Goblin Nation
The Goblin Nation is an organization that features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
History
Origin
The Goblin Nation was a criminal organization who were based on the Green Goblin. (Superior Spider-Man v1 #10)
Osborn later joined the ranks of the Brotherhood of the Scriers where he rose in the ranks and came to lead the organization after killing its former head. However, he lost control of the cult upon the emergence of the Scrier who claimed to be the true leader of the group. However, Norman took the remaining followers that still looked to him for leadership and used them to form the Order of the Goblin. (Spider-Man: Revenge of the Green Goblin v1 #2)
A Goblin biker gang in Boston was noted to had acquired a briefcase that was connected to the Green Goblin which became a target of the Kingpin who dispatched the Hobgoblin Phil Urich to acquire it. He along with some Hand ninjas easily overpowered the gang but were stopped by the intervention of Spider-Man. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #695)
Rise of the Goblin King
Whilst Spider-Man began tackling the criminal underworld, many of the followers of the various gang leaders were forced into hiding with minions of the Green Goblin taking them to shelter. These scattered groups were brought to the underground stronghold of his forces with Osborn stylising himself as the Goblin King. (Superior Spider-Man v1 #10) Afterwards, Shadowland was assaulted by Spider-Man and his Spider-Army causing the Kingpin to flee with his criminal empire tumbling as a result. The survivors though managed to escape where they were offered shelter in the Goblin Underground where in exchange for this protection they swore loyalty to Osborn who declared the new Kingpin of Crime. (Superior Spider-Man v1 #14) Later on, the Hobgoblin Phil Urich criminal identity came to be exposed at the Daily Bugle. This saw him attempting to take Norah Winters hostage but he was badly injured by the new Spider-Man whereupon he was taken into custody by the police. Urich was taken on a transport to New Jersey and were about to enter the Holland Tunnel when they were ambushed by Menace. Phil was freed by Menace who took him into the underground to the hideout of the Goblin Nation where he was presented before the Goblin King himself namely Norman Osborn. Whilst there, he was inducted into the organization and given a new identity as the Goblin Knight where Urich pledged allegiance to his new master. (Superior Spider-Man v1 #16) At first, Urich kept demanding to be allowed to leave the underground in order to hunt down and get his revenge on Spider-Man but the Green Goblin insisted he remain for now. (Superior Spider-Man v1 #17)
Later on, members of the Goblin underground came to abduct Carlie Cooper and brought her to the Goblin King when she had discovered that Spider-Man's body had been taken over by Doctor Octopus. (Superior Spider-Man v1 #21) After learning everything from her, Osborn infected Carlie with Goblin Formula thus transforming her Monster. (Superior Spider-Man v1 #24) Afterwards, the original Hobgoblin Roderick Kingsley had returned to New York City with his mantle being seen as a challenge to the Goblin King's authority. Thus, the Green Goblin arranged to personally fight the Hobgoblin where after an intense battle Osborn seemingly killed Kingsley thus cementing his position as the Goblin King. (Superior Spider-Man v1 #26) With the threat eliminated, Osborn continued his plan where he lured the Superior Spider-Man to his hideout. He revealed that he was aware that Octavius was inhabiting the body of Spider-Man. The Goblin King offered Octavius a truce if Otto simply submitted to him. However, the Superior Spider-Man refused leading to a battle between the pair as the Green Goblin destroyed the hero's Spider-Base where the Wall-Crawler and the Living Brain barely managed to escape. (Superior Spider-Man v1 #27) The Goblin King then targeted all of Peter Parker's associates though only Anna Maria Marconi was kidnapped. (Superior Spider-Man v1 #28) Osborn then went about destroying everything that Octavius had created as Spider-Man. (Superior Spider-Man v1 #29) To make matters worse, Osborn hacked the Alchemax-created Spider-Slayers that Mayor J. Jonah Jameson had deployed to manage the crisis. (Superior Spider-Man v1 #30) The Goblin Nation were only stopped when Norman Osborn was defeated and many of his allies being apprehended where they were stripped of the Goblin Formula within them. (Superior Spider-Man v1 #31)
