Green Goblin: A Lighter Shade of Green

It all started with Norman Osborn.

Who was, ya know, the first Green Goblin, so it kinda had to.

Gobbie was original just a villain for Spider-Man, but he would rocket his way up in importance amongst the Spider’s rogue’s gallery when he learned Spidey’s true identity as Peter Parker.

This further led to him killing Gwen Stacy as a means of hurting his biggest foe, and in the battle following that, Norman himself would perish at the end of his own Goblin Glider.

But it wouldn’t be long at all before Norman’s son Harry, Pete’s best friend, would take up the mantle of the Goblin and follow in his father’s footsteps in an attempt to be Spider-Man’s deadliest foe.

After defeating Harry, a doctor named Bart Hamilton would claim he was attempting to cure Harry, but instead took advantage of the young man’s knowledge to become the third Green Goblin.

He would perish in his first outing as the Green Goblin, and for a time the world was goblin-less.

Well, except for the various Hobgoblins that would come along, but they’re just dumb knock-offs anyway, so never mind that.

Eventually Harry’s fragile brain would break once more and he’d return to being the Goblin, dousing himself in a modified version of the Goblin formula that would give him great strength, but also end up causing him to die in Spectacular Spider-Man #200

Once again, it seemed like the nightmare of the Green Goblin was over, but oh no. Marvel could see the demand for the character was too high, and what better time to introduce a new goblin then smack dab in the middle… of the start… of the Clone Saga.

Yes, with Peter Parker’s clone having mysteriously resurfaced, giving us two Spider-Mans running around, it only seemed fitting to reveal a brand new Green Goblin to the world, and so he would debut in Web of Spider-Man #125, then get a more central role in Spectacular Spider-Man #225, twenty-five issues after Harry Osborn’s tragic death, and then from there be given his own series. The collected edition for this series also contains those first two appearances in those Spider-Man comics, giving us the full picture of GG#4. Learn all about it in the video above.