Norman Osborn was just a child when he first became obsessed with acquiring wealth and power. His father was an inventor whose business failed. Claiming that he had been swindled out of his inventions and personal fortune, Amberson Osborn took out his rage on his son. Norman realized that he couldn't depend on his father for financial security, so he began working after school and saving every cent he earned. He wouldn't allow himself to become another failure like his father. Norman studied chemistry and electrical engineering in college. He also took a number of courses in business administration. One of his teachers was Professor Mendel Stromm. They became good friends and later formed a business partnership. Since Norman put up the bulk of the financing, they called their company Osborn Chemical, or Oscorp.
Norman married his college sweetheart and they had a son, Harry. Unfortunately, his wife became ill. After she died, Norman buried himself in his work and rarely had time for young Harry. As the brilliant co-owner of a chemical manufacturer known as Oscorp, Norman Osborn, loving wealth and power, decided to take control and had his partner Stromm arrested when he found he was committing embezzlement, granting him complete control over the company and making Norman the official CEO of Oscorp. While going through Stromm's notes, he found a secret formula that would make him superhumanly powerful. However, his son, Harry, who was tired of always being ignored and rejected by his father, switched the chemicals in the serum, which turned it green and caused it to explode in his face.
Later, at the hospital, Norman Osborn found himself thinking more clearly than ever before, not knowing that he would slowly become insane. Attempting to achieve power beyond his wildest dreams, Norman Osborn planned to become the most powerful gang-lord of all by uniting all the independent gangs under his leadership in an attempt to gain control over all of New York's crime. To prove his power and establish his reputation, he decided to choose Spider-Man as his victim of choice, and sent two criminals, the Headsman and Scorcher, after Spider-Man. The two were soundly defeated, and Norman Osborn decided to take matters into his own hands. Remembering a giant green goblin monster from childhood nightmares, he created a costume that reflected that monster, and he became the Green Goblin.
He first battled Spider-Man with the help of the Enforcers, by getting Spider-man to participate in a movie about him. Attempting to defeat him in New Mexico, he let Spider-man battle the Hulk, whose stomping grounds the Goblin, the Enforcers, and Spider-man accidentally stumbled upon. Escaping the Hulk, Spider-man attempted to capture the Green Goblin, but was too exhausted to prevent his escape. Returning to New York, the Green Goblin easily hid amongst New York's population.[2]
Spider-man and the Green Goblin fought a few months later at a fan club meeting for Spider-Man. However, when Spider-Man heard that his Aunt May was extremely ill, he was forced to retreat, giving him a sour reputation by most of New York's citizens, including several superheroes, super-villains, citizens, and, of course, J. Jonah Jameson, and giving the Green Goblin an impressive reputation. Later still, the Green Goblin pretended to be helping the police by attempting to capture Lucky Louis, a big gang leader, and, after seeing defeat by Spider-Man, attempted a partnership with the Crimemaster, which again ended in defeat.
With every one of these defeats, the Green Goblin became more determined. In time, Osborn became totally obsessed with Spider-Man and finally began directing all of his efforts to finding a way to conquer his web-swinging adversary.
One of the biggest success in the Green Goblin's career was learning Spider-Man's secret identity, by utilizing a false gang that sprayed Spider-Man with a gas that nullified his spider-sense, allowing the Goblin to follow him without being detected. Capturing Spider-Man with ease, he brought him to his hideout and revealed himself to be Norman Osborn, the father of Harry Osborn, one of Peter Parker's classmates. After gloating and revealing his past, he let Spider-Man escape his bindings, so as to prove his superiority. Spider-Man managed to defeat the Goblin by sending him into a bunch of disconnected, high-voltage wires that were drenched in chemicals. Gaining amnesia, Norman Osborn lost all memory up to the years that his son was in high school. Spider-Man, content in this knowledge, burned the Green Goblin's costume, hoping never to see him again.