Norman Osborn has been a menace to Spider-Man for decades. Just when it seemed as though the wall-crawler had managed to put an end to the original Green Goblin for good, courtesy of a serum and some nanites, Osborn returned more lethal than ever in "Threat Level: Red" after returning from a long and expansive search for the means to return to the depths of insanity. The storyline was a build-up to the last major arc of writer Dan Slott's run on Amazing Spider-Man which is why the marketing that surrounded "Go Down Swinging" made sure to let readers know that this confrontation between Spider-Man and one of his classic adversaries would be unlike any we'd seen before.
The reason for that wasn't because Norman was now more desperate than ever to beat Spider-Man, it was because he'd found a way to reunite with his Green Goblin persona and more, thanks to the transformational abilities of the dreaded Carnage symbiote. Once incredibly loyal to its first host, the serial killer Cletus Kasady, the Carnage symbiote found another monstrous soul worth bonding with in Norman Osborn. Together, they became the Red Goblin and they carved a path of destruction right through Peter Parker's life. The Red Goblin's rampage may have been brief, but it was filled with moments that perfectly exhibited why a Green Goblin/Carnage hybrid is truly the stuff of nightmares and here are just a few reasons why.
15 DANGEROUS SEPARATELY
Even before the two bonded in Amazing Spider-Man #795 (written by Dan Slott and Christos N. Gage, illustrated by Mike Hawthorne, Terry Pallot and Marte Gracia), both Norman Osborn and the Carnage symbiote were deadly supervillains on their own. As the Green Goblin, Norman had consistently been a thorn in Peter's side and responsible for a lot of trauma. He framed Spider-Man for murder, famously killed Gwen Stacy, caused Mary Jane to have a miscarriage and he was a terrible father to boot, twisting his own son, Harry as well as corrupting his grandson. We'll talk about that last one in just a bit.
The Carnage symbiote has always been classically linked to the serial killer, Cletus Kasady. Whenever the two were separated, it would always manage to find its way back to him, no matter how powerful other hosts were. It even gave up the power cosmic in Amazing Spider-Man #430 (written by Tom DeFalco, artwork by Joe Bennett, Bud LaRosa and Bob Sharen) after enveloping the Silver Surfer out of a desire for vengeance rather than for power. It spreads Cletus' perverse mentality to every new host and, as the case of the Silver Surfer has shown us, there are few who can resist it.
14 TOOK DOWN SPIDEY'S ALLIES IN ONE BATTLE
After Spidey's first fight with the Red Goblin ended in failure, Peter called on his superpowered allies for aid in Amazing Spider-Man #799 (written by Dan Slott, illustrated by Stuart Immonen, Wade Von Grawbadger and Marte Gracia). The group consisted of the Human Torch, Miles Morales, Silk and the reformed supervillain, Clash. They helped Peter watch over his closest friends and allies before banding together for one spectacular battle against the Red Goblin to protect Harry Lyman and his family.
The Red Goblin proved to be too powerful for that group of Spider-Man's amazing friends.
Few supervillains could withstand the combined might of those superheroes. The Human Torch alone is a formidable opponent, but his powers had almost no effect on the Red Goblin, who had acquired new powers and abilities. The fight was brutal and each team member fell to the horror of Peter. They would have lost their lives if not for the timely intervention of Agent Anti-Venom, who took on the Red Goblin just when all hope seemed lost. He was able to save them before the Goblin finished them off. However, even after Flash had healed them, they were too injured to continue aiding Spider-Man in his conflict against Norman Osborn.
13 DEFEATED ANTI-VENOM
In his first battle against Flash Thompson, Red Goblin discovered the effects of the Anti-Venom suit on the symbiote, which was one of the few moments in "Go Down Swinging" in which the Goblin ever seemed to show a hint of anything resembling fear. It certainly put a brief stop his twisted levity. Unfortunately, even with the Anti-Venom suit, Flash Thompson couldn't defeat the Red Goblin, perhaps not because he wasn't powerful enough, but because he was forced to make a choice between defeating the Goblin and saving the lives of his allies.
He chose the latter and it took a lot out of the suit, literally. That didn't stop Thompson, a former soldier, from fighting. After ensuring that the remnants of the Carnage symbiote had been removed from Red Goblin's victims, Flash joined Spider-Man for one last fight against Osborn. Even with the suit barely clinging to his body, Flash put up a fight and managed to injure the Carnage symbiote, unfortunately, as Osborn revealed, beneath the symbiote there was still the Goblin and all of his toys, which he used to electrocute Flash, who tragically died in Spider-Man's arms. The scene is a perfect example of just how powerful and how dangerous the Red Goblin is with the combined might of the Green Goblin and the symbiote. If one is hurt, the other can protect it.
