Norman Osborn (Marvel)

"I'm glad I never washed this costume. It smells like death, blondes, and victory."

- Norman Osborn as the Green Goblin reflecting on his murder of Gwen Stacy.

Norman Osborn is a fictional character, a supervillain who appears in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, and first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #14 (July 1964). Although many characters have taken up this identity, Norman Osborn is the original and most well-known Green Goblin.

Originally an amoral industrialist head of Oscorp and father of Harry Osborn, he took a serum which enhanced his physical abilities and intellect but also drove him to insanity. He adopted a Halloween-themed appearance, dressing in a goblin costume, riding on a bat-shaped "Goblin Glider", and using an arsenal of high-tech weapons, notably grenade-like "Pumpkin Bombs", to terrorize New York City. He is one of Spider-Man's most persistent foes, and many consider him to be the archenemy of Spider-Man, being responsible for numerous tragedies in Spider-Man's life, such as Gwen Stacy's death and the Clone Saga. However, he has also come into conflict with other superheroes in the Marvel Universe. He was also the focus of the company-wide Dark Reign storyline as the original Iron Patriot.

Biography
The Green Goblin was born of an experimental formula created and used by scientist and industrialist Norman Osborn. The formula greatly enhanced his strength, speed, reflexes, and knowledge, but also slowly drove him insane. Using his newfound power, Osborn plotted to become a powerful crime lord by uniting all the smaller crime rings together. Wanting to get Spider-man out of the way, he sent two supervillains, Headsman and Scorcher after the web-slinger, but they were defeated. Then Osborn decided to take matters into his own hands. He made a rubber suit and a bat-shaped glider equipped with many deadly weapons, including razor-bats, electric gloves, knockout gas, and his signature Pumpkin Bombs. Enlisting the help of the Enforcers, who had fought Spider-man before, he went to Spider-man and tricked him into acting in a movie with him about the web-head. At the set in New Mexico, the Goblin and the Enforcers battled Spidey, forcing him to flee to a nearby cave, which, unbeknown to any of them, was occupied by the Hulk. While Spider-man was busy fending off the Jade Giant, the Goblin made his escape. Green Goblin later reappeared several times in attempts to deface Spider-man and boost his reputation, despite always being connected to the crime ring. After all of these defeats, the Goblin became obsessed with destroying Spider-man, and Osborn put all of his time into focusing on conquering the web-slinger.

The Green Goblin unmasked?
A turning point came when Green Goblin figured out a way to find out Spider-Man's identity. He made a special gas that nullified Spidey's spider-sense, and followed him without detection back to Peter Parker's house. He then easily captured Spider-Man and brought him to his lair, where he revealed himself as Norman Osborn. After making the mistake of untying Spider-man so as to gloat and prove his superiority, Spidey fought and beat him by sending him into some electric wires that were covered in chemicals. Osborn lost all of his memory of the Goblin, and Spider-man, satisfied with that, burned the Green Goblin costume.

"Death" of the Green Goblin
Norman's memories eventually returned somehow, and as the Green Goblin he kidnapped Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker's love interest, and forced Spider-man to battle him on a bridge. The Goblin then threw Gwen off the bridge, and Spider-man, desperate to save her, shot his webbing down and grabbed her, but it was too late. The force of the webbing snapped Gwen's neck, and Peter brutally attacked the Goblin, nearly killing him. But Osborn had one last play to make, and he remote-controlled his glider to come up behind Spider-man and attempted to impale him from behind. But Spidey's spider-sense warned him and he dodged out of the way. The glider blade instead was driven into the Green Goblin's middle, and he was seemingly killed.



"After his "death", several other people took on his identity, including his son Harry, who become the Green Goblin II. Another goblin-themed villain, the Hobgoblin, was born after Roderick Kingsley stumbled upon one of Osborn's hidden Goblin lairs and took his basic weapon set, using a different costume and name.

Norman Osborn's return
He returned alive in the Clone Saga, after his resurrection due to a chemical in his goblin formula which regenerates fatal injuries he murdered a man who looked enough like him and placed him in his coffin, he then formulates a plan to get revenge on Peter Parker, he causes a series of problems for Spider-Man including hiring assassins to try and kill him, he hires a woman to poison Mary Jane who was pregnant at the time forcing her into labor and seemingly giving birth to a stillborn baby whom is later revealed to be alive, he also has Peter convinced that his clone Ben Reilly is the real Peter Parker, he also drugged Flash Thompson and caused him to get into an automobile accident giving him brain damage. After a series of events he eventually reveals himself to Spider-Man who is shocked that he's alive, they have a battle and like before he attempts to kill him once again with his goblin glider, Ben Reilly dives in front of him taking the hit and dying, in response Spider-Man hurls a web full of pumpkin bombs at him, seemingly killing him again.

The Thunderbolts, the Dark Avengers, and the Dark X-Men


Norman Osborn created several teams to take out serveral other superheroes. Some examples are the Thunderbolts, the Dark Avengers and the Dark X-Men. At one point he joined and became the leader of the Sinister Twelve. When he was the leader of the Dark Avengers, Osborn changed his costume and became an evil Iron Man/Captain America combination known as the Iron Patriot.

Superior Spider-Man
After the events of Dark Reign Norman Osborn eventually returned to his Green Goblin persona albeit calling himself the Goblin King.

Media
(In most media Norman is the Green Goblin with the exception of the Amazing Spider-Man film series for the media that has him as the Green Goblin, go here)

The Amazing Spider-Man
In the 2012 reboot, Norman Osborn's existence is felt via intercharacter dialogue and the presence of Oscorp Industries. Early in the film, he is shown as a vague silhouette on a monitor in the Oscorp lobby, referencing him as the company's founder. Humorously, his silhouette is shown holding an orange globe of the companies's logo, a reference to his goblin bombs. It is suggested that he has been afflicted by an illness, which is the catalyst for Dr. Connors' development of the regenerative serum. Osborn is not seen in person, however, but is mentioned. In the film, Dr. Ratha had pressured Dr. Connors to develop an antidote that will cure Osborn of a rare but deadly disease. Connors refused to do so, and Ratha fires him in retaliation.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Norman appeared as a minor antagonist in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Norman is revealed to have been a friend of Peter Parker's father Richard, who had worked on the Spider venom to cure Norman before fleeing.

Norman makes his debut in which he is visited by his son Harry Osborn whilst on his sick bed. Norman reveals that the disease is genetic and that Harry should be feeling the symptoms at his age. The next day it is reported that Norman passed away.

He is portrayed by Chris Cooper, who also portrayed Tex Richman.

His son Harry takes on the mantle of the Goblin. Although in the scene in which he is dying, his skin is shown to have a greenish tint and he has clawed like hands. In a cut post-credit sequence, Norman's head is shown to be frozen. Actor Chris Cooper has hinted that Norman may return in The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and his appearance in this film was just his introduction.