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109-608: The 2008 story " New Ways to Die " features the first appearance of Anti-Venom. Eddie Brock gets a job at a soup kitchen under Martin Li . Brock is unknowingly cured of his cancer by Li, who possesses the Lightforce abilities, and Brock believes it to be a miracle. After Brock is attacked by Mac Gargan (the Venom symbiote's current host), the Venom symbiote attempts to reunite with Brock, at which point Brock's skin becomes caustic to

218-466: A behind-the-scenes role in Spider-Man's adventures since then. During the "Clone Saga", the Spider-Man writers were met with a massive outcry from many readers after the decision to replace Peter Parker with his clone Ben Reilly as the true Spider-Man. Eventually, the writers decided to reveal that one of Spider-Man's arch-enemies had been manipulating events from behind the scenes. The initial plan

327-629: A botched attempt to finish this formula results in an explosion that douses Norman with the imperfect formula. The accident greatly increases his intelligence and physical abilities as intended, but also has the side-effect of driving him into self-destructive insanity, just like his father from years ago. Norman adopts the Green Goblin identity with the goal of being the leader of organized crime in New York City, and intends to cement his position by defeating Spider-Man . Acting on his own as

436-484: A character he drew in the background of two panels in issue #23 was intended to be Osborn, seeded in advance of the reveal. Lending credence to Ditko's claim, this then-nameless character—a member of a businessmen's club and a friend of J. Jonah Jameson—reappeared in a scene in The Amazing Spider-Man #25, visiting Jameson at his office, then again in the businessman's club in #26 and #27, and when Norman

545-623: A criminal mastermind who uses an arsenal of advanced, Halloween -themed equipment, including grenade-like Pumpkin Bombs, razor sharp bats, and a flying Goblin Glider, to terrorize New York City . Osborn has been part of many of Spider-Man's defining stories, most notably " The Night Gwen Stacy Died " and the " Clone Saga ". While his primary foe is Spider-Man, Osborn has often come into conflict with Iron Man , Captain America and other superheroes in

654-536: A flashback showed that Kindred had visited Norman Osborn in Ravencroft. He quoted that Norman looked down on the citizens of New York from his tower and states that he could have his centipedes rip him apart if he wanted them to. Kindred even made a reference to how he appeared in Mary Jane's nightmares and how he would not be able to kill Spider-Man as Kindred states that he "already won a long time ago." Back in

763-427: A gas that nullifies his spider-sense. This allows Osborn to stalk Spider-Man until he learns that his nemesis is Peter Parker , a college student and his son's classmate and best friend. While Parker is going about civilian life, Osborn surprises and knocks Parker out with an asphyxiation grenade, taking the youth to his waterfront base. After unmasking himself to Parker, the latter goads him into recounting how he became

872-463: A machine that can extract the codex from former hosts, as the Maker is uncertain of potential side-effects. However, Dark Carnage attacks Ravencroft as they attempt to retrieve Osborn, transforming most of the patients into his drone soldiers and turning Osborn into another version of Carnage due to him still believing himself to be Kasady. As Spider-Man works to keep Normie Osborn and Dylan Brock safe,

981-481: A means of relieving the stress of his father's abuse. In college, where he studied chemistry , business administration , and electrical engineering , Norman meets his college sweetheart , who eventually marries him and has their son Harold "Harry" Osborn . In his adulthood, with the help of his ESU/Empire State University college professor Mendel Stromm , he co-founds the chemical company Oscorp Industries and establishes himself as CEO and President. The company

1090-473: A pitched battle with several superheroes, Sentry causes Thor 's world to fall to Earth. Osborn fights with the recently resurrected Steve Rogers, however, Stark removes Osborn's Iron Patriot armor remotely, revealing Osborn used green facepaint to create a goblin-like look. Osborn screams that the Avengers do not know what they have done, only for Spider-Man to knock him down. He tells them they are all dead as

1199-431: A point of his secret identity. According to both Stan Lee and John Romita, Sr. , who replaced Ditko as the title's artist, Lee always wanted the Green Goblin to be someone Peter Parker knew, while Ditko wanted his civilian identity to be someone who had not yet been introduced. Lee elaborated: "Steve wanted him to turn out to be just some character that we had never seen before. Because, he said, in real life, very often

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1308-472: A reaction to the death of his wife, maintains a cold disposition and is obsessed with attaining as much power as possible. As a result, he treats his son harshly and openly favors Peter for his intellect, leading Harry to often try to compensate. In his origin story , Osborn is exposed to an experimental formula that enhances his physical abilities and intellect at the cost of his sanity. As the Goblin, he becomes

1417-431: A scandal, and to take their children to raise by himself, thus being his ideal heirs. Mary Jane was the only person who knew of their encounter and their children's existence prior to Gwen's death, despising Osborn for his immoral behaviors long before discovering he's the villainous Goblin. Gabriel and Sarah (who rapidly aged to adulthood years because of the Goblin formula in their genes) return to attack Peter as Osborn has

1526-453: A truck into Midtown High School, resulting in an accident that causes Thompson brain damage. This successfully enrages Parker into what Osborn anticipates will be a climactic battle. During this confrontation, the emotionally weary Parker tells Osborn of being tired of their constant battle, and declares a truce. Osborn's Goblin identity is revealed to the public once again through an investigation by Jessica Jones , after Osborn murders one of

