History Characters / MarvelComicsNormanOsborn

* TheAtoner: Currently the primary focus now that his sins haven been expunged.

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Went 12 rounds of psychic combat with [[ComicBook/XMan Nate Grey]] at the [[PhysicalGod height]] [[PersonOfMassDestruction of]] [[PsychicPowers his]] [[RealityWarper powers]] and won. Admittedly, this was only because Nate was possessing him, had deal with Norman FightingFromTheInside, the Dark X-Men hunting him down with Norman's mind and the Green Goblin persona. Then it turned out that this was actually part of Nate's plan. In fact, he nearly won - he'd played Norman like a violin, the Dark X-Men and Avengers too, right up until the point where the Goblin didn't cause chaos as expected and take over Norman, thereby revealing Norman's true self to the world and discrediting him. Instead, the Goblin turned the tables on Nate by using the energy absorption powers of Omega and Mimic to drain him of his power and render him vulnerable, before retreating back into Norman's subconscious. After that, he used Nate, one of the most powerful non-cosmic beings in the Marvel Universe, as a living battery. Though, considering the way Norman's sanity dramatically degenerated from there, culminating in his talking to his mask (which allowed Loki to manipulate him by pretending to be the Goblin's voice), and [[VillainousBreakdown succumbing to frothing insanity]] on live television at the conclusion of ''{{ComicBook/Siege}}'', it seems that Nate had the last laugh on that one.
* DirtyOldMan: A particularly dark version, Norman is nothing if not a misogynistic predator for young women despite being old enough to have a fully adult son. Two of his various infamous conquests include Gwen Stacy and his son's wife/his own daughter-in-law.

* ArmorIsUseless: Norman is occasionally depicted as wearing chainmail under his purple tunic or layering the green parts of his costume with scales... not that it really provides much protection against a person who literally hits like a truck.

Following his defeat, Osborn escapes from the hospital and resumes the identity of the Green Goblin, vowing to defeat [[ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan the new Spider-Man]]. To this end he dubs himself the "Goblin King" and takes over New York's criminal underworld, enlisting the help of Menace, Monster (Carlie Cooper after being splashed with the Gobin Formula), and Hobgoblin VII (renamed the Goblin Knight). Ultimately defeated by the good old Spider-Man, he still manages to escape. However, his escape wasn't clean as he had lost his powers thanks to a special nanotech vaccine created by the Superior Spider-Man. His search to restore his powers ultimately lead him to the Carnage symbiote, where Norman easily got the symbiote to realize the joy of slowly murdering people and convinced it to join with him. Its first order of business was purging the vaccine from his being, with Norman plotting to fuse the symbiote with the Goblin Formula. He ultimately did so, and became the '''Red Goblin''' - launching a new campaign to torment Peter in ''ComicBook/GoDownSwinging'', at the end of which Spider-Man managed to destroy the Carnage symbiote and induced severe mental backlash that scrambled Goblin's mind -- now believing himself to be Cletus Kasady, and Spidey to be Norman. Acknowledging that the Red Goblin's reign of terror is over, Spider-Man had simply left the now brain-dead Norman Osborn to his own leisure... this of course didn't last given that he later joined the Power Elite. Eventually in ''ComicBook/AbsoluteCarnage'', the still lobotomized Norman was recruited by a resurrected Cletus Kasady in his crusade to awaken the symbiote GodOfEvil Knull, granting Norman a copy of the Carnage symbiote to carry out his goals. Suffering defeat again, it would be revealed in ''Ruins of Ravencroft'' that Norman somehow returned to his original persona...

* CardCarryingVillain: The Goblin persona is, in all versions, proudly and unrepentantly evil.

** In his first appearance, he tried to kill Spidey in order to get respect in the New York underworld which he planned to take over. In his second appearance, he simply wanted to kill Spidey to get even, resulting in a 40 plus year rivalry where all of his plans revolved around messing with Peter Parker in some fashion. He really didn't do much villainy outside of that. If he put as much effort in taking over the world as he did in ''ComicBook/TheCloneSaga'', he would've been a Doctor Doom-level threat. Averted during ''ComicBook/DarkReign'' in which he (kinda) moved on from simple "I wanna screw with Peter Parker" plans and joined the big leagues. He also got up to a bucketload of evil stuff outside messing with Peter; most of it just happened to be OffstageVillainy. In-between his KilledOffForReal and NotQuiteDead phases (and for a time after that), he spent time in Europe taking over the Scrier organization and becoming a major crime lord, so he was involved in a lot of illegal and no doubt murderous activities (though admittedly he still used these resources to screw with Spidey). Shortly after ''A Death in the Family'' (when Peter says he's tired of their games) he was finally arrested- the reason being he'd switched to getting his jollies by murdering his employees and nosy journalists ForTheEvulz. And in ''Marvel Knights'' there is the infamous story he tells of the prison guard who came to him [[WhatAnIdiot for medical advice about his sick wife]]... Her agonizing death was ForTheEvulz as well.

