10 Worst Things The Green Goblin Has Done To Spider-Man
3. Unmasking Spider-Man
In the early days of the Green Goblin, his motivations were much simpler run the citys criminal underworld and defeat Spider-Man. That didnt mean his actions were any less nefarious. In the classic Amazing Spider-Man #39, the first issue of the Stan Lee/John Romita Sr. era, the Goblin succeeds in a way that his other villainous contemporaries had failed: he captures Spider-Man and unmasks him, learning his identity. The Goblin also reveals his own identity to Spider-Man during the storyline, creating a unique character dynamic that would continue until Peters secret identity is restored wholesale during the Brand New Day era. Spider-Man defeats his newly unmasked adversary in Amazing Spider-Man #40, but the impacts of his unmasking were far-reaching. Now, that the Green Goblin knew Spideys identity, his mortal enemy was able to strike at him in ways not other villain could. Marvel initially got around the complications such a reveal would cause Spider-Man, by giving Norman bouts of amnesia, but whenever he regained his memory, Osborn would immediately come gunning for Spidey and he knew the fastest path was always by going after somebody close to Peter. Without this one heinous act by the Goblin, it could be argued that none of the other horrible things that were mentioned in this list could have happened. The Goblins unmasking of Spider-Man is that important.
Mark is a professional writer living in Brooklyn and is the founder of the Chasing Amazing Blog, which documents his quest to collect every issue of Amazing Spider-Man, and the Superior Spider-Talk podcast. He also pens the "Gimmick or Good?" column at Comics Should Be Good blog.
In the early days of the Green Goblin, his motivations were much simpler run the citys criminal underworld and defeat Spider-Man. That didnt mean his actions were any less nefarious. In the classic Amazing Spider-Man #39, the first issue of the Stan Lee/John Romita Sr. era, the Goblin succeeds in a way that his other villainous contemporaries had failed: he captures Spider-Man and unmasks him, learning his identity. The Goblin also reveals his own identity to Spider-Man during the storyline, creating a unique character dynamic that would continue until Peters secret identity is restored wholesale during the Brand New Day era. Spider-Man defeats his newly unmasked adversary in Amazing Spider-Man #40, but the impacts of his unmasking were far-reaching. Now, that the Green Goblin knew Spideys identity, his mortal enemy was able to strike at him in ways not other villain could. Marvel initially got around the complications such a reveal would cause Spider-Man, by giving Norman bouts of amnesia, but whenever he regained his memory, Osborn would immediately come gunning for Spidey and he knew the fastest path was always by going after somebody close to Peter. Without this one heinous act by the Goblin, it could be argued that none of the other horrible things that were mentioned in this list could have happened. The Goblins unmasking of Spider-Man is that important.