1635-512: A vast network of criminals, spies, dupes and co-conspirators to help engineer what would be an almost impossibly complex and meticulously planned plot to destroy Spider-Man's life. To achieve this, he becomes the leader of the Scrier cabal, taking as his pawns Seward Trainer , Judas Traveller , the Jackal and the cyborg Gaunt/Stromm, all of whom he utilizes to carry out revenge against Parker. It

1744-419: A villain turns out to be somebody that you never knew. And I felt that that would be wrong. I felt, in a sense, it would be like cheating the reader. ... if it's somebody you didn't know and had never seen, then what was the point of following all the clues? I think that frustrates the reader". However, Lee prefaced this statement by admitting that, due to his self-professed poor memory, he may have been confusing

1853-573: Is Osborn while he himself is Kasady, with the latter's consciousness seemingly having overridden Osborn's own. When an undead resurrected Kasady starts hunting all former symbiote hosts to extract the samples of the symbiote codex left in them with the goal of awakening a symbiote god via the Grendel Symbiote (one of the aforementioned deity's many symbiotic-draconian vanguards) as seen in the " Absolute Carnage " storyline, Spider-Man and Venom attempt to retrieve Osborn from Ravencroft to test

1962-509: Is a 2008, six-issue Spider-Man story arc written by Dan Slott with art by John Romita, Jr. and published by Marvel Comics . The arc first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #568-#573. The Thunderbolts led by Norman Osborn / Green Goblin come to New York City to hunt down the fugitive Spider-Man, who has been framed for a series of murders. Meanwhile, at the F.E.A.S.T. shelter run by Martin Li (Mister Negative),

2071-559: Is apprehended by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in Paris. Following the Civil War story arc, Warren Ellis began writing Thunderbolts , and Osborn was brought into this title as the director of the eponymous team. He was one of several characters offered to Ellis, who picked him because, according to Thunderbolts editor Molly Lazer, "[t]here was something about Norman, his instability, and his fixation with Spider-Man that Warren liked, so he's in

2180-522: Is blown up at the end of the issue. It is shown in The Spectacular Spider-Man #250 that he has recovered, and he returns to his civilian life. Without the Green Goblin identity, Osborn would then go on to attack Spider-Man indirectly, through minions and via smear campaigns designed to portray him as a monster. However, Norman would still wear his Green Goblin costume when needed. When Spider-Man revealed his public identity, Osborn

2289-602: Is disbanded. After the Hobgoblin returns to New York, a nurse and doctor are called to Norman's hospital room, only to find him gone. When the children that work for the Vulture are discussing what to do after Superior Spider-Man (Otto Octavius's mind in Spider-Man's body) brutally defeats the Vulture, the Green Goblin approaches and tells the group that he will be the one that crushes Superior Spider-Man. The Green Goblin

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2398-461: Is distracted, Osborn resolves to find a means of restoring his powers and resume his mantle of the Green Goblin, concluding that he has only ever held the edge against the webhead when allowing himself to draw on his inner demons. The apparent first step in this plan occurs with Osborn managing to steal the Carnage symbiote from an abandoned S.H.I.E.L.D. storehouse while Spider-Man is occupied with

2507-437: Is later shown having gathered a new gang of followers together in the sewers formed from discarded members of other villains' gangs like Vulture, Owl , and the third White Dragon 's gangs. These henchmen escaped their organizations unharmed because Superior Spider-Man is more focused on the larger threats (where the original Spider-Man would focus on individuals). As he builds this army to attack Superior Spider-Man, he takes on

2616-413: Is rescued from custody thereafter by his cabal of henchmen. A few months later, the highly unstable Osborn has partially regained his sanity with the help of anti-psychotic drugs. He comes to see Parker as the son he had always wanted and attempts to have Parker take on the Green Goblin mantle using physiological torture, but ultimately fails. Osborn's next plan involves using Flash Thompson drive drunk

2725-425: Is seen in the crowd of new heroes attending a "self help" style seminar being held by Roderick Kingsley (aka the original Hobgoblin ). All the new heroes have been given heroic personas by Kingsley that already exist, but are no longer used. It is not shown whether the new Anti-Venom is indeed a symbiote or just a man in a suit designed to look like the original Anti-Venom symbiote. However, the speech bubble used for

2834-414: Is this group of individuals who are crucial in duping Parker into believing that the youth is actually a clone of himself created by Jackal, while claiming that the clone – who comes to be known as Ben Reilly – is actually the original. Frustrated by Parker's perseverance despite everything that's been inflicted, Osborn publicly reveals that he's alive on Halloween . During the battle that ensues between

2943-497: Is too publicly known as a supervillain during his stint as Director of H.A.M.M.E.R. and the Iron Patriot. Spider-Man defeats and strips the villain's powers with Octavius' nanite serum, but Norman manages to escape through Liz Allan 's discreet aid. In hiding once again, he reflects that the various heroes will be unprepared for him when he returns with a new identity and approach as a businessman, seemingly no longer afflicted by

3052-575: The American Son . When Harry finds a cure for Lily Hollister's Goblin condition for their baby's safety, Lily reveals that it is a ruse to coerce Harry into taking the American Son armor, whom Norman had plotted would die in a tragedy to increase sympathy for Norman and his Dark Avengers. When Lily also reveals that the baby is not Harry's but in fact Norman's, Harry dons his American Son armor, and fights Norman in his Iron Patriot armor. During

