Norman Osborn
From Ultimarvel
Real name: Norman Osborn
Aliases: The Goblin, The Green Goblin
Identity: Known to the authorities
Occupation: Former CEO and founder of Osborn Industries (Oscorp), scientist
Legal Status: Criminal
Known Relatives: Harry Osborn (son), unnamed wife (deceased), Cher Osborn (half-sister)
Group Affiliations: The Six
First Appearance: Ultimate Spider-Man 1
Power Origin Classification: Illegal Genetic Mutation
Current Whereabouts: In S.H.I.E.L.D. custody (As of Ultimate Six 7)
[edit] Character History
Norman Osborn was a scientific genius who founded Osborn Industries in 1973. Later called Oscorp, this corporation developed new technology on multiple fronts of the market. When Nick Fury offered government contracts to try to replicate the Super Soldier project, Norman Osborn threw his hat into the ring and began to compete against the wide field of corporations also interested in this massive project. Among Norman's chief rivals was Justin Hammer, who would go as far to place an industrial spy (Otto Octavius) into Osborn Industries to learn form Norman's genius. Norman began work on the Oz compound as his approach to the Super Soldier serum. Norman bolstered false information about the readiness and current status on the Oz project in order to clinch the S.H.I.E.L.D. contract. After Osborn Industries failed to produce results, Nick Fury severed the contract with Norman's company, damaging the public reputation of the research group. This led Norman to declare the compound completed in an attempt to save face, he was then forced to rush the research to provided the chemical as ready for human testing. The development of the Oz compund was so important that Norman became estranged from his wife and son, ignoring them over his work.
Norman began to test the Oz compound on animal subjects. One of the notable was a spider. Shortly after this experiment, the spider escaped containment and then bit a student on a field trip to Osborn Industries labs. This student, Peter Parker of Queens, New York , initially became ill from the introduction of Oz into his system. Norman kept track of the boy and went as far to steal a blood sample from the hospital to cover up Osborn Industries involvement in the kid's failing health. Norman determined that Peter would die from the Oz in his system and arranged for a hit man, Shaw, to eliminate the boy. After a failed assassination attempt where the boy displayed remarkable reflexes, Norman called the hit off and arranged to procure a second blood sample. This sample showed that the effects of Oz had reversed themselves and were physically improving the boy. (Ultimate Spider-Man 1)
Norman took this as a sign. Whereas the Oz compound when injected into a spider and then passed onto a human had produced spider-like powers, Norman believed that if he treated Oz with his DNA and then injected it into himself with enhance him with the traits of himself, making essentially a super-Norman. Osborn proposed this idea to his company and arranged the experiment to test Oz on himself. (Ultimate Spider-Man 2)
During the test, a mishap in the lab caused an explosion with the Oz compound. Otto Octavius was present for this experiment and was put into a coma by the blast. Norman's son Harry was also present and was rendered unconscious. All of the other staff for the event besides Norman were killed. Norman was changed drastically by the explosion. He became infused with the essence of the Oz compound and changed into a monstrous being, a green-skinned, horned abomination standing over seven feet in height. (Ultimate Spider-Man 4)
Initially the newly formed "Goblin" wandered the back alleys in a daze. It then gained purpose and made its way to the Osborn mansion, where it set the home ablaze with a fireball thrown from its hands. (Ultimate Spider-Man 5)) Norman's wife died in this fire and his son, Harry, barely escaped. Norman then attacked Midtown High in search of Peter Parker, who his muddled mind was obsessed with. (Ultimate Spider-Man 6) As Norman attacked the school, Peter engaged him, now dressed as the costumed persona Spider-Man. Throughout the fight, Norman would mutter the name Parker in guttural tones, causing Peter to wonder who the monstrosity was. The fight would escalate to the top of a bridge where Spider-Man and the Goblin would be interrupted by a police helicopter who would target both illegal genetic mutations with gunfire. Norman made one last lunge at Peter and tumbled from the bridge to be lost in the waters below. After the attack, Norman's son Harry who witnessed the attack at school, would tell his friends and the authorities that the monster was his father. Harry would then be taken away by the police for help and protection. (Ultimate Spider-Man 7)
Norman Osborn survived this ordeal and eventually changed back to his human form. He then went into hiding, using his vast wealth and contacts to retrieve Harry from police custody and to have the investigations into the accidents surrounding his lab and house destructions dropped. He then hired a psychiatrist, Dr. Warren, who would use hypnotherapy to alter Harry's perceptions of recent past, erasing the connection in his mind between his father and the goblin. Norman then continued to experiment with the Oz formula, moving himself to "evolve" to its effects. Through further exposure, he gained the ability to retain the use of his mental faculties while in the Oz enhanced form.
When Justin Hammer died during the attacks of Otto Octavius (also enhanced by the Oz formula and calling himself Dr. Octopus), Norman took the opportunity to return to the public eye. In a television piece called the "Traveling Osborns", Norman stated that the explosion at his lab had been the product of industrial espionage perpetrated by Justin Hammer. Norman publicly claimed that he had gone into hiding to protect himself and his son. The ever watchful Nick Fury, seeing these developments, began placing illegal surveillance on Norman, attempting to catch him in this act and imprison Norman for a breach of the superhuman test ban treaty.
