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“ | Harry: Kill Spider-Man, I'll give you all the tritium you need. On second thought, bring him to me, alive. Doc Ock: How do I find him? Harry: Peter Parker. He takes pictures of Spider-Man for the Bugle. Make him tell you where he is. Doc Ock: Have it ready. Harry: Don't hurt Peter! |
„ |
~ Harry making a deal with Doc Ock. |
“ | You knew this was coming, Pete! | „ |
~ Harry, to Peter, during their first battle in Spider-Man 3. |
“ | I protected you in high school, now I'm going to kick your little ass! | „ |
~ Harry to Peter, as they battle in his manor. |
Harold Theopolis "Harry" Osborn, also known as the New Goblin, is the tritagonist of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man film trilogy.
He is the son of Norman Osborn, the former boyfriend of Mary Jane Watson and the best friend of Peter Parker. However, Harry follows in his father's evil footsteps and becomes the New Goblin, the second incarnation of Green Goblin, who is determined to kill Spider-Man, whom he deems responsible for his father's death.
He was portrayed by James Franco in his first villainous role, who also played Alien in Spring Breakers, Gator Bodine in Homefront and Christian Longo in True Story.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Not much is known about Harry's early years. His mother died when he was a child, leaving him to be looked after by his father, Norman, who had little time for him. He flunked many private schools which Norman paid for, and he wished to downplay his wealth and privilege to his classmates. Harry also became best friends with Peter Parker whom he protected from bullies. However, there are several hints that he was also using Peter to impress his classmates.
Spider-Man (2002)[]
After finishing high school, Harry moves into an apartment in the city with Peter. He also starts a relationship with Mary Jane Watson after she breaks up with Flash Thompson, despite the fact that Peter is in love with her.
Harry and Mary Jane attend the World Unity Festival, and Harry tries to kiss her, but Mary Jane shies away. The festival is interrupted by the Green Goblin's destructive attack. During the attack, Harry tries to come to Mary Jane's aid after she ends up on a crumbling balcony, only to be hit on the head by debris and fall unconscious; nonetheless, he survives.
Later in the movie, Harry hosts Thanksgiving dinner at his and Peter's apartment, and he introduces Mary Jane to Norman, who appears less-than-impressed with his son's girlfriend. Moments later, Peter arrives (fresh off a battle with the Green Goblin), and everyone sits down for dinner, only for Norman to abruptly leave after seeing Peter's cut (from their earlier battle) and piecing everything together. Harry confronts his father, who makes loud, rude remarks about Mary Jane before leaving. Harry comes back inside the apartment, where Mary Jane confronts him about him not sticking up for her, prompting an angry reply from Harry as Mary Jane leaves.
After Peter's aunt, May Parker, is attacked by the Green Goblin, Harry comes to the hospital to visit May, only to find Peter and Mary Jane holding hands, much to his dismay. He visits his father at his penthouse, and Norman apologizes to Harry for his past treatment of him and promises he's going to make everything right. Father and son then hug.
At the end of the movie, Harry walks in on Spider-Man placing his father's lifeless body on a couch. He angrily demands what Spider-Man did to Norman before grabbing a gun from a nearby drawer and aiming at Spider-Man, only to find him gone. After Norman's funeral, Harry is comforted by Peter, who tells him he knows what it's like to lose a father, but Harry replies that his father was stolen from him and vows to make Spider-Man pay for Norman's death.
Spider-Man 2 (2004)[]
In the sequel, set two years after the first movie, Harry is now CEO of OsCorp and head of Special Projects. He attends Peter's surprise birthday party at the Parker household, and has a brief but tense talk with Peter about Spider-Man, whom he still believes to be responsible for the death of his father.
Harry arranges for Peter to meet Doctor Ovtavious, and he later attends a demonstration of Octavius' fusion device, which goes awry. As the fusion device spins out of control, Harry shouts for Octavius to shut down the device, unaware he's about to be smashed by a piece of furniture. Though Spider-Man saves him, Harry is ungrateful for the rescue. After the device is shut down, Harry laments that he's ruined and remarks that Spider-Man is all he has left.
