fbpx
Wikipedia

Hobgoblin (comics)

The Hobgoblin is the alias of several supervillains appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, most of whom are depicted as enemies of the superhero Spider-Man and belong to the collective of adversaries that make up his rogues gallery.

Hobgoblin
The original Hobgoblin design as depicted in The Amazing Spider-Man #238 (March 1983).
Art by John Romita Sr. and John Romita Jr..
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceThe Amazing Spider-Man #238 (March 1983)[1][2]
Created by
In-story information
Alter ego
Abilities
  • Criminal mastermind
  • Superhuman strength, intelligence, speed, durability, and healing
  • Uses Halloween-themed paraphernalia, high-tech gadgetry and a Goblin Glider equipped with various weapons

The first incarnation of the Hobgoblin made his debut in The Amazing Spider-Man #238 (March 1983) as a criminal mastermind equipped with Halloween-themed weapons similar to those used by the Green Goblin. The Hobgoblin's true identity was one of the longest-running mysteries in the Spider-Man comics until 1987 when it was revealed to be Ned Leeds, Peter Parker's journalist co-worker at the Daily Bugle. Ten years later in 1997, however, the Hobgoblin's identity was retroactively established to be Roderick Kingsley while Ned was only a fall guy. Other characters that have assumed the Hobgoblin mantle over the years include Lefty Donovan, Jason Macendale, Roderick's twin brother Daniel Kingsley, Robin Borne, Phil Urich, and Claude. Leeds, Donovan and Claude served as brainwashed stand-ins as part of an intricate scheme orchestrated by the Kingsley brothers, with Macendale, Borne and Urich being the only versions to operate independently of the others (although occasionally partnering with them). In the alternate continuities of The Amazing Spider-Man comic strip and Ultimate Marvel, Harry Osborn has also adopted the Hobgoblin persona.

The Hobgoblin has been adapted from the comics into various forms of media including television series and video games. An amalgamated version of the character appeared in the 1994–1998 Spider-Man: The Animated Series, voiced by Mark Hamill, while the Harry Osborn incarnation is featured in Spider-Man (2017–2018), voiced by Max Mittelman.

Publication history edit

 
The Amazing Spider-Man #238 (March 1983), the Hobgoblin's first appearance. Cover art by John Romita Sr..

The Hobgoblin was created by writer Roger Stern and artist John Romita Jr. for The Amazing Spider-Man #238 (March 1983).[3] Like other writers, Stern found himself under pressure to have Spider-Man fight the Green Goblin again, but did not wish to bring Norman Osborn or Bart Hamilton back from the dead, have Harry Osborn be the Green Goblin again, or create another Green Goblin. Stern instead created a new concept as heir to the Goblin legacy and developed the Hobgoblin.[4] Stern recounts that he directed Romita to base the costume on the Green Goblin's but to make it "a little more medieval-looking", while Romita asserts that he was given no direction beyond using the Green Goblin as a basis. Both agree, however, that the costume was chiefly Romita's design.[5]

The Hobgoblin's identity was not initially revealed, generating one of the longest-running mysteries in the Spider-Man comics. According to Stern, "I plotted that first story with no strong idea of who the Hobgoblin was. As I was scripting those gorgeous pages from [John Romita, Jr.], particularly the last third of the book, and developing the Hobgoblin’s speech pattern, I realized who he was. It was Roderick Kingsley, that sunuvabitch corporate leader I had introduced in my first issue of [The] Spectacular [Spider-Man]."[5] A handful of readers deduced that Kingsley was the Hobgoblin almost immediately. To throw off the scent and in the same stroke provide a retroactive explanation for Kingsley's inconsistent characterization in his early appearances, Stern came up with the idea of Kingsley having his brother Daniel Kingsley sometimes impersonate him, sealing the deception by having the Hobgoblin conspicuously appear in the same room as Kingsley in The Amazing Spider-Man #249.[5]

Stern's original plan was to have the Hobgoblin's mystery identity run exactly one issue longer than that of the Green Goblin's identity, meaning the truth would be revealed in The Amazing Spider-Man #264.[5] However, Stern left after The Amazing Spider-Man #251, and editor Tom DeFalco took his place. Wanting to resolve the mystery in a manner that would do justice to Stern's stories, DeFalco asked Stern who the Hobgoblin was, but objected when Stern said it was Kingsley. DeFalco argued that the "twin brother" scheme was cheating the readers since there had been no hint that Roderick even had a brother (aside from a single thought bubble), much less one who could serve as a body double. Stern disagreed but said that DeFalco should feel free to make the choice of which character to use for the Hobgoblin's secret identity, Stern reasoning that "I knew that whomever Tom chose, he would make it work."[5] Upon reviewing the clues, DeFalco decided that the Hobgoblin was Richard Fisk. Moreover, he decided that the Hobgoblin's mystery should be prolonged as long as possible, since it was the chief element that made the Hobgoblin interesting.[5] Through both Stern and DeFalco's runs, the answer was continuously teased on the cover art, with the covers of The Amazing Spider-Man #245, 251, and 276 all showing Spider-Man having unmasked the Hobgoblin.[6]

 
Artist John Romita Jr. signing a copy of The Amazing Spider-Man #238, in which the Hobgoblin first appeared, at Midtown Comics in Manhattan

The mystery was further complicated after James Owsley came on as editor of the Spider-Man titles. Owsley's relationship with DeFalco and artist Ron Frenz was strained from the beginning. When Owsley asked who the Hobgoblin was at a creators conference, DeFalco lied and said the man in question was Ned Leeds. Owsley then wrote the one-shot Spider-Man vs Wolverine in which Leeds is killed off (though the actual death is not shown), and instructed The Spectacular Spider-Man writer Peter David to reveal the Hobgoblin's identity as the Foreigner. David objected and argued that the only person who fit the clues was Leeds. Having been present at the Spider-Man creator's conference, David also thought that Leeds was who DeFalco intended it to be. Because Spider-Man vs. Wolverine had already been drawn, however, it was too late to undo Leeds's death.[5] Thus, the Hobgoblin's identity was revealed posthumously in the double-sized The Amazing Spider-Man #289. With Spider-Man's archenemy now dead, a new storyline was created from Jason Macendale's hatred of the Hobgoblin. Though the Hobgoblin's posthumous unmasking as Leeds was unpopular with fans, David said in a 2009 interview of still being proud of the story, arguing that the Hobgoblin being unmasked in a climactic battle with Spider-Man was the sort of tale readers had already seen countless times before, whereas having an archvillain unmasked in a flashback after having been brutally killed by nameless assassins was unprecedented and shocking.[5] From 1987 to 1997, Macendale was the Hobgoblin, initially using only the Hobgoblin's costume and weaponry, but the 1988-1989 "Inferno" crossover writer Gerry Conway had Macendale imbued with magical powers by the demon N'astirh by bonding him with a demon. In addition to power over hellfire and increased strength and speed far greater than his predecessor, N'astirh also disfigures Macendale so that his head resembled the Hobgoblin mask, and ultimately alters his mind so that he was deluded into thinking that his appearance is normal. Several years later, Macendale succeeds in purging himself of his demonic powers and acquires cybernetic implants, the demon that N'astirh imbued with Macendale becoming Demogoblin.[6]

Stern was unhappy with the revelation that Hobgoblin's civilian identity was Leeds and wrote the three-issue miniseries Spider-Man: Hobgoblin Lives in 1997, with the retcon that Kingsley was the original Hobgoblin while Leeds was brainwashed into serving as a fall guy, Macendale is killed off, and Kingsley returned. According to Stern, initially he had not known how to resolve the situation of having two Hobgoblins, and it was at the suggestion of the editorial staff that Kingsley kill Macendale and return to operating as the Hobgoblin.[5]

Fictional character biography edit

Roderick Kingsley edit

 
Roderick Kingsley as the Hobgoblin on Spider-Man: Hobgoblin Lives #1 (January 1997). Art by Ron Frenz.

Roderick Kingsley started out as a socialite, fashion designer and billionaire who had criminal underworld connections and had come about his wealth through unethical business practices and corporate raiding. Coincidentally, Kingsley was an employer of Mary Jane Watson for a time.[7] As a means of avoiding the drill of day-to-day appearances, he had his timid identical twin brother Daniel Kingsley pose as him to run his corporation.[8] Kingsley's activities gave him many enemies, one of which was Bella Donna (Narda Ravanna), a rival fashion designer whose business he had ruined and attempted revenge on Kingsley but is twice thwarted by Spider-Man.[9][10][11]

After these incidents, Kingsley seeks to protect himself and his empire by gaining more power. The thug George Hill reports to Kingsley of stumbling upon Norman Osborn's secret lair in hopes of earning a reward. Kingsley instead kills Hill to make sure that no one else gets wind of the discovery.[12] Upon examining the lair and gleaning its secrets, Kingsley decides to use the Goblin equipment. Arriving to the conclusion that all the previous Green Goblin mantle wearers went mad, he instead creates a similar but different mantle: the Hobgoblin identity.[12] Soon afterwards, he encounters Spider-Man.[13] He uses some of Osborn's files to blackmail prominent figures,[14] and attempts to buy Osborn's old corporation Oscorp and merge it with his own.[15] These schemes bring him into conflict with Spider-Man.[13] Among Osborn's notes, Kingsley also finds incomplete remnants of Mendel Stromm's strength enhancing potion and was obsessed with finding the complete formula or perfecting the incomplete notes.[16] During his various criminal activities, Kingsley repeatedly loses to Spider-Man, as he lacked raw physical power.[13] Kingsley eventually perfected the strength-enhancing formula, but, aware that Osborn was driven insane, Kingsley opts to test on someone else first,[16] tricking small-time hood Lefty Donovan after using a mind-control device developed by Gerhard Winkler (Osborn's former employee). With Donovan having administered the Goblin formula and then in the Hobgoblin costume to fight Spider-Man, Kingsley monitored his pawn's vital signs and behavior from a distance. When Spider-Man overwhelms and unmasks Donovan and the brainwashing begins to fail, Kingsley acts to protect his identity by programming Donovan's glider to crash into a building, instantly killing Donovan.[16][17] Judging the experiment a success, Kingsley immerses himself in his completed formula derivative and gains greater strength than the original Goblin. He uses this strength to battle Spider-Man and the Black Cat.[18] Despite his increased abilities, he is still narrowly defeated by Spider-Man. Worse, he attracts the attention of powerful criminal interests who perceive him as a threat, including the Kingpin.[14] It is also revealed later that during this time, after the Hobgoblin made his appearance, Norman (presumed to be dead at the time) made a brief return to New York City in an attempt to deal with this Goblin, but ultimately abandoned this for the sake of schemes against Spider-Man.[19] After a bitter encounter with Spider-Man,[20][21] Kingsley discovers he had been followed by Daily Bugle reporter Ned Leeds having discovered his lair.[22] Kingsley captured Leeds and brainwashes the reporter with Winkler's device into being the Hobgoblin.[22] Kingsley discovered that Leeds had been working with Richard Fisk on a plan to bring down the Kingpin's empire as Richard adopted the Rose crime lord identity, using Leeds to handle some negotiations, and fooling many criminals into believing that his pawn was the Hobgoblin and hoping to use the Kingpin's downfall to advance his own interests. As Leeds gets too erratic to function as a decoy, Kingsley arranged for Leeds to be assassinated by Jason Macendale and the Foreigner while on a trip to Berlin, and decided to retire from the Hobgoblin identity.

During the events of Secret Wars II, Kingsley is recruited by Mephisto to join the Legion Accursed, a team of ninety-nine supervillains who try to destroy the Beyonder.[23] The Hobgoblin later kidnaps Harry Osborn. He battles Osborn who uses his own father's weaponry against the Hobgoblin.[24]

After a retirement of several years, Kingsley returns to New York. He kills Macendale to prevent from giving the authorities information that would jeopardize his secret identity in addition to seeing Macendale an unworthy successor.[25] Learning that Betty Brant has begun to investigate Ned's activities as the Hobgoblin—informed of the truth by Spider-Man after realizing that the Foreigner's human operatives could never have killed Leeds if Leeds had been super-powered—Kingsley kidnaps Betty and sets a trap for Spider-Man.[26]

 
Roderick Kingsley unmasked as the Hobgoblin in Spider-Man: Hobgoblin Lives #3 (March 1997).Art by Ron Frenz.

