Carnage and Norman Osborn are two of Spider-most Man’s dangerous foes, and while they are powerful on their own, they are practically unstoppable as the Red Goblin.
Norman Osborn, one of Spider-earliest Man’s and most powerful foes, has gone under many names in his never-ending quest for vengeance and dominance. By mixing the roles of the dreaded tycoon and the Green Goblin, Norman has been able to derail Peter’s life at every turn. At one point, he even assumed the position of the Iron Patriot, leading his own version of the Avengers team.
While wearing this phony armor, he nearly took control of the whole Marvel universe. But it was when Osborn merged with the Carnage symbiote that he became the most dangerous. Because of the mayhem and violence, he caused Spider-Man, Carnage is one of Marvel’s most horrific villains. The symbiote’s most recent adventures revolve around a shadowy alliance with Norman Osborn.
As a result, in San Slott and Stuart Immonen’s Amazing Spider-Man #798 in 2018, the Green Goblin was converted into the Red Goblin. Carnage has previously wreaked havoc on Spidey’s world, most notably during the epic 1990s event known as Maximum Carnage. Spidey, on the other hand, was absolutely stumped by this partnership this time. We will take a look at this famed villain in this video and give you a full description of his horrific invention.
The Rise Of Red Goblin
It was in the Amazing Spider-Man issue number 798 that we first get a taste of the Red Goblin’s raw power.
Audiences had previously seen Norman Osborne use the Carnage Symbiote to eliminate the nanites that kept him from becoming the Goblin. As a result, he becomes the Red Goblin in this issue. The character’s design is quite good. He doesn’t look exactly like Carnage, which adds to the intrigue of the Red Goblin. In this issue, we see as the Norman as the Red Goblin comes back with a vengeance and vows to attack and take down not just Spiderman himself but also, all of his close friends and the people he loved.
To add to Norman’s terror as the Green Goblin, he decided to reveal his transition into the Red Goblin by blasting up the Daily Bugle tower. Even though he clearly didn’t care if anyone died in the explosion, his intent was clear: he wanted to play with Spider-emotions. Man’s That only illustrated how far the character has fallen and that the Red Goblin is who he is.
Though the Red Goblin shared many similarities with Carnage, Slott did an excellent job of demonstrating how Norman used his new symbiote powers to make his techniques as Green Goblin even more lethal with his new pumpkin bombs. That showcase of power does an excellent job of putting Peter entirely against the wall, as Red Goblin compelled him to give up his identity as Spider-Man.
That act of resignation helped to demonstrate how, even though we don’t see Peter as Spider-Man, he isn’t done fighting. Instead, Red Goblin’s actions only fueled Peter’s determination to complete the task at hand once and for all.
What begins as a classic Goblin battle, with character postures and positions reminiscent of decades of similar web and glider fights, develops into a hazard for which Spider-Man is unprepared or capable.
Osborn’s attack does not trigger Peter’s spider-sense, and the frantic pace of the combat does not allow Peter to stop and think why. The symbiote has also given Osborn’s old-fashioned pumpkin bombs new abilities, and what seems to be the end of Norman Osborn as he lies, impaled in debris is only the starting point of the symbiote-infused Goblin.
Upon the revelation that he had the Carnage Symbiote, Spider-Man was stunned and realized right away that he would not be able to defeat his opponent. He decided to flee, but the Red Goblin threw his Carnage bombs at him, one of which clamped down on Peter and blew up, severely injuring his leg.
This was a fantastic issue from begging to end. The final page with Red Goblin looking onto Spidey’s burning “white flag” is a powerful image one won’t soon forget. The fight in this issue increased the impact of Red Goblin’s debut, as Norman Osborn had become an even more disturbing antagonist.
Spidey’s Friends
The Amazing Spider-Man is out of commission and has gone to the ground in the second issue, but he has his superhero friends looking after whom the Red Goblin may still target including his friends and family. Human Torch, Spider-Man (Miles Morales), Silk, Agent Ant-Venom, and Clash are tasked with keeping an eye out for Norman Osborn.
The Goblin soon appears, and it is up to Peter Parker and his companions to stop the murderous Red Goblin. This issue is where we get a better sense of the Red Goblin’s maniacal nature and the true extent of his powers as he overpowers and defeats all of Spidey’s friends one by one like it was all a piece of cake for him.
Few supervillains could stand up to the consolidated power of those heroes. The Human Torch is a formidable foe on his own, but his abilities had little impact on the Red Goblin, who had gained new powers and abilities.
The fight was brutal, and each member of the team succumbed to Peter’s horror. They would have died if it hadn’t been for Agent Anti-timely Venom’s intervention, who took on the Red Goblin just when all optimism seemed lost. He was able to just save them as the Goblin was about to finish them off. Even after Flash treated them, they were too wounded to continue assisting Spider-Man in his battle with Norman Osborn.
In this issue, we see Norman completely surrendering to the evil side and wishes to bring everybody else down with him. To that point, Slott ensured that we saw Norman as the Red Goblin in a Terminator-like light as he destroyed all of Spider-allies.
Man’s Red Goblin’s ability to remove Agent Anti-Venom from the equation demonstrated how lethal he is in his fused form. We see Norman during his most heinous. He dispatches four heroes with ease because the combined effect of the Carnage symbiote and his previous identity as the Green Goblin gives him even fewer flaws than before.