At a party for astronaut John Jameson, Harry gets drunk at the bar, again expresses regret over funding Octavius' disastrous research, and determines to obsess over Spider-Man. He later gets into a heated confrontation with Peter, whom he accuses of stealing Mary Jane, as well as Norman's love, from him, and even slaps his best friend repeatedly across the face as he mockingly calls him "brother."
Much later in the movie, Harry is approached by Doc oc, now Doctor Octopus, who asks him for more tritium to use to create a better, bigger fusion device. Initially, Harry refuses and denounces him as a "hack," but when Doc Ock threatens him, he proposes a deal: If Doc Ock brings Spider-Man to him, he'll give the tritium.
Later, after Doc Ock brings Spider-Man to him, Harry draws a knife and prepares to kill Spider-Man to avenge his father. He pulls off Spider-Man's mask, revealing his true identity as Peter Parker, much to his own horror and shock. Peter displays his powers to Harry and asks him where Mary Jane is, and Harry says that all Octavius wanted was the tritium, causing Peter to realize Doc Ock's plans. Harry remains convinced that Peter, as Spider-Man, murdered his father, and Peter doesn't clarify that Norman was responsible for his own death, instead telling Harry that Mary Jane needs to be saved.
At the end of the film, Harry is sitting alone in the Osborn penthouse when he starts hearing the Green Goblin's laughter and a door opened. He then hears his father's voice and turns to see a vision of Norman in the mirror. When Norman reminds his son of his vow to make Spider-Man pay for his supposed murder, Harry replies that Peter is his best friend, to which Norman responds "I'm your father." Norman then angrily insists that Harry avenge him, prompting Harry to throw the knife at the mirror, shattering it and revealing the entrance to Norman's secret lair, where he finds Norman's Goblin weapons and equipment, and the performance-enhancing serum.
Harry is later seen at Mary Jane's aborted wedding to John Jameson, but he has no dialogue in this scene.
Spider-Man 3 (2007)[]
Harry is first seen at a performance of Mary Jane's play, where he watches Peter with a sinister smile. After the play, Peter spots him and tries to tell him that he didn't kill Norman, only for Harry to ignore him and drive off. Harry later exposes himself to the performance-enhancing formula and adopts the mantle of the New Goblin. Harry's Goblin suit attire differed from the original suit in that it was black as well as green, and had a different, less threatening but more practical face mask, a long, snowboard-like glider called the Skystick, and some different weapons.
The New Goblin intercepts Peter as he's on his way to meet Mary Jane, and makes an attempt to kill him despite Peter's protests that he didn't murder Norman, but he refused to believe him. The two engage in a fight above and across Downtown. Harry pursues Peter into an alley, only to end up unconscious after hitting his head. Peter gets Harry to a hospital, and is informed that Harry has suffered memory loss; indeed, Harry forgets about the circumstances of his father's death as well as Peter's superhero identity. Harry and Peter reconcile, although Harry is amazed at his superhuman reflexes (granted to him by the Goblin formula) as well as his accelerated healing as to how he has healed without even a small scar.
After a get-together with Mary Jane, Harry experiences another vision of his dead father, who reminds him of his vow to kill Spider-Man; this restores Harry's memories. As the New Goblin, Harry attacks Mary Jane at her apartment, and forces her to break up with Peter as a tactic to attack Spider-Man's heart, as his vision of Norman suggested. After Mary Jane complies, Harry meets with Peter and confesses that he's the other man that Mary Jane is seeing, hurting Peter, who leaves.
