Norman Osborn is the Green Goblin, the Oscorp industrialist who became Spider-Man's archenemy in Marvel Comics and the father of Peter Parker's best friend, Harry Osborn. The Green Goblin first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #14 in 1964, created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, and the man under the mask was revealed as Norman Osborn two years later in The Amazing Spider-Man #39 and #40, drawn by John Romita Sr. Since then Norman has killed Gwen Stacy, come back from the dead, run the Marvel Universe's version of S.H.I.E.L.D., and been played on screen by Willem Dafoe and Chris Cooper. He's a pillar of the Spider-Man franchise and one of the biggest names on the villain side of Marvel.
Who Is Norman Osborn in Marvel Comics?
In the comics, Norman Osborn is a ruthless businessman who built Oscorp into a chemical and technology empire. He grew up under an abusive, failing father and spent his adult life determined to never be weak or poor again. That drive made him rich, but it also made him cold. His wife Emily died when Harry was young, and Norman raised his son with the same harsh standards his father had used on him, which set up decades of father and son tragedy.
What separates Norman from most Spider-Man villains is that his fight with Peter Parker is personal on every level. Norman knows Peter's secret identity, he's the father of Peter's closest friend, and he has used that access again and again to hurt the people around Spider-Man rather than Spider-Man himself.
How Norman Osborn Became the Green Goblin
Norman's origin starts with his business partner, Mendel Stromm, a scientist working on a strength enhancing chemical formula. Norman had Stromm arrested for embezzlement so he could take full control of Oscorp and Stromm's research. When Norman tried to finish the formula himself, someone had altered it, and the mixture exploded in his face.
The accident gave Norman enhanced strength and intelligence, but it also broke his mind. The Green Goblin persona that came out of it was a costumed criminal who wanted to take over New York's underworld, and Spider-Man kept getting in the way. That obsession eventually led the Goblin to discover that Spider-Man was Peter Parker, the classmate of his own son.
Norman Osborn's Powers and Goblin Gear
The Goblin Formula gives Norman superhuman strength, speed, and durability, along with a healing factor that becomes very important later in his story. He was already a genius before the formula, and it pushed his intellect even further. The tradeoff is his sanity, since the formula is also the source of his split personality and violent mood swings.
His gear is as recognizable as the costume. The Goblin Glider is a bat shaped flying platform that lets him attack Spider-Man from the air, and his arsenal includes pumpkin bombs, razor bats, and electrified gloves that fire bolts from his fingertips. Later versions of Norman have used armor, symbiotes, and even an Iron Man suit, but the glider and pumpkin bombs are the kit that defines the Green Goblin.
Norman Osborn and the Death of Gwen Stacy
The story that made Norman Osborn infamous is The Amazing Spider-Man #121 and #122 from 1973, written by Gerry Conway with art by Gil Kane. After regaining his memories of being the Goblin, Norman kidnapped Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker's girlfriend, and threw her off a bridge. Spider-Man caught her with a web line, but the sudden stop and the "snap" sound effect on the page have led readers to argue for decades about whether the fall or the web killed her. Either way, Gwen was dead, and Norman was the reason.
In the very next issue, Spider-Man fought the Goblin in a rage. Norman sent his glider at Spider-Man from behind, Spider-Man dodged, and the glider impaled Norman instead. That two issue story ended the comics' early era and is still the event most often cited when fans talk about Norman Osborn.
How Norman Osborn Came Back From the Dead
Norman stayed dead for more than 20 years of comics. In 1996, Peter Parker: Spider-Man #75 revealed that the Goblin Formula's healing factor had saved him. Norman faked his death, moved to Europe, and spent the years in between pulling strings from the shadows, including manipulating the events of the Clone Saga.
His return opened the door for some of his most controversial stories. The Sins Past arc in 2004 and 2005 revealed that Gwen Stacy had secretly had twins, Gabriel and Sarah, with Norman before her death, and plenty of fans treated it as the low point of Norman's comic history. Amazing Spider-Man #73 later exposed the whole thing as a hoax, with Norman, Mary Jane, and others tricked into believing the affair happened and Gabriel and Sarah revealed as clones created as vessels by Harry Osborn.