The Ultimate Battle
The third and final issue is the ultimate Peter and Osborne showdown of all time. In this issue, as Spiderman and Red Goblin fight, Red Goblin discloses that he left specific Carnage symbiote parts on MJ, Aunt May, Harry, Silk, and Clash that he could use to instantaneously brutally murder each of them. Norman would do such a thing to his own son, Spider-Man can’t believe it. Red Goblin claims it is to demonstrate to Spider-Man that he should stop interfering with his plans.
The fight between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin was adequately ferocious. There were no holds barred in this. After Slott tried so hard to bring in other friends to help against the Green Goblin, it was great to see Spider-Man come out on top without any assistance.
One of the scenes that stick with the reader is that after removing the Carnage symbiote remnants from Red Goblin’s victims, Flash decided to join Spider-Man for one final fight against Osborn. Even with the suit hardly even adhering to his body, Flash managed to seriously harm the Carnage symbiote; however, as Osborn revealed, underneath the symbiote was always the Goblin and all of his gadgets, and that he used to electrocute Flash, who died tragically in Spider-Man’s embrace. The scene exemplifies how powerful and dangerous the Red Goblin is when combined with the Green Goblin and the symbiote. If one is injured, the other can shield it.
The Red Goblin demonstrated that he was still the strongest symbiote in Spidey’s final encounter with him. He ended up pinning Parker to the surface in Times Square after having dealt with Flash. He would have brutally murdered Peter right there on the spot if the webhead hadn’t recognized his adversary’s weakness: Osborn’s ego.
Despite Spider-use Man’s of Anti-Venom and the black suit, the Red Goblin had Spider-Man outscored until that point. Peter lacked the strength to defeat Osborn. Although to be fair, that’s partly because Spider-Man was resisting the Venom symbiote because that’s just who he is. It is what distinguishes Spider-Man from the Red Goblin. Spider-Man is not a murderer.
However, here too it must be noted that the only way Spiderman was able to defeat Norman Osborne was by cleverly separating the Carnage symbiote from Green Goblin. He used Norman’s own ego and pride against him. This is proof enough that Red Goblin, as far as powers go, was insanely powerful and had the potential to do terrible things. Thank god Norman was narcissistic and had a big ego. (never thought you’d hear someone say that, did you?)
These three issues of the Amazing Spiderman arc are an absolute must-read for all those who are fascinated by the character Red Goblin. This foe is absolutely unlike anything Spiderman or we have ever seen before. The Red Goblin’s rampage was brief, but it was full of moments that perfectly demonstrated why a Green Goblin/Carnage crossover is genuinely the stuff nightmares are made of.
What Makes Red Goblin Unstoppable Killing Machine
When attached to a host body, symbiotes frequently improve everything in their hosts. The Venom symbiote amplified Eddie Brock’s loathing of Spider-Man as well as his athlete-level physical prowess to produce a monster capable of beating up Spider-Man. Cletus Kasady was made stronger by the Carnage symbiote than Venom and Spider-Man combined. With the Green Goblin, the Carnage symbiote provided its new host with all of the strength and metamorphic talents it had previously provided to others, while also augmenting the capabilities the Green Goblin already wielded.
The Red Goblin possessed all of the Green Goblin’s and Carnage’s strengths and none of their vulnerabilities. He modified the Goblin’s whole armory with gadgets like Spidey-seeking Carnage Bombs, and now that he was without Norman’s erratic behavior, he became a virtual super-soldier on a killing frenzy that knows no limits. In terms of the Carnage persona, Norman honed his abilities and was impervious to fire and sonic blasts, both of which Team Spidey attempted to utilize to no avail. This is also why the Goblin thrashed Spider-Man several times. He wasn’t able to defeat them both until he was able to disconnect Norman from the symbiote.
The Carnage symbiote took over every atom in Osborn’s body, expelling the serum and nanites that had been keeping the Goblin at bay and enhancing all of its abilities. But that isn’t all. It also appears to have bonded with the Goblin’s suit and the entirety of his equipment. This is why the Red Goblin was able to use twisted versions of all the weapons he had in his arsenals, such as living-pumpkin bombs and electrified gloves, the latter of which saved the symbiote from Agent Anti-touch.
Osborn was a depraved narcissistic sociopath who had no qualms about killing and mutilating others; in fact, he provided the symbiote with new ways to torture people, which earned him the symbiote’s loyalty. They both were murderers, both erratically psychotic, and both despised the people around them. They were meant to be together. When the two were bonded, they found pleasure in all types of cruelty. Norman demonstrated this when he attempted to frighten Jameson by consuming the head of a rat in his hiding spot, which was unlike anything Osborn had ever done before.
Nothing, however, evidenced the Red Goblin’s newfound cruelty more than the moment he revealed the true reason for the string of attacks on Peter’s best mates. He didn’t want to kill them right away; he wanted to wipe them all out with a snap of his fingers so Peter could feel it all at once. Few of Spidey’s foes ever have been portrayed to be that cruel.
The only thing that hurt Red Goblin was Flash Thompson’s Anti-Venom abilities. Norman revealed a new talent that allowed him to inject fragments into innocent bystanders and then will them to die whenever he pleased. However, Flash healed the intended victims, including Mary Jane and Aunt May, resulting in a final confrontation in which the Red Goblin shocked and choked a tired Flash to death in a rage.
All in all, Red Goblin was an unstoppable killing machine, and for good reason. Osborn’s narcissism was the only thing that stopped him and put a stop to the Red Goblin’s absolutely awful reign. Osborn appears to be less of a hazard now that the Carnage symbiote has vanished. However, traces of the Carnage symbiote remain in Normie Osborn, so the Red Goblin, Spidey’s most destructive adversary, returning, is still a possibility.
What do you think of the Red Goblin? Let us know in the comments below!