Next, Harry is confronted at his penthouse by Peter wearing the Venom symbiote, and he taunts Peter about Mary Jane's kisses, leading to a fight between the two. The battle moves into Harry's secret lair, but Peter ultimately defeats Harry, having him too injured to continue, as Harry refused to believe him still foolishly accusing Peter of murdering his father, but Peter tells him he's done trying to convince him now. Peter (under symbiote's influence) taunts Harry back, cruelly tells him that his father was ashamed of him as well as mockingly asking is he gonna cry. Harry enraged by Peter's insults he attempts to attack Peter, but Peter knocks him back hard, and turns away leaving. Harry regains consciousness and tosses a pumpkin bomb at Peter, who throws it back at him. The bomb explodes, and Harry is caught in the blast. Having Harry fully defeated.
Near the end, when Peter (who has returned to his old self since rejecting the symbiote) comes to the penthouse and asks Harry for help against Venom, who's kidnapped Mary Jane, Harry reveals his face, whose right side has now been horribly scarred by the bomb. Harry tells Peter that he doesn't deserve his help and orders him to leave. Havin already accepted defeat, that he cant beat Peter. He then goes into his lair, where Bernard, the Osborns' butler, reveals that Norman killed himself by being impaled by his own glider and encourages Harry to help his friends.
“ | Harry: None of that matters Peter. You're my friend. Peter: Best friend. |
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~ Harry as he reconciles with Peter, and his last words before succumbing to his injuries and dying surrounded by his best friend and Mary Jane. |
Harry dons his New Goblin outfit and arrives in time to save Spider-Man from Venom and Sandman. After Harry deals with Sandman, he helps Spider-Man contend with Venom. When Venom hurls Harry's glider at Spider-Man, Harry shields Spider-Man and ends up impaled. Harry, wounded, falls several stories through the half-finished building, and he's found by Mary Jane, whom he asks to stay with him. After Venom is defeated and Sandman leaves, Spider-Man finds Harry. He expresses remorse for hurting Harry but the latter also feels remorse for what he did to Peter, forgiving him but telling Peter what happened between them doesn't matter, him and the two declare each other as best friends, before Harry dies. Peter and Mary Jane mourn for their best friend's death.
A funeral is held for Harry, with Peter, Mary Jane, Aunt May, and many others in attendance like his butler Barnard, his friend Gwen and former bully Flash.
Spider-Man: No Way Home[]
During the year 2024 of an alternate universe (Earth-199999/MCU universe), a failed spell by Doctor Strange to make everyone forget his Peter Parker was Spider-Man, led to a handful of individuals from a few alternate universes to be transported to this universe, with some individuals from Harry's universe (Earth-96283/Raimi universe) being as Peter, Sandman and alternate versions of Norman, Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus from a point prior to the latter three's deaths. Although Harry wasn't one of the individuals from the Earth-96283/Raimi universe to come back from Doctor Strange’s botched spell , Harry is mentioned a couple of times throughout the film. When his father arrives in Earth-199999, due to Doctor Strange's spell, one of the first things he does is seeking Harry, only to find that their penthouse belongs to another person and Oscorp doesn't exist. Norman later mentions this to Peter and May after the latter allows him to stay at the F.E.A.S.T. building.
Harry is later mentioned when Ned Leeds asked Peter from Earth-96283/Raimiverse if he had a best friend, only for Peter to sadly answer that he did and how Harry died in his arms after he sacrificed his life to save Peter from Venom despite trying to kill him some time ago, remarking how hurt he was of losing his friend and leading Ned to reaffirm his loyalty to the Peter of Earth-199999. This implies that despite all the problems he had with Harry, Peter never forgot about him and still considers him to be the best friend he ever had.
Privately, Peter hoped by helping his counterpart in curing Norman of his evil nature that he could avert the latter's fate and by extension Harry's.
This is one of the very reasons why Raimiverse Peter stopped his MCU counterpart from killing Norman in revenge for MCU Aunt May's death, knowing what Harry would think if Spider-Man actually did kill his father and not wanting a worsened version of events that could jeopardized their friendship and ultimately led to his death. Furthermore Harry's absence in the MCU becomes the main reason as to why MCU Peter's feud with the Green Goblin is more personal after killing MCU Aunt May. As Harry being absent in the MCU means that MCU Peter has no personal connection to Norman, meaning that he is all to willing to kill him out of revenge.