3161-575: The Hobgoblin and is sighted by some of the Spiderlings. Upon Carlie Cooper being brought to his lair by Menace, he receives Carlie's journal from Menace which reveals to him that Otto's mind is in Spider-Man's body. Osborn douses Carlie with the Goblin formula, causing the woman to mutate into the new superhuman villain Monster. He demands to know Spider-Man's identity, but Monster first asks

3270-612: The Marvel Universe . Although Osborn sometimes works with other supervillains such as Doctor Doom and Loki and groups like the Sinister Six and the Dark Avengers , these relationships often collapse due to his desire for unbridled power. Osborn's largest overarching story came during the line-wide " Dark Reign " and Siege comic book events, in which he served as the main antagonist; during this time, he became

3379-670: The Sentry into helping to further his cause. Osborn himself leads the Dark Avengers as the Iron Patriot, a suit of armor fashioned by himself after Iron Man's armor with Captain America's colors. Osborn simultaneously forms the Cabal alliance with Doctor Doom , Emma Frost , Namor , Loki and the Hood , but this 'alliance' quickly falls apart when Namor and Frost betray the Cabal to aid

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3488-474: The Trapster to frame Spider-Man for murder, results in Spider-Man being a fugitive again. To get around this, Peter adopts four new identities , using two of these identities to convince Trapster to expose Osborn's scheme, and provide fake evidence that the individual that beat up Osborn was an impostor. For a time, Osborn retires his costumed persona and uses a stand-in so as not to be suspected of being

3597-531: The X-Men . Norman's attempts to exert his authority are increasingly jeopardized by various superheroes. After the Superhuman Registration Act records are deleted so that Osborn has no access to the information recorded about heroes after it was implemented, Osborn attacked the brain-damaged Tony Stark, thus showing Osborn brutally assaulting a physically and mentally incapable individual that

3706-601: The character in Sam Raimi 's Spider-Man film trilogy and reprised the role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), while Chris Cooper played the character in the film The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014). Marvel Comics editor and head writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko are credited with creating the character; they collaborated on how the character would be portrayed. According to Ditko: "Stan's synopsis for

3815-647: The " Civil War " over the Superhuman Registration Act , Osborn is appointed director of the Thunderbolts superhero team, now tasked to apprehend anyone who resists registering. While in this capacity, he directs the Thunderbolts to apprehend or kill Spider-Man, but after Mephisto changes reality , Harry Osborn is alive once more, and, with the exception of Mary Jane, no one (including Norman) knows Spider-Man's secret identity. In

3924-551: The 'Gathering of Five', which will grant the participants Power, Knowledge, Immortality, Madness or Death, but while he believes that he will receive Power, he is instead given Madness, which worsens his already mental instability, and threatens the world with genetic bombs. It is during this time that Peter learns May is alive and Osborn's actress died in May's place. Osborn's complete madness is evident, as he hallucinates unmasking and killing Peter; yet in reality Peter easily defeats him. He

4033-649: The A.I.M.-rebuilt Ragnarok for Thor. In the team's first fight with the New Avengers , Osborn reveals himself as the Super-Adaptoid , declares himself the head of world security, and orders that the Avengers be arrested for war crimes. However, double agent Skaar betrays Osborn, allowing the Avengers to dogpile Osborn's body, overloading him with superpowers and sending him into a coma. A.I.M. and HYDRA pick up Osborn's leftover resources, and H.A.M.M.E.R.

4142-500: The Anti-Venom symbiote causes Spider-Man's powers to cancel out when they are too close to each other. However, Anti-Venom does possess a few weaknesses of its own. It is vulnerable to high concentrations of Norman Osborn 's super-venom via Freak 's DNA. Additionally since Martin Li's Lightforce touch created the symbiote, Mister Negative 's Darkforce touch can interfere or halt Anti-Venom's healing abilities. Also as seen during

4251-531: The Goblin King directly confronts Superior Spider-Man, angry that he was cheated out of the opportunity to defeat his enemy, but offering Otto the chance to join him and Otto rejects the offer. When Otto finds being unable to win against Goblin's resources, having had various allies abandoned, and with faith in his own abilities gone, Otto sacrifices himself to restore the original Spider-Man's mind in order to save Anna Maria Marconi . When Spider-Man arrives for

4360-515: The Goblin being fatally impaled by its spikes. Since his presumed death, Osborn had been retroactively established as an unseen character . While he lies in the morgue, it is revealed that the Goblin formula gave him a previously unknown healing factor which restores him to life; he also murders a homeless man and plants the disfigured body in his costume to feign his death. No longer suffering from bouts of amnesia, Norman escapes to Europe, where he can move freely and unnoticed (as later revealed, he

4469-423: The Goblin formula to turn the whole country into Goblin-powered soldiers programmed to be loyal to him. However, in his final confrontation with Spider-Man, despite exposing his foe to a series of gases to temporarily neutralize all of his powers, and triggering an EMP to shut down all the gadgetry within his new Spider-armor, Spider-Man is still able to defeat Osborn as the two clash. Managing to escape while Peter

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4578-572: The Goblin killing the Spider, but rather Carnage and Cletus Kasady , a vestige of whose consciousness still resides within his symbiote. The villain is enraged by this and when Peter removes the Venom symbiote and to challenge him, Norman takes off the Carnage symbiote to reveal his old Green Goblin persona. Spider-Man manages to take his foe down and when the villain begs the Carnage symbiote to help him,

