This article contains SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME spoilers.
“Peter, I promise you, I won’t turn into a supervillain and try to kill you.”
Contextually, the mystery of the Hobgoblin’s identity was the fixation of comic readers for much of the 1980s, thanks to the villain’s escalating impact, and years of frustrating moments in which Spidey seemingly unmasked him, only to have it turn out to be an imposter working for the ever-elusive genuine article. This aspect differentiated Hobgoblin (or, as Spidey nicknamed him, Hobby,) from his verdant predecessor. While Green Goblin was driven by a schizophrenic madness that distorted Norman’s personal life, Hobgoblin was more of a chess player, and even devised a version of the super-strength-endowing Goblin Formula that, unlike Norman’s, didn’t drive him into madness. Moreover, his increasingly-elaborate machinations had the clear-cut purpose of ruling the underworld, which not only made him an enemy of Spider-Man, but New York’s other criminal elements, most notably the Kingpin. Now, with Vincent D’Onofrio’s Daredevil television version of Kingpin christened in the MCU, thanks to Hawkeye, we have the potential for a big screen battle royal inspired by Hobgoblin’s covetous, no-honor-among-thieves nature.
Historically, Ned Leeds was long-believed to be the Hobgoblin, thanks to 1987’s monumental The Amazing Spider-Man #289. There, we were led to believe that Ned’s apparent secret Hobgoblin hijinks led to grave consequences, since the issue revealed his supposed identity as the villain, albeit only after Peter found him dead, garroted—after he was caught dressed in the Hobgoblin’s costume—by assassins connected to the casino mogul gangster, Foreigner. This grim development had essentially wrapped the decade’s most dominant comic book mystery and sealed the widespread belief that Ned was the Hobgoblin—after all, it remained canon for a decade. In a testament to the enduring power of that issue, the notion of Ned as Hobgoblin still lingers to this day. However, it was actually retconned in 1997 by writer Roger Stern—who co-created the character with artist John Romita Jr.—for a new storyline that reversed the Ned/death twist, which occurred after he’d exited the title.
The belated 1997 storyline, collectively called Spider-Man: Hobgoblin Lives, revealed the true Hobgoblin to be Roderick Kingsley, a minor character introduced in the pages of Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man back in 1980, whose status as a vain and ruthless fashion mogul made him the perfect candidate in hindsight. Here, we’d learn that Kingsley used brainwashing on Ned—who was caught investigating the villain—to act as a Hobgoblin double, one who would unwittingly become a death-faking patsy, allowing Kingsley a safe early retirement after 1987’s “Gang War” storyline saw Hobgoblin targeted by criminal elites. We’d also learn that Roderick’s rapacious pursuits were effectively obscured by using his lookalike brother, Daniel, as an alibi during his Hobgoblin exploits. Of course, many other individuals would don the Hobgoblin’s costume in the ensuing years, notably Jason Macendale, the former Jack O’Lantern, whose own Hobgoblin run would experience a unique arc, including spending years joined with the demon N’astirh, only to be killed by a resurfaced Kingsley.
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Of course, at the end of the day, Spider-Man 4 could take the simpler, less-convoluted route and just introduce Roderick Kingsley for the MCU, in which he’d serve as the centerpiece for a multifaceted Hobgoblin mystery that Spidey must solve. Indeed, Spider-Man stories have dealt more than a fair share of coincidental, small-world-based plot developments in which villains turn out to be people personally connected to Peter Parker. Accordingly, a straight-up big screen tussle with the true Hobgoblin could actually prove to be a refreshing change of pace.
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