Norman returned to New York and placed Harry back in Midtown High. He then had his son invite Peter Parker to their new home. Norman then arranged an opportunity for he and Peter to be alone and immediately revealed his newfound powers and his knowledge that Peter Parker was Spider-Man. Norman informed Peter that his days as Spider-Man were over and that he would now work for Norman, or else Norman would kill all of Peter's loved ones.
At Midtown High on the following day, Nick Fury appeared to Peter Parker and confided in him the knowledge's of Norman's plans. He informed Peter that he could not act against Norman, because his information had been gained through illegal means. Until Norman Osborn made a move in public against a civilian or revealed his powers in public, S.H.I.E.L.D. could not act.
Norman would then make a threatening move against Peter by inviting Peter's aunt and girlfriend to his apartment home. Angered, Peter took the guise of Spider-Man and dashed off to confront Norman Osborn in his goblin form on a rooftop. Peter refused to give in to Norman's demands, in retaliation Norman captured Peter's girlfriend and carried her forcibly to the Queensboro bridge. He then proceeded to throw the girl off of it. Peter then dove after her and caught her before impact. To the watching S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, this was definitely grounds to attack Norman. Helicopters moved in and attempted to subdue Norman with firepower. He escaped and retreated back to his home, where he injected himself with even more of the Oz compound. He was interrupted by Harry, who Norman uttered a command word, "cellar door", which triggered a post hypnotic suggestion placed into Harry's mind by Dr. Warren. The suggestion caused Harry to fall unconscious to the floor. Norman then mutated even more, becoming more physically powerful at the cost of his mental abilties. Spider-Man arrived and attempted to fight Norman, but was no match for the stronger goblin. Harry awoke during the struggle to see the goblin strangling Spider-Man, who had now been essentially unmasked by damage to his costume. As Peter fought the goblin, he allowed an opening in his defense, to which the goblin almost killed him, except that Harry intervened and stabbed his father in the back with a large shard of metal. Norman then turned to attack his son and was then fired upon by S.H.I.E.L.D. helicopters. Norman then lost consciousness and reverted back to his human form.
Nick Fury took Norman into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody and stored him in a research facility/prison. He also relocated Harry and put him into a program for rehabilitation. Norman was kept with a range of other illegal genetic modifications including Otto Octavius, Max Dillon, Sergei Kravinoff, and Flint Marko. They were studied and placed in group therapy sessions under the eye of Dr. Hank Pym. Norman remained mostly silent during these sessions, stating only that he wanted to see his boy. Eventually Norman questioned the high security being placed around him, seeing that he was only a real threat when he could inject himself with the Oz formula. During a group session, after being informed that S.H.I.E.L.D. has confiscated the Oz compound and all of the research notes for it, Norman flew into a rage and transformed into the goblin, without the aid of the chemical. he was promptly stopped by Dr. Pym and placed back into confinement.
Later, an escape plan engineered by Otto Octavius proved successful and Otto released his fellow inmates. He and Norman buried their past differences and agreed to work together. They included Kravinoff, Dillon, and Marko in their plan and then set events in motion to discredit Nick Fury and turn him into a criminal of the state. During their escape from the facility, the five murdered dozens of S.H.I.E.L.D. employees.
Norman called the White House and issued demands: Either he would he be granted amnesty, one hundred million dollars, his son back, and Nick Fury fired, or the five would use the media connections of Sergei Kravinoff to make the story of their imprisonment without trial public. Norman also revealed at this time that the son, the boy, that he spoke of was Peter Parker. Norman had begun to think of Peter as his actual son, since the Oz experiment had given birth to him.
Norman and his allies put a plan in action and shut down the defenses of the Triskelion, the main base of S.H.I.E.L.D. . During the outage, they kidnapped Peter Parker who had been pulled in by Nick Fury to assist with the threat of the combined super villains. Norman then black-mailed Peter (by threatening his family) into joining their numbers for an assault on the White House. There on the White House lawn, the six fought the forces of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Ultimates. Norman initially fought with Captain America and then with Spider-Man as well once Peter learned his family was in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s protection. Norman was stopped by the appearance of Harry Osborn at the scene of the battle. Fury had brought Harry in to attempt to talk his dad down. Norman, seeing his biological son, began to transform back to his human form and was then shot by Iron Man with a genetic sequencer, which shut his biological systems. Norman collapsed, halfway between forms and was then taken back into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. Nick Fury gave the order for Norman to be placed into cryogenic stasis for further testing.
In the video game Ultimate Spider-Man, Norman Osborn escapes his imprisonment with the assistance of a Latverian mercenary identified as the Beetle. He embarks on a rampage of destruction in NYC before being stopped by Spider-Man.
[edit] Powers and Abilities
Though initially triggered by the injection of the Oz compound into his bloodstream, Norman Osborn can now morph in his alternate form at will. In his goblin form, Norman displays extraordinary levels of strength. He can leap hundred of feet and has clawed hands which can be used to climb and grip. Norman is also able to manifest bolts of fire from his hands as a projectile. He also has hardened skin, nearly capable of stopping bullets and seems to have a healing factor.
Norman is delusional, at least in his goblin state. He is pictured to see smoke-like creatures that whisper random thoughts and ideas to him. He also perceived Spider-Man to have have mandibles and insect eyes. Whether these visions persist while Norman is in human form remains to be seen.
[edit] Appearances
Ultimate Spider-Man 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 35 (flashback)