4687-512: The Goblin to reveal his own identity. He assures Monster that he is Norman, but refuses to remove his Goblin mask until Carlie has proven a loyal follower and dispatches Monster and Menace on a mission. Osborn battles and kills Hobgoblin, although it is revealed to be a servant with Kingsley still in hiding abroad which Goblin Knight discovers. Having staged a coup of New York after spreading his resources by exploiting Otto's reliance on technology,

4796-585: The Goblin's identity would have been revealed in Amazing #39 if Ditko had stayed on. In the landmark story " The Night Gwen Stacy Died " ( The Amazing Spider-Man #121-122), the Green Goblin kills Gwen Stacy and later dies in a fight against Spider-Man. However, the story's writer, Gerry Conway , had Harry Osborn adopt the Green Goblin identity in the aftermath of "The Night Gwen Stacy Died", later remarking that "I never had any intention of getting rid of

4905-494: The Goblin, and uses the time to break free. In the ensuing battle, Spider-Man accidentally knocks Osborn into a mass of electrical wires, wiping out his memory . Feeling sorry for his nemesis, and wishing to avoid the shame that would befall the Osborn family (especially Parker's best friend Harry), Spider-Man destroys the Goblin costume in the resulting fire and tells the authorities that Osborn lost his memory while helping to defeat

5014-485: The Goblin, or through his employment of other super-criminals such as the Headsman , he would harass Spider-Man many times, but fail to achieve his goal. Soon, Stromm returns from prison, and attempts to exact revenge on Osborn using an army of robots, but Norman is saved by Spider-Man, and Stromm apparently dies of a heart attack. In order to discover his nemesis's secret identity, Osborn secretly exposes Spider-Man to

5123-557: The Goblin. Soon, Osborn is troubled by repressed memories of the Goblin and Spider-Man. After a presentation on supervillains by NYPD Captain George Stacy restores Osborn's memory, he experiences a brief return to his Goblin persona. While abducting Parker's friends and threatening Parker's elderly aunt , he is exposed to one of his own "psychedelic bombs", causing a relapse of amnesia . Later, Osborn stumbles upon an old Goblin hideout which, again, restores his memory. However,

5232-452: The Green Goblin as a concept". Harry Osborn's becoming the Green Goblin was mostly well received, with fans remarking that Harry was more menacing than his father had ever been. Writer Roger Stern later introduced the Hobgoblin to replace the Green Goblin as Spider-Man's archenemy . During the " Clone Saga ", a retcon was made, which determined that Norman Osborn survived the events of The Amazing Spider-Man #122 and had been playing

5341-421: The Green Goblin had a movie crew, on location, finding an Egyptian -like sarcophagus . Inside was an ancient, mythological demon , the Green Goblin . He naturally came to life. On my own, I changed Stan's mythological demon into a human villain". The Green Goblin debuted in The Amazing Spider-Man #14. At this time his identity was unknown, but he proved popular and reappeared in later issues, which made

5450-414: The Green Goblin with a different character, and in an earlier essay he had said that he could not remember whether Norman Osborn being the Green Goblin was his idea or Ditko's. Ditko has maintained that it was his idea, even claiming that he had decided on it before the first Green Goblin story was finished. Though Osborn would not be introduced by name until The Amazing Spider-Man #37, Ditko has said that

5559-494: The Green Goblin, Jameson mentioned how he could not stop Spider-Man since even throwing Gwen off the bridge could not break his indomitable resolve. This statement allow Norman to remember that Spider-Man's true identity as Peter Parker, which in the past had always been the edge he held against the hero, as he now knew to target his loved ones and friends. Attacking the Daily Bugle in his familiar Goblin attire, Osborn gives

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5668-462: The Green Goblin, had arranged for Harry's death to be faked, with help from Mysterio . In his final appearance in the storyline, Norman attempts to convince Harry to become a super-hero so that Norman can kill his son off and exploit said demise. It is also revealed that he was sleeping with the supervillain Menace (Harry's ex-girlfriend), with Norman believing that the villain's child she was carrying

5777-406: The Green Goblin. This fifth Goblin kidnaps Norman's grandson and clashes with the wanted and injured Spider-Man. Norman also crosses paths with Roderick Kingsley and initiates a hostile takeover of Kingsley's corporate empire, in retaliation for raiding the Goblin's arsenal and identity . While his stand-in is masquerading as the Goblin, Osborn joins a cult, hoping to receive great power from

5886-471: The Marvel Universe and going on to restore the wider Multiverse piecemeal) and still planning on getting revenge on Spider-Man and his peers/allies. He is revealed to have played a part in the recent coup of Symkaria . He restores a semblance of his original features via a twisted form of plastic surgery but which also resembles the Green Goblin's facets, and intends to release a modified version of

5995-521: The Osborns and proves immune to Carnage's traditional weaknesses of Human Torch's fire and Clash's sound devices, Peter is forced to step back into action despite the injured leg, with Agent Anti-Venom sacrificing a chance to get back into action himself to heal Spider-Man's injury as Osborn merges a part of the Carnage symbiote with his grandson Normie turning into a miniature version of Red Goblin. Normie goes after May but she gets some unexpected help in

6104-550: The Spider-Island event, overusing his healing powers can cause Anti-Venom's powers to weaken. In What If? Peter Parker became Kraven the Hunter where Peter Parker killed Kraven the Hunter and replaced Kraven as the new hunter, Madame Web hired Anti-Venom, Spider-Woman and Mac Gargan to stop Peter. Despite being successful in mortally injuring him, they were all defeated. New Ways to Die " New Ways to Die "

