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Attributes

Height: 5' 11"

Weight: 185 lbs

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Reddish Brown

Features: Huge Chest Scar Tissue

Summary

Created By: Stan Lee, Steve Ditko

Real Name: Norman Osborn II

Current Aliases: The Goblin-Lord

Former Aliases: None

Dual Identity: Once secret, publically revealed

Current Occupation: CEO of Oscorp, professional supervillain, leader of the Order of Goblins

Former Occupation: Unknown

Citizenship: U.S.

Legal Status: Criminal record

Place of Birth: Hartford, Connecticut

Marital Status: Widowed

Known Relatives: Harold "Harry" Osborn, son(deceased); Norman Osborn III, grandson; Norman Osborn I, father(presumedly deceased); Emily Osborn, wife(deceased),Liz Osborn (daughter-in-law), Gabriel and Sarah (children by Gwen Stacy)

Known Confidants: The Scriers, Mendel Stromm (Robot Master / Gaunt), Spider-Man, Donald Menken, Kolina Frederickson

Known Allies: The Crime-Master, Kraven the Hunter, the Scriers, Gaunt, the "Host"

Major Enemies: Spider-Man

Usual Bases: New York City and unidentified European locations

Former Bases: none

Current Groups: leader of the Order of Goblins (derivative from the Cabal of Scriers)

Former Groups: The Enforcers, the Scriers

Education: College

Powers & Paraphenalia

Strength Level: Somewhat less than Spider-Man's (lift (press) 10 tons)

Powers: The Goblin formula dramatically increased Osborn's intellect, although not to superhuman levels. His reflexes, and coordination are heightened. His strength is superhuman.

Abilities: Adept at organization. A genius when it came to chemistry and mechanical gadgets.

Equipment: The vertical-thrust goblin glider, which was powered by a miniature turbo- fan. It could go up to 90 miles per hour and support 400 pounds.

Weapons: Concussive, smoke, gas and incendiary bombs. Gloves capable of conducting pulses of electricity upwards of 10,000 volts. Gas and chemicals able to numb Spider-Man's spider-sense.

Limitations: Not quick enough to avoid malfunctioning goblin gliders. Insanity (mitigated by medicated dermal patches)

Background

Norman went to Empire State University on a science scholarship, and he met a happy, vibrant young woman named Emily. She was able to bring out the best in the brooding young man, despite his constant desire to regain the wealth and power that his family had lost when his father's business failed. Norman and Emily had a son, Harry Osborn. But thier happiness didnt last long, as Emily died shortly after Harry was born. The light in his life gone, Norman became even more angry and lustful for power, neglecting Harry in the process.

Having done well in school with business and chemistry, Norman started his own company, OsCorp, with his old science professor, Dr Mendel Stromm. After having Stromm imprisoned for embezzling, industrialist Norman Osborn experimented with one of Stromm's formulas in an attempt to increase his intelligence. The formula had not been tested thoroughly, and blew up in his face. Norman nearly died, but discovered that the formula increased both his intelligence and strength. It also drove him insane.

Plotting to become leader of the underworld, Osborn created his Green Goblin personae and decided to establish his reputation by killing Spider-Man. He tried numerous times, including ambushing Spidey in Hollywood with Fancy Dan, Ox and Montana. Devising a compound that would weaken Spider- Man's spider-sense, he followed the Web-slinger undetected. Snatching Spider-Man while he was in his civilian identity of Peter Parker, the Goblin carted him back to a secret hideout. There he revealed to Peter his own secret identity. During the battle, the Goblin came in contact with live wires, which seemed to jolt him into partial amnesia. Since Osborn had no memory of his criminal past, Spider-Man let him go.

The amnesia, however, proved temporary. Osborn several times regained the memories of the Green Goblin and, knowing Spider-Man's own secret identity, came after Parker each time. Ever the master manipulator, The Goblin used other super criminals in his schemes, such as Kraven the Hunter, the Crime Master and Lucky Lobo. For what would be the "final" time, deciding the direct approach wasn't working, the Goblin kidnapped Gwen Stacy, Parker's girlfriend, and killed her throwing her off of the Brooklyn Bridge. Although Spider-Man came close to exacting the ultimate revenge for this act, he pulled back before killing the Goblin. The fight may have continued, but the Goblin was accidentally impaled by his own goblin glider.

