Character Analysis
You Know What They Say About Absolute Power
The Green Goblin is one seriously self-obsessed supervillain. How self-obsessed? When he hits Spider-Man with knockout gas and captures him outside the Daily Bugle, he doesn't take a sec to see who's under the mask.
We don't know about you, but that's the very first thing we would've done.
Of course, before he even becomes the Green Goblin, Norman Osborn is a selfish dude. He thrives on power and the control that comes with it. That's why, at Oscorp, he decides to test the performance enhancers on himself…because Gen. Slocum threatens to give the military's hefty weapons contract over to Oscorp's chief rival, Quest Aerospace, if Norman can't get the formula for his performance enhancers right.
At home, his self-centeredness and need to be the boss of everything have strained his relationship with his son, Harry. In fact, he acknowledges his shortcomings as a dad outright:
NORMAN: I haven't always been there for you, have I?
HARRY: You're busy. You're an important man. I understand.
NORMAN: That's no excuse. I'm proud of you, and I've lost sight of that somewhere, but I gotta make it up to you, Harry. I'm going to rectify certain inequities.
Yes, that's sweet. Still, when push comes to shove, Norman does what Norman wants. When Harry arranges Thanksgiving dinner so that Norman can meet M.J., for example, Norman bolts before they can all tuck into some mashed potatoes.
Harry is ticked…and Norman is a real dirtbag:
HARRY: I planned this whole thing so you could meet M.J., and now you have to leave?
NORMAN: I gotta go.
HARRY: This girl is important to me.
NORMAN: Harry, please. Look at her. You think a woman like that's sniffing around because she likes your personality?
HARRY: What are you saying?
NORMAN: Your mother was beautiful, too. They're all beautiful until they're snarling after your trust fund like a pack of ravening wolves.
Norman's big bank account fuels his selfishness and lets him have and do whatever he wants with few repercussions, even when it comes to his own kid.
It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's a Bitter Guy Throwing Pumpkins!
So, when Norman loses his powerful position with Oscorp, he straight up loses his mind. He goes literally mad.
Norman's breaking point arrives when Fargas, Balkan, and the rest of the Oscorp board announce the sale of Oscorp to Quest and tell Norman he's out. It's a massive humiliation for Norman—he's being kicked out of the company he created and that bears his name. (He may be a brilliant scientist-businessman, but he's not so creative in the branding department.)
Norman's response to this goes all over the place. Watch as he shifts from screaming like an angry child to pleading to hinting at the green menace seething under the surface, all in one very brief conversation:
NORMAN: You can't do this to me. I started this company. You know how much I sacrificed?!
The board just stares at him blankly.
NORMAN: Oh, Max. Please.
FARGAS: Norman, the board is unanimous. We're announcing the sale after the World Unity Festival. I'm sorry.
BALKAN: You're out, Norman.
NORMAN: Am I?
Later, when the Green Goblin crashes the World Unity Festival, he makes an unnerving callback to Norman's unceremonious firing from the company he built. "Out, am I?" he snarls. Then he murders the entire Oscorp board.
Norman Goes Nuts
While the Green Goblin ultimately becomes a mischievous, multipurpose terrorist—you know, the kind who holds a pack of innocent kids riding public transportation hostage—he's initially motivated by revenge.
The challenge to, and subsequent loss of, his power at the hands of Slocum and the Oscorp board create a psychotic break that leads Norman to carrying on full conversations with himself…like this back-and-forth right here:
NORMAN: The board members. You killed them.
GREEN GOBLIN: We killed them.
NORMAN: We?
GREEN GOBLIN: Remember? Your little accident in the laboratory.
NORMAN: The performance enhancers.
GREEN GOBLIN: Bingo. Me! Your greatest creation. Bringing you what you've always wanted: power beyond your wildest dreams. And it's only the beginning.
Yes, gulping down those toxic performance enhancers played a role, too, but as Norman's final exchange with Peter demonstrates, after they've both been stripped of their masks, Norman is just as down and dirty as the Green Goblin:
PETER: You killed those people on that balcony.
NORMAN: The Goblin killed! I had nothing to do with it! Don't let him take me again. I beg you. Protect me.
PETER: You tried to kill Aunt May. You tried to kill Mary Jane.
NORMAN: But not you. I tried to stop it. But I couldn't stop it. I would never hurt you. I knew from the beginning, if anything ever happened to me, it was you I could count on.
Norman secretly presses a button that calls for his glider, which appears behind Peter.
Norman may still claim that he and the Green Goblin are separate entities here, but the fact that he secretly summons his glider to take out Peter suggests otherwise. Norman isn't the hapless victim he's pretending to be. He's not the Green Goblin's stooge. He's become a willing participant in the Green Goblin's mayhem, and he's rotten to the core.
Breaking Bad
Norman and Peter are mirror images. One light, one dark.
Just like Peter, Norman was accidentally bestowed with superpowers. Unlike Peter, Norman broke bad.
While Peter uses his power to create safety and security for the people of New York, Norman uses it to destroy their peace of mind. Because the Oscorp board did him wrong—and he's a power-hungry tyrant—he believes that personal sacrifice can only lead to betrayal. He insists that the public will betray Peter's goodwill.
With great power comes great responsibility…or, in Norman's case, a great desire to destroy everything in sight.
Norman/The Green Goblin's Timeline