Green Goblin

The Green Goblin is an American villain living in New York City. He is known for his fantastical green attire and rocket-powered glider.

Biography

In mid-1964, the Green Goblin aligned himself with the Enforcers and devised a plan that he believed would make him a world-renowned leader of crime. He connected the hero Spider-Man to a movie producer and constructed the conception of a film project about Spider-Man himself. All of this was a ploy to get Spider-Man out to the remote desert of New Mexico, where Goblin and the Enforcers ambushed him away from the film crew under the pretense of rehearsal. The agile Spider-Man led them into a cave, where the monstrous Hulk was brought out of hiding. Hulk scared off all of them, forcing Goblin to retreat and leave the Enforcers behind. The Goblin returned home to New York City a few months later and set to work upgrading his approach for his next battle with Spider-Man. Goblin was determined to beat Spider-Man simply for its own sake. He redesigned his gear, creating some new weaponry and exchanging his rocket-powered broomstick for a sleek glider. He learned in the newspaper of an upcoming meeting of a Spider-Man fan club, where Spider-Man himself was advertised to appear. Goblin crashed the event and began fighting Spider-Man, who made an effort to make the fight look staged so as not to panic the audience. One attendee wasn't fooled however: the Human Torch, who jumped into action. Spider-Man secretly had a number of other things on his mind with regard to his personal life, which greatly hindered his capacity in battle, and he had to jump in and out of it a few times. Eventually he fled altogether, drawing a great deal of ire from his fans. Goblin briefly incapacitated the Torch and fled the scene, declaring himself victorious for having ostensibly defeated two great heroes.

The emboldened Goblin soon became interested in taking over New York's criminal underworld. He began using intimidation tactics on Lucky Lobo, a major crime boss in the city. He struck a deal with one of Lobo's underlings, obtaining a list of Lobo's untaxed holdings. He delivered this information to Frederick Foswell of the Daily Bugle, and the Bugle soon notified the police, who began raiding Lobo's businesses. Spider-Man became suspicious of what Goblin was doing, and trailed him to Lobo's hideout. Goblin lured Spider-Man into a fight with Lobo and his men, but Spider-Man won and learned what Goblin was up to. He pursued him once more and the two fought, but Goblin was able to use his glider to flee Spider-Man's grasp. In the end, Lobo's entire gang was arrested, leaving no gang for him to take over.

Power struggle with Crime Master

Goblin didn't give up his pursuit of dominion over the criminal underworld, however. He met a man known as the Crime Master who agreed to work with him to bring the two of them to the top of New York's crime scene. Goblin was so invested in this partnership that he even revealed his true identity to the Crime Master, and his would-be accomplice—established mobster Nick "Lucky" Lewis, responded in kind. Eventually, though, Crime Master's thirst for power outgrew his desire for partnership, and he called it off during a meeting between the two on a pier at night. Since both men knew the other's identity, Goblin could do little to stop Crime Master without endangering himself. Over the next several days, Crime Master violently asserted his dominion over the New York underworld, and called an assembly of the top crime bosses in the city at a pier on the west side. Goblin went to this meeting, and happened across an unaware Spider-Man on the way, who was apparently also looking to observe the meeting. Goblin caught the hero off-guard, knocking him out with his glider and stun bomb. He tried to unmask him, but found that his mask was tightly sealed to the rest of his costume. Nonetheless, he brought Spider-Man's unconscious body to the meeting, dumping him at Crime Master's feet in front of a large crowd of mobsters and declaring himself New York's true crime lord.

The criminals in attendance immediately turned to Goblin's side (much to Crime Master's chagrin), and they bound Spider-Man in chains. Their celebration was cut short when Spider-Man broke free and fought back, and was soon joined by the police, who were tipped off by an informant in attendance. Goblin fled via his glider while Spider-Man chased Crime Master through the sewers. Lucky Lewis was eventually killed by police, and died without managing to reveal Goblin's identity. Upset at once again being foiled by Spider-Man, Goblin decided to lay low for a while and lull Spider-Man into a false sense of security before his triumphant return.

See also

• Green Goblin (Earth-1610)