* EvilCannotComprehendGood: One of the biggest gripes Norman has against Peter is his inability to understand how he [[HeroicWillpower can continue to fight for good, avoid caving into evil, and move on from tragedy no matter how much pain Norman brings to his life.]] Peter's optimism and determination to do good drives Norman crazy with rage and fuels his desire to futilely try and break him.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: How he was killed the first time: in trying to skewer Spider-Man on his Goblin Glider he impaled himself.

* ItsAllAboutMe: He really doesn't care about anyone else and thinks they should just be glad to be in his presence. As explained in [[ComicBook/DarkReign Dark]] ComicBook/XMen #4:

* NeverMyFault: Apparently being a billionaire and genius makes you immune to responsibility or blame. It's really driven home at the end of ComicBook/DarkReign, where he rants that only he was willing to protect people from rogue superhumans...right after he'd assembled and led a team of "Avengers" that included insane serial killers, sociopaths, and cannibalistic monsters; pushed the Sentry back into his OmnicidalManiac Void personality; picked a war with the gods of Asgard without Presidential approval; and spent months giving a free pass to and taking advice from the likes of Doctor Doom and Loki.

* OffingTheOffspring: Has attempted it on Harry during ComicBook/DarkReign, in the name of ''public ratings''.

--->'''Osborn:''' I want you all to listen very carefully. I'm not going to kill you. I'm not even going to arrest you. Because you work for me now. Not the Thunderbolts. ''Me''. But know this: if you ever - ''ever'' - interfere with me again... [[KillEmAll I will murder your families, your friends, your loved ones]]. [[EvilerThanThou I'll kill them them in ways that will make even sociopaths like you weep]]. [[AxCrazy Then I will torture you to death. Slowly. And I will enjoy every last second of it]]. Now get out of here. Go back to the bars and brothels you people frequent, and take this message. ''You do not cross Norman Osborn''.

* {{Jerkass}}: As if 90% of the tropes aren’t enough to tell you. Norman is selfish, greedy, callous, and incredibly conceited.
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: ''Sins Rising'' suggests that Norman has some degree of respect for Peter, saving him from a wall pinning him to the ground and thinking of it as repaying a debt for Peter saving Norman after giving him amnesia the first time. However, he dashes all assumptions of respect for his arch-nemesis almost immediately, attempting to drown Peter, reminding him of his affair with Gwen, and threatening to kill Ghost-Spider to piss him off.

* {{Pride}}: His main flaw (besides mental illness, that is).

* SmugSnake: Arrogant, misogynistic, and condescending, Norman is a very competent schemer, but is frequently unable to roll with the unexpected and is also frequently sabotaged by his own mental instability and/or {{pride}}.

!!Green Goblin I / Iron Patriot I / Goblin King I / Red Goblin /Gold Goblin

!!Green Goblin I / Iron Patriot I / Goblin King I / Red Goblin

** He had one and was a thoroughly horrible one to Harry.

** Norman participated in a ritual called the Gathering of Five hoping to be bestowed with the gift of Power, which went to [[ComicBook/SpiderWoman Mattie Franklin]]. Instead, Norman received the curse of Madness, which kicked his Goblin Formula-induced insanity UpToEleven.

* CoolHat: An utterly ridiculous-looking floppy purple one that is nevertheless an iconic part of the outfit.

* HeroKiller: He's murdered quite a few heroes. Of note are [[spoiler:Ben Reilly, the ComicBook/ScarletSpider, and Flash Thompson, Agent Anti-Venom]].

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: In the adaptations outside the comics, they often try to downplay the strangeness of his original cornrows for more down to earth looks. He can either look like a respected gentleman like Willem Dafoe and Chris Cooper portrayed him as in the live action movies or resemble a more sharp [[SilverFox businessman]] like in adaptations like ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan''.
* AdaptationalHeroism: Taken to the fullest in ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan'', where he does a HeelFaceTurn and turns into the heroic Iron Patriot in the last seasons of the show, determined above all to protect his son and leave the Goblin past behind.

** Osborn's time as Director of HAMMER has often been compared to Comicbook/LexLuthor's term as President of the United States over at DC. Luthor's time in the JLA during the New 52 has only made the comparisons stronger.

* BelievingTheirOwnLies: During Comicbook/DarkReign, Norman at times seems genuinely convinced that all the horrible things he's doing really will make the world a safer place....somehow.

** And of ''Comicbook/DarkReign''.

* DealWithTheDevil: [[spoiler:In ''[[ComicBook/NickSpencersSpiderMan Amazing Spider-Man]]'' #72/LGY #873, it is revealed that Mephisto made a deal with Norman to help him obtain power and money, thus destroying Mendal Stromm's reputation and leading to the creation of the Green Goblin.]]

