The real-life “Green Goblin” seen flying on a glider over New York City has been identified. One news outlet tracked down the man seen flying on a hoverboard over Times Square: turns out he is Hunter Kowald, a man who (according to his YouTube channel) is into “‘SkySurfer Hoverboard Aircraft’ Puraching & Investment.” Kowald has made videos of various stunts of him “sky surfing” on his hoverboard to various locations and attracting crowds; in addition to the Times Square stunt, Kowald has pulled stunts flying into fast food drive-thrus like McDonald’s and Wendy’s, and a duel between the hoverboard and water-powered Flyboard.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Oh nothing – just a dude flying around NYC… pic.twitter.com/qJp2mKgV8R
— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) June 21, 2021
Not surprisingly, Hunter Kowald wasn’t at all shy about the media attention that came his way as a result of this Times Square flight going viral. “I’m the guy, you found me first!” Kowald said when Inside Edition tracked him down.
The hoverboard enthusiast also let fans know a bit more about the SkySurfer device he was riding: “It’s a highly engineered device. I spent years on this thing to make this happen, at least to do it safely and properly. There’s a lot of safety built into that device, so essentially, I could have two motors fail and still land safely.”
One of the most controversial things about Kowald’s ‘Green Goblin’ stunt in Times Square is the question of its legality. According to the founder of Yeah Drones Aerial Cinematography (Randy Scott Slavin), that stunt with that device is not something the law permits: “You have to have somebody in the mayor’s office that’s OK’ing that. My guess is that it was totally unpermitted.”
However, Hunter Kowald counters with a different narrative: “We had permission and asked for it in advance, and everybody was around us to make sure we did it properly.”
The NYPD is said to be reviewing the video and the incident in general.
Kowald couldn’t have picked a better time to bring some real-life Green Goblin antics to NYC. “Green Goblin” has been trending in recent weeks and months thanks to rumors about the next Spider-Man movie, Spider-Man: No Way Home. Rumors have suggested that original Spider-Man movie star Willem Dafoe will return as Green Goblin in No Way Home, as part of a larger story about the alternate universes of the Marvel Multiverse colliding. In fact, Kowald’s Times Square flight had some Marvel fans thinking the first footage of No Way Home was being shot.
Spider-Man: No Way Home will hit theaters on December 17th.
