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The Sam Raimi Spider-Man franchise gave an iconic rendition of the Green Goblin, but it’s not until No Way Home fans can fully appreciate it.
The recent trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home has many epic moments already titillating the imaginations of Spidey fans. Whether it’s the team-up with Doctor Strange or the bombshell appearance of Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus, No Way Home promises an homage to classic Spider-Man lore that any fan can appreciate.
This new look at old characters offers a fresh view of aspects in the original that never got quite enough credit. Though it’s a small detail, there’s one moment that best showcases this: the pumpkin bombs from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man franchise had the perfect design.
For months the rumor mills have been abuzz with the possibility of a multiverse-spanning story in No Way Home including a crossover with characters from past installments in the film franchise. Of particular note has been the Sam Raimi-directed trilogy that first made the hero a Hollywood blockbuster over a decade before the MCU introduced its own Spider-Man. Part of the Raimi franchise’s charm was not just in its hero, however, but its villains.
Although Alfred Molina’s appearance in the latest trailer as Doctor Octopus, complete with the same design of tentacles he threatened the wall-crawler with throughout Spider-Man 2, is sure to attract the most attention, there is a subtler design element that deserves credit as well. Earlier on in the trailer, a familiar cackle rings out as a pumpkin bomb rolls into view. This is doubtless a hint at Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin, but in all the excitement fans should pay attention to a subtle detail that may have slipped by them: that design is freaking awesome.
In bringing the Green Goblin to the big screen for the first time, there was a lot to be invented and reinvented, and though Dafoe’s performance is often seen as iconic, the character’s actual design gets more of a mixed reception. Weird Al Yankovic’s “Ode to a Superhero” referred to the Goblin’s “dumb Power Rangers mask,” but what fans can’t criticize is his arsenal. Ripped from the comic’s classic pumpkin bombs, the Goblin’s weapon of choice very easily could have been another target for ridicule, but instead, the Raimi films streamlined them into a military look that proves iconic even years later.
It’s important to note that it is this very design that teases the character for fans, promising not only the Goblin himself but the Raimi iteration specifically. Such subtle design elements are easy to overlook and certainly, in the heyday of the Raimi era or amidst all the excitement of its return, such details can get lost in the shuffle. But the design harkens back to its source material, grounds itself in the military origins of the character and includes the visual element of its lighting up before detonation that cues in the audience to its threat. Fans can gossip about the possibility of Venom appearing all they want, but they must give credit to the smaller details as well.
Naturally, the trailer itself plays coy about Dafoe returning as the Green Goblin, but the bomb and the Halloween decorations clearly build up excitement for the character. In looking at the new, there’s never a better time to appreciate the old. The Goblin costume itself may require a redesign, but the pumpkin bombs still go off with a bang.
Spider-Man: No Way Home arrives Dec. 17 in theaters.
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