If you’re familiar with Spider-Man in comics and animation, then you’re well aware of how he boasts one of the most expansive rogues galleries in the entire superhero genre. After five solo films, it really seems like we’re only beginning to scratch the surface, but Sony does have a habit of retreading familiar territory.
Then again, it’s not entirely Sony’s fault in every respect because a character like Norman Osborn isn’t just a quintessential Spider-Man villain – he’s also an important supporting character, just as Magneto is to the X-Men or Lex Luthor to Superman. It’s just hard getting around him.
During a recent interview, Homecoming and Far From Home star Tom Holland spoke of how he loved the Into the Spider-verse animated film, but he also gave his feelings on the Green Goblin, saying:
“There are characters in the comics who are so hard to bring to life. Like the Green Goblin, for me, is a real difficult one to bring to a live-action screen, so seeing him in that capacity was so cool, because he stayed true to the comics, and I just, for me, really enjoy different aspects of what Spider-Man is to people and his journey. I didn’t really know much about Miles’ character, because I’m so invested in Peter Parker to play him, and it was just nice to learn about a different aspect of Spider-Man.”
So far, we haven’t seen the classic Green Goblin costume in live action, probably because filmmakers felt it may look silly. When Willem Dafoe suited up as Norman Osborn’s Green Goblin in Spider-Man, he was rather armored, whereas Dane DeHaan’s Harry Osborn was decidedly scaly in complexion in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Into the Spider-verse, meanwhile, adhered more toward the Ultimate Spider-Man comics by taking Norman in a monstrous direction.
Considering how Holland has confirmed he’ll continue on in the Spider-Man role for the foreseeable future, one has to wonder if he’ll eventually battle his own version of the Green Goblin. Yes, it’s been done on the silver screen more than once, but again, the Osborns are so important to Webhead’s mythos that any telling of the tale would seem incomplete without them.