Numb with shock after witnessing the event, Harry removed the Goblin's costume so that the arriving authorities found industrialist Norman Osborn, not the Green Goblin, dead. His secret identity was thus preserved for many years after his apparent death.

Though he was in the morgue, Norman Osborn's tale did not end there. According to his journals, the chemicals that altered Norman Osborn's strength, intelligence, and sanity also gave him superhuman healing ability. Despite being impailed through the chest, Norman regenerated, and escaped the morgue replacing his body with that of a drifter he murdered (and impaled through the chest). To cover-up the shame of his father's alter-ego, Harry bribed the coroner to fake the autopsy ensuring there would be no record of the Goblin formula in his blood.

Osborn left the United States for Europe. For seven years Norman was in hiding - planning, plotting, waiting for the day to arrive when he would strike back. He joined a legendary society, the cabal of Scriers. There, he quickly rose up the ranks, and made an "unorthodox hostile takeover," expanding his powerbase.

After Harry disgraced the Osborn family name and ended up in a mental institution, Norman sent a Scrier to one of Parker's college professors, Dr. Miles Warren (aka, the Jackal). The Scrier promised Warren with recreating his beloved student, Gwen Stacy, while funding his cloning research. With Miles Warren as a resource, Norman had the means to inflict the ulitmate revenge on Spider-Man: the loss of his very identity via the Clone Saga. One of Warren's assistants, Seward Trainer, was caught stealing files by the Scrier. The Scrier promised to keep Trainer's secret in exchange for a future favor.

Norman saw that the Jackal's plans for revenge were interfering with his own plans. After the explosive conclusion during the battle between Spider-Man and his clone at Shea Stadium, the Jackal retrieved his clone and put who he thought was the real Peter Parker into a state resembling death. Actually, Norman's Scrier called in his favor from Trainer, having Trainer tinker with the Jackal's equipment such that the Jackal had the identities reversed. Norman allowed the real Peter Parker to walk away from the battle, and dump his clone (in the near-death state) into a smokestack in Brooklyn. The Jackal retrieved the clone's body, and replaced it with the corpse of a earlier failed Parker clone. The clone wandered the country calling himself Ben Reilly.

Later, hearing of the return of his old partner, Mendel Stromm, Norman sent his Scriers to investigate. Althought this "Stromm" was just a robot, the Scriers checked the corpse of the real Stromm and discovered he was decayed, withered, yet still alive. Stromm had used the original Goblin formula upon himself before his "death". Norman revived Stromm, and outfitted him in a life-support suit where he became known as Gaunt. Through Gaunt, Norman gained technology that allowed his Scrier to appear as a single mystical being. Stromm was also used by Norman as a right hand man, a message carrier and recruiter of other super criminals (such as Jason Macendale and Arcade).

Norman became infuriated over news of Roderick Kingsley's aquision of his equipment and journal notes, which Kingsley used to become the Hobgoblin. Before he was able to kill Hobgoblin for this indignity, a more important issue came to Norman's attention. Norman remained in the shadows, sending a Scrier and a team (the Host) to befriend criminal psychologist and deranged mutant, Dr. Judas Traveller, whom he also used as a pawn against Spider-Man.

Upon the death of his son from the toxic effects of an updated Goblin formula, Norman accelerated his revenge against Parker. When Ben Reilly returned to New York and the Jackal resurfaced, Norman returned to New York as well. Norman had Gaunt coerce Trainer to tamper with the Jackal's equipment again, so that Ben Reilly will think he was the original Peter Parker.

