Summary

• Harry Osborn as the Green Goblin becomes an ally to Spider-Man in the Ultimate Universe, taking on a new role with Iron Man's tech.
• The Green Goblin's ruthless business tactics and advanced technology make him a better thematic foil for Iron Man than Spider-Man.
• The Ultimate Universe explores how easily Iron Man technology can be adapted to create the iconic elements of the Green Goblin, highlighting their similarities.

Warning: Spoilers for Ultimate Spider-Man (2024) #5 ahead!Perhaps no character in all of Marvel has managed to inflict more harm on Iron Man's rogues' gallery, providing a much stronger thematic foil for Tony Stark's disgraced tech mogul than the forever-impoverished Peter Parker.

One of the most surprising differences between the new Ultimate Universe and the mainstream Marvel canon is how the Green Goblin (Harry Osborn in this universe) is an open ally to Spider-Man. The two of them have been working together to clean up the corruption in New York. Ultimate Spider-Man (2024) #5 reveals just how this reversal of the status quo came about.

After the Kingpin turns the remnants of Obadiah Stane and Howard Stark's company over to Harry Osborn, Harry discovers a trove of Iron Man tech in Stark's hidden vault. With the help of Gwen Stacy and Otto Octavius, he begins retrofitting it to create his own armor.

Green Goblin Makes More Sense As Iron Man's Nemesis

Ultimate Spider-Man (2024) #5 - Written by Jonathan Hickman; Art by David Messina and Matthew Wilson; Letters by Cory Petit and Joe Sabino

Iron Man's story is one of how a weapons dealer and tech mogul realizes how much harm their technology has inflicted upon the world; as such, good Iron Man villains tend to reflect these elements. For example, ruthless businesspersons like Obadiah Stane, Justin Hammer, and Feilong show what happens when those without Iron Man's scruples take his place of prominence in the tech sector. Alternatively, villains like Detroit Steel, Whiplash, and Crimson Dynamo illustrate the perils of Iron Man technology falling into the wrong hands or being able to keep up with more advanced systems.

Green Goblin meets both of these criteria. Norman Osborn is an infamously ruthless and underhanded businessperson, crushing those he sees as threats or competitors without remorse. On the technological side, the Green Goblin serum, Goblin Glider, and the Gold Goblin suit are all innovations that rival Iron Man's own designs. As a ruthless business mogul more than willing to abuse his technological innovations for wanton destruction, Green Goblin is a thematically perfect dark mirror to Iron Man.

Iron Man And Green Goblin Are Only One Step Removed From Each Other

A major element of Ultimate Spider-Man #5's prelude consists of showing how easily Iron Man technology is shaped to make iconic Green Goblin elements. Modular canisters have become iconic "pumpkin bomb" prototypes; the repulsor-powered Goblin Glider replaces the Iron Man suit's self-propulsion system as the science behind the arc reactor is not yet understood well enough to safely reverse-engineer it. Harry is fully recognizable as the Green Goblin by the end of the sequence, while having only made a few tweaks to the Iron Man system.

Norman Osborn acts as a foil to Iron Man on both the business level and the technological level, able to easily recreate Iron Man-level designs; yet instead of squaring off against an equal businessperson and inventor, he is the rival of a perpetually poor photographer. While Spider-Man's struggles against Norman Osborn bear elements of rich vs. poor, the two characters are ultimately too dissimilar to be thematic foils. Instead, the Ultimate Universe makes a strong case for why the Green Goblin would have been a better nemesis for Iron Man all along.

Ultimate Spider-Man (2024) #5 is available now from Marvel.