In the final fracas, Daniel is captured and the Hobgoblin is unmasked, clearing Ned's name. Roderick is taken to prison, imprisoned in the same cell where he killed Macendale.[22] Despite his unmasking, due to Kingsley's deceptive natures, it is difficult to determine of whether he is telling the whole truth.

Furious at Norman's return and denial of being the Goblin, Kingsley spreads rumors that there exists a secret journal of Osborn's that proves beyond a doubt of being the Goblin, but this was later revealed to be a ruse, knowing Osborn has been sending spies on him: all of the journals in his possession had been destroyed during a battle with Spider-Man years before.[27] He offers to barter this information, for his freedom, with the District Attorney, guessing that Osborn will try to get to him first. Osborn, deciding to make a deal with Kingsley, breaks him out of prison. Kingsley is then confronted by both Osborn and another Green Goblin.[28] Osborn provides Kingsley with new Goblin equipment, and both Goblins swoop in to collect Daniel, now in protective custody, who Roderick claims knows the final journal's location. Spider-Man defends Daniel, but is drugged and both men are taken back to Osborn.[29] Osborn knew Kingsley was lying about the journal and has bought Kingsley's company out from underneath him; the purpose of helping Kingsley escape is for Osborn to eliminate the one person who possibly can prove that Osborn is the Goblin personally. Kingsley furiously attacks Osborn who is shocked to discover that Kingsley is stronger and thus fails at killing him. The building began to burn as a result of their battle, and Spider-Man escapes with Daniel. All three of the villains managed to escape as well. With several million dollars hidden away in foreign bank accounts, Kingsley quietly moves to a small island in the Caribbean to enjoy his retirement.[30]

Kingsley is seemingly killed by Phil Urich who takes on the Hobgoblin mantle,[31] but this was in fact Daniel with Roderick still active in Ecuador under the alias of Devil-Spider. Roderick learns that his brother has been murdered and plans his return to New York.[32] Kingsley arrives in New York City and returns to the Hobgoblin role, intending to go after Urich.[33] Kingsley attacks Urich and the Kingpin in Shadowland. After a brief battle between the two Hobgoblins, Parker and Max Modell escape with the Goblin Key (a key to one of the Goblin warehouses). Kingsley and Urich decide to call a brief truce and go after them.[34] After accessing the warehouse, Peter utilizes the Goblin tech to make himself a "Spider-Glider" and manages to escape. Urich insists on going after but Kingsley stuns Urich with a taser so they can both escape. Kingsley decides to let Urich remain the Hobgoblin, but only if Urich gives him a cut of whatever profits are made.[35]

Kingsley obtains one of Mysterio's suits which he sells to a criminal who takes on the name Mysterion.[36] He sells the Crime Master's gear to an unnamed Maggia operative.[37] Hobgoblin ends up in a gang war with the Goblin Nation, selling equipment to low-level criminals who became the latest versions of 8-Ball, Answer, Blaze, Devil-Spider, Gibbon, Hitman, Killer Shrike, Mauler, Melter, Ringer, Steeplejack, Tumbler, and Unicorn as well as a new villain named Bruin who wears one of Grizzly's old exoskeleton bear suits.[38] He is killed by the first Goblin King while his henchmen are claimed for the Goblin Nation, but his butler Claude went in his place so that his enemies could be distracted and Kingsley is actually in Paris. Kingsley decides to lay low once again working on his personal empire.[39] It was later revealed that Kingsley sold costumes and gear that made the latest versions of Hydro-Man, Tiger Shark, Squid,[40] and Beetle.[41]

During the "AXIS" storyline, Kingsley appears as a member of Magneto's unnamed supervillain group during the fight against the Red Skull's Red Onslaught form. When Magneto arrives to recruit him, Kingsley attacks and is subjugated and forced to join Magneto's team.[42] Kingsley accompanies Magneto and the other villains recruited to Genosha.[43] The inversion spell caused by Doctor Doom and Scarlet Witch affects not only the Red Skull but all those present in Genosha, making the superheroes present evil and the supervillains present good. Following his inversion, Kingsley returns to New York and finds himself happier with his inversion, although still motivated by greed rather than altruism. He reactivates his franchises where he leases the personas and costumes of deceased or retired superheroes to ordinary people, but remains a wanted criminal. He also enfranchises his Hobgoblin persona to various people to perform heroic deeds as Hobgoblin and publishes a comic about the group for promotion. Among those who answer an ad are the amnesiac Lily Hollister and the underemployed teenager John Myers. Other attendees include a different Demolition Man, Flower Girl, Leather Boy, a character resembling Anti-Venom, a new Razorback, and a new Water Wizard. He sets a three phase program including a book and various articles with his brand and underground speeches named after Ned for people to make their own franchises in exchange for a share of their profits.[44] Kingsley debuts his Hob-Heroes: Lily as Queen Cat, Myers as Missile Mate, Flower Girl, Leatherboy, Rocket Head, and Water Wizard. When the second Goblin King confronts Kingsley in his headquarters, Myers is convinced by Urich's claims that Kingsley will soon abandon the heroes he has trained. Missile Mate goes to Urich's headquarters and asks to join to be a supervillain. Urich is reluctant, but Myers shows also gathering all the supervillains Kingsley "abandoned" after being a good guy.[45] When the celebration of a "Hobgoblin Day" is being held with a parade in Kingsley's honor, Missile Mate betrays Kingsley and attempts to murder him in the Goblin King's name. Kingsley has already expected the betrayal and has been using a hologram decoy which takes Missile Mate's blow. As soon as Kinglsey confronts Missile Mate, Urich appears with the Goblin Nation and attacks the celebration. Kingsley bests Urich in combat and leaves his rival to the authorities. After, he is approached by Steve Rogers to be part of a team of Avengers with the objective to stop the inverted X-Men from detonating a gene bomb which would kill everyone on the Earth who wasn't a mutant.[46] The Avengers team that Kingsley joins is called the Astonishing Avengers.[47] After the reinversion spell is cast to restore the Avengers and X-Men members that were affected by it back to the side of good, Kingsley is evil again.[48]

Kingsley starts to get his old franchises back under control. Outside of recruiting Blizzard, Kingsley regains his former minions Beetle, Bruin, Hitman, Ringer, and Unicorn as well as establishing his versions of Cutthroat, Diamondback, Mockingbird, and Viper. When franchisee Porcupine informs him of an intent to end the contract, Kingsley tries to kill with a Pumpkin Bomb in order to reclaim said suit for future franchisees.[49] In the resulting battle with Porcupine and crimefighting mentor Spider-Woman, Kingsley is taken down by Captain Marvel.[50]

Kingsley turns up as a member of the Sinister Six led by the Iron Spider. He accompanies the Sinister Six in a plot to steal a decommissioned S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier.[51]

Ned Leeds edit

Edward "Ned" Leeds was a reporter working for the Daily Bugle. In a 1987, he is revealed to be the first Hobgoblin, before being murdered by the Foreigner.[52] Ten years later in 1997, Leeds is retroactively established to have been brainwashed by Roderick Kingsley to act as a stand-in on many occasions and fool the underworld into thinking that he was the Hobgoblin, before Kingsley took back over the role.[22] Following the character being revealed to be alive in a 2017 storyline, Leeds is revived in 2021 storyline showing that under the influence of Kingsley's brainwashing he ended up ingesting a copy of Osborn's Goblin formula, reviving him shortly after his initial assassination, before he went into hiding.[53] In a 2022 storyline, Ned is then brainwashed by Kingsley again forcing him to resume his role as the Hobgoblin stand-in once more.[54] Synergetic with his MCU adaptation as a sorcerer in the film Spider-Man: No Way Home, in Symbiote Spider-Man: Alien Reality, Ned's Hobgoblin is revealed to have trained as a sorcerer under Baron Mordo in the art of reality-altering chaos magic, having rewritten reality to make himself a fall guy instead of the true Hobgoblin he always was.[55]

Lefty Donovan edit

Arnold Samuel "Lefty" Donovan was a petty thug. Similar to Osborn, Donovan was a test subject mix the two vital chemicals that were mixed into the Goblin formula, disfiguring Donovan's face and granting superhuman abilities. Donovan is taken to a hospital. Brainwashed by Gerhard Winkler's device, Donovan eventually escapes the hospital and follows preprogrammed instructions to go to a hidden cache of Goblin weapons and dress up as the Hobgoblin.[56] Donovan (impersonating the Hobgoblin) attacks New York City but Spider-Man eventually confronts and unmasks him. Spider-Man sees his (scarred) face and recognizes Lefty. As Donovan is able to shake off some of his programing and starts talking, his "boss" programmed the Goblin glider to crash into the side of a building, killing Lefty instantly on impact.[57]

Jason Macendale edit

Jason Philip Macendale Jr. was a mercenary who had been trained by the CIA (and various para-military organizations). He first appeared as the supervillain Jack O'Lantern before eventually adopting the Hobgoblin identity.[58]

Fifth Hobgoblin edit

An unidentified fifth Hobgoblin was introduced in the series Secret War. With very little to know about him (including his true identity), the only thing to know is that he received his equipment from the Tinkerer. He was sent along with Lady Octopus to attack Captain America in his civilian identity by the terrorist-elements wound into the events of the Secret War. Chatter from the Goblin indicated he'd been in contact with other members of Spider-Man's rogues gallery, who'd warned him about Spider-Man's constant and inane joking.[59] This Hobgoblin is jailed along with the various defeated villains after the conclusion of the "War".[60]

Daniel Kingsley edit

Daniel Kingsley is Roderick Kingsley's twin brother. He would act as a body double until being exposed by Betty Brant while the true Hobgoblin gets unmasked by Spider-Man.[22] Now in protective custody, Daniel was unknowingly used by Roderick to blackmail Norman Osborn, resulting in the Hobgoblin to swoop in to collect Daniel. Spider-Man defends Daniel but is drugged while Daniel passes out and both are taken to Osborn.[61] As Kingsley and Osborn furiously fight each other, Daniel gets rescued by Spider-Man.[62] Kingsley later returned to New York, posing as his twin brother as the Hobgoblin.[32] Kingsley investigated an old lair at OsCorp which had a flaming energy sword, but discovers Phil Urich trying to retrieve the same gear. Kingsley gets stunned by Urich's "Lunatic Laugh" long enough for Urich to kill him using his own sword, allowing his killer to claim the Hobgoblin mantle.[31]

Phil Urich edit

Phillip Benjamin "Phil" Urich (who once used the Green Goblin identity to operate as a superhero) took on the Hobgoblin identity himself as a supervillain with some new gear (new body armor, a winged jetpack, and a flaming energy sword).[31]

Norman Osborn edit

Norman Osborn briefly impersonated the original Hobgoblin.[63]

Claude edit

Claude was Roderick's butler who was sent in place and to talk like his master to distract the Goblin Nation. He fought against and was killed in battle by the Goblin Knight who then discovered it was Claude who was killed and destroyed his body to keep the Goblin King from finding out about the imposter Hobgoblin.[64]

Powers, abilities, and equipment edit

As the Hobgoblin, Roderick Kingsley wears bulletproof mail with an overlapping tunic, cape, and cowl. A computerized system cybernetically causes the finger-blasters to randomly vary their attack vectors when trained on a particular target. He uses a Goblin glider, a one-man miniature turbo-fan-powered vertical thrust, cybernetically-controlled vehicle. It can reach high velocities and is extremely maneuverable. He uses concussion and incendiary Jack O'Lanterns, wraith-shaped smoke and gas-emitting bombs, bat shaped razor-edged throwing blades, and gloves woven with micro-circuited power conducting filaments which channel pulsed discharges of electricity. He wore a shoulder bag to carry his small, portable weaponry.[12]