After the Jackal's second apparent death, and the true Parkers (with Mary Jane pregnant) moving to Portland, Oregon, Ben Reilly became the new Spider-Man. Norman was not pleased with the happy ending. He had wanted his plot to destroy Peter's sense of humanity by making him think that he was a clone, not having him think of the clone as a brother. In Revelations, Norman returned as the Green Goblin on Halloween night, revealing himself as the mastermind behind the clone saga. Ben Reilly was killed by the Goblin, and disintegrated revealing that he was truly the clone. Mary Jane was poisoned into a premature labor by Osborn employee Alison Mongrain on the same day. It appears Norman somewhere still has custody of the child.

After Norman disappeared in a plume of smoke (Peter had thrown the Goblin's pumpkin bombs right back at him after he killed Ben) he resurfaced and took control of the Daily Bugle, which he used to exhonorate his name for all crimes commited by the Green Goblin. He used Mad Jack to force J. Jonah Jameson (his former friend and Club member) into giving him ownership of the Bugle by threatening JJJ's family. He enjoyed taunting Peter while he was at work and used the public setting to have a fake Green Goblin kidnap his own grandson, Norman Osborn Jr.

After Spider-Man rescued Normie Osborn, Norman finally got his wish to meet face to face with Roderick Kingsley, the original Hobgoblin. Kingsley had been sent to prison for his crimes as Hobgoblin, but leaked to the press that he had a journal written by the Green Goblin, which gave the Goblin's identity. Norman had the fake Green Goblin free Roderick from jail to find out the location of the journal. Both men tried to out think and double cross the other, but after capturing Spider-Man, Hobgoblin learned that Osborn had managed to steal Kingsley's company right out from under his nose in a hostile take over. A battle followed, with neither Goblin having an advantage. Spidey came to but all three Goblins escaped.

Later, Norman revealed that he had Aunt May held captive, admitting that he had sent a genetically transformed actress to take her place (and die in spiderman_amazing.400). Norman organized and participated in an ancient ritual called "the Gathering of the Five" where he hoped to obtain ultimate power - but instead received insanity.

In the story "The Final Chapter", starting in Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #441, Norman was defeated as the Green Goblin by Spider-Man once again after taking part in an ancient ritual that promised the possiblity of increased power. He took part in the Gathering of Five with Madame Web, Override and Martha Franklin, all of whom gained different "gifts" from the ritual. (Madame Web recieved eternal life, Override recieved "death" and Mattie recieved the gift of power.) Believeing to have recieved the power, Norman went after Spider-Man with a vengeance. Peter later admitted that Norman seemed stronger than usual, but it was probably just the adrenaline rush from actually reciveing the "gift" of madness.

Norman was taken off to jail, but rescued by the Scriers. His sanity maintained by medicated dermal patches, Norman has since organized the Scriers into the Order of the Goblin, fell in love with his nurse, Kolina Frederickson, and attempted to brainwash Peter Parker into becoming his rightful heir to the Goblin legacy.

In a move that showed things to come, Norman's next plot was meant to force Parker into killing him. He slowly chipped away at Peter's sense of safety, showing him pictures of his loved ones in their homes, meant to show him that they were being watched at all times. He forced his own former Daily Bugle assistant, Flash Thompson, to have a drunk driving accident. This accident didnt kill Flash, but it left him in a coma. When Peter finally confronted Osborn, Norman made it clear that one of them was not going to leave alive.

The Goblin's men were watching the fight, and they would kill Peter's family if he didnt kill Norman. If Norman ended up dead, Peter's family lived. Peter still refusd to kill Norman, until he threatened his own grandson, Normie. Peter final swore Norman would die, until he remembered a dream that he had about Gwen. She wouldnt want him to kill Norman. He hadnt been a killer when Norman murdered her, and she wouldnt want him to finally become tainted by murder. If Norman's men were going to kill his family, there was nothing he could do about it. Peter walked away, defeating the Goblin by not playing his game.

After many years of evading justice, Norman was finally went to jail. In the first story arc of The Pulse, people have been disappearing at Oscorp. New hire to the Daily Bugle, Terri Kidder, thinks she finally has her first break when she sneaks her way into an interview with Norman Osborn where she asks him about the disapperances. Norman kills her with his bare hands, and dumps the body into a reservoir in Central Park. The Bugle sends a dragnet of reporters to find out what happened to one of their own. Thanks to Ben Urich, after receiving confirmation of Osborn's alter-ego from Spider-Man, the police gain enough evidence for an arrest.