Norman Osborn's Dark Reign, Iron Patriot, and the Dark Avengers
Norman's biggest comic era didn't involve a glider at all. After Civil War, he was put in charge of the Thunderbolts, a government team of villains working for the Superhuman Registration Act. During Secret Invasion in 2008, Norman killed the Skrull Queen Veranke on live TV and became a national hero overnight.
The government handed him control of the country's superhuman security, and he replaced S.H.I.E.L.D. with his own agency, H.A.M.M.E.R. That launched Dark Reign, where Norman formed the Dark Avengers, a team of villains dressed as heroes, and led them himself in the red, white, and blue Iron Patriot armor. It all fell apart during Siege in 2010, when Norman's attack on Asgard ended with him exposed in front of the world and locked up on the Raft.
Red Goblin, Gold Goblin, and the Green Goblin's 2024 Return
Norman has kept reinventing the Goblin. He led an army as the Goblin King during Superior Spider-Man, and in 2018's Go Down Swinging, which ran through The Amazing Spider-Man #800, he bonded with the Carnage symbiote and became the Red Goblin.
The most surprising turn came in Nick Spencer's run, when Sin-Eater's powers stripped Norman of his sins in Amazing Spider-Man #851. Norman gave up the Green Goblin life and started working closely with Peter, and that guilt-ridden version of him carried into Zeb Wells' run, including a turn as a hero in the 2022 Gold Goblin miniseries.
The redemption didn't stick. Marvel set up Norman's relapse in the Free Comic Book Day 2024 issue, and in Amazing Spider-Man #50 in May 2024, Norman's sins returned to him and the Green Goblin came back. Wells resolved it in #54, where the Goblin sin entity faded out, Norman survived, and Spider-Man declared the Green Goblin dead. In Spider-Man comics, that declaration has never been a guarantee.
Norman Osborn in the Spider-Man Movies
Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin in Spider-Man (2002)
Willem Dafoe played Norman Osborn in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man in 2002. This version is a scientist and Oscorp CEO who tests a performance enhancer on himself to save a military contract, which unleashes the Green Goblin. He kills the Oscorp board, learns Peter's identity at Thanksgiving dinner, and dies impaled by his own glider after begging Peter not to tell Harry. Dafoe returned as a hallucination haunting Harry, played by James Franco, in Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3. His conversation with his own reflection in the mirror is still the scene most people picture when they hear the name Norman Osborn.
Chris Cooper as Norman Osborn in The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Chris Cooper played Norman in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in 2014. His Norman never becomes the Goblin. He's dying of a hereditary disease that he passes to Harry, played by Dane DeHaan, and he dies early in the film. Harry is the one who becomes the Green Goblin, and Harry is the one responsible for Gwen Stacy's death in that version.
Willem Dafoe's Return in Spider-Man: No Way Home
Dafoe came back in 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home, pulled into the MCU from his own universe moments before his death. The Goblin persona takes over, and Norman attacks Aunt May, played by Marisa Tomei, in a fight that leads to her death. Tom Holland's Peter nearly kills him for it before the Peter Parker from Raimi's films steps in, and Holland's Peter cures Norman with an injection before he's sent home. Since the Norman in that film came from another universe, the MCU still hasn't introduced its own Norman Osborn or Oscorp.
Green Goblin in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse uses a hulking, monstrous Green Goblin as one of Kingpin's enforcers. His fight with that universe's Peter Parker near the Super Collider is a big part of what leads to Peter's death and Miles Morales stepping up.
