The Motivations of Norman Osborn
Spider-Man is my favorite superhero. With great heroes comes great villains and few are as prolific as Norman Osborn, aka The Green Goblin (usually). I’ve never really been much of a comic book reader, but I have seen all the cartoons and movies. I’m really interested in the changes each version made to make Osborn the baddest of Spider-Man’s villains. Let’s take a look starting with…
Spider-Man: the Animated Series (1994)
In the ‘94 series, Norman Osborn is the head of Oscorp Industries. He enters the world of supervilliany by when he becomes in debt to Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin of Crime. Osborn hires a small-time thug and outfits him with weapons and equipment to become the Hobgoblin. Hobgoblin fails in his attempt to kill Fisk and Osborn remains under his control. Fisk begins pushing for more, wanting his inventions, weapons, and a super soldier serum he can mass produce. An accident causes Norman to be exposed to the toxic gas that gave him enhanced strength at the cost of his sanity.
In this series, the Green Goblin is treated as a separate identity. His goals seem to be to help and avenge all the wrongdoings in Norman Osborn’s life. Goblin would attack Fisk multiple times. His hate would eventually go to Spider-Man for foiling his plans one too many times, as well as trying to get revenge on Peter Parker for “stealing” Mary Jane away from Harry.
Because the Goblin is treated as a separate identity, Norman himself actually has very little motivation for his crimes. It’s the Goblin is in control, directing Osborn. In one episode Goblin says that he’s, “Trying to make a man out of you (Osborn).” Everything else is chalked up to madness due to the gas and the pressure put on him by the Kingpin.
Let’s continue on to the next Norman from…
The movie! There are a lot of elements that carry from the ‘94 series. Osborn (played by William Dafoe) is still the head of Oscorp but has nothing to do with the Kingpin. He’s now trying to mass produce a super soldier serum for the military. However, the new general in charge wants to dump their contract with Oscorp for Quest Aerospace when they aren’t getting the results they wanted. Osborn submits himself to a human trial with the gas in order to prove the that it works. The gas enhances his strength and stamina at the cost of his sanity yet again.
Once more, the Goblin is treated as a separate identity, committing crimes on Norman’s behalf. While the Goblin still torments Norman, main difference is that now the two identities are working more closely together as opposed to the ‘94 series when the Goblin was mostly in control. Norman takes advantage of the Goblin to destroy his competition and kill the board of directors who wanted to out him from Oscorp. The Goblin recognizes Spider-Man as his only real threat and sets out to kill Spider-Man when he refuses to join forces with him. Norman tries to take advantage of the dual identities when Spider-Man defeats him in the movie’s climax. He tells Peter that it was the Goblin who was trying to control him. When this doesn’t work, Norman tries to kill Spider-Man, only for the glider to impale him instead.
Since Norman and the Goblin were working together, his motivations could be akin to something like greed and pride. The Goblin would seek revenge on those who had wronged him. Similar to the ‘94 series but different enough that Norman could also be considered a villain himself.
The Spectacular Spider-Man (2008)
This is where things start to deviate from the established norm (pun?). Norman Osborn is still the head of Oscorp. The series starts with Osborn being attacked by the Vulture and rescued by Spider-Man. The Big Man of Crime sees an opportunity to distract Spider-Man and hires Norman to create more supervillains for Spider-Man to battle. Osborn sees this as opportunity to increase his wealth and power and tries to create super mercenaries he can mass produce. After Spider-Man defeats Sandman, Rhino, and Doctor Octopus, Osborn tries to back out of his deal with The Big Man only to be threatened by Hammerhead.
That’s when the Goblin appears. The Green Goblin’s main goal is to overthrow The Big Man (Tombstone) and take over his criminal empire. He asks Spider-Man to join him and tries to kill him when he refuses like in the movie. Goblin’s goal to become the new Big Man of Crime (because they can’t use the word Kingpin) continues throughout the series. Discovering his true identity in the season two finale leads to biggest deviation from the ‘94 series and the movie: Norman and Goblin are NOT separate personalities. Norman Osborn is the Green Goblin. He is committing these crimes for himself. The Green Goblin persona is something Norman based off from a creature that used to frighten him as a child.
