Marvel Just Brought Back One of Spider-Man’s Best Villains

The Amazing Spider-Man #1 is a wild ride. It kicks off with Spider-Man looking for a job and finally getting one when his old friend Brian gets him a job at Rand Enterprises. However, this is Peter Parker, so the Parker luck strikes when Rhino starts rampaging. Spider-Man realizes that something is wrong with Rhino, taking down the villain by smashing him with a truck. The Amazing Spider-Man then gets more intriguing, as readers are taken to Kingsley Tower. Spider-Man fans will recognize the name Kingsley, a name related to one of Spider-Man’s most dangerous, and underrated, villains — the monstrous Hobgoblin.

Spider-Man’s history with goblin villains is well-known by now, but when most people think of Spider-Man fighting a goblin villain, they think of Green Goblin. Hobgoblin first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #238, and the mystery of who Hobgoblin was became the focus of the story, leading to one of the most complicated villain reveals of all time. Hobgoblin has recently returned in “Gang War”, and this latest story looks to finally move him to a position as an A-list villain in the Marvel Universe. Hobgoblin has had a long twisted road to get to this place, and the backstory of the character is almost more interesting than the stories that he’s starred in.

Hobgoblin Has Had Multiple Villains Wearing the Brown Mask

Hobgoblin first appeared in the early ’80s. Green Goblin had been dead since 1973, robbing Spider-Man of his archvillain. Marvel decided to give him a new goblin villain, one that used many of the same weapons, and obviously the visual stylings, of Green Goblin. Hobgoblin became the main villain of The Amazing Spider-Man for a time, with Marvel constantly teasing the big secret of who Hobgoblin was. All of the clues pointed to Ned Leeds, a friend of Peter’s from The Daily Bugle, but Marvel decided to change things up. While it was revealed that Leeds did act as the Hobgoblin, it would later be revealed that he had been brainwashed by the real Hobgoblin, Roderick Kingsley. Kingsley was a wealthy fashion designer, and found one of Norman Osborn’ secret hideouts. This is where he got the weapons and costume that would make him famous, using the mantle of Hobgoblin to go after his competitors.

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Kingsley was able to copy Green Goblin’s strength formula without the side effect of insanity, and puppeted Leeds in his place after faking his death. However, he would grow bored with this hands off approach, and decided to reveal that Ned was Hobgoblin. This led to the game of hot potato that the mantle of Hobgoblin would become. Kingsley and Leeds were just the beginning. Daniel Kingsley, the twin brother of Roderick, would take up the mantle, and later the mercenary Jason Macendale would become Hobgoblin. Macendale didn’t have the goblin formula, causing him to lose constantly, which had a detrimental effect on Jason. During the 1989 X-Men crossover “Inferno”, Macendale would make a deal with N’astirh, a demon lord from Limbo, gaining demonic superpowers. Eventually, the demon would separate from Macendale, becoming Demogoblin and joining Carnage’s rampage in “Maximum Carnage”. Since then, there have been several Hobgoblins, with Ned Leeds and the Kingsley brothers both taking up the mantle again. Roderick has recently returned to New York City, made one of the heads of staff of the Ravencroft Institute by Norman Osborn.

Hobgoblin’s Newest Scheme Seems to Involve His Place in Ravencroft

The return of Hobgoblin is a happy occurrence for longtime Spider-Man fans. Hobgoblin has always been a B-list Spider-Man villain, partly because of Marvel’s game of hot potato with the character. Going from Ned Leeds to Roderick Kingsley has long been looked at as a mistake and Marvel has changed its mind several times since then on who exactly should be the main Hobgoblin. It definitely seemed like Marvel never really trusted Hobgoblin as an A-lister in the ensuing years, but The Amazing Spider-Man #1 looks to change all of that.

The Rhino’s rampage is revealed to be the work of Kingsley, as one of his lackeys tell him about the reports on the villain’s attack. Kingsley is also revealed to be speaking to another new villain, getting ready to send him out to attack Spider-Man, muddying the waters. Kingsley has always been something of a puppet master, and his access to the villains of Ravencroft makes him more dangerous than ever. Rhino is only the beginning of Hobgoblin’s newest scheme. He’s looking like a straight up mastermind right now, which is the perfect way to bring the character back.

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