Roderick Kingsley
Roderick Kingsley is a male comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Roderick Kingsley was a male human who had a brother by the name of Daniel Kingsley. (Spider-Man: Hobgoblin Lives v1 #3)
At some point, he established Kingsley Limited that dealt with modelling shoots. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #271) In this time, he gained a bad reputation where he made enemies in half the fashion industry with rumours saying that he stole the works of other fashion designers. A year ago, he was said to had driven a dozen small European cosmetics firms out of business just to start his own line of Kingsley fragrances. (Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man v1 #43) Kingsley attempted to buy out the fashion and cosmetic companies owned by sisters Narda Ravanna and Desiree Vaughn-Pope. When they refused to sell, Kingsley saw that their reputation was ruined by getting a former model employed Vaughn-Pope Cosmetics to allege that their products caused her severe skin damage. The ensuing bad publicity ruined Vaughn-Pope Cosmetics, and in debt to numerous creditors, they were forced to sell to Kingsley. (Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man v1 #48) Kingsley later came to be involved with Marjorie Dufrey. Following a messy break-up, Dufrey learned she was the latest in a long line of women to 'cozy' up to Kingsley, only to be dumped when another woman caught his eye. (Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man v1 #57)
He later became a target of a costumed criminal named Madam Belladonna who wanted revenge for Kingsley stealing designs from various artists in the fashion industry. While working on fashion designs in his offices late into the night, Kingsley's studio was broken into by the mysterious Belladonna and her goons. Confronted by Belladonna who told him she knew about his stolen ideas, Kingsley stood by as Spider-Man burst into through his skylight and fought Belladonna's men. Defeated by Belladonna and her goons who departed soon thereafter whereupon Spider-Man lifted a shaken Kingsley through the skylight while the studio filled with gas. Coming to, Kingsley berated Spider-Man for his interference, telling him that Belladonna would have probably stolen a few designs which he could have traced anyway, and instead his studio was ruined. Finishing by saying that Spider-Man is every bit the menace the Daily Bugle makes him out to be, Kingsley was webbed to a chimney by a departing Spider-Man. Introducing his new seasonal line at a fashion show the following day, Kingsley was stunned to see his clothing replaced with burlap sacks by Belladonna, who confronted Kingsley before being warded off by Spider-Man. (Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man v1 #43)
Suffering several broken ribs during Belladonna's attack, a humbled Kingsley began to desire the power to protect him from future attacks, starting with the purchase of a firearm. Word of Kingsley's quest for power began to spread among New York's criminal circles. Receiving a threatening telephone call from Belladonna, Kingsley was warned that Spider-Man was on her side and was coming to get him. Seeing Spider-Man through his skylight, Kingsley opened fire on him, failing to realize he fired on a mannequin wearing a Spider-Man suit. Not long after the shooting, a shell-shocked Kingsley explained he shot Spider-Man in self-defense while he was taken into police custody. Spider-Man suspected that once his survival was confirmed, Kingsley would be released. (Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man v1 #48) Afterwards, Kingsley came to be invited to a party at J. Jonah Jameson's penthouse to celebrate Marla Madison's new position with the Brand Corporation. Roderick attended with his new beau Daphne where they were confronted by Kingsley's ex-girlfriend Marjorie Dufrey. Kingsley rebuffed Marjorie's claims that Daphne was the latest of 'Kingsley's Kozy Kompanions' and she would be soon dumped by telling Daphne Marjorie was drunk and to ignore her. (Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man v1 #57)
Hobgoblin
A thug by the name of George Hill accidently discovered the secret headquarters of the Green Goblin near Osborn Manufacturing and reported his findings to Kingsley. Upon discovering the secret of Norman Osborn, Kingsley had all the equipment shipped to his home with Georgie helping in the hopes of getting a reward. After the task was complete, Roderick had Georgie killed to ensure that no one else learnt of the discovery whilst also having the Osborn ware house burnt down. Kingsley then fashioned the identity of the masked villain known as the Hobgoblin. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #238)
As the Hobgoblin, Kingsley began raiding other Green Goblin caches hidden in other Osborn Manufacturing locations, ransacking around a half-dozen locations over the course of several weeks. At a New Jersey Osborn Manufacturing facility, he discovered an armored battle-wagon designed by Osborn to serve as a mobile headquarters. Leaving the facility in ruins during his getaway, Kingsley returned to his Manhattan hideaway, musing over his successes and the attention given his escapades in the Daily Bugle. The Hobgoblin finished ransacking another of Osborn's hidden lairs in an old warehouse off New York's 23rd Street and Ninth Avenue, before continuing to the last of the Green Goblin's stashes in the back of an old Village theater, off Second Avenue. Confronted by Spider-Man, the Hobgoblin fired at him with his glove-blaster, using the momentary distraction to attempt an escape. Using pumpkin bombs, throwing bats, and goblin-grenades against Spider-Man, the Hobgoblin found himself at a disadvantage, and was pulled to the ground by Spider-Man's webbing. Using his glove-blaster to ignite an exposed gas line, the Hobgoblin escaped while Spider-Man stopped the line from setting the surrounding neighborhood ablaze. Remarking on his poor physical state after his brief encounter with Spider-Man, the Hobgoblin realized the Green Goblin must have done something to be able to face their mutual foe as often as he did, and once he learned that secret Spider-Man would suffer. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #239)
