Norman Osborn is a
fictional supervillain appearing in
American comic books published by
Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer
Stan Lee and artist
Steve Ditko, and first appeared in
The Amazing Spider-Man #14 (July 1964) as the original and most well-known incarnation of
Green Goblin. An
amoral industrialist head of
Oscorp, he took a formula which enhanced his physical abilities and intellect but also drove him to insanity. He adopted a
Halloween-themed appearance, dressing in a
goblin costume, riding on a bat-shaped "Goblin Glider", and using an arsenal of high-tech weapons, notably
grenade-like "Pumpkin Bombs", to terrorize
New York City. He is one of
Spider-Man's most persistent
archenemies that is responsible for numerous tragedies (such as
Gwen Stacy's death and the
Clone Saga), and is
Harry Osborn's father. However, he has also come into conflict with other superheroes in the Marvel Universe, and was the focus of the company-wide
Dark Reign storyline as the original iteration of
Iron Patriot.