History Comicbook / NormanOsborn

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[[caption-width-right:250: [[ObviouslyEvil Not the good guy.]]]]
[[quoteright:250:[[ComicBook/DarkReign https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/norman_osborn_earth_616_iron_patriot_5449.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:250:[[AntiHeroSubstitute Not even in this identity, either.]]]]

-> ''"But you, [[Franchise/SpiderMan Parker]]... How does it feel to once again, let a friend down? You seem to have quite a history of failing your friends and loved ones. Dear, sweet Gwendolyn, your deceased girlfriend who died so young. Your beloved aunt May, who asked for so little of you and received exactly that until she was taken from you. My son, Harry. You claimed to be his friend, his confidant, and when he needed you most, you failed him as you do everyone else who gets close to you."''
-->-- '''''Peter Parker: Spider-Man #95'''''

Norman Osborn, also known as The Green Goblin, is a character appearing in [[Creator/MarvelComics Marvel comic books]]. The ArchEnemy of popular Marvel superhero Franchise/SpiderMan, Norman is most closely associated with Spidey, though between 2004-2015, he became more active in the Marvel Universe as a whole before returning to Spider-Man titles again from ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan'' onwards. He became increasingly prominent in ''ComicBook/CivilWar'', an importance which led to his biggest role to date: the BigBad of the Marvel CrisisCrossover event ''ComicBook/DarkReign''.

The Green Goblin first appeared in ''Amazing Spider-Man'' vol. 1 #14 (July, 1964), created by Creator/StanLee and Creator/SteveDitko. The face of Norman Osborn first appeared in cameos in issues #23, and #25-26 (April, 1965, and June-July, 1965). The previously unnamed character received his name in issue #37 (June, 1966). In issue #40 (September, 1966), Norman and the Goblin were revealed to be the same person, concluding a mystery storyline[[note]]According to fan gossip and rumor, Ditko quit the title a couple of issues prior to that point, with comic book legend arguing that he disagreed with TheReveal of Osborn as Green Goblin. Later scholars, and Ditko himself have refuted this, by noting that Norman Osborn in the early issues was established as a disreputable, sleazy, and shady character, and as per the Marvel Method the plotting of these issues was entirely down to Ditko rather than Lee (as the latter himself admitted in interviews in the '60s), and Green Goblin was always intended to be Osborn[[/note]]. The Green Goblin and Norman Osborn are unusual characters in that they have two different eras. The classical era which lasted until Issue #122 (published in 1973), and the modern era which dates from the period at the end of ComicBook/TheCloneSaga (1996) to the present day. Norman Osborn and the Green Goblin [[SmallRoleBigImpact appeared in a few memorable storylines in the first era]] and the number of storylines he has appeared in the second era are far more numerous and extensive than the first one, a testament to his lasting popularity.

In the classical era, Norman Virgil Osborn was born to a respected and rich family of Osborns. His father Amberson was abusive, corrupt, and an incompetent businessman. Over time, Norman became just like him and worse, but in his early years Norman worked to regain the family's power and money, vowing never to become the failure his father was. He married, but a year after his son Harry was born his wife Emily died, leaving Norman a widower and single father. He started neglecting his son in favor of his main goal: getting more power and money. Eventually he gained control of Oscorp Industries by framing his business partner Mendel Stromm. In Stromm's papers were notes on [[SuperSerum a serum]] he had discovered, which Norman tried to replicate for his own use. [[PsychoSerum He failed]]. (Ironically, not entirely of his own fault, but Harry, angry that his father was neglecting him, switched some chemicals before the experiment... [[DependingOnTheWriter Or maybe he didn't?]]). The formula altered Norman's body. He became a super human: stronger, faster, more intelligent. Yet the serum also turned Osborn, who had never been entirely stable, into a total psychopath. Norman took on a double life: by day, [[VillainWithGoodPublicity a respected businessman]]; by night, a grotesque super-villain mastermind. In his new persona as The Green Goblin, Osborn terrorized New York City with a bat-shaped jet glider, pumpkin bombs, razor bats, and insane laughter, thwarted from taking over the New York underworld only by repeated interference from Spider-Man. Soon, Osborn's interest in becoming the crime-lord of New York diminished; he [[ItsPersonal had become obsessed with Spider-Man and his desire to get revenge upon him]]. Green Goblin was the first villain to discover Spidey's secret identity, knowledge he used to attack and capture Peter, but it ended in defeat for Norman, who subsequently [[LaserGuidedAmnesia lost his memories of being the Green Goblin]]. After some time he remembered everything and returned to battle Spider-Man, only to be defeated and [[EasyAmnesia lose his memories once again]]. Yet their last clash was marked by tragedy, for it took place in Amazing Spider-Man #121-122 (June-July, 1973), an event which [[ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied changed comic books history forever]]. At the end of that story, the Green Goblin was killed by his own glider which Spider-Man dodged at the last moment. Norman Osborn was dead, and he remained dead in comics history for more than 20 years real-time.

His [[LegacyCharacter evil legacy]] lived on with [[Characters/SpiderManGoblins several goblin-themed villains, including his own son Harry]]. At the conclusion of ''ComicBook/TheCloneSaga'', Norman was shown to be alive, having been orchestrating events from somewhere in Europe, and that it was he who had been behind the Clone Saga. It turned out that the Goblin Serum gave him a HealingFactor and that after being impaled by the glider, Norman woke up at the morgue and he quickly replaced his body with that of a vagrant he murdered and skedaddled to Europe, before returning at the conclusion of the Clone Saga. After that, Norman returned to his campaign of tormenting Peter Parker, through legal and illegal acts, until he was finally caught in ''ComicBook/ThePulse'' for the first time in his 40 year Publication History (the longest for any Marvel villain to evade in-page and on-panel justice). He was released by ComicBook/IronMan to help him in the ComicBook/CivilWar. [[ComicBook/DarkReign This proved to be a mistake]]. Where Lee-Romita showed that there was once some good in Norman, the new era showed Norman to be a malingering, gaslighting, scheming mastermind, obsessed with power and hampered only by a self-destructive streak. After ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay'', Norman even loses knowledge of Peter Parker's identity albeit he retains his hatred for Spider-Man and cottons on very quickly whenever a new Spider-Man takes over from the old. After his day in the spotlight as the Top Cop of Marvel Universe, Norman Osborn was put into prison yet again, only to break out mere months later to unite the Goblin Cult, HYDRA, A.I.M, Hand and HAMMER into his own new organization. He revived the ComicBook/DarkAvengers and defeated not one but two teams of Avengers (directly with the Avengers; indirectly with the New Avengers) before his pride cost him everything yet again. As hype for the ''Dark Reign'', Marvel hired an actual psychologist who analyzed old Stormin' Norman and found out just how twisted he is. Suffice it to say, it's A LOT.

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.

Osborn has two identities, which diverged into two distinct [[SplitPersonality personalities]] as a result of Osborn coming up short in the storyline ''Gathering of Five''. Though this is DependingOnTheWriter. In general, Norman is the [[AxeCrazy crazy mass murderer]] Green Goblin. The other is Norman Osborn, the CorruptCorporateExecutive and [[TheChessmaster sociopathic chess master]]. Sometimes these personalities merge together and cooperate, but other times they fight, and other times, they are one and the same.

His comics appearances are mainly in the pages of ''Amazing Spider-Man, Peter Parker Spider-Man, Civil War, Dark Reign, New Avengers'', and others. He starred in his own miniseries, ''Osborn: Evil Incarcerated'', showing his time in jail after ''Dark Reign''. Norman Osborn has appeared in other media, including the ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy'' (played by Creator/WillemDafoe) and ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan2'' (played by Creator/ChrisCooper), ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'', ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Ultimate Spider-Man}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/MarvelsSpiderMan''. He was also a playable character in ''VideoGame/MarvelUltimateAlliance'' 2 and a boss in ''VideoGame/MarvelAvengersAlliance'' and ''VideoGame/MarvelUltimateAlliance3TheBlackOrder''. When stage musical ''Theatre/SpiderManTurnOffTheDark'' played in New York he was played by Patrick Page.

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!! Norman Osborn provides examples of:

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Norman specifically and not the Green Goblin, is such an asshole and abusive sociopath that no one really likes him. The people who work for him usually betray him when working for him has become an inconvenience. The members of his Cabal during Dark Reign all betrayed him at different points. His surviving family have all learned to hate him. At this point, if there is someone allied with him, you can expect them to vehemently change their minds within that storyline.
* AbortedArc: Played with. After his sanity was restored, he vowed to attack Spider-Man and his allies in a way they'd never see coming, but was invited to the Kingpin's [[ComicBook/SecretWars2015 end of the world party]]... which was crashed by the Punisher. After the world was restored, Osborn was shown with a BandagedFace, selling Goblin gear as an ArmsDealer.
* AbusiveDad:
** He had one and was a thoroughly horrible one to Harry.
** The fifth Green Goblin was an ArtificialHuman created by Norman and Doctor Angst. While the entity saw Norman as its father, Norman merely regarded it as a servant and [[TheScapegoat Scapegoat]].
** While Sarah Stacy mentioned that Norman never treated her or her brother Gabriel with any undue harshness and was always personable whenever he visited them, he still raised them to believe that Spider-Man was their real father and that he was responsible for Gwen's death and that it was up to them to avenge her by killing Peter.
** During a period in which Flash Thompson had hit rock bottom, he latched onto Norman (who he was so desperate to believe in that he deluded himself into thinking that he was just "a misunderstood guy") as a ParentalSubstitute after Osborn decided to subtly screw with Spider-Man a bit by hiring Flash to be one of his [=PA=]s. Of course, this ended about as well you'd expect, with Norman eventually ForceFeeding his "boy" whiskey before putting him behind the wheel of truck set on a collision course with Midtown High.
* AchillesHeel: His insanity and tendency to completely undo everything that he's achieved with one psychosis-fueled whim are defining character traits. He's a fiendishly effective schemer who can and does manage to devise and effect grand yet successful plans in the midst of lucid intervals, but without fail, he will ''always'' give in to the call of the Green Goblin eventually and lay waste to all of his latest plan's achievements with some ridiculous batshit crazy act of caprice that leaves everyone wondering just how he ever thought it was an even remotely wise course of action.
* AcquiredSituationalNarcissism: Whether it's a world peacekeeping force, a multi-billion dollar company, a New York penitentiary, or a motley group of BoxedCrook supervillain conscripts, Norman will find a way to hype the importance of whatever he's in charge of well beyond its actual level before crashing it into the dirt.
* 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.
* AdaptationalNiceGuy:
** Not a full on case, but in some adaptations like the 90s cartoon and the Raimi movies, the Osborn part of his personality is a more sympathetic character and his callous side in fact a JekyllAndHyde alter ego formed by the Green Goblin that takes over. The truest adaptation of both Osborn and Goblin i.e. "a bad man made worse" is in ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan''.
** ''VideoGame/SpiderManPS4'' also gives Osborn this treatment, in that he truly loves his son and that [[spoiler:nearly every bad thing he ends up causing is the result of a reckless accident that was meant to create a cure for his condition as opposed to Osborn being corrupt and ruthless. He's also not the Green Goblin... Yet]].
* AintTooProudToBeg: The scene in "ComicBook/SinsRising" where Norman is cornered and about to have his soul cleansed by the Sin-Eater is a showcase of someone begging while trying desperately not to sound like they are begging; Norman (correctly) claims that the Sin-Eater is being used by Kindred, offers to help him fight Kindred and cleanse the world of sin because their goals align, declares that he is severely mentally ill and in need of psychiatric help, asserts that the worst thing that the Sin-Eater could do to him is leave him alone to continue being tormented by his inner darkness, etc. before finally relenting, albeit while making it seem like it is on his own terms by claiming that it does not matter if the Sin-Eater purifies him because he no longer "needs" the Green Goblin.
* AlliterativeName: Not his name, but his alias "'''G'''reen '''G'''oblin".
%%* AllYourPowersCombined[=/=]PowerParasite: As [[spoiler:a Super-Adaptoid]], although it comes with PowerIncontinence.
* AlternateCompanyEquivalent:
** 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.
** He's also one for Joker, complete with MadBomber, EvilLaugh shtick, his green and purple ensemble, his insanely sadistic sense of humor, and likewise his personal obsessive fixation on the hero which he cements by personally harming his loved ones. He's also Spider-Man's {{Foil}} and match in many ways. Co-creator Creator/SteveDitko apprenticed under Jerry Robinson, the artist who designed ComicBook/TheJoker's look and worked with Creator/BillFinger on his early stories, so the Goblin was probably inspired by and a homage to the Clown Prince of Crime.
* AmbitionIsEvil: The reason he became what he became. Or as Peter Parker puts it in his thought bubbles ''Amazing Spider-Man #40'' (often paraphrased accurately as "bad man turned worse"):
-->'''Peter Parker''': ''[thinks]'' He was just a greedy, ruthless businessman before his accident... But the chemical changed him... for the worse! Now what do I do? How do you reason with a madman?!!
* AntiHeroSubstitute: As Iron Patriot in ''ComicBook/DarkReign'', he attempted to be this to ''both'' ComicBook/IronMan and ComicBook/CaptainAmerica.
* ArchEnemy:
** The Green Goblin has become Spidey's greatest enemy thanks to the [[ComicBook/DoctorOctopus other]] [[ComicBook/{{Venom}} two]] [[NominalHero becoming]] [[PragmaticHero anti-heroes.]] Ironically, starting in TheNoughties, writers started to [[OutOfFocus pull back on him]] in the Spider-titles. Osborn went on to star in ''{{ComicBook/Thunderbolts}}'' and ''ComicBook/DarkReign'', effectively taking long breaks from Spider-Man's corner of the universe.
** In ''Superior Spider-Man'' he came '''roaring''' back as Spider-Man's nemesis. He slowly but surely [[spoiler:built a criminal empire under Otto's nose and then used it to to demolish everything Otto had created in the time he was Spider-Man. He would have actually taken out Peter's loved ones as well, if not for MJ.]]
** To put it in full detail, the Green Goblin was the first villain to discover Spider-Man's identity, killed his girlfriend, killed his clone brother, crippled Flash Thompson... Long list goes on. Norman caused the most cruel and personal harm to Peter for a long time made him ''The'' #1 Arch-Enemy for Spidey. It is only in recent years that writers have allowed Dock Ock to catch up to him with [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt some]] [[FreakyFridayFlip nasty]] [[HostileTakeover schemes]] of his own.
** Likewise, of all of Spider-Man's enemies, Osborn is the only one who matches web-head's distinct sense of humor, albeit the Goblin's is far more sadistic and nasty, and he is also physically the only one whose agility and strength matches Spider-Man and in the way Osborn fails to properly manage his personal life and his super-villain identity, he is in many ways a dark mirror for Peter himself.
** During ComicBook/DarkReign, Norman also becomes one for ComicBook/IronMan since, as the former “top cop” of the Marvel Universe, Norman can weaponize Stark’s unpopularity at the time to justify whatever HAMMER is doing while co-opting confiscated Starktech for himself. Conversely, Tony’s sabotage of the Superhero Registry on his way out (and thus depriving Norman of the hero identities he can exploit) earned Tony his wrath and the two engage in an epic cat and mouse game across the world that leaves Norman discredited in the eyes of the world and Tony essentially brain dead.
--->'''Norman:''' Do you know what I've always hated about you, Stark? It's not that you were the smartest guy in the room. It was that you ''liked it'' so damn much. So what do you have to say for yourself now, smart guy?
--->'''Iron Man:''' [[FacingTheBulletsOneLiner I win]].
* 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.
* ArmsDealer: Norman is back in ''All New, All Different'' as a behind-the-scenes arms dealer, marketing Goblin gear.
* AscendedFanboy: Apparently he was a big fan of comic books as a child.
* AtrociousAlias: Not the sanest or most sensible of men to begin with, at the start of his criminal career, Norman seriously considered calling himself "Mister Coffee" instead of going by the Green Goblin alias.
* AxCrazy: Only when he's the Goblin. He's far more lucid out of costume, but still evil.
* BackstabBackfire: After he killed Gwen Stacy, Spidey tracked him down and beat him nearly to death. Spidey was so angry that he wanted to kill Norman, but at the last minute stopped himself. Osborn was still able to remotely control his Goblin Glider, positioned it behind Spider-Man, and hit the gas, hoping to impale him. Spidey dodged the glider and it hit Osborn instead, killing him. [[{{Retcon}} At least, that's how the story originally went.]]
* BadassBoast:
** He has one in '' ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}''.
--->'''Osborn:''' This is my country.
** He gets an awesome one in the ''Thunderbolts: Reason in Madness'' one-shot
--->'''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''.
** And again, from ''Thunderbolts'' #120, shortly before [[CurbStompBattle beating the Swordsman almost to death]].
--->'''Huntsman:''' [[VillainousBreakdown You can't do this to me! I'm a baron!]]\\
'''Green Goblin:''' [[AGodAmI I AM GOD!]]
* BadassInANiceSuit: Whenever he's not rocking a green bodysuit and purple tunic.
* BadassNormal: He's become this [[spoiler:after having the Goblin serum purged from his system]].
* BadBoss: To the ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}} and the Dark Avengers. Oscorp employees, too. During "The Final Chapter" arc, he uses several employees as unknowing test subjects for his DNA weapon. The first ''Pulse'' storyline also demonstrated his habit of murdering his employees to satisfy his urges. And while he chastasized the Carnage symbiote for attacking a pair of henchmen who had served him loyally and well, he quickly got over it and used it as an opportunity to entice the symbiote into partnering with him by promising to teach it how to kill and terrorize people in new and horrific ways.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: [[spoiler:Norman's desire to regain his madness eventually drives him to merge with the Carnage Symbiote, but he quickly discovers that he cannot control it.]]
* BeingEvilSucks: For all Osborn's power and his victories, it's repeatedly shown that his mental instability and inability to accept that Peter Parker simply won't be crushed have ruined his life. At least one story ends with Spider-Man pointing out how awful it must be just to have to ''be'' Norman Osborn, and the ending seems to show Osborn contemplating suicide.
* BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil: Attempted to invoke this with Peter. Nearly succeeded. Added a lot of points to Peter's [[TheWoobie woobie factor.]]
* 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.
-->'''Norman:''' Every time I've killed, I was either temporarily and certifiably insane, or serving my country. It's got to be rough to find out the person you hate the most in the world is actually the best protection the world has.
-->'''War Machine:''' [[SarcasmMode Interesting theory]]. [''[[ShutUpHannibal Blasts Norman with his rockets]]'']
* BerserkButton: [[http://www.azurite.ca/lj/bdm05.jpg Spider-Man]] is one. Another is his insulting his son Harry, although he's guilty of that all the time.
* BigBad:
** For a lot of Spidey's recent existence, including ''The Night Gwen Stacy Died'' and ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan'', which was a completely different Spidey before the orginal returned. Basically in all of Spider-Man's life, it's the Goblin that is his most reoccurring villain and the one still cause him the most suffering.
** And of ''Comicbook/DarkReign''.
** He also created Alchemax corporation, making him responsible for the Marvel 2099 misfortunes.
* BlueBlood: Comes from old robber baron money. His father squandered the family fortune and Norman built it back up.
* BoardToDeath: He often did this in his adventures as the Green Goblin. Often telling people his plan in a dramatic fashion, before killing them to keep his plan contained.
* BondCreature: A VisionQuest that Norman goes on in ''ASM'' Vol. 4, #32 ("Personal Demon") implies that his spirit animal is actually the [[spoiler:''tiger'']], not the goblin. In the end, though, Norman rejects its mask in favor of a goblin one during the final test that he undergoes at the Temple with No Name.
-->'''Monk:''' In this sacred place, you will bond with your totem. And together, as one, you shall confront your personal demon... all that is holding you back from your true potential. Reach out. Accept your destiny.\\
'''Norman:''' No. I accept nothing. I am Norman Osborn--and I choose my destiny!
* BreakingLecture:
** The speech in ''Peter Parker: Spider-Man #95'' is all about taunting Peter on his failings as a boyfriend, friend and surrogate son in an attempt to break his will.
** Norman is on the receiving end of one in ''Peter Parker: Spider-Man'' v.2 #47, where Peter points out how empty Norman's life really is, which actually leaves Norman suicidal for a time. The "manic" side of his bipolar disorder eventually pushed him back into action as the Goblin again, however.
* BreakoutVillain: Along with Dr. Octopus, the Green Goblin became Spider-Man's most popular enemy. Even in the early Ditko stories, the Green Goblin's combination of wacky personality, manipulative planning, amazing acrobatics (the only early Spider-Man villain with reflexes as fast as Spider-Man) gave him a sense of cool and menace that other villains didn't have and this was one reason why his SecretIdentity took so long to be revealed since the artist and writer wanted to build a sense of mystery and drama around him.
* BrokenAce: He's just as strong as Spider-Man and even smarter, but he is - [[spoiler:or ''was'', until Peter cured him]] - completely insane. Despite his business successes and the fact that he spent years getting away with literal murder, he's also fully aware that he's destroyed any chance of having a family and that his mental instability is the main factor in the failure of his various schemes.
** Even after [[spoiler:being cured, Norman ends up disfiguring himself via botched plastic surgery in an effort to try to restore his "true" face and eventually chooses to reject enlightenment and embrace the Goblin identity again - with all the madness that entails - in the belief that this will allow him to finally defeat Spider-Man. In short, he's smart enough to know that being crazy will doom his plans in the long term, but still unable to give up on the Goblin identity despite the madness it brings with it.]]
* BroughtDownToNormal: At the end of the Goblin Nation arc, Peter injects him with a cure for the Goblin formula, removing his powers. Osborn simply sneers that he's more dangerous than ever.
* BullyingADragon: Like all supervillains, he has his moments:
** Trying to intefere in Thor's fight with Bor as Iron Patriot, Thor oneshots him by grabbing his arm and then tossing him across the city.
** Trying to hurt Jessica Jones resulted in her husband, the NighInvulnerable Luke Cage coming after him, crushing his car, no-selling his bombs before punching him out.
* TheCameo: Not Norman himself, but on the cover of ''[[http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20101002161751/marveldatabase/images/a/ae/Osborn_Vol_1_2_Textless.jpg Osborn #2]]'' he's seen sharing a cell block with a certain StringyHairedGhostGirl with a [[Film/TheRing film fetish]].
* CerebusRetcon: Norman based the Green Goblin on an imaginary boogeyman figure that haunted him throughout his childhood, especially whenever his abusive father would lock him in the abandoned Osborn estate.
-->'''Norman:''' When the lightning struck, the house would become brightly illuminated. In the echoes of the rumbling thunder, I fancied I could hear the unearthly chittering of a green, goblin-like creature. Perhaps it was the blood rushing in my ears, but I became convinced I could hear the dreadful thing cackling, waiting for its chance to feast on my bones. Every time the lightning struck, I expected the goblin would be standing there over me, ready to pounce. I began to pray for the darkness to last just a little longer each time... and I began to hate the light.
* CharacterDevelopment: Went from a CorruptCorporateExecutive trying to make a name for himself in the criminal underworld by killing Spider-Man to an obsessed, murderous maniac to a manipulative [[TheChessmaster master manipulator]].
* TheChessmaster:
** Holy cow, if he didn't deserve it before, he does for his actions in ''Superior Spider-Man''. [[spoiler:After coming back, instead of taking the fight to Otto, he waits and slowly builds power. Knowing that Otto created Spider bots to monitor the city, he hacked one of them and uploaded a program that ensures if someone has a Goblin appearance, either by wearing a mask or having a Goblin tattoo, the bot does not register that person, ensuring Otto stays out of Norman's hair. For everything Otto does, Norman somehow benefits. When Otto outed Phil Urich as the Hobgoblin, Norman took the chance to have Urich join his group. When Otto took down the Kingpin, Norman seized power making him the new Kingpin. Norman kidnapped Carly and found out that Otto killed Peter Parker, he simply adjusted his plans to torture Otto as well as Peter's loved ones. When he finally decides to step in the limelight, he has enough forces to keep even the Avengers busy trying to stop his forces or save everyone. Allowing him to focus on Otto, he simply destroys everything Otto has made. He destroyed Spider Island, stripping Otto of back up; destroyed everything that was ever related to Otto, laughing all the way; hacked into Otto's tentacles, nearly killing him; hacked into JJJ's Spider Slayers; kidnapped Otto's girlfriend and finally attempts a hit on everyone close to Peter. The only reason the murder of Peter's loved ones failed was because he underestimated [[BadassNormal MJ]]]].
** And then there's the fact that Roderick Kingsley tried to establish himself as a crime lord and broker by giving criminals the powers and costumes of various C-list supervillains in exchange for a cut of their profits. Not only does Norman outmaneuver Roderick and prevent him from getting a foothold, he also recruits all of the C-list supervillains to serve as ''his'' minions.
** That may not even be the half of it. [[spoiler:The Goblin formula was a major contributor to Osborn's madness. Now that it's purged from his system, he has a lot more control of his faculties. He {{Lampshades}} the fact that his insanity made him do over-the-top and blatantly obvious things as the Goblin King, but now that's he largely sane again he likely has access to his full, unfettered Chessmaster potential. He proves it by operating in the shadows as an arms dealer.]]
* ChronicVillainy: Norman's abusive upbringing and lust for power mean that he can never really abandon the Goblin identity because of the sense of power it gives him, even though the mental instability that comes with it invariably leads to a VillainousBreakdown in the long run.
* ComicBookFantasyCasting:
** Norman Osborn's face and his distinctive corn-row curled hairstyle, in the Ditko and Romita era, was modeled on Creator/JosephCotten, a character actor who appeared in many supporting roles and played the villain in Creator/AlfredHitchcock's ''Film/ShadowOfADoubt'' (a popular film in the youth of both Lee and Ditko, and also about a businessman having a double life as a psychopathic murderer). Norman's father is Amberson Osborn a reference to Cotten's film with Creator/OrsonWelles, ''Film/TheMagnificentAmbersons''[[note]]There Amberson was the family last name, used by Marvel as a first name instead. And in that Cotten played a good guy businessman albeit someone who the AntiHero thinks will ruin the world with his inventions[[/note]].
** His appearances in ''Thunderbolts'' and ''Dark Avengers'' as drawn by Mike Deodato invariably resemble a slightly younger Creator/TommyLeeJones.
** His appearance in ''VideoGame/SpiderManPS4'' is an amalgam of his two live-action actors -- Creator/ChrisCooper for his more weathered features, and Creator/WillemDafoe for his slightly big eyes.
* ClothesMakeTheManiac: During ''Dark Reign'', whenever Norman put on the Goblin's mask and costume he started relapsing into the Goblin persona and would break out in fits of maniacal laughter.
* ColdBloodedTorture: A fan of this, as Peter Parker, Nate Grey and others have found out.
* ColorAnimalCodename: A more mythical flavor of 'animal': the goblin.
* ConfusionFu: Not to the extent of, say, Deadpool or Slapstick, but you can never really tell how straightforward a menace Osborn will be until he lets you know. One moment, he's out of costume and without his gear, and seemingly at your mercy. And the next, he's shoving a fistful of [[ImprobableWeaponUser explosive flash drives]] into your mouth.
* ControlFreak: When he assembled the Sinister Twelve to go after Spider-Man, he objected to Mac Gargan becoming the new Venom just because he hadn't planned for it, despite Venom being a more dangerous adversary than the Scorpion.
* CoolHat: An utterly ridiculous-looking floppy purple one that is nevertheless an iconic part of the outfit.
* CoolPlane: His Goblin Glider, which has had numerous iterations and is constantly being improved upon.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Despite a common belief, he predates ComicBook/LexLuthor in this department. (That is, Luthor is an older character, but wasn't portrayed in a corporate position until the 1980's.) He is probably the king of this trope.
* TheCorrupter:
** He has tried failed to act as this to Peter, who refuses to become anything like Norman.
** Osborn used his own past as the Green Goblin to manipulate the emotionally unstable [[ComicBook/TheSentry Sentry]] into denying the existence of the Void, his evil side. After the Sentry drinks more of the serum that gave him his powers, the Void takes complete control of their shared body, becoming Osborn's "secret weapon."
* CrazyPrepared: Mac Gargan once described one of Norman's hideouts as a "cornucopia of plans and counter-plans."
* CreepyHighPitchedVoice: Depending on the actor, he usually has a high-pitched voice in his persona as the Green Goblin, although some versions give him a deeper voice instead.
* CutLexLuthorACheck: Frequently {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d, though also inverted. The Hobgoblin only turned to crime because he wasn't as smart as Norman, and thought Osborn had to be insane to use his amazing tech in the same way when he could easily make a fortune out of it. That said, Osborn is already a successful corporate millionaire and his superbrain has only made him more money and power (ironically enough, he ended up buying out the Hobgoblin's own company when the latter tried to blackmail him). Nonetheless, he is still too messed up to use his mind to its fullest potential.
* DeadpanSnarker: In the comics and most versions, he is usually able to verbally hold his own with Spider-Man during their battles.
* DeathSeeker: [[http://www.spideykicksbutt.com/GreenwithEvil/DeathintheFamily.html In one storyline]] (in which he {{Mind Rape}}s Spider-Man in an attempt [[SuicideByCop to get Spidey to kill him]]). The ploy fails, and the story concludes with a despondent Norman sitting alone in his office, contemplating a gun.
* DependingOnTheWriter: Creator/MarkMillar's version of the character is noticeably smarter -- bordering on OmnidisciplinaryScientist -- compared to most other takes on the character. In some versions, notably the film and animated series, he is almost more of a JekyllAndHyde figure, the Norman side being a well-meaning but stressed businessman who is taken over or led by the Goblin persona. In other stories Norman is worse than his Goblin persona and an outright HateSink all on his own.
* 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.
* DisproportionateRetribution:
** Probably two thirds of his plots are convoluted and incredibly nasty revenge schemes, usually involving a lot of RevengeByProxy ever since he knocked Gwen Stacy off that bridge. But the real qualifier is his beef with Spider-Man in the first place- he originally wanted to kill him to get street cred in the criminal underworld; after two or three failed attempts at that, he ''then'' wanted to kill Spider-Man for [[InsaneTrollLogic foiling his previous attempts at killing Spider-Man]].
** In ''Superior Spider-Man'', he more or less [[spoiler:tortures Otto for killing Peter Parker, as he finds it unfair that the real Spider-Man's second greatest enemy end his life instead of his greatest.]] [[spoiler:''Superior Spider-Man Team-Up'' reveals he infected the only woman Otto ever loved with AIDS solely because Otto made the mistake of saying his goal in life wasn't the total destruction of Spider-Man.]]
* TheDon: Norman's original motivation was to become this, although he was quickly sidetracked by his obsession with Spider-Man. Following his return as the Green Goblin during ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan'', he renames himself the Goblin King and establishes himself as the leader of a Goblin formula-augmented criminal syndicate.
* DontTellMama: He initially tries to keep his identity secret from his son.
* DressingAsTheEnemy: He impersonates the Hobgoblin with ridiculous ease.
* EarlyBirdCameo: Before TheReveal, a man sporting the Osborn hairstyle can be seen in the background among a club of businessmen that has J. Jonah Jameson as a member. Steve Ditko, [[AuthorsSavingThrow in an attempt to quell the debate about the Green Goblin's identity being a factor in his departure from the book]], [[WordOfGod confirmed that this man was Norman]].
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The Green Goblin during the Lee-Ditko era had the goal of taking over the criminal underworld and was about as well motivated as a gimmicky 60s Batman villain, but his distinct persona and menace, his ability to match Spider-Man in both combat and wits and his competitive personality made him a real mystery. Then after TheReveal of him as Norman Osborn and the resulting EasyAmnesia, he appeared in very few stories until Gwen Stacy's death, when he was temporarily PutOnABus, and when he returned he had an entirely different personality and set of motivations.
** Additionally, Ditko's Norman isn't an EvilGenius, but rather a corrupt businessman and would-be ganglord with a few specific, well-defined recurring weapons. Even these are strongly implied to be the inventions of his former partner, Mendel Stromm. The first post-Ditko story introduces the idea that Norman has some form of enhanced intelligence and shows that he can create advanced devices and customized chemical formulae on his own.
** A fairly short lived example but in his first appearance he used a rocket powered Flying Broomstick rather than his traditional Goblin Glider which he used from his second appearance onward.
* EasyAmnesia: Formerly, he [[AlternateIdentityAmnesia couldn't remember his misdeeds as the Green Goblin]]. Now fully averted, since he remembers everything he's done and doesn't regret it. It seems to have come back in a way with the end of ''ComicBook/GoDownSwinging'' as [[spoiler:an interrupted rebonding with the Carnage symbiote and feeling its agony as it's burnt to death scrambled Osborn's brains, making him think he's Cletus Kasady.]]
* EmpoweredBadassNormal: Was originally a BadassNormal, but later retconned into having SuperStrength and a healing factor capable of resurrecting him.
* EnemiesEqualsGreatness: His letter to Peter in ''Marvel Knights Spider-Man'' #12 has him noting that without Spider-Man he would just be another boring businessman with a mid-life crisis. And he thanks him for giving him something else to become.
* EurekaMoment: Has one when [[spoiler:a kidnapped JJJ chastises him for never defeating Spidey even after throwing '''his''' girl off a bridge. Jonah's use of the word "his" causes Norman to remember Spidey's secret identity for the first time since ''One More Day''. Norman is ''ecstatic'' to have finally recovered his true greatest weapon in his crusade against Spider-Man.]]
* ExpressiveMask: The Green Goblin's freaky mask may as well be his face given how expressive it is.
* EvilAllAlong: During his bouts with amnesia he was depicted as being a hard-edged but not especially malicious businessman and father, which was presumably his "real" pre-Goblin Serum personality and demeanor. But then flashbacks and prequels and the like made it clear that he was always a bit of a tool, mistreating his son, funding supervillains, stabbing his business partner in the back, using an Oscorp employee as a guinea pig for his experiments, etc.
* 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.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes:
** Zigzagged depending on his sanity. [[spoiler:He's done everything from attempt to get Spider-Man to kill him out of guilt for what he's done to try and arrange Harry's death in a gambit to increase his popularity.]]
** He truly loved his wife Emily and was heartbroken when she died, sadly declaring, "And with her went my one and OnlyFriend, didn't it, Gobby?" A flashback showed him grieving almost hysterically at her resting place, and he once fell in love with a nurse who resembled her. On the other hand, "Go Down Swinging" implied a case of SelfServingMemory, as it's revealed that Emily was for some reason so desperate to get away from her husband that she resorted to faking her death and abandoning Harry to do it.
** Spider-Man himself has expressed the belief (including to Norman's face) that Norman, for all his bluster, would never do anything to directly harm his grandsons Normie and Stanley. While this assertion has so far proven true, it probably has less to do with familial attachment and more to do with the fact that Norman barely cares about the boys unless he needs to use them as pawns or is going through one of his "I need an heir!" phases. He finally crossed the line in "Go Down Swinging" when he tried to ax Normie for defying him.
* EvenEvilHasStandards:
** In a [[EvilVersusOblivion cross]] between this and PragmaticVillainy, Norman, who just wants power and control, assumed that Hera was completely psychotic when she confided in him that she was an OmnicidalManiac who planned on wiping out the entire universe just so that she could rebuild it [[InTheirOwnImage In Her Own Image]].
** While bonded with the Carnage symbiote, Norman, never ''really'' one for utterly wanton and senseless hands-on slaughter, expressed surprising unease over the symbiote's bloodlust, something which the creature mocked him over, sarcastically asking when the Green Goblin grew a conscious. Norman called the symbiote out on murdering a pair of henchmen who had been nothing but faithful and reliable to him, and was sickened when the symbiote, who he had agreed to let murder someone who no one would miss to make it stop annoying him, went out of control and massacred an entire building full of people. He came to grin and bear it by the events of "ComicBook/GoDownSwinging" proper, though, at one point butchering a ton scientists, which shocked Spider-Man, as, previously, Norman, despite all of his faults, was not quite the type to do something like literally paint the walls with bystanders' blood and body parts ForTheEvulz.
* EvilCounterpart:
** To Peter. Both have similar base sets of SuperStrength, SuperToughness, enhanced agility and reflexes, and a HealingFactor. Additionally, they rely on gadgets on top of that, Spidey having his webshooters and other web-tools, and Goblin having his pumpkin bombs and glider. Both make quips during combat and are prone to TrashTalk, but Goblin obviously has a much more sadistic sense of humor compared to Spidey's wisecracks. They diverge heavily from there. Not only is Osborn older and wealthy compared to Peter being younger and working-class, but Osborn could be considered as bad as Peter is good.
** While it wasn't initially highlighted, and the similarities were coincidental, he became this to [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]] and [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica Steve Rogers]]. Being a wealthy industrialist like the former that's enhanced by a serum like the latter. The Iron Patriot identity evokes him being a ShadowArchetype of the two.
* EvilGenius: Osborn is one of the smarter people in the Marvel Universe.
* EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor: Osborn is a Type 2 at times as the Green Goblin, cracking sadistic jokes at the expense of his victims. He can rival the Joker in this trope. On the other hand, like the Joker, he can be ActuallyPrettyFunny sometimes as well.
* EvilIsHammy: Norman laments the Goblin's panache for the theatrical - such as setting up a medieval-themed criminal empire - as excessively flamboyant and woefully inefficient.