12 DEFEATED VENOM
Few people have more experience with the symbiotes than Eddie Brock, who tormented Spider-Man for years as Venom. Even without the symbiote, Brock is considerably strong and capable of a lot and he proved that beyond doubt when he went on a hunt for symbiotes, managing to kill not just one but two of them: Hybrid and Scream.
With the Venom symbiote, Brock is a powerful adversary, and even he wasn't able to stop Red Goblin.
Even with help from Spider-Man and Mary Jane, who was armed with Stark tech, Brock was defeated by the Red Goblin. It was J. Jonah Jameson who called in Eddie Brock in Amazing Spider-Man #800 (Written by Slott, art by Immonen, Grawbadger, Gracia and many more) to aid in the defense of Mary Jane when Red Goblin appeared. Brock found MJ in Stark Tower just before the Red Goblin arrived. He was barely able to hold the Goblin off until Spider-Man arrived and even then, Osborn managed to attack his target, MJ, and escape. The fight took everything out of Venom, and Eddie was forced to temporarily give the symbiote to Peter, since it would enhance the web-slinger's strength and abilities to give him a fighting chance against the Red Goblin.
11 TURNED NORMIE INTO THE GOBLIN CHILDE
Symbiotes have always required hosts to survive, which is why they envelop others and enhance their strengths and abilities. It's clear, mutually beneficial symbiosis between two whole organisms. That's not exactly the case with the Carnage symbiote, which gained the ability to replicate and divide at will, meaning that it can willingly infect others with itself and control them without having to leave its host. That's exactly what the Red Goblin did to Harry Osborn's son, Normie in Amazing Spider-Man #799 (Written by Slott, art by Immonen, Grawbadger and Gracia).
The symbiote twisted the young Osborn's mind and amplified every bit of resentment Normie had for his father, Harry. It also infected Normie with Norman and Carnage's hatred for Spider-Man as well as their homicidal urges. After Normie broke free from the symbiote's influence at the thought of losing his mother in Amazing Spider-Man #800, the symbiote proved to be resilient in its desire to harm everyone, and it wasn't until Normie felt real love from his parents that the symbiote seemingly surrendered. Even after the Red Goblin was defeated and Normie was placed in Alchemax's sonic device to remove the symbiote, remnants remained, making it clear that— thanks to its ability to spread and infect— the Carnage symbiote will return.
10 HE KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT SPIDER-MAN
Norman Osborn discovered Spider-Man's true identity a long time ago, and he used that knowledge to hurt Peter in every way possible, usually by attacking Pete's closest friends and allies. Everyone from Aunt May to J. Jonah Jameson has fallen victim to the Goblin's schemes at one point or another. Then the events of "One More Day" occurred— Spider-Man's reality-altering deal with Mephisto— and everyone, including Osborn, forgot the face behind the mask.
For years, Norman did everything in his power to uncover Spider-Man's identity again.
After bonding with the Carnage symbiote, Osborn revealed that he began to stalk Spider-Man, gathering information on everyone who seemed to be connected to the wall-crawler. That led him to J. Jonah Jameson, whom the Goblin interrogated. J.J tried to resist, but he let everything slip. The Red Goblin immediately knew who to target, where they were likely to be and how best to use them against Spider-Man. After his mind was seemingly damaged by the dying Carnage symbiote, it seemed that Norman had forgotten everything about Spidey once again. The thing is, we've seen Osborn act and deceive others before, so we can't be certain that Spidey's identity is safe from the man who is, arguably, one of his oldest and cruelest foes.
9 DEFEATED DOC OCK AND A SPIDER-SLAYER
Soon after creating him, Red Goblin sent Goblin Childe to attack Peter's Aunt May in the second chapter, "Too Many Targets" (written by Slott, illustration by Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazaba and Edgar Delgado), of Amazing Spider-Man #800. May was unaware of Normie's transformation and allowed him into her home, where he transformed into Goblin Childe and attacked. Luckily for May, Doc Ock had been watching over her and intervened, to May's surprise. As if that weren't enough, Jameson entered the battle from afar using an old Spider-Slayer.
It seemed that the two were enough to defeat the symbiote-infected Normie, but then Red Goblin burst on to the scene and made quick work of both Ock and the Spider-Slayer as Spider-Man later discovered. The Spider-Slayer was destroyed and Ock was seriously wounded. Any fan will know that Ock has proven himself a dangerous superhuman and that each of the Spider-Slayers has proven difficult to defeat, specifically because they were made to kill resilient, experienced superhumans. Their combined force would make many superheroes nervous, but they were still no match for the Red Goblin, who tore through them as easily as if they were nothing at all. If it weren't for the fact that May was part of a larger plan, her life may very well have ended there.
