Norman Osborn (Sam Raimi film series)

The original animatronic headgear for the Green Goblin was created by Amalgamated Dynamics

During development of what would eventually become Spider-Man (2002), David Koepp's rewrites of James Cameron's original script had the Green Goblin as the main antagonist and added Doctor Octopus as the secondary antagonist.[1] Incoming director Sam Raimi felt the Green Goblin and the surrogate father-son theme between Norman Osborn and Peter Parker, influenced by the Ultimate Marvel version of the character, would be more interesting, thus, he dropped Doctor Octopus from the film.[2] In June 2000, Columbia Pictures hired Scott Rosenberg to rewrite Koepp's material. Willem Dafoe was cast for the role of Norman Osborn in November 2000.[3] Nicolas Cage (who would later voice Spider-Man Noir in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), Jason Issacs, John Malkovich, and Jim Carrey turned down the role.[4][5] Dafoe insisted on wearing the uncomfortable costume as he felt that a stuntman would not convey the character's necessary body language. The 580-piece suit took half an hour to put on.[6]

Dafoe later called his role as the Green Goblin one of his favorites throughout his career, having enjoyed playing the unhinged character particularly due to his dual personalities, and balancing between a dramatic and comedic performance. In particular, he enjoyed the mirror scene in which Norman Osborn discovers and converses with the Green Goblin persona after murdering the Oscorp board of directors. Sam Raimi had given Dafoe a copy of Jekyll and Hyde to prepare for the scene, which was filmed in one take multiple times before Raimi decided to split it.[7][8]

To prevent his involvement in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) from leaking and preserve the film's secrecy, Dafoe was required to walk around the set with a cloak covering his costume. Peter Parker / Spider-Man actor Tom Holland first met Dafoe when he accidentally bumped into Dafoe during filming, reacting surprised upon seeing who the cloaked actor was.[9]

Before settling on the look used in the film, the original headgear created for the Green Goblin was an animatronic mask created by Amalgamated Dynamics. The design was much more faithful to the comics than the finished product, and allowed for a full range of emotions to be expressed by the wearer. Ultimately, the mask was scrapped before an actor was chosen to play the Green Goblin, and a static, military-grade helmet was produced for the film instead, due to the animatronic concept being deemed "too creepy" by studio executives and due to technical difficulties and constraints.[10][11][12]

After hearing his colleague Dr. Mendel Stromm reveal to the military officials overseeing the project that some of the test subjects have gone insane, Osborn is threatened with a tight deadline, and experiments on himself. The process ends up developing an alternate, crazed personality of Osborn, and he kills Stromm. The military decides to give the super-soldier contract to another company, Quest Aerospace, and in revenge, a crazed Osborn, under the influence of the new Goblin persona, steals an Oscorp suit and glider, killing several high-ranking military officers and Quest scientists present at the test. Although Quest Aerospace's prototype is destroyed, the company decides to expand and, in doing so, assumes control of Oscorp on the condition that Osborn steps down as CEO. The Goblin kills Oscorp's board of directors during a festival in Times Square, thus removing the last threat to his control of Oscorp, and inadvertently almost killing Mary Jane Watson and meets Spider-Man.

The Goblin leads an attack at the Daily Bugle editor-in-chief J. Jonah Jameson, who has dubbed his crazed split personality as the "Green Goblin", for who takes pictures of Spider-Man. The Goblin offers Spider-Man a partnership and belittles his choice to become a hero, warning that eventually, the city will turn against him. The Goblin baits Spider-Man to a burning apartment, and demands Spider-Man's choice, to which the latter refuses to work with him. After deducing Spider-Man is Peter Parker, Osborn attacks and hospitalizes Parker's aunt May, and later kidnaps Mary Jane thanks to his son, Harry. The Goblin makes Spider-Man choose between saving Mary Jane and a Roosevelt Island Tramway car full of children, but Parker saves both. The Goblin brutally beats Spider-Man, threatening to make Mary Jane's death "nice and slow", but an enraged Parker brutally counterattacks the Goblin. The Goblin briefly reverts back to Norman and takes off his mask to reveal himself to Parker, begging for forgiveness, and stating that Parker was like a son to him. After Parker retorts that his true father is Ben Parker, the Goblin persona takes over Norman again and attempts to impale Parker with his bladed glider, but the latter senses the attack coming and dodges, allowing the glider to instead fatally stab Osborn, whose last words are a request for Parker to not tell Harry.