* EvilIsPetty:
** 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.
** He once teamed-up with Doctor Octopus, but became annoyed when Otto mentioned that defeating Spider-Man was secondary to his goal of becoming the world's greatest scientist. So, Norman, like any rational person, proceeded to track Otto's ex-fiance down, run her off the road, and arrange for her to be given [=AID=]s. Later in life, he tried to destroy everything that Otto cared about or had worked for due to being upset that Ock was the one who had finally bested Parker by becoming the ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan.
* EvilLaugh: As the Green Goblin, he was fond of maniacal cackles.
* EvilMakesYouMonstrous: After being depowered he uses MagicPlasticSurgery to impersonate people and traverse the globe incognito, but his over-reliance on it ends up horribly mangling his face, leaving him as ugly on the outside as he is on the inside (not that he cares). A few iterations of the character also forego wearing a costume in favor of HulkingOut.
* EvilMentor: Once tried to be this to Peter. Nearly succeeded. He later became one to Phil Ulrich.
* EvilMeScaresMe: Not so much scare as annoy. While he'll still wear the costume, Norman has little time or patience for the Green Goblin's theatrics and views his SplitPersonality as a hindrance.
* EvilPowerVacuum: Having been one of Spider-Man's most popular villains and also the one with the most dangerous and personal threat (being the only person to know Peter's secret), and then killing Gwen Stacy, made him Spider-Man's ArchEnemy and his death filled a void in Spider-Man's Rogues Gallery since none of his other villains were seen to match the same kind of personal threat and danger. So writers came up with other Goblins, Harry, Bart Hamilton as Green Goblin pretenders. Hobgoblin as a spinoff who was the most successful and popular of his imitators. Then Venom and Carnage arrived as the next-level villain threats, before Goblin returned and quickly established himself at the top of the heap.
* EvilRedhead: Norman's got reddish-brown hair and he is a very evil super villain.
* EvilSorcerer: He was obsessed with acquiring magical artifacts in the [=1960=]s animated series, and there was the whole Gathering of Five thing during the [=1990=]s, which went awry when [[ComicBook/SpiderWoman Mattie Franklin]] got the "Gift of Power" that Norman coveted. His need to restore his powers and the Green Goblin persona during ''ComicBook/MarvelLegacy'' also leads him to begin studying magic.
* EvilSoundsDeep: In several iterations Norman has a deep voice both as himself and as the Green Goblin. Oddly inverted in his pre-''Ultimate'' cartoon appearances, where the Goblin had a high, screeching voice and laugh. (In fact, a later Goblin, Phil Urich, weaponized the laugh.)
* EvilVersusEvil: He and Roderick Kingsley hate each other almost as much as they hate Spider-Man. Which is saying something.
* EvilerThanThou: He had this attitude towards Roderick Kingsley (the original Hobgoblin), and proved it. Big time. He also had this with ComicBook/DoctorOctopus in Superior Spider-man and managed to show Otto why he was Spider-Man's #1 enemy.
* {{Expy}}: The Green Goblin persona has drawn a number of similarities to ComicBook/TheJoker, with several characters in the Marvel Universe even confusing his Goblin-themed persona with being clown-based. Ironically, the Goblin also shares with the Joker's [[Franchise/{{Batman}} famous arch-rival]] the fact that his motif was born out of something he feared.
* AFamilyAffair: Had a thing with Lily Hollister, his own son's fiancee.
* FamilyBusiness: He treats the mantle of the Green Goblin as this, which is why he was upset when the Hobgoblin and Menace stole his thunder. According to Norman, he planned to murder Kingsley the minute he heard of that, but restrained himself to avoid blowing his cover.
* FantasyForbiddingFather: Norman's father was one of these.
* FashionVictimVillain: His costume is a frequent subject of mockery for both heroes and fellow villains, but Norman's effective enough of a scoundrel to get away with dressing as he does.
* 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''.
* FauxAffablyEvil: In the early days, and in some versions, he veers closer to AffablyEvil , but has since become a completely crazed nutjob as the writers decided Norman was not such a nice guy after all.
* FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence: Spider-Man and Peter Parker bother him greatly by for his continuous presence and existence.
* {{Flanderization}}: Before ''ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied'', Norman was a corrupt businessman who, while a bad father, still loved his son enough to suffer panic attacks when Harry was mentioned within Goblin's earshot. After being brought back from the dead, he became an AxCrazy CardCarryingVillain who actively tries to kill Harry.
* FlorenceNightingaleEffect: The ''ComicBook/RevengeOfTheGreenGoblin'' miniseries had Norman fall in love with his nurse, Kolina Frederickson, who reminded him of his late wife.
* FounderOfTheKingdom: He founded [[ComicBook/Marvel2099 Alchemax]] with Liz Allen as an accomplice and proxy, in order to provide a legacy for his grandson to rule over.
* ForTheEvulz: Green Goblin's motivation in ''all'' situations; and Norman Osborn's motivation in many.
* GadgeteerGenius: He developed a trove of Halloween-themed weapons and equipment, and was constantly improving on them even after supposedly giving up the Goblin identity.
* {{Gaslighting}}: One of his specialties:
** ''ComicBook/TheCloneSaga'' was {{Retconned}} into an elaborate baroque version of this, with Norman after faking his death, elaborately trying to mess Peter's personal and superhero life with a series of clones, including one who nearly convinced Peter that the former was the clone. He later continues in ''ComicBook/RevengeOfTheGreenGoblin'' where [[spoiler:he tries to make Peter his heir by putting Goblin serum in his toothpaste and then kidnapping him and having him put on a Goblin suit at night to terrorize Manhattan to finally become his son]].
** His dynamic with Harry Osborn in modern adaptations (especially ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'', ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'', and ''WesternAnimation/MarvelsSpiderMan'') involves coercing and undermining his son's sense of self so as to more properly mould him into an image. These versions of Norman don't see Harry as anything other than an extension of himself.
* GeniusBruiser: Arguably subverted. He's incredibly intelligent, he's [[SuperStrength super strong]], but he often can't do both at the same time because of his mental instability.
* GollumMadeMeDoIt: In the 90s cartoon and the Raimi movies, the Goblin is a manifestation of his repressed desires, lashing out at those he considers a threat to him, his company, and family. Both universes feature the two personalities TalkingToThemself through a mirror.
* GoodParents: In ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'', Norman is a well-meaning case of WhenYouComingHomeDad who has an unfortunate knack for really bad decisions. He's still consumed by the Goblin persona.
* HandBlast: His seldom-used finger lasers, called "[[FluffyTheTerrible Sparkle Blasts]]".
* HateSink: Not originally, but later after his resurrection in the 90’s for sure! Before his first death Norman wasn’t great but he was still a suffering Jekyll to the Psychotic wild dog Goblin’s Hyde and the killing of Gwen Stacy was a MoralEventHorizon of the Goblin persona and not Osborn. After his resurrection however, writers made his sadism, corrupt businessman tendencies, and his abuse of his son more pronounced as he became more of a BigBad towards the all heroes on Earth and not just an Archenemy of Spider-man. He shows no remorse for his actions whatsoever and at this point may be worse than his Goblin persona.
* HealingFactor: How he came BackFromTheDead (or rather how he was NotQuiteDead). Though no-one seems to ''remember'' it and a lot of the time it's implied he can be killed in the normal way, he frequently claims to be immortal because of it.
* HearingVoices: During the ''Dark Reign'' Norman was usually in control, but the Gobin's persona often manifested as a voice mocking his attempts to keep it suppressed.
* HeManWomanHater: Gwen Stacy, Songbird, Mary Jane, Black Widow and other women are treated in a sexist way by Norman. Misogyny is one of his central traits, and it's really driven home in ''Spider-Man'' #75, where one of the first things that the Green Goblin does upon announcing his return is smack Liz Allan upside the head while calling her a "cow" who never did anything but hold his son back from becoming a real man.
* HeroKiller: He's murdered quite a few heroes. Of note are [[spoiler:Ben Reilly, the ComicBook/ScarletSpider, and Flash Thompson, Agent Anti-Venom]].
* HijackedByGanon: Both in-universe and on an almost meta-scale. For as many monsters, aliens, and interdimensional cosmic beings Peter fights, his greatest foe always winds up being the deranged mad scientist cum business executive in the chainmail Halloween costume.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: How he was killed the first time: in trying to skewer Spider-Man on his Goblin Glider he impaled himself.
* HopeCrusher: Post-Resurrection Norman fixates on this as his goal on his archnemesis. The fact that Spider-Man is a determinator who bounced back from all of life's hardships offends and insults him on general principle. In ''ComicBook/RevengeOfTheGreenGoblin'', when Mary Jane, Peter's wife dies, Norman attacks him at a depressed and low point in a hope to break his spirit and drive him insane. He tortures, gaslights, drugs Peter for days but even after that Spider-Man still doesn't break.
* HypocriticalHeartwarming: All of the time with Harry.
** Whenever it looks like he and Norman are having a moment, Norman will always say or do something to ruin it, sometimes even obliviously - when he got a young Harry's new bicycle back from the bullies who had taken it, he proceeded to smash it in front of the boy to show him "what happens to your nice things when you don't take care of them." Harry was slightly traumatized, [[ObliviouslyEvil but Norman failed to notice]], convinced that he and his son had just bonded over Norman teaching him a valuable life lesson.
** Also the reason why he dislikes Mary Jane. In his view, MJ was responsible for Harry's drug addiction, and she broke his son's heart and rejected him for Peter, which in his, insane, mind is unforgivable, since after all [[RichSuitorPoorSuitor Peter is poor and Harry is a Osborn]], and the idea that a girl like MJ might love someone for stuff other than money doesn't compute.
* {{Idiosyncrazy}}: The Goblin suit is patterned after Halloween fright masks, his first flying device was a witch's broom before he switched to a bat-shaped glider, his arsenal is mostly jack-o'lanterns, ghosts, and ''more'' bats... Osborn must really ''like'' Halloween.