Prior to his assassination, Ned Leeds wore the Hobgoblin's uniform and used the Goblin glider and equipment which included Jack O'Lantern bombs, razor bats and electrical shock gloves. However, he had no healing factor or superhuman strength.[22] Following his ingesting the Goblin Formula and subsequent resurrection, Ned developed superhuman strength, speed, reflexes, and stamina as well as a low-level rapid healing factor,[65] the latter of which allow him to survive otherwise fatal gunshot wounds.[66] Wielding chaos magic following his training as a sorcerer under Baron Mordo, Ned's Hobgoblin is capable of sensing other magic users, as well as casting spells relating to flight, teleportation, time manipulation, elemental manipulation, and reality warping, using the latter skill to rewrite reality around Spider-Man and himself to make himself Sorcerer Supreme, before he is defeated by Spider-Man, although he is able to use his magic to fake his death in the aftermath, before returning years later under the guise of having been a "patsy for the 'real' Hobgoblin", free to resume his plans.[55]

As the Hobgoblin, Phil Urich wears an orange Hobgoblin costume with wings on the back that allow him to fly without the use of a Goblin glider and he took the Hobgoblin mask as his own. He uses the traditional Pumpkin Bombs all Green Goblins and Hobgoblins before him have used, but he also has a new flaming sword.[31] He still retains his "Lunatic Laugh" and he also has superhuman strength, speed, durability, stamina, reflexes and senses, and enhanced intellect. For unknown reasons, he no longer needs his Goblin mask to activate this power. With the help of Reverbium, his "Lunatic Laugh" was able to cause a building to collapse.[67]

Alternative versions edit

Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows edit

During the "Secret Wars" storyline in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows, the Roderick Kingsley version of Hobgoblin appears as a member of Regent's Sinister Six where they are tasked to hunt down Spider-Man.[68] During the fight with Spider-Man, Hobgoblin's hand was webbed up by Spider-Man before he could throw his Pumpkin Bomb which led to Hobgoblin getting killed in its explosion.[69]

Hobgoblin 2211 edit

Hobgoblin 2211
 
Hobgoblin 2211 (left) and Spider-Man 2211.
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceSpider-Man 2099 Meets Spider-Man (November, 1995)
Created byPeter David
Rick Leonardi
In-story information
Alter egoRobin Borne
SpeciesHuman mutate
AbilitiesSuperhuman strength, speed, agility, stamina, durability and reflexes
Genius-level intellect
Use of goblin-themed weapons and paraphernalia

Hobgoblin 2211 first appears in Spider-Man 2099 Meets Spider-Man. While her costume sports the twentieth-century Green Goblins' green-and-purple color scheme, she boasted that she was the Hobgoblin of 2211. Her identity was not revealed to readers (or to the visiting Spider-Men of previous eras) at the time, but her later reappearance in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (also written by David) revealed her true identity and origin.

Hobgoblin 2211 is Robin "Hobby"/"Hob" Borne, Spider-Man's daughter. Her father always seemed to put his superhero career before raising his own daughter. She wanted to save the universes from 'intersecting'; in other words, having other parallel universes merge with the existing one, causing it to override. She was later arrested by her father for something that she would have done in future: unauthorized time travel, chronal displacement, jumping the tracks to other realities. She was held in a virtual reality prison where she lives a benign and trouble-free existence in what appears to be Kansas. Her boyfriend attempts to free her by uploading a virus into the prison, but inadvertently causes her to be driven insane. She attacked her father with a 'retcon bomb' (a variation on the original Goblins' pumpkin bombs) but it hit her boyfriend instead, erasing (or 'retconning') him from existence.

Now suited up as the Hobgoblin, Robin managed to time-travel to the current year, attacking the current Spider-Man in his reality and derailing an Uncle Ben from another reality into the present one causing a time paradox. Later, in a confrontation with her father, she threw a 'retcon bomb' at him. Spider-Man, believing it to be no more harmful than a regular pumpkin bomb, caught it with his web and threw it back to Robin, unwittingly erasing her from existence.

JLA/Avengers edit

In the last issue of JLA/Avengers, the Hobgoblin is among the enthralled villains defending Krona's stronghold, and is defeated by Hawkgirl.[70]

Marvel Adventures edit

In this continuity, Hobgoblin is an unidentified criminal who found a stash of Green Goblin's weaponry because he had forgotten to leave the entrance locked. Delighted at his new technological power he challenges Green Goblin to a confrontation. Spider-Man defeats them both.[71]

MC2 edit

The Roderick Kingsley version of Hobgoblin made his MC2 debut as a hired assassin to kill many of the Spider-Girl characters, including Normie Osborn, Spider-Girl, and Peter Parker.[72] After a fight against both Spider-Girl and her father, he came close to victory, but at the end his only success lay in killing the Venom symbiote, and also in escaping without a trace.[73] He attempted a complex plot to become the new kingpin of crime, but was undone due to an act of treachery by his partner, the Mindworm. Killing the Mindworm, and deciding the New York underworld had become too "hot" for him at the moment, he chose to return to the Caribbean, but vowed someday to come back and finish off Spider-Girl.[74] He is later revealed to be the instigator of a mob war against the Black Tarantula, returning to New York to finish the job.[75] He defeated American Dream and the New Warriors. He then dropped them from a great height, planning to kill Spider-Girl as she tried to save them. However, he himself was then killed by Mayhem, Spider-Girl's half-symbiote clone.[76]

Newspaper strip edit

In "The Amazing Spider-Man" newspaper strip by Stan Lee and Larry Lieber, Harry Osborn as the Hobgoblin has repeatedly attacked Spider-Man, seeking vengeance for his father's death. After trying to kill both Spider-Man and Black Widow after, under hypnotic influence of psychiatrist "Dr. Stone" (actually spy-assassin Dimitri Gregorin who has killed friends of the Black Widow in the past), Harry, seeing Spider-Man's heroism, realizes that Spider-Man is a hero, his father was a murderer, and vows to never assume the Hobgoblin identity again.

Old Man Logan edit

In the pages of Old Man Logan that took place on Earth-21923, the Roderick Kingsley version of Hobgoblin was among the villains that attacked the Avengers in Connecticut. He worked with the Vulture to fight Wasp only for Wasp to use her stingers to shoot Hobgoblin off his Goblin Glider.[77]

Spider-Man: Spider's Shadow edit

Around the events of Amazing Spider-Man #258 (November 1984), Hobgoblin battles with black suit Spider-Man; during the fight, Hobgoblin is unmasked as Roderick Kingsley, so Spider-Man threatens to Kingsley to not attack innocent civilians anymore. Kingsley causes an explosion at May Parker's house when he sees Spider-Man change into Peter Parker using the Venom symbiote; The symbiote shifts blame into Kingsley for May's death, and changes into a monstrous form. Spider-Man uses his fingers to kill Kingsley, who is regarded as Spider-Man's first victim.[78]

Spider-Geddon edit

In the Spider-Geddon event on Earth-11580, a version of Hobgoblin is seen alongside Green Goblin, Jack O'Lantern and Demogoblin during the Goblin Night. Under the orders of the Goblin Queen, they try to kill Gwen Stacy, but Spiders-Man arrives and defeats the Goblins.[79]

Spider-Gwen edit

In the alternate continuity of Spider-Gwen, the Green Goblin uses an army of Hobgoblin-based androids to assist him during his assault against Spider-Woman.[80]

Spider-Verse edit

The "Spider-Verse" had two version of Hobgoblin:

Hobgoblin of Earth-21205 edit

Overwhelmed with rage over the death of Gwen Stacy, the Earth-21205 version of Peter Parker, as Spider-Man, murdered the Green Goblin and later retired his Spider-Man identity. He soon after became "the Goblin", a villain similar in costume to the Hobgoblin. This character was later targeted by Verna of the Inheritors (alongside the Hounds Scorpion and Rhino) as a Spider-Totem. The Spider-Woman of Earth-65 attempted to recruit him into a growing army of Spiders to protect him from the Inheritors, but he initially turned the offer down. When Spider-Woman revealed herself to be an alternate version of Gwen, he sacrificed himself to save her as atonement for failing to do so in his own dimension.[81]

Hobgoblin of Earth-001 edit

The Earth-001 version of Hobgoblin appeared as a member of Verna's Hounds alongside the multiple Green Goblins. Hobgoblin and the other goblin-themed Hounds attacked Silk, Spider-Woman of Earth-65, and Black Widow of Earth-1610.[82] He is killed by Superior Spider-Man, Assassin Spider-Man, and Spider-Punk.[82]

Sword-and-sorcery edit

In the 2007 Spider-Man/Red Sonja mini-series, the Hobgoblin was one of several supervillains who was transformed into a sword-and-sorcery version of themselves due to the spell cast by Kulan Gath. It was never specified which Hobgoblin it was.

Ultimate Marvel edit

The Ultimate Marvel equivalent of Hobgoblin is Harold "Harry" Osborn when his second personality Shaw takes control.[83][84]

Reception edit

In 2009, an IGN list of the top 100 comic book villains ranked the Roderick Kingsley incarnation of the Hobgoblin as the 57th best.[85]

In other media edit

Television edit

 
The Hobgoblin as he appears in Spider-Man: The Animated Series.
  • An amalgamated incarnation of the Hobgoblin named Jason Philips appears in Spider-Man: The Animated Series,[Note 1] voiced by Mark Hamill.[86] Debuting in a self-titled, two-part episode, the Hobgoblin is hired and given an arsenal of weapons by Norman Osborn to assassinate Wilson Fisk. He instead manipulates and betrays both Osborn and Fisk to usurp the latter as New York City's Kingpin of Crime, only to be foiled by Spider-Man. In "The Mutant Agenda" and "Mutants' Revenge", the Hobgoblin learns of Dr. Herbert Landon's plan to exterminate mutants and uses this information to extort him. Despite clashing with Spider-Man and the X-Men, the Hobgoblin escapes after turning Landon into a mutant. In "Rocket Racer", Philips begins dating Felicia Hardy. In "The Spot" and "Goblin War!", Philips becomes engaged to Hardy, forms an uneasy alliance with Fisk, and clashes with both Spider-Man and Osborn over a time dilation accelerator. He is arrested soon after Felicia discovers his true identity. In the two-part series finale "Spider-Wars", an alternate reality version of the Hobgoblin appears as an enemy of the Scarlet Spider and partner of the Green Goblin under the Kingpin and Spider-Carnage's employ.
  • The Hobgoblin was set to appear in The Spectacular Spider-Man before the series was cancelled. Nonetheless, an African-American depiction of Roderick Kingsley appears in the episode "Accomplices", voiced by Courtney B. Vance.[87]
  • An amalgamated incarnation of the Hobgoblin appears in Spider-Man (2017), voiced by Max Mittelman.[86] This version is an armor that possesses a flaming energy sword and sonic scream while sporting a design based on the various comics iterations. The Hobgoblin identity is primarily used by Harry Osborn, though Norman Osborn briefly impersonates the Hobgoblin while trying to kill Spider-Man.[88][89]
  • The Roderick Kingsley incarnation of the Hobgoblin appears in Marvel Super Hero Adventures, voiced by Andrew Francis.[86]

Film edit

A Hobgoblin mask appears in Spider-Man 3 (2007) as part of Norman Osborn's secret lab.[90][91][92]

Video games edit

Merchandise edit

  • An unidentified Hobgoblin received an action figure in Mattel's Secret Wars toy line.
  • The Jason Phillips incarnation of the Hobgoblin received five figures in the Spider-Man: The Animated Series tie-in toyline.
  • The Jason Macendale and Roderick Kingsley incarnations of the Hobgoblin received figures in series 2 and 17 of the Spider-Man Classics line, respectively.
  • An unidentified Hobgoblin received a figure in the Marvel Minimates line as part of a FYE, Suncoast, and Sam Goody-exclusive two-pack alongside a Scarlet Spider figure.[98]
  • The Roderick Kingsley incarnation of the Hobgoblin received a bust from Bowen Designs.
  • The Roderick Kingsley incarnation of the Hobgoblin received a bust in Hasbro's Marvel Universe toyline.
  • The Phil Urich incarnation of the Hobgoblin received a figure in the HeroClix line.[99]
  • An unidentified Hobgoblin served as a Build-a-Figure for the Marvel Legends Infinite Series Spider-Man line.
  • An unidentified Hobgoblin received a minifigure in the Spider-Man: Ghost Rider Team-up Lego set.

