Norman Osborn (Sam Raimi film series)

The original animatronic headgear for the Green Goblin was created by Amalgamated Dynamics

During development of what would eventually become the 2002 Spider-Man film, David Koepp's rewrites of James Cameron's original script had the Green Goblin as the main antagonist and added Doctor Octopus as the secondary antagonist.[1] Incoming director Sam Raimi felt the Green Goblin and the surrogate father-son theme between Norman Osborn and Peter Parker would be more interesting, thus, he dropped Doctor Octopus from the film.[2] In June 2000, Columbia Pictures hired Scott Rosenberg to rewrite Koepp's material. Willem Dafoe was cast for the role of Norman Osborn in November 2000.[3] Nicolas Cage (who would later portray Spider-Man Noir in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), Jason Issacs, John Malkovich, and Jim Carrey turned down the role.[4][5] Dafoe insisted on wearing the uncomfortable costume as he felt that a stuntman would not convey the character's necessary body language. The 580-piece suit took half an hour to put on.[6]

Dafoe later called his role as the Green Goblin one of his favorites throughout his career, having enjoyed playing the unhinged character particularly due to his dual personalities, and balancing between a dramatic and comedic performance. In particular, he enjoyed the mirror scene in which Norman Osborn discovers and converses with the Green Goblin persona after murdering the Oscorp board of directors. Sam Raimi had given Dafoe a copy of Jekyll and Hyde to prepare for the scene, which was filmed in one take multiple times before Raimi decided to split it.[7][8]

Before settling on the look used in the film, the original headgear created for the Green Goblin was an animatronic mask created by Amalgamated Dynamics. The design was much more faithful to the comics than the finished product, and allowed for a full range of emotions to be expressed by the wearer. Ultimately, the mask was scrapped before an actor was chosen to play the Green Goblin, and a static, military-grade helmet was produced for the film instead, due to the animatronic concept being deemed "too creepy" by studio executives and due to technical difficulties and constraints.[9][10][11]

Norman Osborn first appears as his limousine driver drops his son Harry off for a school field trip. Harry introduces Norman to his friend Peter Parker, whom he takes an immediate liking to. Norman is the head of Oscorp, a company contracted by the United States Armed Forces to create a new super-soldier serum. Osborn's colleague, Dr. Mendel Stromm, feels it important to reveal to the military official overseeing the project that some of the test subjects have gone insane. Hearing this, Osborn is threatened with a tight deadline. Needing to prove his formula can succeed, Osborn experiments on himself. The process drives him insane, however, and he kills Stromm. Upon waking up back home, he has no recollection of what had happened. At the high school graduation ceremony for Peter, Harry and Mary Jane Watson, Norman gives Peter his condolences as his Uncle Ben had recently been killed.

The military decides to give the super-soldier contract to another company, Quest Aerospace, and in revenge, a crazed Norman, who steals an Oscorp suit and glider, kills several high-ranking military officers and Quest scientists present at the test. Although Quest Aerospace's prototype is destroyed, the company decides to expand and, in doing so, assumes control of Oscorp on the condition that Norman Osborn step down as CEO. In retaliation, Norman suits up again, killing Oscorp's board of directors during a festival in Times Square, thus removing the last threat to his control of Oscorp, and inadvertently almost killing Mary Jane. His appearance at the festival also marks the beginning of his animosity towards Spider-Man. Instead of hating his new enemy, however, Norman views Spider-Man as the son that he always wanted, strong and intelligent, and attempts to recruit him to his side after he discovers his crazed second personality through a hallucination.

Norman next leads an attack at the Daily Bugle to question J. Jonah Jameson, who had dubbed his alter-ego as the "Green Goblin", for the identity of the photographer who takes pictures of Spider-Man. Peter was at the office during the attack and soon shows up as Spider-Man. The Goblin gasses him and takes him to a rooftop, where he offers Spider-Man a partnership and belittles his choice to become a hero, warning that eventually, the city will turn against him. This starts to become true when the Bugle in response to the attack prints a story claiming the Goblin and Spider-Man are allies.