* IgnoredEpiphany: In his vision of training at the Temple with no Name, Osborn is guided towards embracing his totemic spirit guide (the tiger) and defeating his inner demon (the Green Goblin). Instead, Osborn deliberately rejects the totemic tiger mask and takes a green oni mask, then summons and defeats Spider-Man in a CurbStompBattle. The monks try to persuade him to let go of his hate, but Osborn kills Spider-Man and transforms into a monster.
* 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.
* ILetGwenStacyDie: Norman is the TropeMaker, being the one who killed Gwen Stacy to make Spider-Man suffer. Peter blamed himself for her death, which was caused by the whiplash of his webline breaking her fall -- and neck.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: By [[HoistByHisOwnPetard his own glider]] after he killed Gwen Stacy. It didn't kill him, but he was thought to be dead until he came back, and he still has the scar from it.
* {{Impossibly Cool Weapon}}s: The razor bats and the pumpkin bombs, especially in Raimi's movie.
* ImpoverishedPatrician: Norman's father lost his family's fortune. Norman made it back by shady, illegal, and criminal means.
* InsaneTrollLogic: His grudge against Spider-Man started largely because Spider-Man wouldn't let Norman kill him, and is later exacerbated because Peter won't surrender to him and become his chosen heir after Norman has spent years trying to kill Peter and all his loved ones.
* InsistentTerminology: When Mr. Hyde sneers that without his "clown costume" Norman isn't even worth contempt, Osborn force-feeds him explosive USB's with the following response:
-->'''Norman Osborn:''' Not... clown. Goblin. '''Goblin.''' '''''[[MadnessMantra GOBLIN!]]''''' [[LaughingMad HAHAHAHAHAAA!]]
* InTheBlood: It's strongly implied egomania, violent rages, and a NeverMyFault mentality run strongly among Osborn Men. Osborn's own father was an abusive drunk who squandered the family fortune and blamed everyone else for his failures according to Norman. Norman's ancestor and great-grandfather who established the family fortune was a ruthless Robber Baron.
* 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:
-->'''Norman Osborn:''' My father used to say to me, "it's not all about you." I told him I was working on it.
* ItsPersonal: His conflict with Spider-Man.
* JekyllAndHyde: Subverted. Norman is (relatively) sane and the Goblin is crazy, but they're both evil. Played straight in some incarnations, though, especially in the animated series and movies.
** DependingOnTheWriter: Which persona is worse in the comics. A lot of modern issues have Norman as the worse one.
* {{Jerkass}}: As if 90% of the tropes aren’t enough to tell you. Norman is selfish, greedy, callous, and every bit as conceited.
* JokerImmunity: After being dead for around 20 years, Norman was resurrected. He later got pardoned and was promoted to being head of the national security agency H.A.M.M.E.R and the Avengers during Dark Reign. After being arrested again for launching war against Asgard, Norman then got pardoned again and led his new band of Avengers. It only ended when he overreached by trying to become a new Super-Adaptoid and was left in a coma when his new powers catastrophically malfunctioned. After his return to relative sanity following ''ComicBook/AbsoluteCarnage'', he passes his villainy off as being controlled by the Carnage symbiote, joining Ravencroft's faculty at the behest of Wilson Fisk.
* JustAKid: His reaction on seeing Peter unmasked in ASM #39:
--> '''Green Goblin''' (thought bubbles): It's Incredible! He's just a kid -- can't be more than nineteen or twenty! I'd never have guessed!
* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: Of Spider-Man's foes, he went for the longest time without a criminal record despite the horrible crimes he commits. After exposing each other's identities and Norman undergoing EasyAmnesia, Peter couldn't expose Norman's identity without outing himself, and after befriending Harry, feels conflicted about it on a personal level. Gwen Stacy's death led to Norman's "death" and exile in Europe where he committed more crimes and masterminded the Clone Saga, making him responsible also for the kidnapping and "miscarriage" of Peter and MJ's child. It's not until the miniseries "The Pulse" where Spider-Man, Ben Urich, Luke Cage and Jessica Jones expose him for his crimes that Osborn and Goblin are finally revealed as one and the same, leading to his imprisonment for the first time in comics' history. During ''Dark Reign'' after ''Civil War'', Norman however gets promoted as "head of everything" despite his large criminal record, giving him warranty again.
** Nick Spencer's run of Spider-Man stresses that while none of the extended Spider-Man family would outright try to take him down with premeditated murder, they wouldn't lose sleep leaving Norman to die. Save for Peter himself.
* KickTheDog: This is what Osborn lives for.
* LargeHam: At least in Raimi's movies (it's easy to see the fun Willem Dafoe is having), WebVideo/ImAMarvelAndImADC (where the Goblin even idolizes ''[--Dafoooeee--]'') and ''Theatre/SpiderManTurnOffTheDark'' (widely considered the most entertaining part of the show).
* LaughingMad: As the Green Goblin, Norman was fond of maniacal laughter. Even when on medication during ''Thunderbolts'' and ''Dark Reign'', he'd lapse into his Goblin persona (due to one of his subordinates replacing his meds with a placebo) and have outbursts.
* LaughablyEvil: As the Green Goblin who, just like the Joker, can make someone laugh one moment, and horrified the next.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: In the battle where Norman first revealed himself as the Goblin, he and Peter caused an electrical explosion and fire that knocked Norman senseless. Peter used the opportunity to destroy the Goblin's equipment, dress Norman in his street clothes and hand him over to the police and paramedics, claiming that Norman had helped him defeat the Goblin. When Norman woke up in the hospital, he had forgotten all about being the Goblin.
* LegacyCharacter: He was the first Green Goblin but his son and a few other people took up the mantle over the years. On top of that, the hidious Hobgoblins (another legacy character), the Demo-Goblin, the many Jack O' Lanterns (also legacy character in their own rights), and other Spider-Man villains have taken their cues from Osborn as well.
* LivingWithTheVillain: He's Peter's best friend's father, after all.
* LuxuryPrisonSuite: At some point, he secretly converted the Ravencroft jail cell he kept getting put in into an emergency headquarters complete with an armory.
* MadEye: In the ''Goblin Nation'' arc, he was drawn with one iris and pupil significantly larger than the other.
* MadScientist: He created a cure for cancer for the sole purpose of weaponizing it for use against ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}.
* MagicEnhancement:
** 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.
** After losing badly to Spider-Man as a BadassNormal, Norman became obsessed with regaining his powers and reawakening the Green Goblin. Travelling to the Temple with no Name, Osborn learns he had the potential to rival Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom in the magic department, and spends months training under a trio of monks in order to awaken his totemic spirit (the tiger) and defeat his inner demon (the Green Goblin). Osborn has an IgnoredEpiphany, dons a mystical oni mask to reawaken the Green Goblin, and uses his magic to summon and kill Spider-Man before turning on his mentors. This is all revealed to be a vision-based SecretTestOfCharacter on the part of the monks, who unceremoniously boot him from the temple and spread the word to bar him from learning magic at all.
* MagicPlasticSurgery: [[ZigZaggedTrope Zig-zagged]], as initially [[spoiler:Norman uses this successfully to adopt a new identity as part of OsCorp and later Alchemax, but later his efforts to restore his original face with additional surgery leaves him disfigured.]]
* ManipulativeBastard: Has taken several levels in this since his resurrection.
* TheMentallyDisturbed:
** Has been consistently depicted with a range of mental illnesses. He is bipolar, schizophrenic, prone to violent mood swings, has untreated paranoia, hallucinations, and [[SplitPersonality dissociative identity disorder]]. This is ''in addition to'' his textbook sadism, egomania and antisocial personality disorder, and they all tend to make each other worse. It's very common for these to bite him in the ass particularly since he denies or covers up the fact that he has such "weaknesses". It especially threatens his attempts to be a VillainWithGoodPublicity, usually because he finds himself unable to control his homicidal urges.
** Ironically enough, he's '''worse''' when he's relatively sane than when the Goblin is in control. When the Goblin is in control he is TheUnfettered, so he doesn't really have to worry about all those mental issues as he no longer gives a damn. It's not really that he's worse as Osborn; it's just that, as Osborn, he swings between struggling with his problems and being in total denial about them, so they are less predictable and expected. As the Goblin, it's his bouts of mental health that are unusual.
** When Green Goblin is in control, he is much more dangerous physically because his endurance, crazy factor and his strength are at maximum. The weakness of Green Goblin is his inability to think clearly and focus. Osborn is physically weaker but much more dangerous because he can control his sadism directly: he can be cruel in cunning and efficient ways. For Spider-Man, the Green Goblin is more dangerous; for Peter Parker it is Norman Osborn.
* MidSeasonUpgrade: Even during the Dark Reign, Norman had been preparing to make a comeback as the Green Goblin with upgraded gear such as a flaming sword and wings... which [[SubvertedTrope were stolen]] by Phil Ulrich to become the seventh Hobgoblin, leaving Norman with only his classic glider and bombs when he finally reclaimed the purple hat and tunic.
* MindRape: One type of pumpkin bomb he subjected Spider-Man to spewed out a hallucinogenic gas that made Spider-Man experience all his worst fears. After Spider-Man overcame the "psychedelic pumpkin", he then used it on ''Norman'' to suppress his Goblin personality and memories.
* MonsterFangirl: Coat of Arms from ''ComicBook/YoungAvengers''. Along with creating fan art of Norman's murder of Gwen Stacy, she also has dreams about dancing with him to Music/GeorgeMichael's "Shoot the Dog."
* MoralMyopia: He runs on this; if it happens to him it's unforgivable, but if he does it to someone else, it's business as usual. Best shown in ''ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied''; Norman laughs off killing Gwen Stacy and openly mocks her death to Spider-Man's face, but when Spidey damages his Goblin Glider, he flies into an UnstoppableRage, throws a hissy fit, and swears to make Spidey pay for doing so. Spider-Man rightfully calls him out on it:
-->'''Spider-Man:''' Mister, are we living in the same universe? You killed my woman, Goblin, and you're raging about a ''blasted bargain-basement toy?!''
* MoralityPet:
** Harry; once in the 1970s Peter defeated the Goblin by showing him his overdosed son, causing the Goblin to actually cry and snap back to Norman's side. This event was retconned. After the retcon, the trope has been subverted to hell and back, as Norman has tried to ''[[OffingTheOffspring murder]]'' his own son. For ''[[SlaveToPR ratings]]''. That said, he ''was'' outraged when the Hobgoblin insulted Harry.
** Played straight with the Ultimate version, who ''asked to be killed'' after seeing that he killed Harry, the Hobgoblin.
* MotiveDecay: Norman went from wanting to take over New York's criminal underworld to being obsessed with either killing or corrupting Spider-Man. He ''did'' become head of SHIELD during the ''ComicBook/DarkReign'', and after breaking free from prison he returned to his original goal.
* 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.
* NoRespectGuy: Among his fellow villains, he's considered a loony, self-defeating wildcard with a ludicrous gimmick. This leads to many of them underestimating Norman, which is something no one should ''ever'' do.
* NotSoDifferent: The speech in [[Film/SpiderMan1 Raimi's movie]]. Occasionally in the comics. He really does have a lot in common with Peter.
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: Not that he was ever "harmless", but since he usually has trouble beating Spider-Man alone, he wouldn't seem like a threat to the Marvel Universe at large. But, as ComicBook/DarkReign proved, it's ''because'' he focussed so much of his efforts on destroying Spider-Man that he's usually not on the same level as guys like Doctor Doom and ComicBook/{{Magneto}}.
* OffingTheOffspring: Has attempted it on Harry during ComicBook/DarkReign, in the name of ''public ratings''.
* OffscreenVillainDarkMatter: Norman has dozens of hideouts scattered across New York, which are frequently raided by the various Hobgoblins and Jack O'Lanterns.
* OldMoney: Well, until his father [[ImpoverishedPatrician squandered the family fortune]]. But he managed to [[SelfMadeMan build it back up himself]].
* TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: The Cult of Scryer he took over in Europe.
* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Towards Peter. So much that [[spoiler:when he finds that Otto killed Peter, he is greatly annoyed that Peter fell to his second greatest foe, although Norman asks if Otto would be willing to work for him, so in effect he has won over Peter. Norman actually stated that because he didn't get to kill Spider-Man it actually hurt him.]]
** For that matter, he's got a case of this with his son, Harry. Norman repeatedly abuses him emotionally, tries at one point to kill him to gain public sympathy, and seduces his fiancée. Whenever anyone ''else'' threatens, hurts, or insults Harry, howeve Norman tends to enter PapaWolf mode rather quickly.
* PervertedSniffing: How he realizes ComicBook/GhostSpider is an incarnation of Gwen Stacy, and he wastes no time sledgehammering Spider-Man's trauma button by hitting on her in the sleaziest way possible and threatening to do to her what he did to the Earth-616 Gwen. [[spoiler:This is what prompts Peter -- who had been trying to save Norman from the resurrected Sin-Eater and his horde of zealous murder-happy followers -- to personally throw Norman to the wolves]].
* 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.
* PowerBornOfMadness: An InvokedTrope after Norman [[spoiler:decides that being cured of the Goblin Serum's insanity-inducing effects means that he's lost his "edge" against Spider-Man.]]
* PoweredArmor: Norman constructs the Iron Patriot armor based on Tony Stark's Iron Man suits, but wasn't able to replicate Repulsor technology, rendering his suit inferior to Tony's [[SuperPrototype original versions]], save the time when [[spoiler:he [[CurbStompBattle fights]] Stark when the latter only has the [[FlawedPrototype Mark 0 armor]]]].
* PracticallyJoker: While his civilian identity is more akin to ComicBook/LexLuthor (especially post-Crisis Luthor), the Green Goblin definitely takes some cues from ComicBook/TheJoker, being an AxCrazy, wisecracking MadBomber with a green and purple color scheme.
* PredecessorVillain: He was this to the other Goblins.
* {{Pride}}: His main flaw (besides mental illness, that is).
* ProfessorGuineaPig: How he ended up becoming the Green Goblin in the first place, as he tested the [[PsychoSerum Goblin Serum]] on himself. Naturally, it all went down hill from there.
* PuttingOnTheReich: During the Dark Reign storyline Norman becomes increasingly fascist. Gets Lampshaded in the Dark X-Men series, in a moment of dark comedy, where Nate Grey is telling the Dark X-Men how he could have made their futures better. Norman's response? "Tomorrow belongs to me."
* ReminiscingAboutYourVictims: He kept one of his old costumes in storage and never washed it because the smell reminded him of "death, blondes, and victory." Harry at one point also mentions that Norman was very meticulous in making sure that his office in the Palisades branch of Oscorp have the best possible view of the George Washington Bridge.
* ResurrectiveImmortality: Norman claims he and Harry have this due to him being impaled on his Glider and having nothing more than a scar now, and his son dying of a drug overdose but currently walking and talking.
* {{Retcon}}: In the 1960's and 1970's he was portrayed as being a decent guy before becoming the Goblin, however since his return it's been established that even before he became the Goblin he was quite the bastard.
* TheRival: He and Roderick Kingsley have a bone to pick over who the best Goblin is.
* RoguesGalleryTransplant: For a very long time, Osborn didn't venture outside the Spider-Man titles and strictly antagonized Peter Parker. The fact that he was dead for twenty years, making him something of a GreaterScopeVillain with a legacy that cast a shadow over the Spidey mythos, until it was retconned that he survived, ensured that he wouldn't be menacing anyone else during this time. This changed in the '00s, where he was upgraded into being a general Marvel Universe BigBad who was treated as the EvilCounterpart to both Iron Man and Captain America, with his Iron Patriot armor reflecting both of them, and menacing just about every single hero from the Avengers, to the Fantastic Four, to the X-Men, and everyone in-between, both directly and indirectly, while being a lot less important to Spidey's corner in the meantime. He would eventually go back to being a Spider-Man villain come the mid-'10s.
* SadisticChoice: A frequent tactic of his. He even used the term by name once.
* SanityHasAdvantages: When the [[spoiler:Goblin formula is purged from his body, so too is the madness that it causes. Norman mocks his over-the-top schemes as the Goblin King, which his madness pushed him to do, and resolves that next time Spider-Man and his allies will never see him coming.]] It's then [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] when [[spoiler:Norman loses to Spider-Man in his next big scheme and decides that he needs to regain the insanity of the Goblin to battle the hero successfully.]]
* SanitySlippage: Norman's hold on sanity during his tenure as the leader of the Thunderbolts and Dark Avengers was tenuous and ultimately futile, and he relapsed into his Goblin persona after breaking out of prison.
** Even as ordinary Norman Osborn, [[spoiler:he still does things like destroy his own face with repeated plastic surgeries and eventually ''chooses'' to lose his sanity again just to be competitive with Spider-Man again.]]
* SecondaryColorNemesis: Osborn is heavily associated with green and purple.
* SecretCircleOfSecrets: The Cult of Scryer, the Cabal, Goblin Cult... he's had several over the years.
* SecretKeeper: He makes it a point of pride, to never reveal Peter's identity as Spider-Man to anyone. In ''Goblins at the Gate'', when Roderick Kingsley tries to take off an unconscious Spider-Man's mask, Norman stops him and affects SecretIdentityApathy only for Kingsley to realize in shock, that Norman knows who Spider-Man is. Norman's reaction to Spider-Man revealing his identity in ''Civil War'' is a grumpy, "He broke the rules", fully aware that the special relationship Goblin had with Spider-Man over other rogues is tarnished if he reveals his identity to everyone.
* SecretIdentityIdentity: Rare villainous example, in that it continues long after the audience and the hero, and eventually the in-universe public, find out about it, meaning he can be examined in a similar way to superheroes who struggle with these issues. Basically there are three Norman Osborns- the first two is the angry, embittered, insecure and crooked businessman from the 1960's; the second is the AxCrazy, [[TheUnfettered unfettered]], MadBomber Green Goblin alter-ego; the third is the [[SmugSnake smug]], confident, monstrous [[CorruptCorporateExecutive billionaire industrialist]] and [[DiabolicalMastermind diabolical]] [[EvilGenius genius]] that blends the two personalities after he came BackFromTheDead in the 1990's. The division between the three is blurred by Osborn's untreated mental illnesses like his schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and during ''Dark Reign'' the third Osborn was in the middle of a VillainousBSOD that seems to be the Goblin re-emerging, though whether the Goblin has [[TookALevelInBadass Taken A Level In Badass]] like Norman remains to be seen. Whether or not any or all of these different sides to Norman constitute SplitPersonality or are just a result of Norman being an extremely unstable MoodSwinger who suffers from delusions and hallucinations is DependingOnTheWriter.
* SelfMadeMan: He comes from a rich family, but his father squandered their fortune, forcing Norman to build it back up himself.
* SlasherSmile: Wears one of these quite often as the Green Goblin.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: Not so much in recent stories but until Gwen Stacy's death and Goblin's belated resurrection, Green Goblin appeared in fewer stories than other prominent Spider-Man villains, yet his major appearances were the most tense and impactful whether becoming the first villain to discover Spider-Man's identity or later killing Gwen Stacy. He appeared in four stories in the early Steve Ditko run, but for the vast majority he suffered EasyAmnesia. Aside from one relapse, the famous issue where Harry Osborn took drugs, the Goblin was dormant till Gwen Stacy's death after which the character was retired for 20 years before returning during ''ComicBook/TheCloneSaga''. Osborn's role became even more prominent in the 21st Century, following Creator/WillemDafoe's performance in the successful Spider-Man movie.
* 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}}.
* SnarkToSnarkCombat:
** Whenever he and Spider-Man throw it down, they trade just as many insults as they do punches.
** Osborn's duel with the Hobgoblin in ''Goblin Nation'' began with him calling the latter a ripoff and them insulting each other over the absurd number of [[LegacyCharacter people who've worn their costumes]].
* SoProudOfYou: When he discovered his HealingFactor, Norman's first instinct was to raid one of his supply caches for his gear so that he could ambush Spider-Man right away, but when he saw that Harry had taken up his old persona to avenge him, he decided to forestall his retribution as he was impressed by what he perceived to be his son's newfound grit.
