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| Phil Urich Green Goblin / Hobgoblin / Goblin Knight/King | |
|---|---|
 Phil Urich inThe Amazing Spider-Man #666 (July 2011). Art by Steffano Caselli. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | As Green Goblin: Web of Spider-Man #125 (June 1995) As Phil Urich: Green Goblin #1 (October 1995) As Hobgoblin: The Amazing Spider-Man #649 (January 2011) As Goblin Knight: The Superior Spider-Man #16 (October 2013) As Goblin King: The Amazing Spider-Man #5 (October 2014) |
| Created by | |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Philip Benjamin "Phil" Urich |
| Species | Human mutate |
| Place of origin | New York City |
| Team affiliations | Loners Daily Bugle The Hand Goblin Nation |
| Notable aliases | Green Goblin,Hobgoblin, Goblin Knight,Goblin King |
| Abilities | As Green Goblin: Superhuman strength, speed, stamina, durability and reflexes Enhanced intellect Ultrasonic scream Use of goblin-themed weapons and paraphernalia As Hobgoblin: Superhuman strength, speed, stamina, durability, reflexes and senses Enhanced intellect Ultrasonic scream Wears a costume with wings on the back Use of goblin-themed weapons and a flaming sword |
Philip Benjamin "Phil"Urich (/ˈjʊərɪk/) is a fictional character appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics. He first appeared inWeb of Spider-Man #125 (June 1995). He was asuperhero as theGreen Goblin, and asupervillain as theHobgoblin. He was later crowned theGoblin Knight before dubbing himself theGoblin King.
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The character first appeared inWeb of Spider-Man #125 (June 1995) as the Green Goblin. Phil Urich's identity and origin was revealed inGreen Goblin #1 (October 1995). The character later first appeared inThe Amazing Spider-Man #649 (January 2011) as the Hobgoblin.
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The nephew ofBen Urich of theDaily Bugle, Phil stumbles upon one ofHarry Osborn's old Goblin hideouts.[1] Using a mask that delivers a "zap" gives him Goblin-level strength seemingly without the psychotic side-effects of the original Goblin formula, he gains enhanced strength and endurance.[2] Following Harry's death, he tries to gain a reputation as asuperhero version of Green Goblin. However, he is sometimes seen as being as maniacal as his villainous predecessors. His equipment is damaged during a battle against aSentinel in the "Onslaught" crossover; Urich sacrifices his glider to destroy a Sentinel by ramming the robot in the head, but a fragment of metal ricochets off the explosion and damages his mask's circuitry.[3] Urich is unable to repair or replace the technology and retires from being the Goblin.[4]
Phil later forms asuperhero self-help group withMickey Musashi in order to prevent teenagers from becoming superheroes, and to help young former superheroes get over their pasts, attempting to convince them and others that their powers had damaged their lives.[5] His intentions are pure, but he accepts funds from a secret benefactor to rescue the Runaways during the"True Believers" story arc. The groups vows to only don their uniform one last time and help the Runaways defeatUltron's clone. The team vows not to use their powers again, butMattie Franklin secretly uncovers a MGH drug ring. This leads toNekra attacking the group during one of their counseling sessions.[6] Urich suffers a mental breakdown after watchingChris Powell and Mickey share a celebratory kiss, having apparently convinced himself that he and Mickey had feelings for each other though she only saw him as a friend. He attacks Mickey and Chris and steals theDarkhawk amulet from Chris. The Loners join together to fight Urich, but he is able to escape withHollow.[7]
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Urich is next seen in theBig Time storyline in New York helping out his uncle at the newFront Line offices. He develops a crush on co-workerNorah Winters who is looking into Goblin Gangs for a story. Urich goes to one of the old Goblin hideouts, hoping to find something there to impress Norah. He encountersDaniel Kingsley (posing as the original Hobgoblin)[8] who is also looking for some new Goblin technology. Kingsley is about to kill him when Urich snaps and uses his Lunatic Laugh to incapacitate Kingsley. Using the fire sword that Kingsley had just found, Urich decapitates Kingsley and steals the new Goblin equipment fromNorman Osborn's secret lair. Urich then assumes the Hobgoblin identity for himself now operating as a supervillain. He attacks a localthink tank, and is confronted bySpider-Man, who savesMax Modell from being attacked by the Hobgoblin. Catching Spider-Man off-guard with his Lunatic Laugh, Urich tries to decapitate the hero. Bella Fishback, one of the workers at the think tank, is able to disrupt the sonic waves to save Spider-Man, but Urich escapes with the Reverbium he had come to steal. He delivers the metal to theKingpin and becomes one of his operatives.[9][10] Spider-Man and theBlack Cat fight Urich and the Kingpin to retrieve the experimental metal. During the fight, Urich's Lunatic Laugh causes the building to collapse, but he saves the Kingpin from falling to death.[11]
