Evidently, Norman Osborn has been putting in serious hours at the gym.
Concept art said to depict the Green Goblin from Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 is circulating online. This take on Osborn holds on to the familiar green skin but swaps the cartoonish mischief for sheer bulk. His outfit is entirely black, with the only splash of color coming from a touch of purple lining the inside of his cape. Opinion among fans is divided, although the mood is mostly positive.
Hold off on planning a Halloween outfit around it, though. The artwork is from 2023, and the game itself has yet to be announced, so there’s a real chance the finished design will look different.
How fans are reacting
Once the design landed on Reddit, the comment section responded in its usual fashion. User hushpolocaps69 approved of the direction. “Glad they went this route instead of the monster version,” they wrote. “The monster version would’ve been too similar to Venom.”
It’s a reasonable argument. Spider-Man 2 already devoted plenty of screen time to a massive, growling black creature, and following it up with yet another one would feel like a repeat.
A different commenter proposed a compromise. “What if they do this version, but as the game progresses the mutation begins more and then have demon goblin by the end of the game?” they asked. The suggestion has merit: a gradual transformation could drive the narrative, and it’s easy to imagine Insomniac shaping a third act around exactly that.
Naturally, the jokes rolled in too. “Damn, Norman made sure he hit the gym before he went on a rampage,” quipped one fan. Captain_Norris, meanwhile, offered some gentle feedback: “Not too bad, would love more purple in the outfit beyond just the interior of the cape.”
Taken as a whole, the response is fairly warm. No one is labeling it a failure. Most viewers are on board with the concept and would just adjust a detail or two.
The origin of the leak
None of this material is fresh. It traces back to December 2023, when a ransomware attack struck Insomniac Games and the hackers demanded $2 million from the Sony-owned developer.
Over two years on, files stolen in that breach continue to circulate online, and the Goblin concept is merely the most recent to resurface.
It’s an unenviable spot for a developer. Material that was never intended for public eyes keeps being critiqued as though it were finished, years ahead of launch.
Norman’s slow march toward the Goblin
As owner and CEO of Oscorp Industries, Osborn has been present in the series since day one. He’s been involved in nearly every storyline to date, and he has always appeared to be a single bad day away from becoming something far more dangerous.
The upcoming game appears poised to serve as his “final chapter,” which can reasonably be taken to mean Osborn will at last become the Green Goblin. The series has been laying the groundwork for this for quite a while.
Spider-Man 3 is still unannounced
Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 has not been officially revealed by Insomniac. Even so, it’s widely taken for granted that the game is in development, and Yuri Lowenthal, the voice of Peter Parker, practically confirmed it during a recent interview.
Hints have also surfaced that a third web-slinger could team up with Peter and Miles for their next adventure. That’s a separate rumor, but one worth watching.
Until Insomniac breaks its silence, all there is to go on is a two-year-old sketch of a heavily muscled Norman Osborn in a black suit with a bit of purple lining, and a crowd of people online debating just how much more purple it ought to have.