Two years later, Harry discovers Parker is Spider-Man, and meets Osborn, now a living hallucination. Osborn states that Harry should avenge him, while Harry is reluctant to kill his best friend. Harry shatters the mirror, and discovers a hidden lair containing Green Goblin equipment and technology.

One year later, Harry becomes the "New Goblin" in honor of Osborn's legacy. Osborn's presence appears after Harry recovers his memories after his first encounter with Parker, reminding Harry to avenge him and to go after Parker's heart. However, Harry eventually finds out the truth about his father's death and gives up his vendetta against Parker, helping him in a battle against Flint Marko / Sandman and Eddie Brock / Venom and giving his own life to save his friend.

In a different universe, J. Jonah Jameson who is the executive reporter for TheDailyBugle.net is provided a doctored video exposing Spider-Man's identity as Peter Parker by an anonymous former working associate of Mysterio, prompting him to broadcast it to the entire world. Jameson frames Parker for the attack on London and the murder of Mysterio. After being proven innocent months later, Parker goes to the Sanctum Sanctorum and convinces the sorcerer Doctor Stephen Strange to cast a spell and restore Parker's secret identity. Strange's attempt to cast the spell to do this is interrupted by Peter's hesitation, initially going awry and breaking open the multiverse. This accidentally transports Osborn to this alternate dimension, saving him mere seconds before being impaled by his glider. Unbeknownst to Osborn, others from their own respective universes were also transported including Eddie Brock, Curt Connors, Max Dillon, Flint Marko, Otto Octavius, Eddie Brock and two versions of Peter Parker. Almost immediately imprisoned in a magical cube called the Seal of Vishanti by Doctor Strange, alongside the other villains pulled from across dimensions [14][15] He eventually kills the Aunt May of this universe and is later defeated in battle by its Peter Parker. However, the Goblin's own Peter Parker stops the alternate Peter from killing him. Instead, Peter injects the Goblin with a cure that he has developed, turning the Green Goblin back into a remorseful Norman Osborne. At Peter's request, Strange subsequently fixes his spell and sends the other Spider-Mans and their villains back to their own universes.

This version of Norman Osborn is mentioned in Spider-Man: The New Animated Series, a CGI-animated television series which serves as a loose alternate continuation of the first Spider-Man film. As in the films, Harry holds a grudge against Spider-Man for his father's death, and is not aware of Norman's criminal activities as the Green Goblin.

• Norman Osborn/Green Goblin appears in the video game adaptation of the 2002 film, with Willem Dafoe reprising his role in a vocal capacity, making him and Tobey Maguire the only two actors from the film to do so.
• This version of Norman Osborn appears in his Green Goblin persona in the 2007 game Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, voiced by Roger L. Jackson. In this alternative timeline where all the villains from the Spider-Man films survived their supposed deaths, the Goblin is present during their attempt to kill Spider-Man in the game's opening cutscene. Harry is also present and assists Spider-Man as the New Goblin, not acknowledging that his father is among the villains at any point. After the battle, the group is attacked by a swarm of P.H.A.N.T.O.M.s, and the villains, including the Goblin, are suddenly teleported elsewhere while Spider-Man is rescued by S.H.I.E.L.D. The Goblin is then brainwashed by the villainous mastermind behind the P.H.A.N.T.O.M.s and sent to Tokyo to retrieve one of the meteor shard used to create the P.H.A.N.T.O.M.s. There, the player fights him on top of the city's Oscorp tower, and Spider-Man destroys his mind-controlling amulet, restoring his free will. Afterward, the Goblin, seeking revenge on whoever brainwashed him, reluctantly joins forces with Spider-Man, and becomes a playable character for the remainder of the game.

A shot of Norman chasing down Spider-Man became a popular Internet meme in 2020.[26]