What Happened To Everyone Who Killed Spider-Man?

2. Green Goblin

Ultimate Spider-Man Death
Marvel Comics

What sort of Spider-Man list would be complete without mention of the Green Goblin?

Throughout so many of Peter Parker's most traumatic moments, Norman Osborn has been front-and-centre with the best view in the house. And that was very much the case in the aptly-named Death of Spider-Man arc from the realm of Ultimate Spider-Man.

There, the Ultimate take on Parker died while saving his nearest and dearest, as a collection of injuries tragically took their toll - and leading the charge in all of this was Osborn.

Earlier in that story, Peter had taken a literal bullet for Captain America after Frank Castle had the Sentinel of Liberty in his crosshairs. Then, in this weakened state, Spidey rushed home to protect Aunt May after realising that a Goblin-led group of rogues with nefarious intentions were heading for the Parker residence.

In one of the most hard hitting moments in Marvel Comics history, this battle ends with Spider-Man dying. Like, for real. Going out like the quintessential hero, Peter takes down his rivals - including killing Norman! - protects May, succumbs to his wounds, then gets reunited with Uncle Ben in the afterlife.

Not just was the Green Goblin the cause of Parker's demise here, but The Night of the Goblin was a storyline where Osborn again killed Spidey, fatally impaling him with his patented Goblin Glider. The only catch, though, was that it would be the Ben Reilly clone who would bite the bullet here.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.