Dr. Octopus is the Spider-Man villain with resonance. The Goblin is honestly just a garden-variety psychopath with a silly costume and a lot of power; there’s never been anything special about the Goblin himself. One of the most overrated villains in comics and always has been.
Now, if we were talking about Harry Osborn rather than Norman, this would be a different thing entirely; Harry Osborn is fascinating, and his gradual, sometimes unwilling collapse into villainy and final redemption is one of the truly great Spider-Man stories, both for his own descent and Peter’s reaction to it.
Goblin was a great villian. He should have just stayed dead.
Charles Williams
I'll never understand why people say Spider-Man 2 is better than Spider-Man 1. Willem Defoe as Norman Osborn is THE superhero movie performance. Only one that can compete with it is Ledger's Joker.
Chase Reed
Goblin and Ock serve different roles as threats to Spider-Man. While Ock is the more evil bad guy, he's not as personal as, unlike Goblin, he has a sense of honor. He is a human being after all, and acts like one that hasn't gone insane. The Green Goblin is Spidey's most personal threat. Any time he appears, none of Peter's loved ones are safe. This makes a large difference as the Goblin, unlike more insane characters like Joker, is actually smart enough to fuck with Peter where it truly hurts. Unlike Ock, who couldn't care much about who Peter is under the mask, the Goblin would weaponize it to make him suffer. This works too with Venom and Carnage, which do add a bit to Peter. Venom acts as a threat to keep Parker paranoid, one that's just as powerful as him and fast, but with the added ability of being able to bypass his Spidey Sense. When Peter's sound asleep Venom could be stalking him, waiting to crush Parker like the insect he is. And that's what makes him such a good villain. Carnage, despite being what some might call a ripoff of the Joker (and also mostly not even Peter's arch-nemesis), adds a little bit to it too. Unlike the others, Peter can't beat him in a one on one duel at all, and Carnage's personality defines it. While Peter will be serious against the Goblin, Venom, and Ock, with Carnage his life just comes crumbling down due to the fact that he actively kills, something Uncle Ben would never want. And Peter can never stop his rampages alone, to the point where upon seeing the Green Goblin with the Carnage symbiote, he noped the fuck outta there as fast as he could.
It seems clear to me that Doc Ock, Green Goblin, and Venom are Spider-Man top 3 nemeses (in some order). Who would be to 4th and 5th to round out a top 5?
Hunter Peterson
Jameson and the Hobgoblin.
Dylan Parker
>Jameson kek >Hobgoblin Feels wrong having 2 goblins in the top 5. I'd rather see Kraven and Kingpin. If you want to argue that it's wrong to have Kingpin because he's become primarily a Daredevil nemesis over the years, then Sandman in his place
Elijah Flores
Goblin is the themed-gadget making plotting, plotting schemer villain Doc Ock is the evil genius villain that builds robots and doomsday machines Venom is the evil twin doppelganger
They all fit in their own way, but are not exactly unique. If anything Goblin does a little better than the standard maniacal laughing jokster type since he knows Peter personally and has history with him. And Otto is the mad scientist that is pretty good in a fight when his plans fall apart and he fights Spidery head on in the final act. Venom is a pretty standard dark reflection type though.
Benjamin Campbell
OP has never seen Norman try and hold onto his sanity while he slowly slips back into his old habits? Damn man, you need to read some more comics with Norman in them.
