10 Iconic Comic Book Moments (That Are Secretly Terrible)

When the Green Goblin first graced the pages of Marvel in Amazing Spider-Man #14 in 1964, readers were immediately intrigued by the masked madman's true identity. After two years of speculation, Spider-Man's arch-nemesis finally pulled off his hooded mask to reveal he was none other than Norman Osborn.

In hindsight, you probably assume it was a huge revelation that this supervillain was actually the father of Peter Parker's best friend, Harry Osborn. In reality, most readers said, "Wait, who?"

This big reveal wasn't the big twist you would expect. In fact, it was quite anti-climatic. Do you know why? Because Norman wasn't seen or named until TWO issues before the Goblin was unmasked! So when the pumpkin-hurling supervillain debuted, readers didn't know Norman existed!

This reveal is also considered a big moment because Norman was the first supervillain to learn of Spider-Man's secret identity. But because he conveniently suffered amnesia in the following issue, he immeditely forgot Peter's masked persona as well as his own. Even though Norman has taken centre stage in some of the most influential Spidey stories, his introduction was mishandled.