Miscellaneous edit

The Ned Leeds incarnation of the Hobgoblin appears in The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, voiced by Pat Fraley.

Notes edit

  1. ^ Roderick Kingsley had yet to be established as the original Hobgoblin in the comics when Spider-Man: The Animated Series was produced, so the show's version of the character was instead an amalgamation of the original Hobgoblin's personality and ambitions, Jason Macendale's mercenary status and Lefty Donovan's criminal background.

References edit

  1. ^ Rovin, Jeff (1987). The Encyclopedia of Super-Villains. New York: Facts on File. p. 157. ISBN 0-8160-1356-X.[1]
  2. ^ Marvel Age #111, April 1992, Marvel Comics
  3. ^ DeFalco, Tom; Sanderson, Peter; Brevoort, Tom; Teitelbaum, Michael; Wallace, Daniel; Darling, Andrew; Forbeck, Matt; Cowsill, Alan; Bray, Adam (2019). The Marvel Encyclopedia. DK Publishing. p. 170. ISBN 978-1-4654-7890-0.
  4. ^ DeFalco, Tom (2004). Comics Creators on Spider-Man. Titan Books. ISBN 1-84023-422-9.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Greenberg, Glenn (August 2009). "When Hobby Met Spidey". Back Issue!. TwoMorrows Publishing (35): 10–23.
  6. ^ a b Fettinger, J.R. "Squandered Legacy: The Rise and Fall of the HobGoblin Part Two: The Goblin in Decline". Spidey Kicks Butt. Retrieved 2009-02-19.
  7. ^ DeFalco, Tom (w), Frenz, Ron (p), Rubenstein, Josef (i). "Whatever Happened To Crusher Hogan?" The Amazing Spider-Man, vol. 1, no. 271 (December 1985). Marvel Comics.
  8. ^ Stern, Roger (w), Frenz, Ron (p), Pérez, George (i). "Victims" Hobgoblin Lives, no. 1 (Jan. 1997). Marvel Comics.
  9. ^ Stern, Roger (w), Zeck, Mike (p), Mitchell, Steve (i). "Pretty Poison" Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man, no. 43 (June 1980). Marvel Comics.
  10. ^ Stern, Roger (w), Severin, Ron (p), Patterson, Bruce (i). "A Night on the Prowl!" Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man, no. 47 (Oct. 1980). Marvel Comics.
  11. ^ Stern, Roger (w), Severin, Marie (p), Patterson, Bruce (i). "Double Defeat!" Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man, no. 48 (Nov. 1980). Marvel Comics.
  12. ^ a b c Stern, Roger (w), Romita, John Jr. (p), Romita, John Sr. (i). "The Shadow of Evils Past!" The Amazing Spider-Man, no. 238 (March 1983). Marvel Comics.
  13. ^ a b c Stern, Roger (w), Romita, John Jr. (p), Giacoia, Frank (i). "Now Strikes The Hobgoblin!" The Amazing Spider-Man, no. 239 (April 1983). Marvel Comics.
  14. ^ a b Stern, Roger (w), Romita, John Jr. (p), Green, Dan (i). "Secrets!" The Amazing Spider-Man, no. 249 (Feb. 1984). Marvel Comics.
  15. ^ DeFalco, Tom (w), Frenz, Ron (p), Rubinstein, Josef and Breeding, Brett (i). "The Challenge of Hobgoblin!" The Amazing Spider-Man, no. 260 (Jan. 1985). Marvel Comics.
  16. ^ a b c Stern, Roger (w), Romita, John Jr. (p), Janson, Klaus (i). "Ordeals!" The Amazing Spider-Man, no. 244 (Sept. 1983). Marvel Comics.
  17. ^ Stern, Roger (w), Romita, John Jr. (p), Simons, Dave (i). "Sacrifice Play!" The Amazing Spider-Man, no. 245 (Oct. 1983). Marvel Comics.
  18. ^ Mantlo, Bill, Roger Stern (w), Milgrom, Al (p), Mooney, Jim (i). "The Hatred of the Hobgoblin!" Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man, no. 85 (Dec. 1983). Marvel Comics.
  19. ^ Glenn Greenberg (w), Kyle Hotz (p), Jason Moore, Kyle Hotz, and Al Milgrom (i). Spider-Man: The Osborn Journal, no. 1 (Feb. 1997). Marvel Comics.
  20. ^ Stern, Roger (w), Romita, John Jr. (p), Janson, Klaus (i). "Confessions!" The Amazing Spider-Man, no. 250 (March 1984). Marvel Comics.
  21. ^ DeFalco, Tom, Roger Stern (w), Frenz, Ron (p), Janson, Klaus (i). "Endings!" The Amazing Spider-Man, no. 251 (April 1984). Marvel Comics.
  22. ^ a b c d e f Stern, Roger (w), Frenz, Ron (p), McLeod, Bob (i). "Secrets" Hobgoblin Lives, no. 3 (March 1997). Marvel Comics.
  23. ^ Shooter, Jim (w), Milgrom, Al (p), Leialoha, Steve (i). "Charge Of The Dark Brigade!" Secret Wars II, no. 7 (January 1986). Marvel Comics.
  24. ^ DeFalco, Tom (w), Frenz, Ron (p), Rubinstein, Josef (i). "The Sins of My Father!" The Amazing Spider-Man, no. 261 (Feb. 1985). Marvel Comics.
  25. ^ Spider-Man: Hobgoblin Lives #1 (Jan. 1997). Marvel Comics.
  26. ^ Spider-Man: Hobgoblin Lives #2 (February 1997). Marvel Comics.
  27. ^ Stern, Roger (w), Romita, John II (p), Janson, Klaus (i). "Confessions!" The Amazing Spider-Man, no. 250 (March 1983). Marvel Comics.
  28. ^ The Spectacular Spider-Man #259 (July 1998). Marvel Comics.
  29. ^ The Spectacular Spider-Man #260 (Aug. 1998). Marvel Comics.
  30. ^ The Spectacular Spider-Man #261 (Sept. 1998). Marvel Comics.
  31. ^ a b c d The Amazing Spider-Man #649. Marvel Comics.
  32. ^ a b The Amazing Spider-Man #691. Marvel Comics.
  33. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #694 (Sept. 2012). Marvel Comics.
  34. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #696 (Oct. 2012). Marvel Comics.
  35. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #697 (Nov. 2012). Marvel Comics.
  36. ^ Avenging Spider-Man #26. Marvel Comics.
  37. ^ The Superior Spider-Man #22. Marvel Comics.
  38. ^ The Superior Spider-Man #25. Marvel Comics.
  39. ^ The Superior Spider-Man #26. Marvel Comics.
  40. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 3 #1. Marvel Comics.
  41. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 3 #6. Marvel Comics.
  42. ^ Magneto vol. 3 #11. Marvel Comics.
  43. ^ Avengers & X-Men: AXIS #2. Marvel Comics.
  44. ^ AXIS: Hobgoblin #1. Marvel Comics.
  45. ^ AXIS: Hobgoblin #2. Marvel Comics.
  46. ^ AXIS: Hobgoblin #3. Marvel Comics.
  47. ^ Avengers & X-Men: AXIS #6. Marvel Comics
  48. ^ Avengers & X-Men: AXIS #9. Marvel Comics.
  49. ^ Spider-Woman vol. 6 #13. Marvel Comics.
  50. ^ Spider-Woman vol. 6 #16. Marvel Comics.
  51. ^ Spider-Man #234. Marvel Comics.
  52. ^ Spider-Man versus Wolverine (February 1987)
  53. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 5 #68
  54. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 6 #12
  55. ^ a b Symbiote Spider-Man: Alien Reality #1–5 (December 2019–July 2020). Marvel Comics.
  56. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man, no. 244 (September 1983). Marvel Comics.
  57. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man, no. 245 (October 1983). Marvel Comics.
  58. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #289
  59. ^ Secret War #4. Marvel Comics.
  60. ^ Secret War #5. Marvel Comics.
  61. ^ The Spectacular Spider-Man #260 (August 1998)
  62. ^ The Spectacular Spider-Man #261 (September 1998)
  63. ^ The Superior Spider-Man #18
  64. ^ The Superior Spider-Man #26. Marvel Comics.
  65. ^ Stan Lee (w), Steve Ditko (p), Steve Ditko (i). "Spider-Man" The Amazing Spider-Man, no. 37 (June 1966). Marvel Comics.
  66. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 5 #68
  67. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #651 (January 2011). Marvel Comics.
  68. ^ Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #1. Marvel Comics.
  69. ^ Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #2. Marvel Comics.
  70. ^ Avengers/JLA #4 (May 2004). DC Comics/Marvel Comics.
  71. ^ Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #22 (2005). DC Comics.
  72. ^ Spider-Girl #97 (June 2006). Marvel Comics.
  73. ^ Spider-Girl #100 (Sept. 2006). Marvel Comics.
  74. ^ The Amazing Spider-Girl #18 (May 2008). Marvel Comics.
  75. ^ The Spectacular Spider-Girl #3 (July 2010). Marvel Comics.
  76. ^ The Spectacular Spider-Girl #4 (August 2010). Marvel Comics.
  77. ^ Old Man Logan vol. 2 #8. Marvel Comics.
  78. ^ Chip Zdarsky (w), Pasquale Ferry (a). "Spider's Shadow: Part One" Spider-Man: Spider's Shadow, no. 1 (April 14, 2021). Marvel Comics.
  79. ^ Vault of Spiders #2. Marvel Comics.
  80. ^ Spider-Gwen vol. 2 #4 (Jan. 2016)
  81. ^ Spider-Verse Team-Up #2
  82. ^ a b The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 3 #13
  83. ^ Ultimate Spider-Man #74. Marvel Comics.
  84. ^ Ultimate Spider-Man #115–117. Marvel Comics.
  85. ^ . IGN. Archived from the original on 2010-08-09. Retrieved 2022-01-06.
  86. ^ a b c "Hobgoblin Voice - Spider-Man franchise". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
  87. ^ Goldman, Eric (2010-07-07). "The Spectacular Spider-Man's Past and Future". IGN. Retrieved 2022-01-06.
  88. ^ "The Hobgoblin Pt. 1". Spider-Man. Season 1. Episode 24. February 18, 2018. Disney XD.
  89. ^ "The Hobgoblin Pt. 2". Spider-Man. Season 1. Episode 25. February 18, 2018. Disney XD.
  90. ^ "Spider-Man 3's Hobgoblin Mask Easter Egg & Future Setup Explained". Screen Rant. 15 October 2021.
  91. ^ "20 Easter Eggs in Spider-Man Films You Didn't Notice". 28 May 2014.
  92. ^ "Spider-Man 3: The Mask of the Hobgoblin and a Potential Future Installment Explained". Animated Times. 17 October 2021.
  93. ^ "Let's Play: Spider-Man: Web of Shadows S03 P02 - Here, Kitty Kitty Kitty!". YouTube. Retrieved 2010-08-13.
  94. ^ Raub, Matt (2009-09-15). "'Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2′ Alternate Costumes Revealed!". The Flickcast. Retrieved 2010-08-13.
  95. ^ Miller, Greg (2010-06-07). "E3 2010: Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions Preview". IGN. Retrieved 2022-01-06.
  96. ^ George, Richard; Schedeen, Jesse (2010-08-23). "The Deadly Villains of Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions". IGN. Retrieved 2022-01-06.
  97. ^ "Characters". IGN Database. Retrieved January 28, 2018.
  98. ^ "Hobgoblin/Scarlet Spider Minimates exclusive review". OAFE. Retrieved 2010-08-13.
  99. ^ "Hobgoblin image". heroclix.com. Retrieved 9 June 2023.