By the end of the film, Norman is permanently cured from the Goblin and later returned to the Earth-96283/Raimi universe, but this creates a branched/alternate timeline in his universe, where Norman should survive and have a second chance. It is unknown if Harry is alive in the altered timeline.
Relationships[]
Family[]
- Emily Osborn † - Mother
- Normon Osborn † - Father and Predecessor
Allies[]
- Peter Parker/Spider-Man - Best Friend & Former Enemy
- Mary Jane Watson - Friend, Former Girlfriend and Former Blackmailee
- May Parker
- Ben Parker †
- Gwen Stacy
- Bernard - Former Employee
Enemies[]
- Flash Thompson - Bully
- Dr. Otto Octavius/Doctor Octopus † - Former Accomplice
- Flint Marko/Sandman - Attempted Killer and Attempted Victim
- Edward "Eddie" Brock/Venom † - Killer
Quotes[]
“ | None of that matters, Peter. You're my friend. | „ |
~ Harry's last words as he dies while forgiving Peter. |
Trivia[]
- Sam Raimi originally planned for Harry to become the Hobgoblin, as in the Ultimate Universe, but was dissuaded by Sony.
- However, the Hobgoblin mask still makes an up-close easter-egg appearance during the scene before Harry tests the Goblin-serum on himself.
- Ironically, Harry Osborn ends up dying the exact same way as his father Norman did, only he dies saving Spider-Man while his father dies trying to kill him.
- Fans even pointed out that the exact same death of Norman came off as rather shoehorned, because Harry simply jumped between Venom trying to impale Spider-Man.
- After completion of the 2002 Spider-Man video game tie-in, the player is able to play the campaign as Harry Osborn who takes on the mantle of the Green Goblin to investigate Oscorp and also fight an "Alternate Goblin".
- Harry Osborn later on becomes briefly playable in the XBOX 360 port of Spider-Man 3 and is an unlockable sidekick in Spider-Man: Friend or Foe.
- Harry with his New Goblin Suit and scarred face made a cameo appearance in This Is the End film as a promotional stand for Spider-Man 3, film that kept by James Franco in his basement.
- The New Goblin identity was never mentioned in the film itself but was in the credits.
- Interestingly, according to the audio commentary of Spider-Man 3, Sam Raimi and his crew referred to the New Goblin as the Hobgoblin in the film set, despite that being the alias of another Spider-Man villain from the comic books.
- Ironically, Raimi had mentioned being interested in incorporating the Hobgoblin later in future films had they continued, even stating that the silver prototype mask seen in Harry's Goblin lab was supposed to allude to the Hobgoblin, with the idea that either Roderick Kingsley or Jason Macendale could eventually appear in Spider-Man 5 or Spider-Man 6, finding and co-opting the Osborn Estate and thus inheriting the Green Goblin's armory. However, none of the information was concrete, and was more wishful thinking on Raimi and his brother Ivan's part.
- In No Way Home, the fact that Earth-96283 Peter told Ned Leeds about Harry's demise could be also considered ironic, as Ned in the comics also became the Hobgoblin at one point.
- In Harry's apartment in Spider-Man can be spotted a mug with the picture of a young Mao Zedong, one of the most evil (if not the most evil) genocidal and enslaving dictators in history, probably a gift from Norman taken in one of his journeys just like his collection of masks (since it's quite unlikely to say the least that these kind of items could be found on sale in America back then). This detail may be foreshadowing Norman's or/and Harry's respective evil and vengeful nature.
External Links[]
- Harry Osborn on the Heroes Wiki
- Harry Osborn on the Marvel Wiki
- Harry Osborn on the Spider-Man films Wiki
- Harry Osborn on the Marvel movies Wiki
- Harry Osborn on the Wikipedia
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