In the aftermath, Phil Urich came to take over and crowned himself the new Goblin King where he took over the organisation. He took the remnants of the Goblin Nation where they became one of the main organised crime blocs within New York with the other two being Mister Negative's criminal empire and the Maggia. A meeting was called between the heads of the three groups where they were waiting for the Eel only to see the villain throw through the window before them. They gathering was then interrupted by the Black Cat Felicia Hardy who wanted to claim the Eel's share in the criminal underworld. However, Mister Negative refused as he believed the Black Cat's reputation had been sullied by her recent defeat by Spider-Man though Hardy was adamant in regaining it by defeating the Wall-Crawler. (Amazing Spider-Man v3 #5) Whilst operating internationally, Osborn sold his Green Goblin equipment to a number of warlords and dictators who outfitted their soldiers as War Goblins. (Amazing Spider-Man v4 #4) Over the next eight months, the Goblin Nation began to secretly take in orphans, runaways and other children that were at-risk. They had also built an underground castle to serve as their base of operations with plans to expand to the surface. They came to be a rival criminal organization to the Queenpin of Crime Felicia Hardy and her gang. (Silk v2 #4) Urich led members of the Nation to target a demonstration held by Alchemax where they intended to steal the supply of unstable and explosive Tritium. The goblins were fought off by Spider-Man and Agent Anti-Venom but Urich managed to escape with a piece of the substance. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #796)
The scattered remnants of the Goblin Nation continued to exist in the shadows underground when they were brought together by the recently revived Urich. Despite being killed by the Red Goblin, the Goblin Formula within him came to revive Urich who was brought back from the dead. However, it did not fully heal his body and instead brought him back in a decaying body. Despite that, he came to reclaim the mantle of the Goblin King where he led the organization. He then looked to get his revenge against Norman Osborn over his actions as the Red Goblin. This involved capturing Osborn in order to drain him of the Goblin Formula that was taken from his blood and given to the followers of the Goblin Nation. (Red Goblin v1 #2)
Overview
In appearance, the Goblin Nation was a criminal organization that operated on Earth in New York City. It was also referred to as the Goblin Underground. (Superior Spider-Man v1 #14)
The organization was said to be a family, an empire and a pantheon where its leader the Goblin King was both a father figure and a god. (Superior Spider-Man v1 #10) They were shown to abduct orphans, runaways and at-risk children that were made to join their ranks. (Silk v2 #4)
It was known that they made use of the hidden underground beneath New York that consisted of steam tunnels, unused rail lines and platforms along with a vast network of passageways running under the city. (Amazing Spider-Man Annual v1 #42)
For a time, the Nation was protected from electronic observation by Spider-Bots through the Goblin Protocol. This was a hack in the programming that caused anyone wearing a goblin motif or insignia to be ignored by the programming of the machine. This allowed the Goblin underground to operate invisibly from Spider-Man's crusade against crime in New York City. (Superior Spider-Man v1 #15)
At one point, they came to acquire the Goblin Formula that was given to their followers in order to give them superhuman abilities. (Red Goblin v1 #2)
Members
- Norman Osborn : male founder and leader of the criminal empire styled on his Green Goblin persona where he ruled as the Goblin King. (Superior Spider-Man v1 #10)
- Phil Urich :
- Lily Hollister :
- Carlie Cooper : a blonde haired woman who was a forensic scientist with the NYPD where she came to be abducted by the Goblin underground and infected by Goblin serum by Norman Osborn thus turning her into Monster. (Superior Spider-Man v1 #24)
- Painmaker :
- Casey :
Notes
- The Goblin Nation was created by Dan Slott and Giuseppe Camuncoli where they made their first appearance in Superior Spider-Man v1 #10 (July, 2013).
Alternate Versions
- In Savage She-Hulk v2 #2 (2009), an alternate version known as the Goblinkin was shown to inhabit the post-apocalyptic 23rd century on an alternate world designated as Earth-8009. They were one of the many tribes of man that formed in the wake of the devastation of the world that were hostile to one another and also were enemies of the United Sisterhood Republic. These primitive tribesmen were shown to wear the mask of the Green Goblin.
In other media
Television
- In Marvel's Spider-Man, the Goblin Nation appeared as antagonists in the animated television series where they first appeared in the episode "Goblin War: Part One". It was revealed that they were headed by the Goblin King with this secretly being Adrian Toomes.
Video games
- In Marvel: War of Heroes, the group was referred to as the Goblin Underground in the Goblin King Green Goblin playable card in the video game.
Appearances
- Superior Spider-Man v1: (2013)
- Amazing Spider-Man v3:
- AXIS: Hobgoblin v1:
- Silk v1:
- Silk v2:
- Red Goblin v1: (2023)
External Links
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