10 Comic Book Supervillains Who Created Their Own Worst Enemy

7. Ultimate Green Goblin And Spider-Man

Ultimate Spider-Man Green Goblin
Marvel Comics

Brian Michael Bendis' Ultimate Spider-Man is one of the greatest comic book runs of all time, and my personal favourite Spidey series ever.

Joined by artist Mark Bagley and then Stuart Immonen and Sara Pichelli, Bendis was tasked with bringing the Lee-Ditko character into the 21st century, modernising aspects of the web-slinger's mythology both narratively and visually.

Among the more compelling changes made for Spidey's Ultimate makeover was Norman Osborn. Depicted as a costumed crook with enhanced abilities in the traditional 616 canon, the Green Goblin of Earth-1610 was a hulking monstrosity - a truly terrifying prospect for the young Peter Parker to come up against.

The other interesting wrinkle with the Ultimate incarnation of these characters is that the Spider that gives Peter his powers is directly tied to Oscorp's research. Peter is bitten by a genetically modified arachnid containing the OZ compound, a mutagen developed by Osborn intended to create super-soldiers for S.H.I.E.L.D.

Seeing the results of the drug on Peter, Norman then injects himself with the compound directly, turning him into the hulking version of the Goblin we all know and fear, and setting them both on a deadly collision course.

Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.