The Green Goblin

The first issue having Green Goblin

The Green Goblin is a supervillain who appears in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, and first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #14 (July 1964). At this time his identity was unknown, but he proved popular and reappeared in later issues, which made a point of his secret identity. Although many characters have taken up this identity, Norman Osborn is the original and most well-known Green Goblin.

Osborn was originally an amoral industrialist head of Oscorp and father of Spider-Man's best friend, Harry Osborn, who took a serum which enhanced his physical abilities and intellect but also drove him to insanity. He adopted a Halloween-themed appearance, dressing in a goblin costume, riding on a bat-shaped Goblin Glider, and using an arsenal of high-tech weapons, notably grenade-like Pumpkin Bombs, to terrorize New York City.

The issue covering the death of
Gwen Stacy

The Green Goblin is one of Spider-Man's most persistent foes, and many consider him to be one of the archenemies of Spider-Man, being responsible for numerous tragedies in Spider-Man's life, such as the death of his girlfriend Gwen Stacy. After the Green Goblin killed Gwen Stacy, writer Gerry Conway decided that the Goblin had to pay a heavy price. Osborn accidentally caused his own death in the course of a fight against Spider-Man. Others, such as Harry Osborn, later adopted the Green Goblin identity, and writer Roger Stern later introduced the Hobgoblin to replace the Green Goblin as Spider-Man's archenemy.

The Green Goblin is armed with a variety of bizarre devices. He travels on his bat-shaped Goblin Glider, an incredibly fast and maneuverable rocket glider equipped with various armaments. Other weapons the Goblin uses include incendiary Pumpkin Bombs, smoke and gas-emitting grenades resembling ghosts and jack-'o'-lanterns, razor-edged boomerang-like throwing weapons, resembling bats, and gloves woven with micro-circuited filaments which channel pulsed discharges of electricity at nearly 10,000 volts. He wears a green costume underneath bulletproof chainmail with an overlapping purple tunic. His mask has a built-in gas filter to keep him safe from his own gasses.