in shock as Spider-Man publicly reveals his identity as Peter Parker, railing that Peter "broke the rules!" He's then approached by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who are seeking his aid. In this appearance, Norman appears to be wearing prison clothing, despite the fact that he escaped from prison in his last canon appearance.

Peter also confirms on TV that Osborn is the Goblin, and that he killed Gwen Stacy.

At the end of Civil War: Frontline #4, The Goblin confronts Ben Urich in an alley.

Powers and abilities
As originally conceived, the formula that turned Norman Osborn into the Green Goblin bestowed upon him enhanced (though not to superhuman levels) intelligence and limited super-strength only.

Today, Norman Osborn possesses superhuman strength comparable to that of Spider-Man. His reflexes, speed, and stamina are enhanced. His durability has been augmented over the years to the point that bullets fired from most conventional weapons can't pierce his skin. Apparently, a .45 Magnum at close range can injure him, as Mary Jane Watson realized when she shot him when he tried to kidnap her. However, Osborn is capable of healing from damage that would be lethal to a normal person to a limited degree, having regenerated from being impaled through the chest by his own rocket-glider leaving only a scar as a reminder and later from having over a dozen of his bombs explode while webbed to his chest. This was first used as a plot device to bring Norman Osborn back from the grave.

He is armed with a variety of bizarre incendiary devices and uses a Goblin Glider as a personal transport. It can reach velocities of well over 300 miles per hour and is extremely maneuverable.

Aside from his physical advantages, the serum also greatly enhanced Norman's already highly above average intellect, making him a bona fide genius capable of making progress in advanced areas of genetics, robotics, engineering, and applied chemistry that most professional scientists can scarcely comprehend. However, these aptitudes are inhibited by the fact that Osborn is criminally insane.

The superhero Green Goblin (Phil Urich, nephew of Daily Bugle reporter Ben Urich), also had the ability to produce an ear-shattering maniacal laugh that threw off his enemies. Unlike the other Goblins, Phil only received a small dose of the Goblin formula (perhaps in an altered form). His powers instead came from his mask, which delivered an electric burst that somehow augmented his strength and speed, without any of the typical negative effects on his sanity. His mask also gave him access to remote-controlled weaponry and spy devices.

Normie Osborn
Normie Osborn is the son of Harry Osborn and Liz Allan, and the grandson of Norman Osborn. In the alternate timeline of the MC2 universe he would become the Green Goblin and battle Spider-Man's daughter, May Parker before reforming and becoming her ally.

Phil Urich
In the MC2 timeline, Phil Urich married his girlfriend Meredith and became a forensic scientist and friends with Peter Parker. He is aware of both Peter and Spider-Girl's identities. Phil Urich resumed the Goblin identity, first under the name of the Golden Goblin, then as the Green Goblin with the assistance of Normie Osborn (III). After Phil lost a long series of battles, Normie recreated Phil's original mask, which granted him superhuman strength and other abilities, greatly enhancing his effectiveness. He is also a founding member of the New New Warriors.

Fury the Goblin Queen
Élan DeJunae, daughter of the San Mardeo DeJunaes crime family in South America, was betrothed to Normie Osborn when she was just a baby because of her father's involvement with the Order of the Goblin. Since then, Élan learned the family business and eventually made connections with the Black Tarantula. She grew up training to follow Norman Osborn's footsteps, and eventually became the leader of the Order of the Goblin.

Following a near fatal attack on Normie, Élan returned to New York to follow through with their arranged marriage, but Normie was not aware of the betrothal. Meanwhile, Élan and the Black Tarantula plotted to use Spider-Girl to destroy Lady Octopus and Canis so they could take control of the New York underworld. Following plans made by Norman Osborn before his death, the Queen of the Goblins tried to dose Normie Osborn with a new version of the goblin formula. However, Spider-Girl defeated Élan, but in the battle, the formula exploded and the Queen escaped.