External links edit

  • Hobgoblin I at Marvel.com
  • Hobgoblin I at The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
  • SpideyKicksButt.com: "Squandered Legacy: The Rise and Fall of the Hobgoblin"
  • Peter David site: "Foolish Consistencies and..."

hobgoblin, comics, this, article, about, supervillain, marvel, comics, member, imperial, guard, hobgoblin, imperial, guard, other, hobgoblin, disambiguation, hobgoblin, alias, several, supervillains, appearing, american, comic, books, published, marvel, comics. This article is about a supervillain in Marvel Comics For the member of the Shi ar Imperial Guard see Hobgoblin Imperial Guard For other see Hobgoblin disambiguation The Hobgoblin is the alias of several supervillains appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics most of whom are depicted as enemies of the superhero Spider Man and belong to the collective of adversaries that make up his rogues gallery HobgoblinThe original Hobgoblin design as depicted in The Amazing Spider Man 238 March 1983 Art by John Romita Sr and John Romita Jr Publication informationPublisherMarvel ComicsFirst appearanceThe Amazing Spider Man 238 March 1983 1 2 Created byRoger Stern John Romita Jr In story informationAlter egoRoderick KingsleyNed LeedsLefty DonovanJason MacendaleRobin BorneHarry OsbornDaniel KingsleyPhil UrichClaudeAbilitiesCriminal mastermind Superhuman strength intelligence speed durability and healing Uses Halloween themed paraphernalia high tech gadgetry and a Goblin Glider equipped with various weaponsThe first incarnation of the Hobgoblin made his debut in The Amazing Spider Man 238 March 1983 as a criminal mastermind equipped with Halloween themed weapons similar to those used by the Green Goblin The Hobgoblin s true identity was one of the longest running mysteries in the Spider Man comics until 1987 when it was revealed to be Ned Leeds Peter Parker s journalist co worker at the Daily Bugle Ten years later in 1997 however the Hobgoblin s identity was retroactively established to be Roderick Kingsley while Ned was only a fall guy Other characters that have assumed the Hobgoblin mantle over the years include Lefty Donovan Jason Macendale Roderick s twin brother Daniel Kingsley Robin Borne Phil Urich and Claude Leeds Donovan and Claude served as brainwashed stand ins as part of an intricate scheme orchestrated by the Kingsley brothers with Macendale Borne and Urich being the only versions to operate independently of the others although occasionally partnering with them In the alternate continuities of The Amazing Spider Man comic strip and Ultimate Marvel Harry Osborn has also adopted the Hobgoblin persona The Hobgoblin has been adapted from the comics into various forms of media including television series and video games An amalgamated version of the character appeared in the 1994 1998 Spider Man The Animated Series voiced by Mark Hamill while the Harry Osborn incarnation is featured in Spider Man 2017 2018 voiced by Max Mittelman Contents 1 Publication history 2 Fictional character biography 2 1 Roderick Kingsley 2 2 Ned Leeds 2 3 Lefty Donovan 2 4 Jason Macendale 2 5 Fifth Hobgoblin 2 6 Daniel Kingsley 2 7 Phil Urich 2 8 Norman Osborn 2 9 Claude 3 Powers abilities and equipment 4 Alternative versions 4 1 Amazing Spider Man Renew Your Vows 4 2 Hobgoblin 2211 4 3 JLA Avengers 4 4 Marvel Adventures 4 5 MC2 4 6 Newspaper strip 4 7 Old Man Logan 4 8 Spider Man Spider s Shadow 4 9 Spider Geddon 4 10 Spider Gwen 4 11 Spider Verse 4 11 1 Hobgoblin of Earth 21205 4 11 2 Hobgoblin of Earth 001 4 12 Sword and sorcery 4 13 Ultimate Marvel 5 Reception 6 In other media 6 1 Television 6 2 Film 6 3 Video games 6 4 Merchandise 6 5 Miscellaneous 7 Notes 8 References 9 External linksPublication history edit nbsp The Amazing Spider Man 238 March 1983 the Hobgoblin s first appearance Cover art by John Romita Sr The Hobgoblin was created by writer Roger Stern and artist John Romita Jr for The Amazing Spider Man 238 March 1983 3 Like other writers Stern found himself under pressure to have Spider Man fight the Green Goblin again but did not wish to bring Norman Osborn or Bart Hamilton back from the dead have Harry Osborn be the Green Goblin again or create another Green Goblin Stern instead created a new concept as heir to the Goblin legacy and developed the Hobgoblin 4 Stern recounts that he directed Romita to base the costume on the Green Goblin s but to make it a little more medieval looking while Romita asserts that he was given no direction beyond using the Green Goblin as a basis Both agree however that the costume was chiefly Romita s design 5 The Hobgoblin s identity was not initially revealed generating one of the longest running mysteries in the Spider Man comics According to Stern I plotted that first story with no strong idea of who the Hobgoblin was As I was scripting those gorgeous pages from John Romita Jr particularly the last third of the book and developing the Hobgoblin s speech pattern I realized who he was It was Roderick Kingsley that sunuvabitch corporate leader I had introduced in my first issue of The Spectacular Spider Man 5 A handful of readers deduced that Kingsley was the Hobgoblin almost immediately To throw off the scent and in the same stroke provide a retroactive explanation for Kingsley s inconsistent characterization in his early appearances Stern came up with the idea of Kingsley having his brother Daniel Kingsley sometimes impersonate him sealing the deception by having the Hobgoblin conspicuously appear in the same room as Kingsley in The Amazing Spider Man 249 5 Stern s original plan was to have the Hobgoblin s mystery identity run exactly one issue longer than that of the Green Goblin s identity meaning the truth would be revealed in The Amazing Spider Man 264 5 However Stern left after The Amazing Spider Man 251 and editor Tom DeFalco took his place Wanting to resolve the mystery in a manner that would do justice to Stern s stories DeFalco asked Stern who the Hobgoblin was but objected when Stern said it was Kingsley DeFalco argued that the twin brother scheme was cheating the readers since there had been no hint that Roderick even had a brother aside from a single thought bubble much less one who could serve as a body double Stern disagreed but said that DeFalco should feel free to make the choice of which character to use for the Hobgoblin s secret identity Stern reasoning that I knew that whomever Tom chose he would make it work 5 Upon reviewing the clues DeFalco decided that the Hobgoblin was Richard Fisk Moreover he decided that the Hobgoblin s mystery should be prolonged as long as possible since it was the chief element that made the Hobgoblin interesting 5 Through both Stern and DeFalco s runs the answer was continuously teased on the cover art with the covers of The Amazing Spider Man 245 251 and 276 all showing Spider Man having unmasked the Hobgoblin 6 nbsp Artist John Romita Jr signing a copy of The Amazing Spider Man 238 in which the Hobgoblin first appeared at Midtown Comics in ManhattanThe mystery was further complicated after James Owsley came on as editor of the Spider Man titles Owsley s relationship with DeFalco and artist Ron Frenz was strained from the beginning When Owsley asked who the Hobgoblin was at a creators conference DeFalco lied and said the man in question was Ned Leeds Owsley then wrote the one shot Spider Man vs Wolverine in which Leeds is killed off though the actual death is not shown and instructed The Spectacular Spider Man writer Peter David to reveal the Hobgoblin s identity as the Foreigner David objected and argued that the only person who fit the clues was Leeds Having been present at the Spider Man creator s conference David also thought that Leeds was who DeFalco intended it to be Because Spider Man vs Wolverine had already been drawn however it was too late to undo Leeds s death 5 Thus the Hobgoblin s identity was revealed posthumously in the double sized The Amazing Spider Man 289 With Spider Man s archenemy now dead a new storyline was created from Jason Macendale s hatred of the Hobgoblin Though the Hobgoblin s posthumous unmasking as Leeds was unpopular with fans David said in a 2009 interview of still being proud of the story arguing that the Hobgoblin being unmasked in a climactic battle with Spider Man was the sort of tale readers had already seen countless times before whereas having an archvillain unmasked in a flashback after having been brutally killed by nameless assassins was unprecedented and shocking 5 From 1987 to 1997 Macendale was the Hobgoblin initially using only the Hobgoblin s costume and weaponry but the 1988 1989 Inferno crossover writer Gerry Conway had Macendale imbued with magical powers by the demon N astirh by bonding him with a demon In addition to power over hellfire and increased strength and speed far greater than his predecessor N astirh also disfigures Macendale so that his head resembled the Hobgoblin mask and ultimately alters his mind so that he was deluded into thinking that his appearance is normal Several years later Macendale succeeds in purging himself of his demonic powers and acquires cybernetic implants the demon that N astirh imbued with Macendale becoming Demogoblin 6 Stern was unhappy with the revelation that Hobgoblin s civilian identity was Leeds and wrote the three issue miniseries Spider Man Hobgoblin Lives in 1997 with the retcon that Kingsley was the original Hobgoblin while Leeds was brainwashed into serving as a fall guy Macendale is killed off and Kingsley returned According to Stern initially he had not known how to resolve the situation of having two Hobgoblins and it was at the suggestion of the editorial staff that Kingsley kill Macendale and return to operating as the Hobgoblin 5 Fictional character biography editRoderick Kingsley edit nbsp Roderick Kingsley as the Hobgoblin on Spider Man Hobgoblin Lives 1 January 1997 Art by Ron Frenz Roderick Kingsley started out as a socialite fashion designer and billionaire who had criminal underworld connections and had come about his wealth through unethical business practices and corporate raiding Coincidentally Kingsley was an employer of Mary Jane Watson for a time 7 As a means of avoiding the drill of day to day appearances he had his timid identical twin brother Daniel Kingsley pose as him to run his corporation 8 Kingsley s activities gave him many enemies one of which was Bella Donna Narda Ravanna a rival fashion designer whose business he had ruined and attempted revenge on Kingsley but is twice thwarted by Spider Man 9 10 11 After these incidents Kingsley seeks to protect himself and his empire by gaining more power The thug George Hill reports to Kingsley of stumbling upon Norman Osborn s secret lair in hopes of earning a reward Kingsley instead kills Hill to make sure that no one else gets wind of the discovery 12 Upon examining the lair and gleaning its secrets Kingsley decides to use the Goblin equipment Arriving to the conclusion that all the previous Green Goblin mantle wearers went mad he instead creates a similar but different mantle the Hobgoblin identity 12 Soon afterwards he encounters Spider Man 13 He uses some of Osborn s files to blackmail prominent figures 14 and attempts to buy Osborn s old corporation Oscorp and merge it with his own 15 These schemes bring him into conflict with Spider Man 13 Among Osborn s notes Kingsley also finds incomplete remnants of Mendel Stromm s strength enhancing potion and was obsessed with finding the complete formula or perfecting the incomplete notes 16 During his various criminal activities Kingsley repeatedly loses to Spider Man as he lacked raw physical power 13 Kingsley eventually perfected the strength enhancing formula but aware that Osborn was driven insane Kingsley opts to test on someone else first 16 tricking small time hood Lefty Donovan after using a mind control device developed by Gerhard Winkler Osborn s former employee With Donovan having administered the Goblin formula and then in the Hobgoblin costume to fight Spider Man Kingsley monitored his pawn s vital signs and behavior from a distance When Spider Man overwhelms and unmasks Donovan and the brainwashing begins to fail Kingsley acts to protect his identity by programming Donovan s glider to crash into a building instantly killing Donovan 16 17 Judging the experiment a success Kingsley immerses himself in his completed formula derivative and gains greater strength than the