10 Things You Didn’t Know About The Green Goblin

WhatCulture

How many Green Goblins are there again?

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00:00Despite the fact that he's Spider-Man's most iconic rival, Green Goblin is still shrouded in

00:05mystery. So let's unravel that mystery, as I'm Will for WhatCulture, and here are 10 things you

00:09didn't know about the Green Goblin. 10. He wasn't meant to be human.

00:14Spider-Man was horrified when he learned the Green Goblin was none other than Norman Osborn,

00:19the father of Peter's best friend, Harry. Up until this point, none of Spidey's supervillains had a

00:24personal connection with the wall crawler, so this was a monumental moment in comics.

00:29But the character's creators never intended the Green Goblin to be Norman Osborn.

00:33Originally, Stan Lee wanted the Goblin to be an ancient creature that was discovered in an

00:38Egyptian sarcophagus. Steve Ditko talked Lee out of this idea on the grounds that it was

00:43pretty stupid, and the character was all the better for it.

00:479. The reason why he killed Gwen Stacy. The Goblin's most infamous moment is when he tossed

00:52Gwen Stacy off a bridge, causing her to plummet to her death. This incident was so shocking,

00:57it overshadowed every other aspect of this story arc. As a result, many readers completely forget

01:02why Gobby killed her in the first place. At the time, Norman Osborn had been seemingly

01:06cured of his Goblin persona, and had no recollection of his tenure as a supervillain.

01:11But when Harry Osborn's drug addiction became public knowledge, Oscorp stock tanked, causing

01:16Osborn to revert to his demented alter ego. Blaming Peter Parker for failing to protect Harry,

01:21Norman murdered Gwen Stacy out of spite. However, this was completely retconned in the six-part

01:26series, Sins of the Father. In this storyline, it's revealed that Gwen and Norman slept together,

01:31causing her to fall pregnant with twins. Or so you'd think, because...

01:368. He never slept with Gwen Stacy. Because Gwen Stacy was a well-liked character,

01:41it kind of ruined her a bit when it was revealed she had bared Norman Osborn's children in the

01:45Sins of the Father storyline. Readers hated this retcon so much, they wished it could be written

01:49out of existence. And in the Sinister War story arc, that's exactly what happened.

01:53When Osborn learned he was on the verge of bankruptcy years ago, Mephisto agreed to save

01:58his company in exchange for Harry's soul. Norman agreed, which caused his son to be corrupted by

02:03demonic power. Mephisto also revealed Norman's deal had tainted his own soul, causing tragedy to

02:08follow him everywhere he goes. This means Mephisto is directly responsible for Norman's transformation

02:13into the Green Goblin. After Gwen died, Harry Osborn, now corrupted by Mephisto, devised clones from her

02:20DNA and spliced it with his father's to create their children. Harry then hired Mysterio to

02:25hypnotize Norman to convince him he slept with Gwen. Even though the Sinister War plot was supposed to

02:30retcon the Sins of the Father storyline, it ended up making everything more ridiculous. Since Gwen did

02:35not bear Norman's children, this means he killed her for absolutely no reason.

02:407. He has more powers than you realize. Because Norman Osborn has been a burden to the superhero

02:45community for years, you may wonder why no one's ever put him down for good. But it's not that

02:50simple. The formula that turns Norman into a masked psychopath endowed him with bulletproof skin and a

02:55healing factor. His strength has been enhanced so he can lift up to 9 tons. Although that's only half

03:00the strength of Spider-Man, Osborn can still hurl a tank, a small plane, or an African bush elephant with

03:06ease. This formula also amplified his intelligence, turning him into one of the smartest people on Earth.

03:11He proved his genius in 2009's Deadpool 12, when he discovered a cure for cancer. Unfortunately,

03:16he chose not to share this revelation with the world because he's Norman Osborn.

03:206. He became an actual goblin. During the millennium, Marvel created a rebooted comic

03:26line called Ultimate Marvel. Because some iconic characters were considered too old-fashioned or

03:30silly for a modern audience, many heroes and villains were revived, including Green Goblin.

03:35Instead of being a costume supervillain who flies on a glider, this incarnation of Norman

03:39Osborn transformed into an actual goblin when he injected himself with an experimental formula.

03:44In this form, the Green Goblin has super strength, can leap 100 feet in the air and shoot fireballs

03:49from his hands. At first, he could only transform into the goblin when he consumed the formula. But

03:54over time, his body began producing the chemical on a molecular level, allowing him to change into his

03:59worst half at will. The scariest thing about this goblin is his healing factor. He's been impaled

04:04through the spine, shot in the face, burnt to a crisp, and lived to fight another day. His healing

04:08abilities are so outstanding, he can recover from death. As scary as the traditional Green Goblin

04:13is, the Ultimate version's apparent immortality makes him a far more dangerous foe.

04:185. Gwen Stacy isn't the only person he killed. Gwen Stacy may have been the first life goblin took,

04:24but she was far from the last. When he initially faked his death, Norman Osborn strangled a drifter and

04:29placed it in the casket he was meant to be buried in. He then joined an Illuminati-like cult called the

04:33Brotherhood of the Scryers, and used its resources to shape events across the world. He then killed

04:38all the high-ranking Scryers and named himself its sole leader. Although Spidey defeated him,

04:43Norman had an agent poison a heavily pregnant Mary Jane Watson, causing her to suffer a miscarriage.