At Oscorp, the Green Goblin explodes out of Norman's office, killing several police officers. Spidey and Jessica Jones persue, but the Goblin escpaed. When Osborn is next seen with his lawyer denying his involvement. His lawyer begs Norman to tell him the truth, but Norman is too far gone and rants to himself. They are about to leave the court house parking lot but Luke Cage stops his car from driving off. Norman donned his Goblin mask, and tried to escape the car, but was met with a crushing fist from Cage. Later, unseen in the comics, Norman escaped arrest again, holds a church full of people hostage, only to be captured by Spider-Man and sent to prison.

While imprisoned, two of his children, Gabriel Stacy and Sarah Stacy, attempted to kill Peter Parker. They believed him to be their wicked father who killed their mother and abandoned them to Europe. They had been raised by their true father, who fed them lies as they rapdily aged, thanks to the Goblin Formula's alteration of their DNA. He had promised them that they would inherit his vast fortune and the truth to thier past after he had died or been sent to prison. (See the above description of Norman trying to goad Parker into killing him.)

In a flashback it was revealed that Norman had an affair with Gwen Stacy, who was drawn to him out of sympathy and attraction to his internal power. Gwen gave birth in Paris, France after only 7 months of gestation. (Norman apparantly set up his base of operations in Paris, as thats where he raised Gabriel and Sarah. Paris was also the residence of Alison Mongrain after she kidnapped baby May Parker.) Both Gwen and Mary Jane kept this a secret from Peter. When Gwen sparred with Norman over who would raise the children, Norman chose to kill her on the Brooklyn Bridge on that infamous day, and raise the children as his heirs.

Gabriel and Sarah disappeared from New York, but Norman was busy setting his plan for freedom from prison into motion. May Parker had been kidnapped from her home by an unknown assailant. It was revealed that May had been taken by the Scorpion, who had been hired by Norman to attack the old woman if Osborn should ever be sent to prison. Escaping from prison was a matter of life and death for Norman, whom was considered a dangerous loop hole by his fellow arms dealers. After the Second World War, the arms manufacurers became fat and wealth(ier). OsCorp was one of those manufacuturers. The Age of the Superhero began shortly after the war, and the CEO's of these companies became nervous that these do-gooders would find out about how they had been become so rich through illegal means. They hired many of the new super-criminals to keep the heroes busy and off of the trail of the real danger that the companies presented.

Dr Mendell Stromm had created the Goblin formula for the purpose of selling it to the US military as a means to creating super soldiers. As it turned out, Norman Osborn stole the forumla to become the Green Goblin, which made his fellow weapons builders very nervous. They were afraid that this loose cannon would tell everyone what they had been up to, and became even more nervous once Osborn had been captured and put in jail. To shut him up, Dr Octopus had been brainwashed and given orders to kill Osborn. Norman escaped prison with the help of Spider-Man (who was so desperate to find out what happened to his aunt that he was willing to break his worst enemy out fo prison) and kidnapped MJ, taking her to the Queensboro bridge. There, the Green Goblin, Spider-Man and Dr Octopus had a battle royale. Ock and the Goblin were struck by a bolt of lightening, causing them to fall into the river. An unconscious Ock was found by the police, but Norman had escaped.

Somehow, Norman ended up back in prison, where he became an unwilling participant of the Superhuman Registration Act. Tony Stark, aka the Invincible Iron Man, implanted a pain inducing microchip into Osborn's brain, forcing him to become the leader of the new rotation of the Thunderbolts. The Thunderbolts were a group of hardened super criminals that were forced by the American government to hunt down the unregistered super heroes. How long the Green Goblin will tolerate being forced into this position remains to be seen.

Thanks To:

The assistance of the Marvel Chronology Project is gratefully acknowledged.

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