* TheSocialDarwinist: Mostly seen in his Dark Reign and Thunderbolts days.
* TheSociopath: Both Norman and the Goblin are remorseless murderers willing to kill a teenage girl to mess with their enemy, but Norman is better at hiding it. That's not the least of what he's done, either.
* StuffedInTheFridge: The classic example; the Goblin's killing of Gwen Stacy.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Is it Osborn, Osbourne, or Osborne? Media outlets don't seem to care, and even Marvel gets them mixed up on occasion, although the correct spelling is Osborn. Osborn''e'' (with an E at the end, and no U) is the ''ComicBook/{{Marvel 1602}}'' version of him.
* SplitPersonality: As his psychosis progressed he developed two personalities: the pragmatic [[CorruptCorporateExecutive businessman]] Norman Osborn and the theatrical maniac Green Goblin. At times the two seem to [[SplitPersonalityMerge share control]], but they just as often fight over who is in the driver's seat.
* SplitPersonalityTakeover:
** Throughout ''Thunderbolts'' and ''Dark Reign'' it was not a question of ''if'' the Green Goblin persona would take over Osborn, but ''when'' - helped along by the fact that his [[TheStarscream underlings kept sabotaging his anti-psychotic medication]]. The Goblin persona won out a couple of times, most importantly just before Iron Man KO'd him.
** In some versions, notably the film and the 90's animated series, Norman is a relatively stable, friendly (if slightly stressed out) figure who is tormented by his alter-ego. In both these cases, the Goblin personality eventually takes over for good.
** In the original comics written by Creator/StanLee, Creator/SteveDitko, and John Romita, Osborn was depicted as crooked, willing to frame his business partner for theft and have him arrested, but not sadistic and malicious the way he was later {{Retcon}}ned to be. It was only when his suppressed second personality and memory took over that he became the Green Goblin again. The problem for Spider-Man in their battles became how to defeat the Goblin without hurting him too badly or revealing Spidey's secret identity.
* StatusQuoIsGod: No matter what Osborn gets himself into, he always comes back as the Green Goblin. Even as the Iron Pariot, it was revealed that he was working on upgraded Goblin Gear such as bat-like wings and a flaming sword - both of which were stolen by Phil Ulrich, who became the Hobgoblin - in anticipation of a comeback.
* SuperpowerMeltdown: The messy result of his attempt to become a Super-Adaptoid.
* SuperpoweredEvilSide: Subverted. Played straight in the early stories when he got amnesia and lost his powers, but now his powers are permanent regardless of who is in control (though the Goblin has not actually been in control since he came back - although it succeeds in re-emerging just before Norman's defeat in ''Siege''). [[spoiler:It was in control for his entire run as the Goblin King in Superior Spider-Man, but seems to be gone for the time being with him being given a {{depower}}.]] More recently still, Norman has decided that [[spoiler:he wants his Superpowered Evil Side back after all.]]
* SuperIntelligence: Downplayed. The Goblin Serum was originally designed to be an intelligence booster. Too bad insanity comes with it.
* SuperStrength: Thanks to the Goblin Serum. Not quite as high as Spider-Man or Hobgoblin, but still strong enough to go blow-for-blow with either of them.
* TheSymbiote: He steals the ComicBook/{{Carnage}} symbiote when it's separated from Cletus Kasady and uses it to become the Red Goblin.
* TautologicalTemplar: Is willing to murder his own son for ratings... all for the Greater Good, of course. If he hadn't spent the last 50 odd years being a MadBomber and DiabolicalMastermind who shamelessly gloated about his selfish quest for money and power, and had an obsessive and homicidal grudge against a [[Franchise/SpiderMan well known superhero]] that extended to [[AndYourLittleDogToo everyone who shook the hero's hand]] because said hero didn't let Osborn ''murder'' him years ago so Osborn could get enough street cred to become the dominant crime lord of New York City...[[SarcasmMode you'd almost be inclined to believe him.]] During Comicbook/DarkReign, he does things like turn Bruce Banner back into the Hulk and recruit a crew of dangerous "evil" mutants....because this is what is needed to stay in power so he can keep people safe from the likes of the Hulk and "the mutants."
* ThrowDownTheBomblet: His signature pumpkin bombs are jack o'lantern-themed grenades.
* TookALevelInBadass: He is several magnitudes more dangerous, calculating and [[TookALevelInJerkass sadistic]] than he was in his early appearances since he came BackFromTheDead. The main reason for this is that though ''Osborn'' survived being HoistByHisOwnPetard back in the 1970's, [[SplitPersonality The Goblin]] seems to have been largely suppressed. The result though was that Norman retained his memories as the Goblin for once and evolved into a much more rational psychopath who was able to take advantage of his considerable strength, intelligence and resources, and since he decided that EvilTastesGood he now frequently [[KickTheDog Kicks The Dog]] ForTheEvulz. While forming the New Dark Avengers, he went to HYDRA to take part in their super-adaptoid program. He then goaded Luke Cage into attacking him, stole his super-strength, and then threw him out to sea.
* TookALevelInKindness: During the Lee-Romita era, the Norman part of him while burdened by amnesia and dreams, actually does try to be a decent Dad to Harry and has noble qualities. That part of him died with Gwen Stacy and he's been horrible since then.
* TheTrickster: Another thing he has in common with Spider-Man. Like the Joker, he's a violent version. A FalseFriend, a malingerer, a gaslighter, and a manipulative mastermind who flouts many social, personal, and political norms. He's also a MasterOfDisguise, someone who has taken multiple identities many times, and is known for being quite unpredictable.
* UngratefulBastard: In ''ComicBook/SinsRising'', Spider-Man helped save Norman's life from the Sin-Eater, who at the time possessed the power of the Juggernaut. In return, Norman still tries to kill Peter as soon as he sees an opportunity.
* VillainBall: He's a brilliant criminal mastermind and scientist who transforms into a cartoonishly homicidal berserker whenever the subject of his arch-nemesis is brought up suddenly or if Peter himself is within murdering distance.
* VillainousBreakdown: Osborn's veneer of civility can only withstand so much, for so long.
* VillainousFriendship: A SubvertedTrope. During Dark Reign, Norman thinks he can establish these - at least on the level of "professional courtesy" - with the likes of the Loki, Namor, and Doctor Doom, but all of them end up betraying him for their own ends. PlayedStraight with the Void, of all entities which probably says a lot about Norman. He also gets along well enough with the Red Skull the one time they work together.
* VillainousLegacy: He had this role for decades after he "died". He had killed Franchise/SpiderMan's girlfriend and created a [[LegacyCharacter supervillain legacy]] that not only included his own son, but several goblin-based villains that plagued Spidey for years. Of course, since DeathIsCheap, Osborn is back these days.
* VillainsOutShopping: One issue showed him attending the Bar With No Name chatting with some fellow Spider-Man villains about their recent brushes with the wallcrawler., only revealing his true identity when, after being asked how he knows Spider-Man, he cheerfully announces [[ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied he killed his girlfriend.]]
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Most of the time he presents himself as an ordinary citizen and businessman. Was arrested for crimes as Green Goblin and revealed to be a super-villain. Became popular again in Dark Reign. Even after being exposed for his villainy after the Dark Reign, he still managed to stir up public support with his charisma and publicity skills when he began a smear campaign against the Avengers.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: [[ComicBook/UltimateMarvel Ultimate Goblin]] can revert between human form and a hulking ogre-like monster.
* WeCanRuleTogether: To Spidey, mainly in Raimi's movie but briefly in the comics.
* 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.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: In ''Comicbook/DarkReign''. Or rather, he ''implied'' he was one of these.
* WhyAreYouNotMySon: He's obsessed with Peter Parker and views him as a more suitable successor and protege than his own son. During his more extreme "I need an heir!" moments, he's tried to ask Peter to become his son even after he finds out Peter is Spider-Man. [[YoureInsane Peter's response is usually the same.]]
* WolverinePublicity: Osborn getting upgraded from Spider-Man rogue (albeit, not just ''any'' rogue, but most hated ArchEnemy) to general Franchise/MarvelUniverse BigBad came about partially because of Marvel wanting to capitalize on Creator/WillemDafoe's acclaimed performance in ''Film/SpiderMan1'', which in turn brought the character to a whole new level of mainstream recognition than he had before.
* WouldHurtAChild: In Fantastic Four: Dark Reign #4, Mr. Fantastic and Susan Storm's kids, Franklin and Valeria, try to hold off Osborn from inspecting the FF building and shutting the FF down while the FF are lost in time and space. What does Osborn do? He ''takes out his gun, and shoots straight at the kids without any hesitation.'' Thankfully, the whole FF gets back just in time to save their kids, and kick Osborn out.
* YellowEyesOfSneakiness: His Goblin mask is usually drawn with yellow sclera, if not solid yellow eyes, emphasizing his maniacal personality. The Raimi movies replaced this with golden yellow lenses which made him look demonic especially in the scene where he attacks Aunt May.
* YouFightLikeACow: The version from the Silver Age of Marvel comics from the 1960s and 70s and most animated versions have the tendency to crack sadistic jokes.
----

!!Examples:

* DependingOnTheWriter: Creator/MarkMillar's version of the character is noticeably smarter -- bordering on OmnidisciplinaryScientist -- compared to most other takes on the character. In some versions, notably the film and animated series, he is almost more of a JekyllAndHyde figure, the Norman side being a well-meaning but stressed businessman who is taken over or lead by the Goblin persona. In other stories Norman is worse than is goblin persona and an outright HateSink all on his own.

* BoardToDeath: He often did this adventures as the Green Goblin. Often telling them his plan in an dramatic fashion, before killing them to keep his plan contained.

** Trying to hurt Jessica Jones resulted in her husband, the NighInvulnerable Luke Cage coming after him, crusing his car, no-selling his bombs before punching him out.

* {{Jerkass}}: As if 90% of the tropes aren’t you enough to tell you. Norman is selfish, greedy, callous, and every bit as conceited.

* [[AbusiveParent Abusive Father]]: