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Biography

Norman Virgil Osborn is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he debuted in The Amazing Spider-Man #14 (July 1964) as the first and best-known incarnation of the Green Goblin. He has since endured as one of the superhero Spider-Man's most prominent villains and is regarded as one of his three archenemies, alongside Doctor Octopus and Venom. In his comic book appearances, Norman Osborn is depicted as the amoral industrialist head of science conglomerate Oscorp and the father of Harry Osborn, the best friend of Spider-Man's alter ego Peter Parker. Osborn, in part as a reaction to the death of his wife, maintains a cold disposition and is obsessed with attaining as much power as possible. As a result, he treats his son harshly and openly favors Peter for his intellect, leading Harry to often try and compensate. In his origin story, Osborn is exposed to an experimental formula that enhances his physical abilities and intellect, though at the cost of his sanity. As the Goblin, he becomes a criminal mastermind who uses an arsenal of advanced, Halloween-themed equipment, including grenade-like Pumpkin Bombs, razor sharp bats, and a flying Goblin Glider, to terrorize New York City. Osborn has been part of many of Spider-Man's defining stories, most notably "The Night Gwen Stacy Died" and the "Clone Saga". While his primary foe is Spider-Man, Osborn has often come into conflict with Iron Man, Captain America and other superheroes in the Marvel Universe. Although Osborn sometimes works with other supervillains such as Doctor Doom and Loki and groups like the Sinister Six and the Dark Avengers, these relationships often collapse due to his desire for unbridled power. Osborn's largest overarching story came during the line-wide "Dark Reign" and Siege comic book events, in which he served as the main antagonist; during this time, he became the original iteration of Iron Patriot. The character has been in various top villain lists as one of Spider-Man's greatest enemies and one of the greatest comic book villains of all time. The character's popularity has seen him appear on a variety of merchandise, inspire real-world structures (such as theme park attractions) and be referenced in a number of media. He has been adapted to serve as Spider-Man's adversary in live-action, animated, and video game incarnations. Willem Dafoe played the character in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man film trilogy and reprised the role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), while Chris Cooper played the character in the film The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014).