Because Normie spurned her and denied his place in the Goblin legacy, Fury crashed his wedding to Brenda Drago and forcibly bonded the Venom-symbiote to him in an attempt to corrupt him. This so far seems to have backfired as Normie has gained control of the symbiote and gone on to become a hero. After Fury crashed Normie's wedding, Phil Urich (the good Green Goblin) defeated her and sent her to prison. She is likely still plotting revenge. .

Marvel 2099
In the Marvel 2099 setting, the Goblin is a radical trickster who wants to prove that Spider-Man (Miguel O'Hara) is in the pay of a megacorp. He has batlike glider-wings and a bag of "tricks", similar to the 20th century version. He also has the ability to project illusions.

He is eventually unmasked, and appears to be Spider-Man's brother Gabriel, although it is later revealed, in a retcon, that he is a shapeshifter who took Gabriel's identity. Writer Peter David, who quit the book between creating the character and the unmasking, has said that it was his intent for the Goblin to be the female Catholic priest Father Jennifer, and for Gabriel to be a red herring. (There is a similarity between this situation and the earlier confusion over the identity of the Hobgoblin, in which it was David who wrote the unmasking story).

Animated series

 * The 1960s animated television series featured the first depiction of the Goblin outside of the comic book, but fans have criticized it for getting the character completely wrong. For instance, the Goblin is depicted as a dimwitted robber who is obsessed with magic and the supernatural.  Those were fields of expertise that Norman Osborn in the comics was never interested in (save for one anomalous incident in the late 1990s), preferring to use technology to commit crimes.


 * The 1980s series depicted Osborn as something closer to The Lizard with a serious medical problem of physically and uncontrollably changing into the Goblin, a kind of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.


 * [[Image:spidermanep31.jpg|220px|Green Goblin in 1990s Spider-Man animated series|right|thumb]] The Green Goblin was a long-term recurring villain in the Spider-Man series, voiced by Neil Ross. In the series, Norman Osborn and his partner, Mendel Stromm, were coerced into creating a formula for the Kingpin that grants superhuman strength.  An unstable reaction resulted during one experiment and Norman disappeared in the explosion, presumed dead.  His son, Harry blamed the Oscorp stockholders, J. Jonah Jameson, Anastasia Hardy, and Wilson Fisk (the Kingpin) among others, for the death of his father.  Soon a mysterious airborne figure, identifying himself as the Green Goblin, began kidnapping the stockholders one by one.  Harry quickly became the main suspect and was followed by a wary Mary Jane who became kidnapped herself.  Tracking her down, Spider-Man uncovered an underwater base where the Goblin intended to kill everyone he had kidnapped.  Fighting the Goblin, Spider-Man unmasked him, only to discover that the Green Goblin was Norman Osborn.  Amnesia ensued and Norman was unable to remember his dual identity.  The following morning at Oscorp, he announced that he will no longer build chemical weapons.


 * In Goblin War!, Norman Osborn became the Green Goblin again, after being pressured by the Kingpin to reveal the identity of the Hobgoblin, who he had hired before to kill Fisk. The goblin tricks Osborn into thinking that Spider-Man, Hobgoblin, and the Kingpin are trying to hurt him.  Into the Goblin's possession came the Time Dilation Accelerator (a device that can open and close dimensional portals, enabling the occupant to travel from different realities, or to one location to the other on the same planet), and he began plotting the downfall of his enemies again.


 * In the next episodeTurning Point, the Green Goblin finds out Spider-Man's secret identity. Spider-Man and the Green Goblin fight atop the George Washington Bridge. At the end, the Goblin gets stuck in another dimension, after his glider pushes him through a portal, but not before he propels Mary Jane into a wormhole, never to be seen again except for the appearance of a clone that took her place in several episodes in the fourth and fifth seasons.


 * In The Return of the Green Goblin, the Green Goblin chooses Harry Osborn as the new Green Goblin, because Norman wanted to leave the other dimension in which he was stuck. In the end, Spider-Man takes Harry to Ravencroft.


 * In The Wedding, Harry Osborn becomes the Green Goblin again, because he hears that his friends, Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson are going to get married. At the church, Harry tells the priest to make Mary Jane marry him or he will blow up the church.  In the end, Harry prevents the destruction of the church, because Liz Allan explains that his friends will ove him no matter what. The Green Goblin also makes an appearance in I Really, Really Hate Clones in which he was working for Spider-Carnage and the Kingpin and working with the Hobgoblin to steal the technology they need to hypnotize people all around the world (but actually, it was Spider-Carnage's idea but his real intentions are destroying all reality).  When the Green Goblin was confronting the Spider-Men from different realities, all of them used their webbing to stick him to the ground.  In the next episode, although he didn't appear in it, the Spider-Men succeeded in saving all reality but Spider-Carnage went through a portal to a different reality, and when the kingpin's building blew up, Madame Web saved the Spider-Men, the Kingpin but the Green Goblin likely died in the explosion.

Before Norman Osborn becomes the Green Goblin, his episode appearances are:
 * The Spider Slayer
 * Norman Osborn has hired Spencer Smythe to kill Spider-Man, and Osborn employed the Spider Slayer robots.


 * Return of the Spider Slayers
 * When Norman is attacked by one of the Spider Slayer robots, Spider-Man proceeds to save his life.


 * The Hobgoblin, Part 1
 * Norman Osborn hires the Hobgoblin to kill Wilson Fisk, also known as Kingpin, but Hobby switches sides, after he got fired by Osborn. At Oscorp, Norman Osborn points a gun at Hobgoblin, and Hobby tells Norman that he will offer to side with Osborn, if Osborn builds better weapons for him.


 * The Hobgoblin, Part 2
 * Norman Osborn asks Spider-Man to save his son. At Oscorp, when Harry Osborn is conscious, Norman feels glad that his son is ok.


 * The Final Nightmare
 * Norman Osborn gets captured by the Vulture.

Before Harry Osborn becomes the second Green Goblin, his episode appearances are:


 * The Spider Slayer
 * Harry Osborn joins J. Jonah Jameson's party.


 * The Return of the Spider Slayers
 * Harry is attacked by one of the Spider Slayer robots, and Spider-Man saves his life.


 * The Hobgoblin, Part 1
 * Harry is kidnapped by the Hobgoblin.


 * The Hobgoblin, Part 2
 * Spider-Man saves Harry's life.


 * Enter the Green Goblin
 * Harry feels angry against the Oscorp stockholders for the death of his father and becomes bitter. At Oscorp, Harry is emotionally distraught over his fathers' death and acts severely foul tempered


 * Goblin War!
 * Harry is invited for the engagement of Felicia Hardy and Jason Macendale. Norman has a relapse after being threatened by Wilson Fisk to expose the Hobgoblins' true identity, as the Green Goblin once more, Norman battles Spider-Man and The Hobgoblin with the aid of the Spot's Time Dilation Accelerator (a plot device in every sense of the word that would become a favorite du ex machina of fans)


 * Turning Point
 * Harry has a birthday party at the Osborn mansion. Osborn uses the Time Dilation Accerlerator to discover Spidey's true identity, and terrorizes him and Mary Jane, eventually abducting Mary and knocking her off the bridge and into an interdimensional wormhole. The Goblin is then sucked through another one when the Accelerator malfunctions, he is sent through it completely by his own glider in an attempt to use it to propel Spider-Man into him so that both would be lost forever.

Turning Point is the famous homage episode to the "Night Gwen Stacy Died" comic strip classic, only in the animated series, Mary Jane falls through a wormhole, this episode also inspired a scene in the Ultimate comics, as well as the 2002 Spider-Man movie, Mary Jane, not Gwen, is again captured by Osborn, but this time she is saved by Peter. Marking the first time that a Spider-Man timeline has averted the infamous tragedy.


 * A Counter Earth version of the Green Goblin appeared in the Spider-Man Unlimited animated series voiced by Rino Romano, who also plays Spider-Man. This version is actually a good guy instead of a villain.  He also has feelings for Dr Naoko Yamada Jones which could be one of the clues that he is her long-lost husband, Edwin.  He grew so worried about staying around Naoko and her son, Shayne, that he placed cameras wherever Spider-Man went and figured out he was Peter Parker.