Urich gives Norah tips about possible Hobgoblin sightings so they canspy together in an attempt to woo Norah away fromRandy Robertson. Urich's jealousy of Randy also causes him to break a support beam whenAlistair Smythe'sSpider-Slayers attack the Front Line offices. This, along with the damage caused by the attack, causes the ceiling to collapse on Randy. Randy survives the collapse, but is seriously injured.[12] Urich (as the Hobgoblin) fightsHercules after a gang that works for the Kingpin is defeated. His pumpkin bombs cause debris to fall on Hercules who escapes from the rubble. He then resumes the fight as the Hobgoblin films the fight with hidden cameras while airing the footage live. Hercules wins the fight, boosting the latter's own popularity instead of Urich's, which was Urich's original intent. The Kingpin convinces Hercules not to hand him over to the authorities.[13] Urich attacksSpider-Girl after Norah talks about how impressive Spider-Girl is; he wants to show Norah that he (as Hobgoblin) is more impressive. He lures Spider-Girl to him by leaving a destructive path to follow. Spider-Girl almost defeats him, but Spider-Man intervenes after seeing what Spider-Girl is doing, believing Spider-Girl is still too inexperienced to fight such a powerful opponent. By doing this, Spider-Man causes the Hobgoblin's escape.[14] Urich finally breaks up Randy and Norah after he stalks and confronts the two in his Hobgoblin persona. Urich then seduces Norah—who does not know the role he played in the breakup—and kisses Norah.[15] Under the Kingpin's orders, Urichteams up with Spider-Girl to fight the Sisterhood of the Wasp inSpider-Island.[16] Urich infiltrates a prisoner transport headed to theRaft to kill theHuman Fly for stealing money from the Kingpin. On the transport, he encountersAgent Venom and the two fight. The fight results in a stalemate and the Human Fly escapes.[17]
During a confrontation with Spider-Man, Hobgoblin uses a weapon designed to disrupt Spider-Man's spider-sense. Although it initially appears to have failed, Peter Parker later realizes that it has intensified the spider-sense, causing it to react to the most minor of threats. Peter's mental state, along with a wrongly delivered message from Madame Web, allows Urich to capture Peter while still dazed.[18]
Peter later finds out that Urich and the Kingpin have not discovered Parker's secret identity when Urich refers to Peter as "Spider-Man's best friend". Urich and the Kingpin try to get Peter to tell the two who Spider-Man is but fail. Meanwhile,Roderick Kingsley gets dressed in the original Hobgoblin costume to go searching for him. While Kingsley engages Urich, Modell helps Peter escape. Peter (using webshooters) breaks the disruptor weapon and escapes.[19] The Kingpin then orders the two Hobgoblins after Peter. Both Hobgoblins end up fighting Spider-Man but ultimately give up as Kingsley decides to just kill Urich instead. Kingsley however ends up stopping at the last moment, letting Urich retain the Hobgoblin identity, on the condition that he gives Kingsley a cut of the profits he makes. Urich reluctantly agrees to the arrangement but quickly begins to conspire to kill Kingsley.[20] When MayorJ. Jonah Jameson announces an effort to crack down on supervillains, Urich debates whether it is worthwhile to remain Hobgoblin while paying a lot of money to theTinkerer for his Hobgoblin gear and to Kingsley for being allowed to be Hobgoblin.[21]
WhenThe Superior Spider-Man (Otto Octavius' mind in Spider-Man's body) raidsShadowland, Urich is left to fend for himself while the Kingpin escapes. Urich escapes, encountering Spider-Bots which do not detect him.[22] Following the assault on Shadowland, the Hobgoblin goes to Tinkerer and requests upgrades to his gear in order to survive Superior Spider-Man's aggressive campaign.Tiberius Stone (hiding under Tinkerer) does the upgrades, planning revenge for his ruining Stone while working for the Kingpin. When Superior Spider-Man finally confronts him, his tech fails as a result of Stone's revenge. He escapes, but not before Superior Spider-Man manages to put tracers deep enough into Urich's skin to hear his name over the transmitters. Superior Spider-Man publicly reveals Urich as Hobgoblin at theDaily Bugle. Seeing the feeds, Urich realizes that he has nowhere left to run.[23] With his Hobgoblin identity revealed to the public, Urich desperately makes excuses as hisDaily Bugle co-workers turn against him. Superior Spider-Man, learning Urich's location, arrives at theDaily Bugle and disarms Urich. He seems to consider giving Urich a public execution, but Urich is freed from a prison transport byMenace and brought to theGoblin Nation to get upgrades to his armor and weapons. The Goblin King asks only for full dedication to his only identity from then on as the Goblin Knight.[24]
