10 Things Marvel Wants You To Forget About Green Goblin
8. He's Kind Of Spider-Man's Joker
Marvel/DC
The Green Goblin might be a fantastic character, but it's fair to say he shares more than a little in common with DC's Clown Prince of Crime, the Joker. Yes, Goblin has managed to distinguish himself from the clowning prankster in more ways than one since his debut, but the comparisons are there for all to see.
First, there's the pair's appearance. Both characters boast a green and purple aesthetic that harkens back to the court jesters of old, while Goblin's mask itself looks remarkably similar to the Joker's own face. That's kind of unavoidable, given the pointed features of most goblins, but when you take that into account along with the shared colour-scheme and that uncontrollable propensity to laugh, and it's only natural that people would draw comparisons between them.
The actual truth of the matter is that the Green Goblin is remarkably different to the Joker, and shares a markedly different relationship with his adversary than the Clown Prince does with Batman. However, both serve a very similar purpose - to introduce a little bit of anarchy into an otherwise predictable back-and-forth between hero and villain.
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.