original Goblin He uses this strength to battle Spider Man and the Black Cat 18 Despite his increased abilities he is still narrowly defeated by Spider Man Worse he attracts the attention of powerful criminal interests who perceive him as a threat including the Kingpin 14 It is also revealed later that during this time after the Hobgoblin made his appearance Norman presumed to be dead at the time made a brief return to New York City in an attempt to deal with this Goblin but ultimately abandoned this for the sake of schemes against Spider Man 19 After a bitter encounter with Spider Man 20 21 Kingsley discovers he had been followed by Daily Bugle reporter Ned Leeds having discovered his lair 22 Kingsley captured Leeds and brainwashes the reporter with Winkler s device into being the Hobgoblin 22 Kingsley discovered that Leeds had been working with Richard Fisk on a plan to bring down the Kingpin s empire as Richard adopted the Rose crime lord identity using Leeds to handle some negotiations and fooling many criminals into believing that his pawn was the Hobgoblin and hoping to use the Kingpin s downfall to advance his own interests As Leeds gets too erratic to function as a decoy Kingsley arranged for Leeds to be assassinated by Jason Macendale and the Foreigner while on a trip to Berlin and decided to retire from the Hobgoblin identity During the events of Secret Wars II Kingsley is recruited by Mephisto to join the Legion Accursed a team of ninety nine supervillains who try to destroy the Beyonder 23 The Hobgoblin later kidnaps Harry Osborn He battles Osborn who uses his own father s weaponry against the Hobgoblin 24 After a retirement of several years Kingsley returns to New York He kills Macendale to prevent from giving the authorities information that would jeopardize his secret identity in addition to seeing Macendale an unworthy successor 25 Learning that Betty Brant has begun to investigate Ned s activities as the Hobgoblin informed of the truth by Spider Man after realizing that the Foreigner s human operatives could never have killed Leeds if Leeds had been super powered Kingsley kidnaps Betty and sets a trap for Spider Man 26 nbsp Roderick Kingsley unmasked as the Hobgoblin in Spider Man Hobgoblin Lives 3 March 1997 Art by Ron Frenz In the final fracas Daniel is captured and the Hobgoblin is unmasked clearing Ned s name Roderick is taken to prison imprisoned in the same cell where he killed Macendale 22 Despite his unmasking due to Kingsley s deceptive natures it is difficult to determine of whether he is telling the whole truth Furious at Norman s return and denial of being the Goblin Kingsley spreads rumors that there exists a secret journal of Osborn s that proves beyond a doubt of being the Goblin but this was later revealed to be a ruse knowing Osborn has been sending spies on him all of the journals in his possession had been destroyed during a battle with Spider Man years before 27 He offers to barter this information for his freedom with the District Attorney guessing that Osborn will try to get to him first Osborn deciding to make a deal with Kingsley breaks him out of prison Kingsley is then confronted by both Osborn and another Green Goblin 28 Osborn provides Kingsley with new Goblin equipment and both Goblins swoop in to collect Daniel now in protective custody who Roderick claims knows the final journal s location Spider Man defends Daniel but is drugged and both men are taken back to Osborn 29 Osborn knew Kingsley was lying about the journal and has bought Kingsley s company out from underneath him the purpose of helping Kingsley escape is for Osborn to eliminate the one person who possibly can prove that Osborn is the Goblin personally Kingsley furiously attacks Osborn who is shocked to discover that Kingsley is stronger and thus fails at killing him The building began to burn as a result of their battle and Spider Man escapes with Daniel All three of the villains managed to escape as well With several million dollars hidden away in foreign bank accounts Kingsley quietly moves to a small island in the Caribbean to enjoy his retirement 30 Kingsley is seemingly killed by Phil Urich who takes on the Hobgoblin mantle 31 but this was in fact Daniel with Roderick still active in Ecuador under the alias of Devil Spider Roderick learns that his brother has been murdered and plans his return to New York 32 Kingsley arrives in New York City and returns to the Hobgoblin role intending to go after Urich 33 Kingsley attacks Urich and the Kingpin in Shadowland After a brief battle between the two Hobgoblins Parker and Max Modell escape with the Goblin Key a key to one of the Goblin warehouses Kingsley and Urich decide to call a brief truce and go after them 34 After accessing the warehouse Peter utilizes the Goblin tech to make himself a Spider Glider and manages to escape Urich insists on going after but Kingsley stuns Urich with a taser so they can both escape Kingsley decides to let Urich remain the Hobgoblin but only if Urich gives him a cut of whatever profits are made 35 Kingsley obtains one of Mysterio s suits which he sells to a criminal who takes on the name Mysterion 36 He sells the Crime Master s gear to an unnamed Maggia operative 37 Hobgoblin ends up in a gang war with the Goblin Nation selling equipment to low level criminals who became the latest versions of 8 Ball Answer Blaze Devil Spider Gibbon Hitman Killer Shrike Mauler Melter Ringer Steeplejack Tumbler and Unicorn as well as a new villain named Bruin who wears one of Grizzly s old exoskeleton bear suits 38 He is killed by the first Goblin King while his henchmen are claimed for the Goblin Nation but his butler Claude went in his place so that his enemies could be distracted and Kingsley is actually in Paris Kingsley decides to lay low once again working on his personal empire 39 It was later revealed that Kingsley sold costumes and gear that made the latest versions of Hydro Man Tiger Shark Squid 40 and Beetle 41 During the AXIS storyline Kingsley appears as a member of Magneto s unnamed supervillain group during the fight against the Red Skull s Red Onslaught form When Magneto arrives to recruit him Kingsley attacks and is subjugated and forced to join Magneto s team 42 Kingsley accompanies Magneto and the other villains recruited to Genosha 43 The inversion spell caused by Doctor Doom and Scarlet Witch affects not only the Red Skull but all those present in Genosha making the superheroes present evil and the supervillains present good Following his inversion Kingsley returns to New York and finds himself happier with his inversion although still motivated by greed rather than altruism He reactivates his franchises where he leases the personas and costumes of deceased or retired superheroes to ordinary people but remains a wanted criminal He also enfranchises his Hobgoblin persona to various people to perform heroic deeds as Hobgoblin and publishes a comic about the group for promotion Among those who answer an ad are the amnesiac Lily Hollister and the underemployed teenager John Myers Other attendees include a different Demolition Man Flower Girl Leather Boy a character resembling Anti Venom a new Razorback and a new Water Wizard He sets a three phase program including a book and various articles with his brand and underground speeches named after Ned for people to make their own franchises in exchange for a share of their profits 44 Kingsley debuts his Hob Heroes Lily as Queen Cat Myers as Missile Mate Flower Girl Leatherboy Rocket Head and Water Wizard When the second Goblin King confronts Kingsley in his headquarters Myers is convinced by Urich s claims that Kingsley will soon abandon the heroes he has trained Missile Mate goes to Urich s headquarters and asks to join to be a supervillain Urich is reluctant but Myers shows also gathering all the supervillains Kingsley abandoned after being a good guy 45 When the celebration of a Hobgoblin Day is being held with a parade in Kingsley s honor Missile Mate betrays Kingsley and attempts to murder him in the Goblin King s name Kingsley has already expected the betrayal and has been using a hologram decoy which takes Missile Mate s blow As soon as Kinglsey confronts Missile Mate Urich appears with the Goblin Nation and attacks the celebration Kingsley bests Urich in combat and leaves his rival to the authorities After he is approached by Steve Rogers to be part of a team of Avengers with the objective to stop the inverted X Men from detonating a gene bomb which would kill everyone on the Earth who wasn t a mutant 46 The Avengers team that Kingsley joins is called the Astonishing Avengers 47 After the reinversion spell is cast to restore the Avengers and X Men members that were affected by it back to the side of good Kingsley is evil again 48 Kingsley starts to get his old franchises back under control Outside of recruiting Blizzard Kingsley regains his former minions Beetle Bruin Hitman Ringer and Unicorn as well as establishing his versions of Cutthroat Diamondback Mockingbird and Viper When franchisee Porcupine informs him of an intent to end the contract Kingsley tries to kill with a Pumpkin Bomb in order to reclaim said suit for future franchisees 49 In the resulting battle with Porcupine and crimefighting mentor Spider Woman Kingsley is taken down by Captain Marvel 50 Kingsley turns up as a member of the Sinister Six led by the Iron Spider He accompanies the Sinister Six in a plot to steal a decommissioned S H I E L D Helicarrier 51 Ned Leeds edit Main article Ned Leeds Edward Ned Leeds was a reporter working for the Daily Bugle In a 1987 he is revealed to be the first Hobgoblin before being murdered by the Foreigner 52 Ten years later in 1997 Leeds is retroactively established to have been brainwashed by Roderick Kingsley to act as a stand in on many occasions and fool the underworld into thinking that he was the Hobgoblin before Kingsley took back over the role 22 Following the character being revealed to be alive in a 2017 storyline Leeds is revived in 2021 storyline showing that under the influence of Kingsley s brainwashing he ended up ingesting a copy of Osborn s Goblin formula reviving him shortly after his initial assassination before he went into hiding 53 In a 2022 storyline Ned is then brainwashed by Kingsley again forcing him to resume his role as the Hobgoblin stand in once more 54 Synergetic with his MCU adaptation as a sorcerer in the film Spider Man No Way Home in Symbiote Spider Man Alien Reality Ned s Hobgoblin is revealed to have trained as a sorcerer under Baron Mordo in the art of reality altering chaos magic having rewritten reality to make himself a fall guy instead of the true Hobgoblin he always was 55 Lefty Donovan edit Arnold Samuel Lefty Donovan was a petty thug Similar to Osborn Donovan was a test subject mix the two vital chemicals that were mixed into the Goblin formula disfiguring Donovan s face and granting superhuman abilities Donovan is taken to a hospital Brainwashed by Gerhard Winkler s device Donovan eventually escapes the hospital and follows preprogrammed instructions to go to a hidden cache of Goblin weapons and dress up as the Hobgoblin 56 Donovan impersonating the Hobgoblin attacks New York City but Spider Man eventually confronts and unmasks him Spider Man sees his scarred face and recognizes Lefty As Donovan is able to shake off some of his programing and starts talking his boss programmed the Goblin glider to crash into the side of a building killing Lefty instantly on impact 57 Jason Macendale edit Main article Jason Macendale Jason Philip Macendale Jr was a mercenary who had been trained by the CIA and various para military organizations He first appeared as the supervillain Jack O Lantern before eventually adopting the Hobgoblin identity 58 Fifth Hobgoblin edit An unidentified fifth Hobgoblin was introduced in the series Secret War With very little to know about him including his true identity the only thing to know is that he received his equipment from the Tinkerer He was sent along with Lady Octopus to attack Captain America in his civilian identity by the terrorist elements wound into the events of the Secret War Chatter from the Goblin indicated he d been in contact with other members of Spider Man s rogues gallery who d warned him about Spider Man s constant and inane joking 59 This Hobgoblin is jailed along with the various defeated villains after the conclusion of the War 60 Daniel Kingsley edit Daniel