Norman Osborn in Spider-Man Animated Series
Norman has been a regular in Spider-Man cartoons. Neil Ross voiced him in Spider-Man: The Animated Series in the 1990s, and The Spectacular Spider-Man in 2008 split the role between Alan Rachins as Norman and Steven Blum as the Goblin, building a whole mystery around who was under the mask. Disney+'s Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man cast Colman Domingo as Norman and played him as a mentor figure to Peter rather than an immediate villain, a slow-burn take on the character that works because everyone watching knows where it's headed.
Norman Osborn in Insomniac's Marvel's Spider-Man Games
Insomniac's PlayStation trilogy has spent three games building toward the Green Goblin without ever putting Norman in the costume. Mark Rolston voices Norman across the series, and the throughline of his whole story is his desperate attempt to save Harry, who is dying of an inherited illness.
Norman Osborn in Marvel's Spider-Man (2018)
In Marvel's Spider-Man on PS4, Norman is the mayor of New York City. Otto Octavius, Peter's mentor and boss, has a long grudge against Norman, who pulled Otto's funding and took advantage of his work years earlier. The Devil's Breath, the bioweapon at the center of the game's finale, came out of Oscorp's research into a cure for Harry's illness, and Otto's revenge against Norman as Doctor Octopus drives the entire third act. The post-credits scene shows Norman visiting Harry, who is suspended in a tank with a black symbiote.
Norman Osborn in Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Norman only shows up at the end of Spider-Man: Miles Morales, in a post-credits scene where he tells an Oscorp scientist that it's time for Harry to come out of the tank. That short scene sets up everything Marvel's Spider-Man 2 does with Harry and Venom.
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Ending and the G-Serum
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is where Norman's love for his son and his hatred for Spider-Man finally lock together. The symbiote treatment Norman pushed on Harry turns him into Venom, and the game ends with Harry in a coma. At Harry's bedside, Norman blames Spider-Man and calls his team to get the G-Serum ready, a clear nod to the Goblin Formula. In the mid-credits scene, Norman visits Otto Octavius at the Raft and asks him who the Spider-Men really are.
Insomniac hasn't officially announced Marvel's Spider-Man 3, but the setup is obvious. After three games of building, Norman Osborn becoming the Green Goblin is the payoff Insomniac's Spider-Man universe has been promising since 2018.
Green Goblin in Other Video Games
Outside of Insomniac's series, the Green Goblin has been a boss or playable character in a long list of Spider-Man and Marvel games. Willem Dafoe voiced him in Activision's Spider-Man game tied to the 2002 film, he shows up as both an enemy and a playable ally in Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, and he's playable in LEGO Marvel Super Heroes and Marvel Heroes 2016.
The Green Goblin is not a playable hero in Marvel Rivals. Dataminers have pointed to Green Goblin files in the game, but NetEase hasn't confirmed him for the roster.
Norman Osborn's Family and Relationships
Harry Osborn: Norman's son and Peter Parker's best friend. In the comics, Harry became the second Green Goblin after Norman's apparent death. In Insomniac's games, Harry's illness drives nearly every choice Norman makes, and the symbiote Norman gave him turns Harry into Venom.
Peter Parker: Spider-Man, Harry's best friend, and the target of Norman's obsession. Norman's knowledge of Peter's secret identity is what makes him more dangerous than any other Spider-Man villain.
Gwen Stacy: Peter's girlfriend, killed by the Green Goblin in The Amazing Spider-Man #121. The Sins Past storyline claimed she had twins, Gabriel and Sarah, with Norman, but Amazing Spider-Man #73 revealed the affair as a hoax and the twins as clones.
Emily Osborn: Norman's late wife and Harry's mother. In Insomniac's games, she died of the same hereditary illness that Harry inherited.
Mendel Stromm: Norman's former business partner at Oscorp and the scientist behind the original Goblin Formula, whom Norman framed and had arrested.
Otto Octavius: In Insomniac's Spider-Man games, Otto is Norman's former colleague whose grudge against him becomes Doctor Octopus's motivation.
Normie Osborn: Norman's grandson, the son of Harry Osborn and Liz Allan, and a frequent pawn in Norman's plans to shape the next generation of Osborns.