The Goblin later baits Spider-Man to a burning apartment, disguising himself as a helpless old woman, and demands Spider-Man's choice, to which the latter refuses to work with him. The two fight, leaving Spider-Man with a cut on his arm. At Thanksgiving dinner, Peter's Aunt May invites Mary Jane, Harry, and Norman. During the dinner, Norman sees the wound and realizes Peter's identity. Norman then gets up to leave, claiming "something came up". Upon Harry persuading his father to stay, Norman insults Mary Jane, whom Harry was seeing at the time. He converses with his Goblin persona and resolves to get to Spider-Man's heart by harming those closest to him, attacking and hospitalizing May. After Harry confides to Norman that MJ seems to like Peter, Norman kidnaps Mary Jane to get Spider-Man's attention, forcing him to choose between saving her and a Roosevelt Island Tramway car full of children. Upon the Goblin dropping both into the river, Peter manages to save both much to the former's chagrin.

The Goblin whisks Spider-Man away and brutally beats him, threatening to make MJ's death "nice and slow". An enraged Peter stops the Goblin from stabbing him, then brutally counterattacks, beating the Goblin into submission. Norman then takes off his mask and reveals himself to Peter, with his normal personality apparently surfacing. He begs for Peter's forgiveness, saying that he was like a son to him, but Peter retorts that his true father was Ben Parker. Norman then attempts to impale Peter with his bladed glider, but the latter senses the attack and dodges, allowing the glider to instead fatally stab Norman, who with his dying breath, tells Peter not to tell Harry of his Goblin persona. Peter takes Norman's body back to the Osborn house; Harry arrives to find him standing over his father's body. Harry seizes a gun, intent on shooting Spider-Man, but Peter escapes and hides Norman's equipment. At Norman's funeral, Harry holds Spider-Man responsible for his father's death and vows revenge, not knowing of his father's deeds.

Norman returns as a hallucination of Harry after the latter discovers Peter is Spider-Man in Spider-Man 2. Norman, appearing to Harry in a mirror, entices his son to avenge him while Harry is reluctant to kill his best friend. Harry shatters the mirror only to find his father's equipment and technology behind it.

Norman's ghostly presence appears again in Spider-Man 3 after Harry, now as the "New Goblin", recovers his memories. Norman's ghost teaches his son to go after Peter's heart. However, Harry eventually finds out the truth about his father's death and gives up his vendetta against Peter, helping him in a battle against Sandman and Venom and giving his own life to save Peter.

This version of Norman Osborn is mentioned in Spider-Man: The New Animated Series, a CGI-animated television series which serves as a loose alternate continuation of the first Spider-Man film. As in the films, Harry holds a grudge against Spider-Man for his father's death, even though he's not aware of Norman's criminal activities as the Green Goblin.

• Norman Osborn/Green Goblin appears in the video game adaptation of the 2002 film, with Willem Dafoe reprising his role in a vocal capacity, making him and Tobey Maguire the only two actors from the film to do so.

• This version of Norman Osborn appears in his Green Goblin persona in the 2007 game Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, voiced by Roger L. Jackson. The game borrows character designs from the Spider-Man film trilogy, but they are otherwise unrelated. The Goblin first appears in the openning cutscene, fighting Spider-Man and the New Goblin alongside other villains. After the battle, the group is attacked by a swarm of P.H.A.N.T.O.M.s, and the Goblin, the other villains, and the New Goblin are suddenly teleported elsewhere while Spider-Man is rescued by S.H.I.E.L.D. The Goblin is then brainwashed by the villainous mastermind behind the P.H.A.N.T.O.M.s and sent to Tokyo to retrieve a meteor shard. There, the player fights him on top of an Oscorp tower, and Spider-Man destroys his mind-controlling amulet, restoring his free will. Afterward, the Goblin, seeking revenge on whoever brainwashed him, reluctantly joins forces with Spider-Man, and becomes a playable character for the remainder of the game.