6213-415: The Thunderbolts. Anti-Venom fights Venom in a new, improved scorpion armor from Norman Osborn. "Venorpion" hits Anti-Venom with his stinger and injects a super-poisonous toxin into him that dissolves his suit. After a battle which results in a building collapsing, Songbird tells Spider-Man to lie low for the next few days. Osborn then holds a press conference, saying that Spider-Man has died in the collapse. At

6322-543: The Venom symbiote. Brock is enveloped in a new white “Anti-Venom” symbiote when remnants of the Venom symbiote in his body merge with special antibodies (produced by his white blood cells ) due to Li's Lightforce energy. Eddie later sacrificed his Anti-Venom symbiote to cure people from the Spider-Queen 's spider-virus during the Spider-Island event. During the " AXIS " storyline, a new version of Anti-Venom

6431-559: The Void is released. Osborn knocks out Rogers and tries to escape, but is captured by Volstagg. Incarcerated in the Raft penitentiary, he blames his Goblin alter-ego for ruining his chance to protect the world. When transferred to a secret underwater government base, Osborn takes steps to ensure his release from prison. He uses a group of followers known as the "Green Goblin Cult" to break out with

6540-615: The ability to phase through any solid object. He used it to escape the Life Foundation and bond with one of the scientists who happens to be Flash Thompson. Flash decides to use the symbiote for good and becomes "Agent Anti-Venom". Anyone possessed by the Anti-Venom symbiote possesses superhuman strength, durability, and stamina, an accelerated and fast healing factor, genetic memory, detection of its Symbiote offspring, wall-crawling, web-generating abilities, spider-senses, immunity to Spider-Man 's spider-senses, and camouflage. Unlike

6649-586: The aid of corrupt senators; he plans to turn himself in after killing his fellow escapees, setting him up as a 'champion' of the judicial system. After the breakout, he awaits his trial in a new prison, this one controlled by his cult members. Using his staged persona as a voice for the 'disenfranchised', Osborn plans to regain the Iron Patriot armor and creates a new team of Dark Avengers, this time substituting June Covington for Scarlet Witch , Ai Apaec for Spider-Man, Barney Barton for Hawkeye, Skaar for Hulk , Superia for Ms. Marvel, Gorgon for Wolverine and

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6758-556: The arrival of Punisher who reveals that since he cannot take them with him, he has to put his large supply of bullets somewhere; the Punisher then kills them all. A mysterious man with a bandaged face is soon shown to be selling Goblin-based weaponry globally to attack Parker Industries . This man reveals himself to be Norman alive again post- Secret Wars (following the Fantastic Four 's and Molecule Man 's restoration of

6867-461: The battle, Norman declares that Harry is no longer his son, and that he has bred a better child to replace the 'failure' of Harry. After further taunts from Norman, Harry lashes out and defeats his father, declaring "I was never your son!". When Harry has the option of killing Norman, Spider-Man says to decapitate him, since Norman's healing factor may repair a blow to the head. Spider-Man also cautions Harry that killing Norman will cause Harry to "become

6976-664: The bombastic mental illness associated with the Goblin Serum that he surmises wasted time on theatrics at the cost of practicality and thus less effective villainy. However, Osborn's Goblin King position was quickly usurped by Phil Urich. During the 2015 " Secret Wars " storyline, the Kingpin hosts a viewing party for the incursion between Earth-616 and Earth-1610 where his guests include Absorbing Man , Bullseye , Norman Osborn, Sandman , and Scorpion. Festivities are interrupted by

7085-539: The book while I was still laughing". Lazer confirmed that the new team was answerable to the Commission on Superhuman Activities , giving him the opportunity to do what he wanted: "He's a free man with a lot of power .... And his agenda, well, it's not that secret. He wants to get Spider-Man". Writer Christos Gage took over for the Secret Invasion tie-in stories, which end with Osborn taking credit for

7194-510: The book!" Ellis admitted not being very familiar with the character, saying: "All I remember of the Norman Osborn character was from the Spider-Man reprints my parents used to buy me when I was very young, and Norman Osborn was this guy with a weird rippled crewcut who was always sweating and his eyes were always bulging out of his head. That guy as a Donald Rumsfeld -like public governmental figure... [ Joe Quesada ] talked me into writing

7303-503: The cancer-ridden Eddie Brock is miraculously healed. When the Thunderbolts track Spider-Man to the F.E.A.S.T. shelter, Brock reacts to the Venom Symbiote (currently bonded to Mac Gargan), transforming into Anti-Venom (a hero with the ability to heal others and purify diseases). Now able to destroy every kind of sickness, he attacks Venom and cures him which destroys most of his symbiote. Spider-Man and Anti-Venom team up to take down

7412-403: The character is stylized in a way to suggest a distortion of the character's voice similar to the way Eddie Brock spoke when bonded with the Anti-Venom symbiote. In the comic "Venom Inc.", Venom was captured by The Life Foundation and was experimented on. The Life Foundation accidentally poured hydrochloric acid on Venom and gave him a white appearance. Anti-Venom possessed new abilities including

7521-547: The defeat of the Skrulls after he kills the Skrull queen Veranke . This allowed the character to be placed into an influential position in the aftermath of Dark Reign . Although the dark turn at the end was always part of the plan for the storyline, Brian Michael Bendis , Secret Invasion 's writer, says that Osborn was picked for the leading role because of the changes implemented by Ellis. Meanwhile, Andy Diggle took over