8 HE WORKS IN THE SHADOWS
What made Carnage dangerous was his willingness, or rather his desire, to kill almost indiscriminately. That meant that when Carnage was around, you'd know it because he'd usually be on some sort of horrific rampage. He was proud of his work and he wanted everyone to know it was him as was best exemplified in the 1993 crossover event, "Maximum Carnage" (written by Tom DeFalco, J.M DeMatteis, Terry Kavanagh and David Micheline). This is true of most symbiotes as they often make their presence known.
That changed when the Carnage symbiote bonded with Norman Osborn.
Despite the desire to kill still present in the symbiote, Red Goblin was able to stalk Spider-Man and kidnap Jameson without ever being discovered until he was absolutely ready to make his return known. This is something Norman Osborn has been doing for years, but never has the Carnage symbiote been used with that much patience and caution. With its other abilities, the use of the symbiote to aid in Osborn's manipulative, stalker-like habits introduces a horrifying thought. It's clear to see why Spider-Man was so frightened when the Red Goblin escaped into the city, especially since the symbiote had inherited abilities that made it difficult for Spidey to track.
7 ALL OF THEIR STRENGTHS, COMBINED
When bonded to a human host, symbiotes often enhance everything they can in their hosts. With Eddie Brock, the Venom symbiote enhanced his hatred of Spider-Man as well as his athlete-level physical strength to create a monster that could beat up Spider-Man. The Carnage symbiote was able to make Cletus Kasady stronger than Venom and Spider-Man combined. With the Green Goblin, the Carnage symbiote offered its new host all the strength and metamorphic abilities it offered others and augmented the powers the Green Goblin already possessed.
The Goblin serum had already given Norman Osborn superhuman strength and reflexes as well as a healing factor capable of almost resurrecting him. The Carnage symbiote took control of every atom in Osborn's body, removing the serum and nanites that kept the Goblin at bay and augmenting all of its abilities. But that's not all. It also seems to have bonded with the Goblin's suit and all of his equipment, which is why the Red Goblin was able to use twisted version of everything in his bag of tricks, like living-pumpkin bombs and electrified gloves, the latter of which actually saved the symbiote from Agent Anti-Venom's touch, which highlights another important point about the Goblin's union with the symbiote...
6 NONE OF THEIR WEAKNESSES
Traditionally, every symbiote possesses two main weaknesses, fire and intense sound. We were reminded of that just recently in Amazing Spider-Man #800 when Venom arrives at Stark Tower to protect MJ, only to fall victim to the tower's defensive systems. The wall of fire and sonic beams substantially weakened the symbiote, but it did absolutely nothing to slow the Red Goblin when he arrived. Thanks to the Green Goblin serum and the Goblin's terrible toys, the suit could now withstand attacks that would have destroyed it, as long as it was bonded to Norman.
The Red Goblin was constantly surrounded by fire and often used it to his advantage
Fire engulfed the symbiote-covered Goblin glider, fire spilled from the Red Goblin's jaws. It wasn't just the Goblin contributing to the Red Goblin's strengths. The symbiote had its own qualities to offer. For example, Norman was now undetectable to Peter's spider-sense, which meant that Spidey could not track the Red Goblin or evade his attacks as easily as he could when fighting other villains. It's why Spider-Man was beaten several times by the Goblin. It wasn't until he managed to separate Norman from the symbiote that he was able to beat them both.
5 A MATCH MADE IN HELL
We have to remember that each symbiote is a living, thinking, feeling organism. When they bond with a host, it isn't just because the host lives and breathes; it's because the symbiote feels that they are worth bonding with. The Venom symbiote bonded with Eddie Brock because they shared a mutual hatred of Spider-Man, and they developed a profound respect for one another over time. The symbiote abandoned those who it felt were weak, like Angelo Fortunato, whom the symbiote abandoned and left to die after he displayed cowardice.
The Carnage symbiote was shaped by its first host, Cletus Kasady, and developed a similarly nihilistic and malevolent personality, one that it passed on to its other hosts, like the Silver Surfer or John Jameson in Amazing Spider-Man #410 (written by Tom DeFalco, art by Mark Bagley, Larry Mahlstedt, Bob Sharen and others). When it was acquired by Norman Osborn, it found someone equally as twisted and malevolent as its first host. Osborn was a psychopathic megalomaniac who had no problem killing and making others suffer, in fact, he offered the symbiote new ways to make people suffer, which is how he earned the symbiote's loyalty. They were both murderers, both unpredictably psychotic and shared a mutual disgust with the people around them. They were made for each other.