Kingsley is Roderick Kingsley s twin brother He would act as a body double until being exposed by Betty Brant while the true Hobgoblin gets unmasked by Spider Man 22 Now in protective custody Daniel was unknowingly used by Roderick to blackmail Norman Osborn resulting in the Hobgoblin to swoop in to collect Daniel Spider Man defends Daniel but is drugged while Daniel passes out and both are taken to Osborn 61 As Kingsley and Osborn furiously fight each other Daniel gets rescued by Spider Man 62 Kingsley later returned to New York posing as his twin brother as the Hobgoblin 32 Kingsley investigated an old lair at OsCorp which had a flaming energy sword but discovers Phil Urich trying to retrieve the same gear Kingsley gets stunned by Urich s Lunatic Laugh long enough for Urich to kill him using his own sword allowing his killer to claim the Hobgoblin mantle 31 Phil Urich edit Main article Phil Urich Phillip Benjamin Phil Urich who once used the Green Goblin identity to operate as a superhero took on the Hobgoblin identity himself as a supervillain with some new gear new body armor a winged jetpack and a flaming energy sword 31 Norman Osborn edit Main article Norman Osborn Norman Osborn briefly impersonated the original Hobgoblin 63 Claude edit Claude was Roderick s butler who was sent in place and to talk like his master to distract the Goblin Nation He fought against and was killed in battle by the Goblin Knight who then discovered it was Claude who was killed and destroyed his body to keep the Goblin King from finding out about the imposter Hobgoblin 64 Powers abilities and equipment editAs the Hobgoblin Roderick Kingsley wears bulletproof mail with an overlapping tunic cape and cowl A computerized system cybernetically causes the finger blasters to randomly vary their attack vectors when trained on a particular target He uses a Goblin glider a one man miniature turbo fan powered vertical thrust cybernetically controlled vehicle It can reach high velocities and is extremely maneuverable He uses concussion and incendiary Jack O Lanterns wraith shaped smoke and gas emitting bombs bat shaped razor edged throwing blades and gloves woven with micro circuited power conducting filaments which channel pulsed discharges of electricity He wore a shoulder bag to carry his small portable weaponry 12 Prior to his assassination Ned Leeds wore the Hobgoblin s uniform and used the Goblin glider and equipment which included Jack O Lantern bombs razor bats and electrical shock gloves However he had no healing factor or superhuman strength 22 Following his ingesting the Goblin Formula and subsequent resurrection Ned developed superhuman strength speed reflexes and stamina as well as a low level rapid healing factor 65 the latter of which allow him to survive otherwise fatal gunshot wounds 66 Wielding chaos magic following his training as a sorcerer under Baron Mordo Ned s Hobgoblin is capable of sensing other magic users as well as casting spells relating to flight teleportation time manipulation elemental manipulation and reality warping using the latter skill to rewrite reality around Spider Man and himself to make himself Sorcerer Supreme before he is defeated by Spider Man although he is able to use his magic to fake his death in the aftermath before returning years later under the guise of having been a patsy for the real Hobgoblin free to resume his plans 55 As the Hobgoblin Phil Urich wears an orange Hobgoblin costume with wings on the back that allow him to fly without the use of a Goblin glider and he took the Hobgoblin mask as his own He uses the traditional Pumpkin Bombs all Green Goblins and Hobgoblins before him have used but he also has a new flaming sword 31 He still retains his Lunatic Laugh and he also has superhuman strength speed durability stamina reflexes and senses and enhanced intellect For unknown reasons he no longer needs his Goblin mask to activate this power With the help of Reverbium his Lunatic Laugh was able to cause a building to collapse 67 Alternative versions editAmazing Spider Man Renew Your Vows edit During the Secret Wars storyline in the pages of Amazing Spider Man Renew Your Vows the Roderick Kingsley version of Hobgoblin appears as a member of Regent s Sinister Six where they are tasked to hunt down Spider Man 68 During the fight with Spider Man Hobgoblin s hand was webbed up by Spider Man before he could throw his Pumpkin Bomb which led to Hobgoblin getting killed in its explosion 69 Hobgoblin 2211 edit Hobgoblin 2211 nbsp Hobgoblin 2211 left and Spider Man 2211 Publication informationPublisherMarvel ComicsFirst appearanceSpider Man 2099 Meets Spider Man November 1995 Created byPeter DavidRick LeonardiIn story informationAlter egoRobin BorneSpeciesHuman mutateAbilitiesSuperhuman strength speed agility stamina durability and reflexesGenius level intellectUse of goblin themed weapons and paraphernaliaHobgoblin 2211 first appears in Spider Man 2099 Meets Spider Man While her costume sports the twentieth century Green Goblins green and purple color scheme she boasted that she was the Hobgoblin of 2211 Her identity was not revealed to readers or to the visiting Spider Men of previous eras at the time but her later reappearance in Friendly Neighborhood Spider Man also written by David revealed her true identity and origin Hobgoblin 2211 is Robin Hobby Hob Borne Spider Man s daughter Her father always seemed to put his superhero career before raising his own daughter She wanted to save the universes from intersecting in other words having other parallel universes merge with the existing one causing it to override She was later arrested by her father for something that she would have done in future unauthorized time travel chronal displacement jumping the tracks to other realities She was held in a virtual reality prison where she lives a benign and trouble free existence in what appears to be Kansas Her boyfriend attempts to free her by uploading a virus into the prison but inadvertently causes her to be driven insane She attacked her father with a retcon bomb a variation on the original Goblins pumpkin bombs but it hit her boyfriend instead erasing or retconning him from existence Now suited up as the Hobgoblin Robin managed to time travel to the current year attacking the current Spider Man in his reality and derailing an Uncle Ben from another reality into the present one causing a time paradox Later in a confrontation with her father she threw a retcon bomb at him Spider Man believing it to be no more harmful than a regular pumpkin bomb caught it with his web and threw it back to Robin unwittingly erasing her from existence JLA Avengers edit In the last issue of JLA Avengers the Hobgoblin is among the enthralled villains defending Krona s stronghold and is defeated by Hawkgirl 70 Marvel Adventures edit In this continuity Hobgoblin is an unidentified criminal who found a stash of Green Goblin s weaponry because he had forgotten to leave the entrance locked Delighted at his new technological power he challenges Green Goblin to a confrontation Spider Man defeats them both 71 MC2 edit The Roderick Kingsley version of Hobgoblin made his MC2 debut as a hired assassin to kill many of the Spider Girl characters including Normie Osborn Spider Girl and Peter Parker 72 After a fight against both Spider Girl and her father he came close to victory but at the end his only success lay in killing the Venom symbiote and also in escaping without a trace 73 He attempted a complex plot to become the new kingpin of crime but was undone due to an act of treachery by his partner the Mindworm Killing the Mindworm and deciding the New York underworld had become too hot for him at the moment he chose to return to the Caribbean but vowed someday to come back and finish off Spider Girl 74 He is later revealed to be the instigator of a mob war against the Black Tarantula returning to New York to finish the job 75 He defeated American Dream and the New Warriors He then dropped them from a great height planning to kill Spider Girl as she tried to save them However he himself was then killed by Mayhem Spider Girl s half symbiote clone 76 Newspaper strip edit In The Amazing Spider Man newspaper strip by Stan Lee and Larry Lieber Harry Osborn as the Hobgoblin has repeatedly attacked Spider Man seeking vengeance for his father s death After trying to kill both Spider Man and Black Widow after under hypnotic influence of psychiatrist Dr Stone actually spy assassin Dimitri Gregorin who has killed friends of the Black Widow in the past Harry seeing Spider Man s heroism realizes that Spider Man is a hero his father was a murderer and vows to never assume the Hobgoblin identity again Old Man Logan edit In the pages of Old Man Logan that took place on Earth 21923 the Roderick Kingsley version of Hobgoblin was among the villains that attacked the Avengers in Connecticut He worked with the Vulture to fight Wasp only for Wasp to use her stingers to shoot Hobgoblin off his Goblin Glider 77 Spider Man Spider s Shadow edit Around the events of Amazing Spider Man 258 November 1984 Hobgoblin battles with black suit Spider Man during the fight Hobgoblin is unmasked as Roderick Kingsley so Spider Man threatens to Kingsley to not attack innocent civilians anymore Kingsley causes an explosion at May Parker s house when he sees Spider Man change into Peter Parker using the Venom symbiote The symbiote shifts blame into Kingsley for May s death and changes into a monstrous form Spider Man uses his fingers to kill Kingsley who is regarded as Spider Man s first victim 78 Spider Geddon edit In the Spider Geddon event on Earth 11580 a version of Hobgoblin is seen alongside Green Goblin Jack O Lantern and Demogoblin during the Goblin Night Under the orders of the Goblin Queen they try to kill Gwen Stacy but Spiders Man arrives and defeats the Goblins 79 Spider Gwen edit In the alternate continuity of Spider Gwen the Green Goblin uses an army of Hobgoblin based androids to assist him during his assault against Spider Woman 80 Spider Verse edit The Spider Verse had two version of Hobgoblin Hobgoblin of Earth 21205 edit Overwhelmed with rage over the death of Gwen Stacy the Earth 21205 version of Peter Parker as Spider Man murdered the Green Goblin and later retired his Spider Man identity He soon after became the Goblin a villain similar in costume to the Hobgoblin This character was later targeted by Verna of the Inheritors alongside the Hounds Scorpion and Rhino as a Spider Totem The Spider Woman of Earth 65 attempted to recruit him into a growing army of Spiders to protect him from the Inheritors but he initially turned the offer down When Spider Woman revealed herself to be an alternate version of Gwen he sacrificed himself to save her as atonement for failing to do so in his own dimension 81 Hobgoblin of Earth 001 edit The Earth 001 version of Hobgoblin appeared as a member of Verna s Hounds alongside the multiple Green Goblins Hobgoblin and the other goblin themed Hounds attacked Silk Spider Woman of Earth 65 and Black Widow of Earth 1610 82 He is killed by Superior Spider Man Assassin Spider Man and Spider Punk 82 Sword and sorcery edit In the 2007 Spider Man Red Sonja mini series the Hobgoblin was one of several supervillains who was transformed into a sword and sorcery version of themselves due to the spell cast by Kulan Gath It was never specified which Hobgoblin it was Ultimate Marvel edit Main article Harry Osborn The Ultimate Marvel equivalent of Hobgoblin is Harold Harry Osborn when his second personality Shaw takes control 83 84 Reception editIn 2009 an IGN list of the top 100 comic book villains ranked the Roderick Kingsley incarnation of the Hobgoblin as the 57th best 85 In other media editSee also Roderick Kingsley In other media Jason Macendale and Ned Leeds In other media Television edit nbsp The Hobgoblin as he appears in Spider Man The Animated Series An amalgamated incarnation of the Hobgoblin named Jason Philips appears in Spider Man The Animated Series Note 1 voiced by Mark Hamill 86 Debuting in a self titled two part episode the Hobgoblin is hired and given an arsenal of weapons by Norman Osborn to assassinate Wilson Fisk He instead manipulates and betrays both Osborn and Fisk to usurp the latter as New York City s Kingpin of Crime only to be foiled by Spider Man In The Mutant Agenda and Mutants Revenge the Hobgoblin learns of Dr Herbert Landon s plan to exterminate mutants and uses this information to