Comics Reviews

Green Goblin’s Powers, Weapons & Weaknesses, Explained

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Before Spider-Man: No Way Home brings the cinematic Green Goblin back, these are the powers and weapons that make him so dangerous.

The Green Goblin is the most formidable and personal of all of Spider-Man’s iconic villains across comic books, movies, video games and cartoons. The first trailer for the upcoming movie Spider-Man: No Way Home briefly features the Goblin’s trademark laugh and Pumpkin Bomb, making fans excited to see his MCU debut.

Before fans see the theatrical return of the Green Goblin, here’s a look at what all powers, weaknesses and special armaments the Spider-Man foe has at his disposal. From super-strength, a healing factor and voracious madness to tons of Halloween-themed weapons, the Green Goblin is determined to defeat all who stand in his way, ensuring that there’s no way home for Spider-Man in particular.


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The Green Goblin’s Powers

In pretty much every continuity, Norman Osborn and other Green Goblins gain their names not just from a Goblin costume, but also the Goblin Formula. This formula was created by former Osborn collaborator Mendel Stromm, who created it in order to enhance the user’s strength. Norman attempted to use it on himself, realizing later that it worked almost too well.

As the Green Goblin, Norman now had superhuman strength in the same weight class as Spider-Man’s, meaning that he can both take and deliver several punches with his arch-rival. Likewise, his other physical faculties, such as his endurance, durability and speed, were greatly enhanced, as well. He also gained a superb healing factor, and though it’s much slower than Wolverine’s, it’s allowed him to come back from wounds that would seemingly be fatal, even to him. His already keen mind is already upgraded to a genius level, though it comes at a cost.

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The Green Goblin’s Arsenal

spiderman goblin

Besides his own physical prowess, the Green Goblin has a trick-or-treat bag full of goodies with which to ruin Spider-Man’s day. The most iconic of these are the Pumpkin Bombs, which are sure to explosively make any day a not-so Happy Halloween. These Jack-o-Lantern-shaped explosives have also been called Goblin Bombs or Goblin Lanterns, and they come in many varieties. These include the a concussive variety, bombs that emit hallucinogenic gas, stun bombs and even bombs that simply act as calling cards for the Goblin. Explosive Pumpkin Bombs are the most common, with the Carnage Symbiote even having his own version of them when he briefly merged with a Green Goblin.

His Goblin Glider is how the Green Goblin gets around town, riding the flying mechanical contraption around almost like a winged surfboard via electromagnetic clasps. It’s shaped like a demonic bat out of hell, befitting the ghoulish goblin. The Green Goblin’s razor bats are mechanical bat-boomerangs, but not quite Batarangs, that fly about while slicing and dicing at foes. Like the Pumpkin Bombs, they’ve occasionally been shown as emitting gas.

Perhaps the most underrated parts of the Goblin’s weaponry are his Electroblast Gloves. These magenta-colored mitts allow the Green Goblin to emit pyrotechnic Goblin Sparks, which are many times drawn to look like destructive lasers. They’ve been shown in the past as powerful enough to destroy solid objects and put quite a bit of pain on poor Spidey himself.

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The Green Goblin’s Weaknesses

The most crippling weakness of the Green Goblin, namely the Norman Osborn version, is the character’s outlandish madness. The Goblin Formula had a drastic effect on Norman’s mind, which when combined with his previous megalomania made him a villain hellbent on destruction and mayhem. This has seen him experience drastic mood swings in his normal life, and his disappointment with people such as his son Harry serve to only make him even more emotional and angry.

There’s also the fact that he’s quite a narcissist, refusing to admit his own faults or his mistakes, let alone learn from them. The Goblin persona is also one that sometimes wrestles with Norman’s other wants and obligations, making simply doing day-to-day tasks a difficult situation. This is compounded further by an outright hatred of Spider-Man for constantly ruining his plans.

Though his physical prowess is far beyond humans, some basic weapons such as blades and firearms can hurt him like they can an unprotected Spider-Man. It’s only more blunt trauma that he has a supreme defense against, though someone in Spider-Man’s weight class or above can best him, while those with extreme degrees of superhuman strength like the Incredible Hulk or the durable Juggernaut are more than mighty enough to easily defeat him. Still, he’s definitely a threat against the web-slinger and is usually one trip on a Goblin Glider away from endangering Peter Parker and those he loves.

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