After the series cancellation, showrunner Greg Weisman explained Osborn’s true motivation. It actually didn’t come from greed. Norman Osborn’s true motivation was fear. Norman does not like to be afraid. He has not been afraid of anything for a very long time until he was attacked by the Vulture. Osborn was powerless in the situation and needed Spider-Man to save him. It’s made worse when he is threatened by Hammerhead and again is powerless. Becoming the Goblin would give him the strength to defend himself against other super-powered beings but becoming the new Big Man would give him power and control over the criminal underworld.
Following Disney’s purchase of Marvel, Spectacular Spider-Man had to be cancelled to make room for
Ultimate Spider-Man (2012)
In this series, Norman is a corrupt industrialist whose goal is to use Spider-Man’s DNA to create an army of spider-soldiers he can mass produce. He uses Doctor Octopus and other supervillains to try to subdue Spider-Man. After luring Spider-Man to Oscorp, Norman reveals that he is actually envious of Spider-Man’s powers. Osborn is frustrated with the lack of human evolution and resents his own powerlessness in a world occupied by mutants, superheroes, and the occasional Asgardian. He is betrayed by Octavius and injected with a new serum containing Spider-Man’s blood, transforming him into the Goblin. This version of the Goblin is a separate identity and is a physical transformation Osborn has to make, not just a suit. The Goblin’s goal is now to change the world in his image with himself as the Goblin King.
There isn’t much more context I can provide. He just spells everything out in the season one finale.
Ultimate Spider-Man was well-received by younger audiences but mostly disliked by older viewers. The series wasn’t cancelled per se, but it had finished its run. With the popularity of Spider-Man: Homecoming, Disney wanted another Spider-Man cartoon. This time it was just called…
Marvel’s Spider-Man (2017)
This series made many changes to the Spider-Man mythos despite going, “back to basics,” whatever the fuck that means. Norman Osborn is still the head of Oscorp, but focuses on opening the Osborn Academy for Geniuses for Harry. It is revealed that Norman set up Harry’s suspension from Horizon High to push him to accept Norman’s offer at Osborn Academy. Throughout season one, Norman tries to push Osborn Academy and recruits more people to help him take down the Jackal and Spider-Man who are the only threats to his endgame plan. Norman’s amass of resources help him very little during the events of Spider Island. Osborn Academy is destroyed, and Norman focuses on Harry’s development. Norman finishes Harry’s experiments, and Harry becomes a heroic Hobgoblin. Hobgoblin starts attacking Spider-Man during the season one finale which leads to a confrontation at Oscorp. Harry had been the heroic Hobgoblin while Norman was the Hobgoblin attacking Spider-Man.
Here, Norman reveals his true goal. With the rise of superheroes like The Avengers, The X-Men, and The Fantastic Four, Norman wanted to raise the Osborn name by turning Harry into a superhero for the new generation. Osborn Academy was originally design to mold Harry into the next big hero, but that position taken with the appearance of Spider-Man. Taking down the Jackal and his spider-soldier army was supposed to be Harry’s first major accomplishment into the superhero world, but when Spider-Man got the credit, Norman decided to take Spider-Man out himself.
In this series, Norman’s importance on the Osborn name could be linked to pride. While he is concerned with the threat the Jackal poses, his endgame was to make Harry into a superhero to replace Spider-Man.
‘94 series Norman Osborn’s motivation is a result of madness
movie!Norman Osborn’s motivation is mostly revenge
Spectacular!Norman Osborn’s motivation is fear
Ultimate!Norman Osborn’s motivation comes from envy
MSM!Norman Osborn’s motivation stems from pride.
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