7630-588: The end of the book, Eddie's suit later reforms. Amazing Spider-Man #568 sold 82,540 copies, the 7th best selling comics of August 2008. Amazing Spider-Man #573 sold 93,346 copies or 8th for October 2008. IGN gave the first issue of the arc an 8.0 out of 10 and the last issue 6.4. Norman Osborn Norman Virgil Osborn is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko , he first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #14 (July 1964) as

7739-683: The end, Spider-Man manages to evade this coordinated attack and escape. During the " Secret Invasion " by shape-shifting extraterrestrials, the Skrulls , Osborn shoots and kills the Skrull queen Veranke . He leverages this widely publicized success, positioning himself as the new director of the S.H.I.E.L.D.-like paramilitary force H.A.M.M.E.R. to advance his agenda, while using his public image to start his own Dark Avengers , substituting Moonstone for Ms. Marvel , Bullseye for Hawkeye , Gargan for Spider-Man, Daken for Wolverine and Noh-Varr for Captain Marvel , as well as manipulating Ares and

7848-480: The events of the Civil War storyline. The first was "Brand New Ways To Die" which featured Norman and the Thunderbolts versus Spider-Man and the original Venom. His second appearance explained that following Mephisto 's alteration of Spider-Man's past, Norman's return was significantly altered. He had returned earlier than he had originally, and, due to concern for his son's mental wellbeing after once again being

7957-459: The fight to Norman and while it appears as if he's gaining the upper hand, it turns out that Norman still has some Green Goblin tech beneath the Carnage symbiote and he uses that to electrocute Flash. Flash's injuries prove to be fatal and he dies in Peter's arms. Spider-Man confronts Norman at Times Square as Red Goblin gains the upper hand. Peter manages to hold him off by pointing out that it's not

8066-408: The final confrontation, the Goblin King quickly realizes that Parker is back in control when Spider-Man responds to his nemesis' taunts with his own wisecracks . In the duel that follows, Spider-Man unmasks Osborn, learning that he has undergone plastic surgery to change his appearance, acting as Alchemax's CEO and intending to re-establish himself as businessman Mason Banks, now that his true likeness

8175-521: The first and best-known incarnation of the Green Goblin . He has since endured as one of the superhero Spider-Man 's most prominent villains and is regarded as one of his three archenemies , alongside Doctor Octopus and Venom . In his comic book appearances, Norman Osborn is the amoral industrialist head of science conglomerate Oscorp and the father of Harry Osborn , the best friend of Spider-Man's alter ego Peter Parker. Osborn, in part as

8284-546: The flashback is shown, Kindred states to Norman that he will leave now and will return when Norman is himself again so that they can confront the truth together. As Kindred starts to leave, Norman's Kasady persona states to Kindred that he has a message for him from Norman who states that he is "so proud of him". Kindred takes his leave as Norman's Kasady breaks out in maniacal laughter. After the Grendel symbiote left Norman Osborn's body, Norman regained conscious and escaped during

8393-606: The form of Superior Octopus and J. Jonah Jameson who uses an old Spider-Slayer , however, both are defeated by Norman. Soon afterward, Normie watches as his grandfather throws Liz through a window only to be rescued by Spider-Man which causes Normie to turn on Norman. Norman reveals to Spider-Man he infected some of Peter's friends and family with slivers of the Carnage symbiote which he could send to their brain to kill them. However, it turns out that Flash has figured out Spider-Man's secret identity too and went to May and Mary Jane in order to remove those ticking time bombs. Flash then takes

8502-522: The fracas, the Goblin manages to escape and kidnap Mary Jane, taking Peter's love interest to the George Washington Bridge in order to replay the murder of the last love interest. However, Doctor Octopus intervenes, attacking the Goblin. Spider-Man is able to save Mary Jane after a bolt of lightning sends the two villains into the river. Following some verbal clues from the Goblin, Peter also discovers where he had hidden May, and rescues

8611-460: The help of the Black Cat proceeded to break Osborn out, only to have twelve of his greatest enemies waiting on the outside. Osborn had assembled a team of supervillains . However, Mary Jane Watson had contacted S.H.I.E.L.D. , and the villains were faced not only by Spider-Man, but the combined might of Captain America , Iron Man , Yellowjacket , Daredevil and the Fantastic Four . During

8720-510: The latter as well. It is revealed that Osborn sent Peter a letter before the fight, thanking Peter for giving his life meaning and purpose, but Peter never received the letter due to moving to a different residence. Years after Gwen's death, it is revealed that Osborn had a one-night stand with Gwen, which led to Gwen's pregnancy with his illegitimate twin children . Osborn thus has three motives for killing Gwen; revenge against Spider-Man, to prevent Gwen from talking of their affair and creating

8829-828: The new alias of the Goblin King . The Hand ninjas who evaded capture arrive at the sewers and join up with the Goblin Nation . The group reveals in the news that, thanks to Superior Spider-Man's assault, Osborn now owns over half of New York's organized crime. He claims he now owns New York City as the Goblin Kingpin of Crime. With Menace 's help, Osborn later releases Phil Urich from a prison transport and upgrades Urich's Goblin armor and weapons, asking in return only that Urich's only identity from here on shall be Goblin Knight. Osborn trains Goblin Knight, anxious to confront Superior Spider-Man. Osborn later poses as

