Norman's intelligence and ambition carried him into science and business. He became a gifted chemist and engineer, eventually co-founding a powerful chemical and technological company with Professor Mendel Stromm. The firm became the foundation of what would later be known as Oscorp. Although Stromm was a brilliant scientist, Norman was the more ruthless businessman. When he discovered that Stromm had diverted company funds for personal use, Norman used the opportunity to remove him from the company entirely. Stromm was arrested and imprisoned, leaving Osborn in sole control.

While reviewing Stromm's notes, Norman discovered an experimental formula designed to increase human strength and intelligence. Driven by greed and ambition, he attempted to reproduce the formula himself. The experiment exploded, exposing Norman directly to the chemical mixture. He survived, but the formula altered him permanently. It enhanced his strength, speed, durability, reflexes, healing, and already formidable intellect. It also fractured his sanity.

Norman's darker impulses gained new life after the accident. He fashioned a terrifying identity inspired by the green chemical that had transformed him and became the Green Goblin. Using Oscorp resources and his own genius, he created the Goblin Glider, pumpkin bombs, razor bats, electrical weapons, chemical gases, and other devices designed to terrorize opponents as much as destroy them.

From the beginning, the Green Goblin wanted more than money. He wanted fear, reputation, and domination. His earliest schemes revolved around killing Spider-Man to establish himself as a major figure in the criminal underworld. He hired the Enforcers, manipulated film producer B.J. Cosmos into luring Spider-Man to a remote movie set, and repeatedly attempted to destroy the hero while building his own criminal reputation.

The Goblin next attempted to organize New York's independent crime gangs under his rule. He clashed with the Lucky Lobo gang, the Crime-Master, and rival underworld factions while continuing his obsession with Spider-Man. Unlike many criminals who saw Spider-Man as an obstacle, Norman increasingly viewed him as the one opponent whose defeat would prove his own greatness.

Norman eventually achieved what few enemies had managed: he discovered Spider-Man's secret identity. After exposing Spider-Man to a gas that temporarily weakened his spider-sense, the Goblin secretly followed him and learned that his enemy was Peter Parker, the college student who was also the best friend of Norman's son, Harry Osborn. Norman captured Peter and revealed his own identity, transforming their conflict from a superhero rivalry into a deeply personal war.

The battle that followed ended when Norman was struck by electrical discharge and chemical exposure, suppressing his Goblin memories. Peter chose not to expose him, partly to spare Harry and partly because Norman seemed unaware of his crimes. This decision began a dangerous cycle in which Norman's Goblin persona repeatedly resurfaced, only to be temporarily buried again.

Norman's hatred eventually produced one of the greatest tragedies in Spider-Man's life. After another relapse, he kidnapped Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker's girlfriend, and carried her to the George Washington Bridge. There he threw her from the bridge. Spider-Man caught her with a webline, but the fall had already killed her. Gwen's death shattered Peter and forever marked the Green Goblin as his most personal enemy.

In the battle that followed, Norman appeared to die when his own Goblin Glider impaled him. For years, the world believed the Green Goblin was dead. Unknown to everyone, the Goblin Formula's regenerative properties allowed Norman to survive. He secretly escaped to Europe, where he recovered and built a hidden criminal empire while letting the world believe he had perished.

During Norman's absence, Harry Osborn inherited the Green Goblin legacy. Harry's own instability, drug addiction, grief, and desire for revenge eventually drove him to become another Goblin. Harry's death further twisted Norman's hatred of Spider-Man. Rather than accept responsibility for the devastation he had caused his family, Norman blamed Peter.

Norman eventually returned as the mastermind behind the Clone Saga. From the shadows, he manipulated Peter Parker, Ben Reilly, and others in an elaborate attempt to destroy Spider-Man's identity and sanity. He convinced Peter that he might be the clone and Ben the original, destabilizing Peter's entire sense of self. The plot culminated in Ben Reilly's death and Norman's shocking revelation that he had been alive for years.

Following his return, Norman continued manipulating Peter's life while also rebuilding his public and corporate power. He participated in the Gathering of Five, hoping to obtain immense power. Instead, the ritual worsened his madness. Even so, Norman remained dangerous because his insanity never reduced his intelligence, resources, or capacity for long-term planning.

Norman's ambitions eventually expanded beyond Spider-Man. During the superhero Civil War, he became involved with government-sanctioned superhuman operations and was placed in charge of the Thunderbolts. Under his command, the team became a weaponized instrument of state power, staffed by unstable criminals and manipulated for Norman's personal advantage.

During the Skrull invasion, Norman killed the Skrull Queen Veranke in full view of the world. The act transformed him overnight from disgraced criminal to public hero. Seizing the opportunity, he positioned himself as the new face of national security and became director of H.A.M.M.E.R., the organization that replaced S.H.I.E.L.D.

Norman used H.A.M.M.E.R. to reshape the world in his image. He created the Dark Avengers, placing villains in heroic identities and presenting them to the public as protectors. Wearing stolen Iron Man-derived armor, Norman became the Iron Patriot, a symbol designed to combine the reputations of Iron Man and Captain America while hiding the Green Goblin beneath patriotic imagery.

During the Dark Reign era, Norman became one of the most powerful people on Earth. He formed the Cabal with figures such as Doctor Doom, Loki, Namor, Emma Frost, and the Hood. For a time, he controlled global superhuman policy, manipulated the media, commanded armies, and turned former villains into state-approved enforcers. His rise proved that Norman Osborn did not need a mask to be terrifying.

His downfall came during the Siege of Asgard. Increasingly unstable and manipulated by Loki, Norman launched an unauthorized assault against Asgard. The attack exposed his madness to the world. When his armor was damaged, the green-painted Goblin face beneath became visible, symbolically revealing that the Green Goblin had been present all along. The Avengers defeated him, ending his control of H.A.M.M.E.R. and the Dark Avengers.

Even after imprisonment, Norman remained a threat. He escaped, rebuilt alliances, and continued searching for ways to reclaim power. At different points he attempted to operate without the Goblin Formula, acquired new sources of power, manipulated A.I.M., and fought the Avengers again. His ability to recover from defeat became one of his most dangerous traits.

During the Superior Spider-Man era, while Doctor Octopus inhabited Peter Parker's body, Norman rebuilt his criminal empire in secret as the Goblin King. He united Goblin-themed criminals, infiltrated New York's infrastructure, and formed the Goblin Nation. His campaign nearly destroyed everything Otto Octavius had built as Spider-Man and forced Peter Parker's eventual return to reclaim his life and identity.

Norman later sought to restore the Green Goblin's full power and menace. His most monstrous transformation came when he bonded with the Carnage symbiote, becoming the Red Goblin. By combining his own Goblin Formula-enhanced body with the Carnage symbiote, Norman became immune to several of the symbiote's traditional weaknesses and gained terrifying new powers. As the Red Goblin, he targeted Peter Parker's loved ones with renewed savagery and nearly destroyed Spider-Man's family.

Norman was eventually separated from the Carnage symbiote, but the scars of that period remained. His grandson Normie Osborn later became connected to the symbiote legacy as well, proving that Norman's sins continued to endanger future generations of his family.

In later years, Norman underwent a strange and unexpected change when his sins were mystically removed. Freed from the full weight of the Green Goblin's corruption, Norman attempted to become a better man. He supported Peter Parker, worked to repair some of the damage he had caused, and even operated as the heroic Gold Goblin. This period did not erase his crimes, but it complicated his legacy by showing that part of Norman was capable of remorse when separated from the worst parts of his soul.

Despite his attempts at redemption, Norman's history could not be easily escaped. His past crimes, the damage done to the Osborn family, and his role in Gwen Stacy's death ensured that trust would never come easily. Even when he tried to help, those around him had every reason to fear that the Green Goblin might return.

Norman Osborn remains one of the most important villains in Spider-Man's life because he attacks not only Spider-Man's body but Peter Parker's heart, identity, family, and hope. He has been a corporate predator, a murderer, a father, a madman, a government director, a false hero, a symbiote monster, and a would-be redeemer. Beneath every role lies the same central tragedy: a brilliant man who mistook power for worth and destroyed nearly everything he touched in pursuit of it.

• Apparent death of Green Goblin (Amazing Spider-Man #122, 1973)
• Legacy of the Goblin passes to Harry Osborn (Amazing Spider-Man #136–137, 1974)
• Secret survival later revealed (Spider-Man #75, 1996)
• Mastermind of the Clone Saga (Spider-Man #75, 1996)
• Death of Ben Reilly (Spider-Man #75, 1996)
• Gathering of Five (Amazing Spider-Man #440–441, 1998)
• Final Chapter conflict with Spider-Man (Amazing Spider-Man #441; Peter Parker: Spider-Man #98, 1998)
• Marvel Knights Spider-Man conspiracy (Marvel Knights Spider-Man #1–12, 2004–2005)
• Thunderbolts leadership begins (Thunderbolts #110, 2007)
• Attempts to capture Spider-Man during Civil War fallout (Thunderbolts #110–121, 2007–2008)
• Kills Skrull Queen Veranke (Secret Invasion #8, 2008)
• Appointed director of H.A.M.M.E.R. (Dark Avengers #1, 2009)
• Forms the Dark Avengers as Iron Patriot (Dark Avengers #1, 2009)
• Creates the Cabal during Dark Reign (Dark Reign: The Cabal #1, 2009)
• Dark Reign over superhuman affairs (Dark Avengers #1–16, 2009–2010)
• Siege of Asgard and fall from power (Siege #1–4, 2010)
• Returns with new Dark Avengers (New Avengers Vol. 2 #16.1–23, 2011–2012)
• Goblin King rises during Superior Spider-Man era (Superior Spider-Man #10–30, 2013–2014)
• Goblin Nation takeover attempt (Superior Spider-Man #27–31, 2014)
• Restores his face and identity after Goblin Nation (Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 3 #1, 2014)
• International schemes after Goblin Nation (Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 4 #25–28, 2017)
• Bonds with Carnage symbiote as Red Goblin (Amazing Spider-Man #794–800, 2018)
• Red Goblin attacks Spider-Man's family (Amazing Spider-Man #797–800, 2018)
• Normie Osborn drawn into Red Goblin legacy (Red Goblin, 2023)
• Norman's sins removed, beginning redemption attempt (Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 5, 2020–2021)
• Operates as Gold Goblin (Gold Goblin #1–5, 2022–2023)
• Continued involvement in Spider-Man's life during modern era (Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 6, 2022–2025)
• Featured in Bring on the Bad Guys: Green Goblin (Bring on the Bad Guys: Green Goblin #1, 2025)