Following the conclusion ofThe Superior Spider-Man storyline where the true Spider-Man returns, Urich now leads the Goblin Nation's remnants as the self-proclaimed Goblin King. He meets withMister Negative, with the two waiting forEel to show up in order to divide the criminal underground following Osborn's defeat. The meeting is crashed by Black Cat andElectro. Black Cat mentions to Goblin King and Mister Negative that Spider-Man had outed them and wants a share in their plans.[25]
During the "AXIS" storyline, Goblin King attempts to rescueLily Hollister from a police transport; this mission goes awry and Lily is rendered amnesiac.[26] When Goblin King confronts Kingsley in the latter's headquarters, Queen Cat comes to the defense. Goblin King recognizes Hollister as Queen Cat, but Lily does not recognize him. Following the attack, Missile Mate is convinced by Urich that the Hobgoblin would soon abandon the heroes that were trained. Missile Mate goes to the Goblin Nation's headquarters and asks Goblin King to join and be a supervillain. Goblin King is reluctant, but Missile Mate shows him that he has also gathered all the supervillains that the Hobgoblin had "abandoned" (consisting of8-Ball,Killer Shrike,Melter,Tiger Shark, andUnicorn) after reforming.[27] While the celebration of Hobgoblin Day is being held with a parade in Kingsley's honor, Missile Mate betrays the Hobgoblin and attempts to murder in the Goblin King's name. Kingsley had already expected the betrayal and had been using a hologram decoy which took Missile Mate's blow. The Hobgoblin bests Goblin King in combat and delivers him and the Goblin Nation members with him to the authorities.[28]
Having escaped prison under undisclosed circumstances during the "Go Down Swinging" storyline, Urich raids one of Osborn's old gentlemen's clubs to acquire the Goblin weaponry Osborn stored there, but Osborn, currently wielding theCarnagesymbiote, kills Urich by tearing his heart out.[29] Urich resurrects himself using the Goblin serum, but his body is slowly rotting away. He starts another Goblin Nation under the sewers of New York.[30]
Due to ingestion of a modified version ofNorman Osborn's "Goblin Formula", Urich gains superhuman strength (able to lift upwards of 9 tons), stamina, durability, speed, and reflexes. However, he is unable to access these abilities without the unknown catalyst provided by the Goblin mask he wears. He also possesses a so-called "Lunatic Laugh" capable of creating sound waves disorienting to most people. It is possible that the formula also increased his intelligence since he has shown to have an unusual cleverness when it came to strategy and modifying his equipment, as the Goblin formula had done for other users.[31] Whether or not he needed the mask for this was unknown. As the Goblin, Urich wears an alternate/spare Goblin costume composed of a chain-mail mesh capable of deflecting small arms fire. He travels on a bat-shaped, one-man, rocket-propelled "Goblin Glider". Like other Goblin gliders, it is armed with heat-seeking missiles, machine guns, and retractable blades. Other weapons Urich typically uses are incendiary Pumpkin Bombs capable of melting through 3 inches (76 mm) of steel, smoke and gas-emitting bombs with an appearance like a ghost, razor-edged bat-shaped boomerangs and gloves woven with micro-circuited filaments capable of discharging nearly 1,000 volts of electricity. Most of this equipment was completely destroyed or rendered inoperable during Urich's final battle with the Sentinel.[4]
As the Hobgoblin, Phil wears an orange Hobgoblin costume with wings on the back that allow him to fly without the use of a Goblin Glider and he tookRoderick Kingsley's 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.[9] He still retains his "Lunatic Laugh" from when he was the Goblin and he also has superhuman strength, speed, durability, stamina, reflexes and senses, and enhanced intellect. For unknown reasons, he no longer needs his mask to activate this power. With the help of Reverbium, his "Lunatic Laugh" was able to cause a building to collapse.[11]
An alternate universe version of Phil Urich from Earth-982 appears in theMC2 imprint. This version is a forensic scientist who is married to Meredith Campbell and is aware of Peter Parker andSpider-Girl's secret identities. He later resumes the Goblin identity, first under theGolden Goblin name, then as the Green Goblin withNormie Osborn's assistance. Urich is also a founding member of the newNew Warriors.[33]
| Title | Material collected | Date published | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green Goblin: A Lighter Shade of Green | Green Goblin #1-13,Web of Spider-Man #125,Spectacular Spider-Man #225 andAmazing Scarlet Spider #2. | September 14, 2011 | 978-0785157571 |
| Title | Material collected | Date published | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|
| Axis: Carnage & Hobgoblin | AXIS: Hobgoblin #1-3 andAXIS: Carnage #1-3 | March 3, 2015 | 978-0785193111 |
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