8938-509: The original iteration of Iron Patriot . The character has been in various top villain lists as one of Spider-Man's greatest enemies and one of the greatest comic book villains of all time. The character's popularity has seen him appear on a variety of merchandise, inspire real-world structures (such as theme park attractions) and be referenced in a number of media . He has been adapted to serve as Spider-Man's adversary in live-action, animated, and video game incarnations. Willem Dafoe played

9047-455: The other Symbiotes, the original Anti-Venom symbiote used by Eddie Brock is immune to fire, heat, and sound-based attacks. In addition, the Anti-Venom symbiote can produce antibodies that can "cure" a person afflicted by things like radioactivity, parasites, diseases, and drugs. The new Anti-Venom symbiote used by Flash Thompson has the ability to heal physical injuries as well. Due to its failed attempt at curing Spider-Man's radiation-based powers,

9156-416: The present, Norman has defeated Spider-Man. In the rest of the flashback, Kindred sent one of his centipedes into Osborn's head in order to save him from himself. Back in the present, Osborn's Carnage form feels a scratching in his head as he tells Kindred to let him be the one to kill Spider-Man. He then turns his target towards Dylan Brock and Normie. Spider-Man gets to his feet and defeats Norman. As more of

9265-448: The reporters from the Daily Bugle . After a battle with Spider-Man and Luke Cage , Osborn is arrested and sent to prison for the first time. However, things were far from over. From behind bars, Osborn again masterminded a plan against Spider-Man. This time, he has MacDonald "Mac" Gargan as Scorpion kidnap May. The plan was for Spider-Man to break Osborn out of prison in exchange for Parker's aunt's life. Peter reluctantly agreed and with

9374-508: The rest of the staff time to evacuate as he fights Peter before revealing his new bond with Carnage, proclaiming himself to be the Red Goblin , driving Spider-Man away with 'Carnage bombs' that injure his leg. Discovering a sound-transmitting spider-tracer planted on him, Osborn uses this to deliver a 'devil's bargain' to Peter; if Peter abandons the Spider-Man identity and never performs any further heroics, Osborn will leave Parker alone, but

9483-400: The return of Zodiac. Osborn's efforts to control the Carnage symbiote initially backfire when he merges with it and finds himself overwhelmed by the urge to kill rather than his own prior plan to direct its power against Spider-Man specifically, but he is able to convince it to let him have control in favor of trying something other than its usual mindless slaughter. As a starting favor, he has

9592-432: The second he sees any sign of Spider-Man's return, he will kill everyone in Peter's life. Peter places the Spider-Man top on a flagpole so that Osborn can see it burn but privately vows that he will find a way to defeat Osborn as Peter rather than Spider-Man. Peter is able to contact various allies like Human Torch , Clash , Silk , Miles Morales , and Agent Anti-Venom to watch over his loved ones. When Norman moves against

9701-495: The shock of seeing Harry hospitalized after overdosing on drugs causes Osborn's amnesia to return once more. After the final restoration of his memories, the Goblin kidnaps and takes Gwen Stacy to a bridge. During Spider-Man's rescue attempt, Osborn knocks Gwen off the bridge , resulting in the girl's death. Spider-Man, traumatised and obsessed with revenge, confronts the villain at his lair and beats him near to death. A last-ditch attempt to ram Spider-Man with his glider ends with

9810-518: The son Norman always wanted". Harry instead backs down, and turns away from his father forever. At Loki's suggestion, Osborn creates a rationale to invade Asgard , claiming the world (which was, at the time, positioned at the outskirts of Broxton, Oklahoma ) poses a national security threat, by sending the U-Foes to attack Volstagg in Chicago, leading to the destruction of Soldier Field . During

9919-459: The stillbirth of the baby. Returning to his former seat of power, Osborn regains control of his business and also buys out the Daily Bugle , humiliating former friend and societal peer J. Jonah Jameson as the latter no longer has control over the newspaper. He also torments Ben Urich and demands a retraction over an exposé of his time as the Goblin, providing faked evidence that he never

10028-415: The story and didn't reveal that the Green Goblin was Norman Osborn. I didn't know there was any doubt about Osborn being the Goblin. I didn't know that Ditko had just been setting Osborn up as a straw dog. I just accepted the fact that it was going to be Norman Osborn when we plotted it. I had been following the last couple of issues and didn't think there was really much mystery about it. Looking back, I doubt

10137-439: The symbiote eject the nanites in his bloodstream and re-injects himself with a vial of the Goblin Serum to combine it's augmentation with the symbiote's own wide array of abilities to ramp up his effectiveness. While interrogating a captive Jameson for information on Spider-Man, Osborn takes a brief interval from the torture to kill the self-proclaimed Goblin King who tried to raid one of his old storehouses. After Osborn appeared as

10246-480: The truth of his relation to Osborn after watching a video message at one of the Goblin lairs, aligning with his father to stabilize his own condition using a variation of the Goblin formula at the cost of sanity. All of this was retconned during the Sinister War story-arc, when AI version of Harry Osborn's mind reveals that he masterminded a plan to get revenge of both his father and Peter Parker : he created

10355-459: The twins believe that Peter is the twins' father who abandoned the two and responsible for Gwen's death to which Peter learned the details of Gwen's past with Osborn and the twins from Mary Jane. Peter is able to convince Sarah of Osborn's villainy, the truth of Sarah's paternity and circumstances of Gwen's death, and stabilized the Goblin physiology with a blood transfusion due to Peter's blood type matching Sarah's. Meanwhile, Gabriel personally learns