The Hobgoblin sent Donovan and a gang of hired thugs to ransack the Osborn Company corporate offices. Stealing their company chemical inventory reports for the last 6 years, Donovan and his men found the desired chemicals in an old Osborn Company storage warehouse. Donovan barely escaped during a police shootout and Spider-Man's arrival, and returned to the Hobgoblin's Long Island base. Learning of Donovan's successful theft of the chemicals, the Hobgoblin boasted that with the serum the Green Goblin used he would be unbeatable. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #244) Feeling deficient in lacking the physical power to protect himself, Roderick sought out Norman Osborn's original Green Goblin formula. However, he needed a 'guinea pig' before he could test the formula on himself and found one in petty crook Arnold "Lefty" Donovan. Monitoring Donovan's progress in the fight against Spider-Man, a satisfied Kingsley had his test subject terminated. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #245)
Modifying the formula to avoid the insanity-inducing side effects, Kingsley found that it gave him strength roughly equal that of Spider-Man's, perhaps surpassing that of the Green Goblin. Giving himself a dose the perfected serum, Kingsley donned his suit and set out after Spider-Man, eventually finding him later that night in the company of the Black Cat. Using razor-bats to injure the Black Cat, the Hobgoblin caught Spider-Man off-guard, showing off his increased strength by tearing of piece of stonework from a building and hurling it at his foe. Moving back to the Black Cat, Spider-Man leapt at the Hobgoblin, fearing for Black Cat's safety while she recovered from injuries caused by Dr. Octopus. Surprised by Spider-Man's power even with his enhancements, the Hobgoblin attempted to hit Spider-Man with his glider, but seeing that Spider-Man and the Black Cat were tripping over each other trying to get to him, the Hobgoblin used the opportunity to make a quick exit. (Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man v1 #85)
Return
Kingsley had actually set up operations in Delvadia as it was the drug capital of Central America where he adopted the guise of the Devil Spider. He made a name for himself and forced the other gangs to acknowledge him as their leader. Despite these operations, he also had intended to ensure his return to New York and intended to strike against the Kingpin. To that end, he dispatched his brother Daniel Kingsley with the intention of him recovering his old Hobgoblin equipment and operate in that supervillain persona for Roderick's eventual return. However, Daniel was killed by Phil Urich who had replaced him and become the new Hobgoblin with this news coming to Roderick through an informant in the police force. After learning of this, Kingsley decided to make his move to return to New York City and reclaim the mantle of the Hobgoblin. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #691) He arrived at New York where he began observing the activities of the new Hobgoblin and tracked his movements through a hidden GPS signal in the bat-drone he was using at the time. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #695) Through it, he managed to discover the identity of the imposter who was Phil Urich where he went to his apartment to find more about the boy including his girlfriend Norah Winters. Kingsley then went to the Kingpin's stronghold in Shadowland where he attacked Urich in an effort to claim the Goblin Key which Fisk had acquired. The battle between the two Hobgoblin allowed a captive Peter Parker to escape capture alongside his employer Max Modell with the pair taking the Goblin Key with them. The Kingpin forced the two goblin supervillains to go after the key with them deciding to form a temporary truce until the item was recovered. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #696) Their attempts at gaining access to the Goblin's Workshop failed when Spider-Man caused it to self-destruct. Kingsley then betrayed Urich but rather than kill him he decided to allow him to continue to operate as the Hobgoblin in exchange for a percentage of his cuts. He then went back into the shadows to continue his business of establishing new supervillain identities for prospective buyers around the world. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #697) The first identity that he stole and sold was that of Mysterio where the person using this persona came to accidentally refer to himself as Mysterion. The masked villain came to face the Superior Spider-Man during his first bank robbery. Mysterion was forced to flee the enraged Superior Spider-Man as well as the Punisher, leading them both right to Kingsley. Hobgoblin then tried to escape but crashed his glider into a building and was webbed up where he forced Spider-Man to go save 'Mysterion' from the Punisher and by the time Octavius returned, Kingsley had managed to escape. (Avenging Spider-Man v1 #22)