4 FIRST BLOOD
After gathering all the information he could about Spider-Man and his personal life, the Green Goblin made himself known to Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man #798 (Slott, Immonen, Grawbadger, Gracia) by attacking the Daily Bugle. Spider-Man leapt into action and fought the Green Goblin as he had done so many times. Only this time, he also had the threat of a Tritium bomb to tend to, which led to the destruction of the Bugle's offices and ended with the Goblin impaled on debris, to Spidey's horror.
Just as Spider-Man began to feel guilty, the Goblin revealed that he had the Carnage symbiote.
Spider-Man was shocked and knew immediately that he wouldn't be able to beat his opponent. He fled, but the Red Goblin tossed his Carnage bombs, one of which latched on to Peter and exploded, seriously injuring Peter's leg. Spider-Man vowed to defeat Norman, but it was clear that it would take more than just his own strength and spider-like powers, which is why when Norman threatened to chase after Pete's loved ones if the Spider didn't give up the heroics, Peter surrendered. It's not something we've seen him do many times before, but the Red Goblin warranted that act. He's just that dangerous.
3 THEY BEAT BLACK-SUIT SPIDER-MAN
After the Red Goblin's assault on Stark Tower, it became abundantly clear that Spider-Man wouldn't be able to defeat the Goblin on his own, even after his injuries had been healed by Agent Anti-Venom. Venom, who had completely exhausted himself during the fight, offered the symbiote to Spider-Man to give him the edge against this new enemy. With his abilities enhanced, Spidey rushed off after the Red Goblin, ready for a rematch. However, even the black suit would prove to be of little help against the red menace.
In Spidey's final confrontation with the Red Goblin, the Goblin proved that he was still the most powerful symbiote. After dealing with Flash, he ended up pinning Parker to the ground in the middle of Times Square. He would have killed Peter right then and there if not for the web-head's ability to recognize his enemy's weakness: Osborn's ego. Up until that point, the Red Goblin had Spider-Man beaten, despite the latter having the aid of Anti-Venom and the black suit. Peter wasn't strong enough to defeat Osborn. Although admittedly, that's partly because Spider-Man was holding back and refusing to give into the Venom symbiote, because that's just who he is. It's what separates Spider-Man from the Red Goblin. Spidey isn't a murderer.
2 THE RED GOBLIN IS CRUELER
Carnage and the Green Goblin were both cruel in their own ways. We've already mentioned a few of Osborn's cruelest acts. For the most part, it was all part of an effort to hurt Spider-Man, but time and time again, Norman has made it clear that he has enjoyed every bit of it. That's something he has in common with Carnage, whom, when possessed by Cletus Kasady, took pleasure in striking fear into his victims before brutally injuring or killing them.
While Osborn took pleasure in crushing souls, Carnage just wanted to cause chaos.
When bonded, the two found pleasure in all forms of cruelty. Norman made that quite evident when he sought to horrify Jameson by devouring the head of a rat in his hideout, which is unlike anything Osborn had ever done before. But nothing exemplified the Red Goblin's newfound cruelty more than the moment when he revealed the true purpose behind the series of attacks on Peter's closest friends. He didn't want to kill them right away, he wanted to wipe them all out with a snap of his fingers so Peter would feel it all in one soul-crushing moment. Osborn felt great disappointment when he snapped and felt nothing from his would-be victims instead of "all their pain" and "their torment." Few supervillains Spidey has faced have ever been shown to be that evil.
1 HE ONLY CARES ABOUT HIMSELF
Most of Spider-Man's adversaries aren't totally evil. Most villains have at least one person they cared about, maintaining that last shred of humanity they had. The Lizard has his wife and son, Eddie Brock actually cares about the innocent, and Doctor Octopus, as shown in Amazing Spider-Man #800, still cares very much about May Parker. Norman Osborn cares about no one but himself. He was more than willing to end Normie's life the moment the child turned against him, and he could not have cared less about his own son Harry.
There was nothing within Norman keeping him human or from fully embracing the Carnage symbiote with all its sinister traits. He attacked without a care for what anyone would think of him or how anyone would be affected. In that way, he was free to do as he pleased and that made him dangerous because he had nothing to lose. The only thing that managed to stop him and put an end to the terrible reign of the Red Goblin was his narcissism. With the Carnage symbiote gone, Osborn seems to be less of a threat. However, remnants of the Carnage symbiote still remain in Normie Osborn so there's always a chance that the Red Goblin, Spidey's most dangerous adversary, will return.