04:48As horrific as those murders are, it's only a small sample of the evil Norman has committed.

04:53Over the years, he's slaughtered employees, police officers, Atlanteans, Asgardians, Skrulls,

04:58S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, Ben Reilly, Swordsman, Dr. Octopus's old girlfriend, and Flash Thompson.

05:044. He saved the world. During the secret invasion events, the Skrulls used their shape-shifting

05:09abilities to infiltrate Earth. When the Avengers realized this, they battled the Skrull Queen,

05:14knowing the Skrulls would surrender if she was killed. By a complete fluke, Norman Osborn managed

05:19to get the kill shot, ending the Skrull invasion and saving humanity. Blaming S.H.I.E.L.D. for allowing

05:24the infiltration to happen, the President scrapped the counter-terrorist agency and hired Norman to

05:29lead his own protective unit, Hammer. Being a master manipulator, it was easy for Norman to turn

05:33the world against most heroes, declaring them to be just as culpable as S.H.I.E.L.D. for not

05:38recognizing the Skrull threat sooner. He then formed his own Avengers with himself as the leader,

05:43the Iron Patriot. While this was going on, Norman led a cabal called the Cabal, where he allowed

05:48supervillains like Dr. Doom and Loki to do as they pleased if they supported him.

05:533. Norman Osborn wasn't the only Green Goblin

05:56In the aftermath of Gwen Stacy's death, Norman Osborn accidentally impaled himself with his

06:01own glider, seemingly ending his life. Although Norman was later revealed to be alive, he didn't

06:05return for 23 years. But because of Goblin's popularity, the Marvel team cooked up other

06:10characters to take the guise of Spider-Man's arch-nemesis. Unsurprisingly, the second Goblin

06:15was Harry. After being exposed to the Goblin formula, Harry Osborn adopted his father's mantle

06:19and became Spider-Man's enemy. But after speaking to his counsellor, Bart Hamilton,

06:24Harry was seemingly cured of his psychosis. However, Bart used Harry's knowledge to locate

06:29Norman's weaponry and tech, turning himself into the third Goblin. While Daily Bugle reporter

06:34Ben Urick was covering a story in Oscorp with his son, Phil, the facility was besieged by terrorists.

06:40In the conflict, Phil got doused with Goblin formula, turning him into Goblin 4. However, Phil tried to use

06:45the Goblin tech to protect humanity, earning him the moniker of Good Goblin. However, despite his

06:50many imitators, there's no question Norman will always be the one true Green Goblin.

06:552. His wife faked her death. As Callas' Norman Osborn comes across, he truly loved his wife,

07:01Emily. Although they had a blissful marriage at first, Emily caught glimpses of Norman's dark side,

07:06which encouraged her to leave him. After she gave birth to Harry, she faked her death and lived

07:11abroad for decades. However, Emily came out of hiding when she learned Norman was preparing to

07:16kidnap Harry's own children, Normie and Stanley. Stanley was actually the son of Harry's clone,

07:20but that's neither here nor there. Disguising herself as a nanny called Emma, Emily kidnapped

07:25her grandchildren to ensure Norman couldn't find them. Norman managed to track his grandsons down

07:30and manipulated Normie into thinking Spider-Man was the enemy. Believing Norman was a hero,

07:34Normie allowed his grandfather to bond them both to the Carnage symbiotes, transforming them into the

07:39Red Goblin and the Goblin Child. Normie eventually realized his grandfather was manipulating him

07:44and thus abandoned his cause. After Norman was defeated, Harry confronted Emily and told her

07:50she was justified to abandon him in order to get away from his tyrannical father.

07:541. He wielded the Infinity Gauntlet. What if Infinity Dark Reign explored an alternate reality

08:01where the Green Goblin came into possession of the Infinity Gauntlet? Using the Glove's godly power,

08:06he killed the Avengers, destroyed Asgard, reduced Thanos to bones, and reformed the world in his

08:11image. Norman also trapped Spider-Man in an eternal time loop, so his mortal enemy would relive the

08:17moment he failed to save Gwen Stacy over and over. After he accomplished all his desires, Norman used

08:23the Infinity Stones to transport his abusive father, Amberson, before him. Because Amberson believed his son

08:28would never amount to anything, Norman used this opportunity to brag how he achieved more than his

08:33father could ever imagine. Unsurprisingly, Amberson was horrified at what his child had become,

08:38telling Norman he was a monster. With a snap of his fingers, Norman transformed Amberson into a doting

08:43parent. Sadly though, it wasn't enough. Acknowledging there was nothing he could do to make his father

08:48genuinely be proud of him, Norman erased Amberson from the time-space continuum. However, since Amberson

08:54never existed, neither did Norman, causing him to vanish out of existence. And there you have it folks,

08:5910 things you didn't know about the Green Goblin. Feel free to drop this video a like if you enjoyed

09:03it, and drop me a follow on Twitter at UslyDogU. I'm Will Fork Culture, thanks for hanging out,

09:08and I'll see you next time.

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