extort him Despite clashing with Spider Man and the X Men the Hobgoblin escapes after turning Landon into a mutant In Rocket Racer Philips begins dating Felicia Hardy In The Spot and Goblin War Philips becomes engaged to Hardy forms an uneasy alliance with Fisk and clashes with both Spider Man and Osborn over a time dilation accelerator He is arrested soon after Felicia discovers his true identity In the two part series finale Spider Wars an alternate reality version of the Hobgoblin appears as an enemy of the Scarlet Spider and partner of the Green Goblin under the Kingpin and Spider Carnage s employ The Hobgoblin was set to appear in The Spectacular Spider Man before the series was cancelled Nonetheless an African American depiction of Roderick Kingsley appears in the episode Accomplices voiced by Courtney B Vance 87 An amalgamated incarnation of the Hobgoblin appears in Spider Man 2017 voiced by Max Mittelman 86 This version is an armor that possesses a flaming energy sword and sonic scream while sporting a design based on the various comics iterations The Hobgoblin identity is primarily used by Harry Osborn though Norman Osborn briefly impersonates the Hobgoblin while trying to kill Spider Man 88 89 The Roderick Kingsley incarnation of the Hobgoblin appears in Marvel Super Hero Adventures voiced by Andrew Francis 86 Film edit A Hobgoblin mask appears in Spider Man 3 2007 as part of Norman Osborn s secret lab 90 91 92 Video games edit The Ned Leeds incarnation of the Hobgoblin appears in Spider Man and Captain America in Doctor Doom s Revenge The Ned Leeds incarnation of the Hobgoblin appears as a boss in The Amazing Spider Man The Ned Leeds incarnation of the Hobgoblin appears in Spider Man The Video Game voiced by David Hadinger The Jason Macendale incarnation of the Hobgoblin appears in Spider Man vs The Kingpin The Ned Leeds incarnation of the Hobgoblin appears as a boss in The Amazing Spider Man 2 The Jason Macendale incarnation of the Hobgoblin appears as a boss in Spider Man Return of the Sinister Six The Roderick Kingsley incarnation of the Hobgoblin appears as an assist character in the PSP and PS2 versions of Spider Man Web of Shadows 93 The Roderick Kingsley incarnation of the Hobgoblin appears as an alternate costume for the Green Goblin in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 94 An exclusive Marvel 2099 incarnation of the Hobgoblin appears in Spider Man Shattered Dimensions voiced by Steve Blum 95 96 This version is a mercenary hired by Alchemax who possesses nanofiber bio organic circuitry wings bonded to his back and psy powers After obtaining a fragment of the Tablet of Order and Chaos the Hobgoblin ambushes Spider Man 2099 and has the web slinger pursue him as he wreaks havoc After Spider Man 2099 corners him the Hobgoblin uses the fragment to increase his psy powers and torment the web slinger with hellish hallucinations of gargoyle like monsters Ultimately Spider Man 2099 defeats the Hobgoblin and retrieves his tablet fragment before examining his wings and deducing Alchemax s involvement The Roderick Kingsley and Ned Leeds incarnations of the Hobgoblin appear as separate playable characters in Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 97 The Earth 21205 version of Peter Parker Hobgoblin appears as a playable character in Spider Man Unlimited citation needed Merchandise edit An unidentified Hobgoblin received an action figure in Mattel s Secret Wars toy line The Jason Phillips incarnation of the Hobgoblin received five figures in the Spider Man The Animated Series tie in toyline The Jason Macendale and Roderick Kingsley incarnations of the Hobgoblin received figures in series 2 and 17 of the Spider Man Classics line respectively An unidentified Hobgoblin received a figure in the Marvel Minimates line as part of a FYE Suncoast and Sam Goody exclusive two pack alongside a Scarlet Spider figure 98 The Roderick Kingsley incarnation of the Hobgoblin received a bust from Bowen Designs The Roderick Kingsley incarnation of the Hobgoblin received a bust in Hasbro s Marvel Universe toyline The Phil Urich incarnation of the Hobgoblin received a figure in the HeroClix line 99 An unidentified Hobgoblin served as a Build a Figure for the Marvel Legends Infinite Series Spider Man line An unidentified Hobgoblin received a minifigure in the Spider Man Ghost Rider Team up Lego set Miscellaneous edit The Ned Leeds incarnation of the Hobgoblin appears in The Amazing Adventures of Spider Man voiced by Pat Fraley Notes edit Roderick Kingsley had yet to be established as the original Hobgoblin in the comics when Spider Man The Animated Series was produced so the show s version of the character was instead an amalgamation of the original Hobgoblin s personality and ambitions Jason Macendale s mercenary status and Lefty Donovan s criminal background References edit Rovin Jeff 1987 The Encyclopedia of Super Villains New York Facts on File p 157 ISBN 0 8160 1356 X 1 Marvel Age 111 April 1992 Marvel Comics DeFalco Tom Sanderson Peter Brevoort Tom Teitelbaum Michael Wallace Daniel Darling Andrew Forbeck Matt Cowsill Alan Bray Adam 2019 The Marvel Encyclopedia DK Publishing p 170 ISBN 978 1 4654 7890 0 DeFalco Tom 2004 Comics Creators on Spider Man Titan Books ISBN 1 84023 422 9 a b c d e f g h i Greenberg Glenn August 2009 When Hobby Met Spidey Back Issue TwoMorrows Publishing 35 10 23 a b Fettinger J R Squandered Legacy The Rise and Fall of the HobGoblin Part Two The Goblin in Decline Spidey Kicks Butt Retrieved 2009 02 19 DeFalco Tom w Frenz Ron p Rubenstein Josef i Whatever Happened To Crusher Hogan The Amazing Spider Man vol 1 no 271 December 1985 Marvel Comics Stern Roger w Frenz Ron p Perez George i Victims Hobgoblin Lives no 1 Jan 1997 Marvel Comics Stern Roger w Zeck Mike p Mitchell Steve i Pretty Poison Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider Man no 43 June 1980 Marvel Comics Stern Roger w Severin Ron p Patterson Bruce i A Night on the Prowl Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider Man no 47 Oct 1980 Marvel Comics Stern Roger w Severin Marie p Patterson Bruce i Double Defeat Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider Man no 48 Nov 1980 Marvel Comics a b c Stern Roger w Romita John Jr p Romita John Sr i The Shadow of Evils Past The Amazing Spider Man no 238 March 1983 Marvel Comics a b c Stern Roger w Romita John Jr p Giacoia Frank i Now Strikes The Hobgoblin The Amazing Spider Man no 239 April 1983 Marvel Comics a b Stern Roger w Romita John Jr p Green Dan i Secrets The Amazing Spider Man no 249 Feb 1984 Marvel Comics DeFalco Tom w Frenz Ron p Rubinstein Josef and Breeding Brett i The Challenge of Hobgoblin The Amazing Spider Man no 260 Jan 1985 Marvel Comics a b c Stern Roger w Romita John Jr p Janson Klaus i Ordeals The Amazing Spider Man no 244 Sept 1983 Marvel Comics Stern Roger w Romita John Jr p Simons Dave i Sacrifice Play The Amazing Spider Man no 245 Oct 1983 Marvel Comics Mantlo Bill Roger Stern w Milgrom Al p Mooney Jim i The Hatred of the Hobgoblin Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider Man no 85 Dec 1983 Marvel Comics Glenn Greenberg w Kyle Hotz p Jason Moore Kyle Hotz and Al Milgrom i Spider Man The Osborn Journal no 1 Feb 1997 Marvel Comics Stern Roger w Romita John Jr p Janson Klaus i Confessions The Amazing Spider Man no 250 March 1984 Marvel Comics DeFalco Tom Roger Stern w Frenz Ron p Janson Klaus i Endings The Amazing Spider Man no 251 April 1984 Marvel Comics a b c d e f Stern Roger w Frenz Ron p McLeod Bob i Secrets Hobgoblin Lives no 3 March 1997 Marvel Comics Shooter Jim w Milgrom Al p Leialoha Steve i Charge Of The Dark Brigade Secret Wars II no 7 January 1986 Marvel Comics DeFalco Tom w Frenz Ron p Rubinstein Josef i The Sins of My Father The Amazing Spider Man no 261 Feb 1985 Marvel Comics Spider Man Hobgoblin Lives 1 Jan 1997 Marvel Comics Spider Man Hobgoblin Lives 2 February 1997 Marvel Comics Stern Roger w Romita John II p Janson Klaus i Confessions The Amazing Spider Man no 250 March 1983 Marvel Comics The Spectacular Spider Man 259 July 1998 Marvel Comics The Spectacular Spider Man 260 Aug 1998 Marvel Comics The Spectacular Spider Man 261 Sept 1998 Marvel Comics a b c d The Amazing Spider Man 649 Marvel Comics a b The Amazing Spider Man 691 Marvel Comics The Amazing Spider Man 694 Sept 2012 Marvel Comics The Amazing Spider Man 696 Oct 2012 Marvel Comics The Amazing Spider Man 697 Nov 2012 Marvel Comics Avenging Spider Man 26 Marvel Comics The Superior Spider Man 22 Marvel Comics The Superior Spider Man 25 Marvel Comics The Superior Spider Man 26 Marvel Comics The Amazing Spider Man vol 3 1 Marvel Comics The Amazing Spider Man vol 3 6 Marvel Comics Magneto vol 3 11 Marvel Comics Avengers amp X Men AXIS 2 Marvel Comics AXIS Hobgoblin 1 Marvel Comics AXIS Hobgoblin 2 Marvel Comics AXIS Hobgoblin 3 Marvel Comics Avengers amp X Men AXIS 6 Marvel Comics Avengers amp X Men AXIS 9 Marvel Comics Spider Woman vol 6 13 Marvel Comics Spider Woman vol 6 16 Marvel Comics Spider Man 234 Marvel Comics Spider Man versus Wolverine February 1987 The Amazing Spider Man vol 5 68 The Amazing Spider Man vol 6 12 a b Symbiote Spider Man Alien Reality 1 5 December 2019 July 2020 Marvel Comics The Amazing Spider Man no 244 September 1983 Marvel Comics The Amazing Spider Man no 245 October 1983 Marvel Comics The Amazing Spider Man 289 Secret War 4 Marvel Comics Secret War 5 Marvel Comics The Spectacular Spider Man 260 August 1998 The Spectacular Spider Man 261 September 1998 The Superior Spider Man 18 The Superior Spider Man 26 Marvel Comics Stan Lee w Steve Ditko p Steve Ditko i Spider Man The Amazing Spider Man no 37 June 1966 Marvel Comics The Amazing Spider Man vol 5 68 The Amazing Spider Man 651 January 2011 Marvel Comics Amazing Spider Man Renew Your Vows 1 Marvel Comics Amazing Spider Man Renew Your Vows 2 Marvel Comics Avengers JLA 4 May 2004 DC Comics Marvel Comics Marvel Adventures Spider Man 22 2005 DC Comics Spider Girl 97 June 2006 Marvel Comics Spider Girl 100 Sept 2006 Marvel Comics The Amazing Spider Girl 18 May 2008 Marvel Comics The Spectacular Spider Girl 3 July 2010 Marvel Comics The Spectacular Spider Girl 4 August 2010 Marvel Comics Old Man Logan vol 2 8 Marvel Comics Chip Zdarsky w Pasquale Ferry a Spider s Shadow Part One Spider Man Spider s Shadow no 1 April 14 2021 Marvel Comics Vault of Spiders 2 Marvel Comics Spider Gwen vol 2 4 Jan 2016 Spider Verse Team Up 2 a b The Amazing Spider Man vol 3 13 Ultimate Spider Man 74 Marvel Comics Ultimate Spider Man 115 117 Marvel Comics Top 100 Greatest Comic Book Villains 57 Hobgoblin IGN Archived from the original on 2010 08 09 Retrieved 2022 01 06 a b c Hobgoblin Voice Spider Man franchise Behind The Voice Actors Retrieved 2020 02 07 Goldman Eric 2010 07 07 The Spectacular Spider Man s Past and Future IGN Retrieved 2022 01 06 The Hobgoblin Pt 1 Spider Man Season 1 Episode 24 February 18 2018 Disney XD The Hobgoblin Pt 2 Spider Man Season 1 Episode 25 February 18 2018 Disney XD Spider Man 3 s Hobgoblin Mask Easter Egg amp Future Setup Explained Screen Rant 15 October 2021 20 Easter Eggs in Spider Man Films You Didn t Notice 28 May 2014 Spider Man 3 The Mask of the Hobgoblin and a Potential Future Installment Explained Animated Times 17 October 2021 Let s Play Spider Man Web of Shadows S03 P02 Here Kitty Kitty Kitty YouTube Retrieved 2010 08 13 Raub Matt 2009 09 15 Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 Alternate Costumes Revealed The Flickcast Retrieved 2010 08 13 Miller Greg 2010 06 07 E3 2010 Spider Man Shattered Dimensions Preview IGN Retrieved 2022 01 06 George Richard Schedeen Jesse 2010 08 23 The Deadly Villains of Spider Man Shattered Dimensions IGN Retrieved 2022 01 06 Characters IGN Database Retrieved January 28 2018 Hobgoblin Scarlet Spider Minimates exclusive review OAFE Retrieved 2010 08 13 Hobgoblin image heroclix com Retrieved 9 June 2023 External links editHobgoblin I at Marvel com Hobgoblin I at The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe SpideyKicksButt com Squandered Legacy The Rise and Fall of the Hobgoblin Peter David site Foolish Consistencies and Portals nbsp 1980s nbsp Comics nbsp This article includes a list of related items that share the same name or similar names If an internal link incorrectly led you here you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Hobgoblin comics amp oldid 1189416353 Roderick Kingsley, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.