Kingsley was also keeping tabs on Urich, making sure that he made his payments on time. When Phil said he was a little short on cash, Roderick told him to go rob some banks. Phil had to rob quite a few of them to gain what he owed his boss and all of the activity drew the attention of Spider-Man. This caused Urich to be captured by Spider-Man, then broken out of police custody by Menace and turned over to the Green Goblin. It was found that Kingsley sold the identity of the Crime Master to a new thug, who ended up defeated by Agent Venom and Spider-Man. He also sold the identity and costume of the Grizzly to a new criminal, who called himself the Bruin. The Bruin was fooled into giving Kingsley's cut of a robbery to the Goblin King, who was dressed as the Hobgoblin. Roderick was not happy about this, and raged that so many of his franchises had been captured so soon. (Superior Spider-Man v1 #25) Soon enough, Bruin, Devil-Spider and Blaze were also out of commission. Kingsley soon called in Steeplejack, Tumbler, and Ringer to make extra cash while Spider-Man (who was under the influence of the Venom symbiote) was busy battling the Avengers. These three were quickly beaten by Menace and the new villain allied with the Goblin King: Monster. Steeplejack was apparently killed by the Goblin Knight who was Phil Urich and where he sent a message to his former boss via a camera feed on Steeplejack's costume. Kingsley contacted Urich, who gave the message to the Goblin King. Soon the two criminals were agreeing to fight it out. Both them and their crime armies battled in a full-scale assault until the Goblin King calls a time-out, seeing how pointless and costly it is to wage war on each other when they can combine their armies into one to take down Spider-Man. Goblin King proposes that the two fight to the death, with the winner taking the other's men under his control. However, Kingsley had made his servant Claude his new mind controlled replacement and sent him to battle Osborn instead. During the battle, both Goblins taunt each other but the Green Goblin loses his guard after the mention of Harry Osborn. The Goblin King recalls that he has endured betrayal and even death and he still managed to stand up, revealing a large scar on his chest, making the Hobgoblin realize that he is indeed battling Norman Osborn. Claude was killed and Goblin King gained the loyalty of Hobgoblin's franchises. Goblin Knight checks Claude's body, discovering the truth. Kingsley, having escaped to Paris, decides to lay low once again, working on his personal empire and raising a toast to the Goblin King's victory. (Superior Spider-Man v1 #26)
Overview
Personality and attributes
He never thought of himself as a criminal but everything he had was taken from others. (Spider-Man: Hobgoblin Lives v1 #3) Within the fashion industry, he developed a reputation for stealing the designs of other people. This led to him making enemies in half the fashion industry. (Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man v1 #43)
He claimed that Norman Osborn never realised the potential in his inventions nor how to wield their power. Kingsley had said that by contrast he knew how to unlock their hidden potential where he had taken Osborn's weapons and improved them. As such, he believed he had more power than Osborn had ever dreamed possible which he used as the Hobgoblin. Ultimately, he deemed himself to be far more deadly and cunning than Norman Osborn. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #261)
It was said that he was not the world's most reputable businessman. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #271)
Roderick made use of his brother Daniel to manage their company's assets but treated him cruelly and simply dictated commands for him. They often used disguises where Daniel wore a mask resembling his brother allowing Roderick to operate as the Hobgoblin whilst publicly he appeared to be managing the business. (Spider-Man: Hobgoblin Lives v1 #3)
Powers and abilities
In time, he used his business acumen to develop himself as a billionaire tycoon. (Spider-Man: Hobgoblin Lives v1 #3)
The secret formula that came from Norman Osborn's journals came to impart him superhuman strength equal to Spider-Man. (Spider-Man: Hobgoblin Lives v1
After using the equipment for years, he came to know the Hobgoblin technology better than anyone. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #695)
Through a procedure called the Winkler Process, he was able to implant his characteristics and personality into another person. This allowed him to make them behave and act like Roderick Kingsley where he could send them in his place. Thus, if they died whilst being the Hobgoblin then people could mistakenly believe that Roderick Kingsley was dead. (Superior Spider-Man v1 #26)
For a time, he managed the Kingsley Limited that operated as a business empire for him. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #271) Kingsley International originally started as a company that worked in the fashion and cosmetic market but expanded into publishing, electronics and other fields. (Spider-Man: Hobgoblin Lives v1 #2) It was also known as the Kingsley Investment Group that was managed by both Roderick and Daniel Kingsley. (Spider-Man: Hobgoblin Lives v1 #3) He later established a business model that sought to sell supervillain franchises to people. This involved himself operating in the identities of various deceased supervillain that were shown as a brand with this being sold to criminals that took over the mantle. After taking over mask, these new supervillains then sent a percentage of their profits to Kingsley who made such operations global with it operating in various countries. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #697)
Notes
- Roderick Kingsley was created by Roger Stern and John Romita, Jr. where he first appeared in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man v1 #43 (June, 1980) before appearing as Hobgoblin in The Amazing Spider-Man v1 #238 (March, 1983).
- As Hobgoblin, the character was based on the Green Goblin who was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.
Alternate Versions
- In Spider-Girl v1 #97 (2006), an alternate version of Roderick Kingsley appeared in Marvel Comics 2 set in the reality designated as Earth-982 in the Multiverse.
In other media
Television
Video games
- In Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, the Roderick Kingsley Hobgoblin appeared as an alternate costume for the Green Goblin in the setting of the video game.
Toys
Appearances
- Amazing Spider-Man v1: (1983)
- Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man v1:
- Spider-Man: Hobgoblin Lives v1:
- Amazing Spider-Man v1:
- Avenging Spider-Man v1:
- Superior Spider-Man v1:
External Links
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