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Went 12 rounds of psychic combat with [[Comicbook/XMan Nate Grey]] at the [[PhysicalGod height]] [[PersonOfMassDestruction of]] [[PsychicPowers his]] [[RealityWarper powers]] and won. Admittedly, this was only because Nate was possessing him, had deal with Norman FightingFromTheInside, the Dark X-Men hunting him down with Norman's mind and the Green Goblin persona. Then it turned out that this was actually part of Nate's plan. In fact, he nearly won - he'd played Norman like a violin, the Dark X-Men and Avengers too, right up until the point where the Goblin didn't cause chaos as expected and take over Norman, thereby revealing Norman's true self to the world and discrediting him. Instead, the Goblin turned the tables on Nate by using the energy absorption powers of Omega and Mimic to drain him of his power and render him vulnerable, before retreating back into Norman's subconscious. After that, he used Nate, one of the most powerful non-cosmic beings in the Marvel Universe, as a living battery. Though, considering the way Norman's sanity dramatically degenerated from there, culminating in his talking to his mask (which allowed Loki to manipulate him by pretending to be the Goblin's voice), and [[VillainousBreakdown succumbing to frothing insanity]] on live television at the conclusion of ''{{ComicBook/Siege}}'', it seems that Nate had the last laugh on that one.

* FatalFlaw: Norman's (lack of) sanity. What keeps him from being among the top tier villains of the Marvel Universe is his insanity. This gets [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded to hell and back]] during ''Comicbook/DarkReign''.

* HeelFaceBrainwashing: ComicBook/NickSpencersSpiderMan had the Sin-Eater remove Norman's sins and evil at the behest of the Kindred, turning Norman into a normal and repentant man, one who even [[spoiler:mourns Harry's death at the hands of the Kindred]]. While Norman has become a better person, it was not really of his own volition, and the only reason why the Kindred did this to Norman was as a form of torture, as they wanted him to suffer emotionally, which would be largely impossible if Norman was still TheSociopath. This is why they made it so that Norman would be the only one of the Sin-Eater's victims to remain changed and good after the Sin-Eater's defeat; all of the other villains went back to normal after their sins returned to them after briefly possessing and corrupting a bunch of Spider-Man's allies.

* IHaveNoSon: Pretty much disowned Harry after failing to kill him during "Dark Reign". As far as Harry is concerned, that was probably the nicest thing Norman has ever done for him. He even tried to impregnate other women including Harry's wife to serve as a replacement for Harry because he saw him as a critical disappoint, while boasting that Harry's wife was vigorously willing for the act. For the record, as of the post-''Comicbook/SecretWars2015'' time-skip, Harry legally changed his last name to Lyman, taking his mother's maiden name and cutting all ties to Norman.

* NeverMyFault: Apparently being a billionaire and genius makes you immune to responsibility or blame. It's really driven home at the end of Comicbook/DarkReign, where he rants that only he was willing to protect people from rogue superhumans...right after he'd assembled and led a team of "Avengers" that included insane serial killers, sociopaths, and cannibalistic monsters; pushed the Sentry back into his OmnicidalManiac Void personality; picked a war with the gods of Asgard without Presidential approval; and spent months giving a free pass to and taking advice from the likes of Doctor Doom and Loki.

* WellDoneSonGuy: One WhatIf issue that crossed ''Comicbook/DarkReign'' and ''{{Comicbook/Infinity}}'' had him conquering the world with the Infinity Gauntlet he rallied the villains into helping him assemble. He then decides to pull his father from the past into a living reenactment of the final battle so he could gloat about his success and earn his father's love for his accomplishments. It fails, his [[AbusiveParents father]] [[YouMonster calls hims a monster]], and Osborn shuts him up by forcing him to love him, which turns him into a sycophantic cheerleader. Infinity comes into play when Thanos arrives to advise him that he both can't handle the power of the gauntlet and that deep down he realizes his father's love is insincere since he forced it. After obliterating Thanos, Osborn confronts his father over ''why'' he loves him and when he's unsatisfied with the answer, [[RetGone obliterates him from history]]. What [[GrandfatherParadox happens next]] is predictably ironic.

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: He's prone to misogynist statements, hates aliens and mutants,and has disparagingly referred to Anna Maria Marconi as "the midget."

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: He's prone to misogynist statements, hates aliens and mutants, is an implied racist and has disparagingly referred to Anna Maria Marconi as "the midget." He also thinks that the ComicBook/RedSkull and [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler Hitler]] ("People just did as he told them. Must've been nice") were pretty cool guys.

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: He's prone to misogynist statements, hates aliens and mutants, is an implied homophobe and racist and has disparagingly referred to Anna Maria Marconi as "the midget." He also thinks that the ComicBook/RedSkull and [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler Hitler]] ("People just did as he told them. Must've been nice") were pretty cool guys.