10464-565: The twins in a lab with the help of Mendel Stromm and he brainwashed Norman and Mary Jane Watson (thanks to Mysterio) into believing Gwen cheated on Peter with Osborn. The twins aged rapidly because of clonation issues (and not because of Osborn's Goblin Serum), but eventually got better just as Harry started to use them as soldiers for his war against Norman and Spider-Man. Osborn attempts to distance himself from his Green Goblin persona after being prescribed medication for his mental state. During

10573-501: The two, Osborn attempts to kill Parker by impaling his nemesis with his goblin glider. When Reilly sacrifices himself to save Parker from Osborn (and immediately deteriorates upon death as all of the Jackal's clones do), Parker makes his discovery of actually being the original. During this same period, Osborn was also responsible for the murder or abduction of Peter & Mary Jane's newborn daughter, after one of his allies apparently caused

10682-404: The villain. He thinks he's the hero. He truly believes that he deserves public adulation, and it bugs the hell out of him that so-called 'superheroes' are getting it instead of him. He appeared as a regular character in the Dark Avengers series from issue #1 (March 2009) through issue #16 (June 2010), as well as the mini-series "Siege", which saw Norman being arrested for his crimes, following

10791-406: The wall-crawler seemingly destroys it by hitting it with an exploding gas tank. However, the Carnage symbiote was attached to Norman when Peter destroyed it, which causes a psychic backlash from the trauma of dying that devastates Osborn's own psyche and finally defeats him. Norman is last seen incarcerated at Ravencroft , where due to the mental trauma from his defeat, he now believes that Spider-Man

10900-428: The writing of Thunderbolts . He introduced new characters to serve as Osborn's black ops team, explaining: To quote the movie Speed , he's 'crazy, not stupid'. He's clearly fiercely intelligent and a natural born leader, with the ego and competitive drive to succeed against all odds. He also just happens to be crazy as a shithouse rat. [...] I think the secret to understanding Norman is that he doesn't realize he's

11009-560: Was a clone, and assuming his father's Green Goblin identity. However, this narrative was rejected by newly promoted editor in chief Bob Harras , and eventually Norman was chosen to be the mastermind. Following the Clone Saga, Green Goblin re-established himself as a supervillain and Spider-Man's nemesis, serving as the main antagonist of several arcs thereafter. Osborn returns in Peter Parker: Spider-Man #75 and

11118-486: Was born in New Haven, Connecticut as the son of wealthy industrialist Amberson Osborn. Amberson, a brilliant student in the fields of science, became an alcoholic after losing control of his manufacturing company and subsequently his entire fortune, and became physically abusive toward the family. Norman quickly came to despise his father, resolving to be a better breadwinner while developing early homicidal tendencies as

11227-422: Was formally introduced in issue #37, he too was stated to be a member of the club and friend of Jameson's. Ditko left the series with issue #38, just one issue after Norman Osborn was introduced as the father of Harry Osborn . The first issue without Ditko saw the Green Goblin unmasked. John Romita, Sr. , who replaced Ditko as the title's artist, recalled: Stan wouldn't have been able to stand it if Ditko did

11336-401: Was his. A five issue mini-series followed, written by writer Kelly Sue DeConnick and artist Emma Rios . The mini-series would lead into a dual storyline running in the pages of The New Avengers #17–24 and The Avengers vol. 4 #18–24, in which the character formed a new version of the Dark Avengers and ultimately garnered new powers, having turned himself into a Super-Adaptoid . Norman

11445-556: Was hugely successful, and Norman re-gained the wealth that he had lost during his childhood. However, his wife becomes ill and dies when Harry is barely a year old, the stress of which pushes Norman to work harder, leading him to emotionally neglect Harry. Hoping to gain more control of Oscorp Industries, Osborn accused Stromm of embezzlement and has his partner arrested and shares in his company sold to him. Searching his former mentor's possessions, Norman discovers incomplete notes for an experimental strength/intelligence enhancement formula;

11554-479: Was in France for some time). During this time abroad, believed dead by the general public, he orchestrates several plots, including replacing May Parker with a genetically altered actress, and faking his own son's death (after Mephisto 's manipulations of the timeline); prior to the timeline change, Harry's corpse, at one point, was exhumed and tested. Most significantly, however, he utilizes his fortune to build

11663-492: Was not even attempting to strike back. After the New Avengers are forced to allow Osborn to capture Cage when needing medical treatment, the team uses a tracking device Osborn had planted in Luke to trick him into blowing up his own house after rescuing Cage from Osborn's custody. Harry is approached by Norman with the offer of a job within the Dark Avengers. Norman welcomes Harry into Avengers Tower, wanting to make his son into

11772-457: Was the supervillain, despite Urich's extensive research. However, he saves his most sadistic treatment for Peter, acting not only as a constant reminder of all the pain he's inflicted on his nemesis over the years, but a looming threat that could strike at any time. This build-up of pressure eventually makes Spider-Man snap by savagely beating the civilian and non-resistant Osborn in front of the latter's CCTV , which, combined with Osborn convincing

11881-542: Was to use Mephisto , but they felt a more down-to-earth character was needed. It was then suggested that the semi- zombified cyborg " Gaunt " be revealed as Harry Osborn (who was killed in The Spectacular Spider-Man #200). Gaunt was a late entry to the controversial storyline, created mainly as a plot device to return Harry to life; the plan for the character included Harry regaining his humanity, taking credit for tricking Peter into thinking he

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