Spider-Man actor Tom Holland appeared at Keystone Comic Con in Pennsylvania to state he believes it’s difficult to bring the Green Goblin to live-action.
While discussing his thoughts on Sony’s recent animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, he commented on his belief that it’s hard to do the Green Goblin in live-action. He also indicated he hopes Sony brings Miles Morales to the live-action realm.
As reported by ComicBook.com, Holland stated:
“I love that movie so much. When that came out, I was like, ‘Oh, we have so much work to do.’ That movie is so good. I love that movie. I think that movie was the perfect thing the family of Spider-Man needed. It’s just a reminder that there’s so many more characters out there. One day we’ll have to bring Miles to the live-action screen, and how you do it, I don’t know, but it’ll be amazing.”
He would then provide his thoughts about the difficulty of bringing Green Goblin to the big screen. (Related: Tom Holland: “The Future For Spider-Man Will Be Different”)
“There are characters in the comics who are so hard to bring to life. Like the Green Goblin, for me, is a real difficult one to bring to a live-action screen, so seeing him in that capacity was so cool, because he stayed true to the comics, and I just, for me, really enjoy different aspects of what Spider-Man is to people and his journey. I didn’t really know much about Miles’ character, because I’m so invested in Peter Parker to play him, and it was just nice to learn about a different aspect of Spider-Man.”
It wasn’t that long ago that Spider-Man got his first live-action movie from director Sam Raimi. In the first of three movies from Raimi, the Green Goblin was brought to life by actor Willem Dafoe. The first film would go on to make $821.7 million at the global box office. In fact, Business Insider describes the film as a “classic.” (Related: Spider-Man: Far From Home Actor Tom Holland Open To Gay Spider-Man)
Not only was the Green Goblin the main villain in the first Spider-Man film, but he would also appear in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. That film would go on to gross $708.9 million worldwide. It would primarily feature Jamie Foxx as the Electro, but would also see Dane DeHaan as Green Goblin.
Harry Osborn played by James Franco would become the Green Goblin in Spider-Man 3.
Given the Green Goblin has showed up in all of the Spider-Man franchises except for Holland’s it’s hard to take Holland at his word that it’s difficult to bring the Green Goblin to live-action. I would argue Dafoe did an excellent job of portraying Norman Osborn and the Green Goblin.
And honestly, Green Goblin might be one of the easiest villains to bring to the live-action screen because he’s such a personal villain to Spider-Man and Peter Parker. He’s the father of his best friend. He even becomes a mentor figure at points. It’s that close, personal betrayal that really guts you. It’s seeing the evil and menace come out in people you believed to be good people. (Related: Sony Responds to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man Exiting the MCU: “We Are Disappointed”)
In fact, the role that Green Goblin plays with Spider-Man is a common trope seen across media. Norman Osborn is Peter Parker’s Fredo Corleone. He’s Sentinel Prime in Transformers: Dark of the Moon. He’s Alec Trevelyan in Golden Eye. He’s Scar in The Lion King. The list could go on. It’s not that difficult to bring Norman Osborn to live-action. In fact, he was the first Spider-Man villain to be brought to live-action. There’s a reason for that.