Video game appearances

 * The first video game appearance of the Green Goblin was in the 1982 Atari 2600 Spider-Man game.


 * The Goblin was originally meant to appear in The Amazing Spider-Man for the Game Boy, but he was replaced by The Hobgoblin.


 * The Goblin appears in the 2002 Spider-Man video game, based on the Spider-Man film. He was voiced by Willem Dafoe. Once you beat the game on a certain difficulty level, you can play as Harry Osborn assuming his father's identity. As the Goblin, you can fly on a glider and use the Goblin's arsenal. It is primarily the original game in terms of plot, with a slightly different script. (For example, Harry tracks down Uncle Ben's killer because he had apparent ties to Norman Osborn, and the villainous Green Goblin is not Norman Osborn but someone who worked for him.)


 * In the PlayStation, Nintendo 64, and Dreamcast game, Spider-Man there is a crane Spider-Man can enter which contains pumpkin bombs, a Goblin Glider and a Green Goblin poster inside. This is a reference to the numerous hidden hideouts of the Goblin; the Green Goblin himself does not appear in this game.


 * Ultimate Green Goblin briefly appears in the 2005 Ultimate Spider-Man video game voiced by Peter Lurie. In the game, the Goblin goes on a rampage after the Beetle releases him from S.H.I.E.L.D to provide samples for the Latverians' experiments in creating super-soldiers.  Spider-Man was able to defeat the Green Goblin after a prolonged battle through the streets of New York and in the U.N. conference building, and S.H.I.E.L.D. captures him again (Although this does little to improve relations between Spider-Man and Nick Fury, as Fury deliberately goaded him into a position where Osborn would attack him to end the Latverian experiments).


 * There are several Green Goblin custom characters that can be downloaded for use in The Sims.

Spider-Man
The Green Goblin's first live action appearance (beyond a 1982 television commercial for the Atari video game) was in the blockbuster feature film Spider-Man (2002), which starred Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn.



Norman Osborn is a brilliant scientist and businessman who is known for his contributions to nanotechnology. His son, Harry, resents his father's apparent favoritism toward his friend Peter Parker. He is the head of Oscorp, a company contracted by the United States military to create a new super-soldier. Osborn, needing to prove his formula is the new technology the military is seeking, experiments on himself and becomes the Green Goblin. The process drives him insane however, and he kills his partner, Dr. Mendel Stromm. The military decides to give the super soldier contract to another company, Quest Aerospace, and in revenge, the Green Goblin kills several high-ranking military officers and Quest scientists who were present at the Quest test. Although Quest Aerospace's prototype was destroyed, the company decided to expand and, in doing so, assumes control of Oscorp on the condition that Norman Osborn step down as CEO.

In retaliation, the Goblin kills 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 (Kirsten Dunst). His appearance at the festival also marks the beginning of his animosity towards Spider-Man. Instead of hating his new enemy, however, Norman finds that Spider-Man is the son that he always wanted, strong and intelligent, and attempts to recruit him to his side. Spider-Man does not return the Goblin's feelings of respect and rebuffs Osborn's offer of alliance.

The enraged Green Goblin finds out Spider-Man's identity when, while visiting his son Harry (who is Peter's roommate), he discovers that Peter has an identical wound to one he had inflicted on Spider-Man in an earlier fight. He attacks and seriously injures Aunt May, then kidnaps Mary Jane and tells Spider-Man that he must choose either to save her or to save a group of children in a cable car. Both are thrown off the Queensboro Bridge, yet Spider-Man manages to save both the children and Mary Jane (a marked difference from the source story, "The Night Gwen Stacy Died", which ended in the death of Spider-Man's sweetheart).

After being defeated in their final battle, Norman's own personality resurfaced, asking Spider-Man to forgive him, while at the same time secretly directing his glider to impale Spider-Man from behind.

Spider-Man sensed the attack and dodged, and the machine killed the Green Goblin by impaling him in the thighs, internally bleeding him to death. Just before dying, Norman pleaded Spider Man not to tell his son about his second identity. Harry catches Spider Man returning his father's dead body. Not knowing that his father was the Green Goblin, Harry assumes that Spider Man had killed him in cold blood. At the funeral, Harry swears revenge on Spider-Man. Spider-Man respects Norman's last wishes, but it was only a matter of time before Harry found out himself.

Though the film's version of Osborn does not completely understand and is rarely there for his son, he loves him. His Goblin personality is not yet completely dominant, and he vaccillates between the two, as in the character's earliest comic book appearances.

In the film, the Green Goblin pilots a Goblin Glider armed with missiles and machine guns. He is seen using several varieties of bombs: one which is a simple explosive, one that flashes and reduces people to skeletons with a radiation burst, and one that splits into flying, razor-sharp blades. Rather than carrying a shoulder "bag of tricks", the weapons are typically contained in the glider and are ejected for the Goblin as he requires them. His flight suit is armed with some sort of sedative gas that is released from the wrists.

Fans, including Dafoe, have speculated as to whether or not the Green Goblin will ever return in the movie franchise as he did in the comics: his movie death and his comic book death scene were similar, but in the comics a retcon established that he later regenerated the damage to his body while in the morgue and faked his death (these regenerative powers being an as-yet unknown side affect of his powers). But the healing side-affect is useless and the movie death confirms he is truly dead here in the movie continuity as explained.

Spider-Man 2
In Spider-Man 2, obsessed with defeating Spider-Man, Harry forms a brief alliance with Doctor Octopus, which leads him to the discovery of Peter's secret identity. Harry subsequently hallucinates that his father is speaking to him from inside of a mirror, demanding that Harry avenge his death, a scene that is similar to the way Norman and the Goblin talk with each other in the first movie.

When Harry shatters the mirror, he discovers his father's hidden Green Goblin costume and arsenal. The novelization by Peter David has Harry laughing maniacally like his father at the end of the scene.

Spider-Man 3
In the first teaser trailer for Spider Man 3, Spider Man is seen fighting Harry Osborn on a new glider. Recently, it was confirmed by director Sam Rami that Harry Osborn will not be called the Green Goblin or the Hobgoblin in the third instalment.

The Green Goblin's Last Stand
The Green Goblin appeared in the 1992 movie, The Green Goblin's Last Stand. Norman Osborn's introduction was that he suffered from amnisea when he last battled against Spider-Man which resulted in the explosion of his chemical plant, thus granting him his amnisea. But when he returned from the institute for millionaires, he got himself knowing that he was Norman Osborn, he had a son named Harry and remembered Peter Parker. However, he then learned that he was the Green Goblin and remembered that Peter is Spider-Man. He is completely aware that Spider-Man/Peter also loves Gwen Stacy. So he kidnaps Gwen when she was visiting Peter's home apartment when he was absent by knocking her out with knock-out dust. When Spider-Man arrives, the Green Goblin is found with an unconscious Gwen on Peter's home roof. When Spider-Man temporarily knocked out the Goblin and had Gwen, still unconscious, in his arms, planning on taking her to safety, the Goblin surprisingly appears and knocks Gwen out of the hero's arms, laughing as Gwen falls. Spider-Man saves her from landing but finds out she died anyway by the time he reeled her back in. Spider-Man, in anger, attacks the Green Goblin viciously but manages to knock out Spider-Man long enough for him to flee by flying off. The two confronted each other later again in the destroyed chemical plant. Spider-Man nearly kills Gwen's killer by choking him but stops himself, instead planning on putting the villain to jail. The Green Goblin explains if Spider-Man risks putting him to prison, he will reveal Spider-Man's true identity. Spider-Man says he will take his chances and the Goblin asks what the shock will do to his Aunt May. He then releases his glider to impale Spider-Man from behind. But the hero's spider-sense activated, telling him about the incoming attack. He then dodges it and the villain is instead impaled dead.