Harold "Harry" Osborn was the son of wealthy industrialist Norman Osborn. He went to the same college as Peter Parker. They were roommates for a time, during which Harry encountered occasional problems with drugs. When his father died, Harry found the body and removed the costume. During this time, he dated Mary Jane Watson, but she broke off the relationship after Harry became more and more unstable due to his father's death.
After learning that Peter was Spider-Man, he donned his father's costume and proclaimed himself the Green Goblin. He destroyed their apartment, and kidnapped their friends Mary Jane, Eugene "Flash" Thompson and May Parker. When he was defeated by Spider-Man, he told everyone that Peter was really Spider-Man before being taken away, but this was dismissed as the ravings of a madman. He was taken to a medical institution and was released, suffering from amnesia, forgetting Spider-Man's identity and both his and his father's roles as the Green Goblin.
After being released and reentering college, Harry moved in with Flash. He began seeing psychiatrist Barton "Bart" Hamilton but the psychiatrist tied him up and became himself the third Green Goblin. Harry later married Elizabeth "Liz" Allen after they met at Edward "Ned" Leeds's and Elizabeth "Betty" Brant's wedding. Harry and Liz had their son Norman Harold "Normie" Osborn.
This tranquility was shattered when the aftereffects of the Inferno crisis sundered the barrier between Harry's conscious and subconscious minds. Once again, he remembered being the Green Goblin - and his irrational hatred of Spider-Man. Harry had convinced himself that Peter resented the Osborns' "stable family life" due to never having been wanted by his own parents or guardians, when in fact the complete opposite was true. His sanity was shattered, he declared that their next confrontation would be their final one, and only one of them would be alive at the end. To ensure that he was the victor, Harry researched his father's chemical notes, hoping to recreate the original Green Goblin's superhuman strength. Harry made his own modifications to the formula, and upon ingesting it, it proved better than he had dreamed. The formula had made him stronger than both Spider-Man and his father. Now a physical match for Spider-Man, Harry planned his final revenge.
As the second Green Goblin, Harry Osborn took to stalking Peter Parker on his Goblin Glider, claiming that there was no law against just soaring around town in a colorful costume, and taunting Peter that someday he would destroy him, but he relished keeping Peter in suspense in the meantime. After weeks of this, Peter finally lost his nerve and struck at Harry, only to be sent flying when Harry hit back, demonstrating his new strength. Harry rocketed away, taunting Spider-Man's inability to stop him. Not long after, Harry held a prestigious dinner at his townhouse, inviting many of his father's old business associates. However, it was actually a trap, and Harry had planted explosives throughout the townhouse, which he planned to detonate, thus destroying everybody who had slighted the Osborns.
Spider-Man, worrying the most, dropped in to investigate, only to be confronted by the Green Goblin. The two former friends engaged in a dangerous battle, which ended when Harry injected Peter with a drug that left him immobile, but still alive. However, even as he celebrated over his victory, he realized that Mary Jane Watson and Normie Osborn were also in the townhouse, and that the explosives would detonate in thirty seconds. Despite protestations that he was not a hero, Peter convinced Harry to use his damaged Glider to get the two to safety. After rescuing his son and Mary Jane, Harry finally returned to his senses and realized that he had left Peter to die. Harry rescued Peter from the explosion just in time. However, as his friends thanked him, he suddenly collapsed. The Goblin Formula was damaged by the explosion, and while it had increased his strength, it was also lethally poisoning him. Paramedics were called, but Harry died en route to the hospital. With his final words, he apologized to Peter, and confirmed that despite everything, they were still, and would always be, best friends.
Before his "death", Harry persuaded the Chameleon to create two robots who would appear to be Peter Parker's dead parents in an effort to get Peter to tell them who Spider-Man really was. Harry already knew Spider-Man's identity but wanted to mess with Peter's head so he convinced Chameleon that Parker, due to all the photos he had taken, was sure to know Spider-Man's identity. When Spider-Man discovered the fraud, he went briefly insane over the disappointment of losing his parents again.
However, the Goblin formula that saved his father's life after being impaled by his own Goblin Glider, also saved Harry Osborn's life by giving him the same abilities. Norman Osborn returned to his son's life and paid Mysterio to fake Harry's death and sent his son to Europe. Divorced from Liz Allan, he returned from a years-long stay in a European rehab. He had no memory of being the Green Goblin, nor of Peter Parker's alter-ego. Harry was now the owner of a chain of cafes based on his old college hangout, the Coffee Bean and, while he considered Peter his best friend, he hated Spider-Man with a vengeance. He was dating Lily Hollister, daughter of New York District Attorney Bill Hollister.
Menace battled Norman and was infuriated by Norman stating that all he cared about was killing Spider-Man. Norman called Harry who recognized from Norman's distorted voice that Norman the he was wearing the Green Goblin suit, which horrified and disgusted Harry. Harry angrily confronted his father who wanted Harry to follow in his legacy and become a greater man. The confused Harry was saved by Spider-Man. Spider-Man, wanting to beat Norman senseless, stopped when he saw an area of Human Testing. Harry was thought to be the one responsible for the atrocious acts although he attempted to plead innocent. Harry later stated that he wanted to talk to Peter who moments earlier had been kissed by Lily, while leaving with a mysterious canister labeled "Prometheus X-90". Prometheus X-90 was developed as a a successful cure for Mark Raxton's condition as Molten Man. Furthermore, the only human test subject was Charlie Weiderman, the short-lived second Molten Man, and the only person whom the serum could be tested on. After the cure was administered, Liz finally forgave Harry, and gave him back the wedding ring, which she originally claimed she lost.
Renting out all of Liberty Island, Harry took Lily to the island. On top of the Statue of Liberty, he got down on one knee and appeared to propose to her. Lily however rejected Harry's proposal as she was not sure as to were their relationship would lead, which surprised Harry. Harry later went to Lily's place to check up on her, and as he entered the room he was surprised to discover Lily wearing what appeared to be clothes belonging to Menace.
She found a hidden door in his closet and found an old journal of his. She began giving him a hard time about whining so much about his father. Harry thought her behavior was because she was sick. She continued to tell him she uncovered one of Norman's secret rooms in the journal. This explained why she kissed Peter after the Thunderbolts attacked; he had almost found the secret trigger to open the room. When she had first gone in, she found all of the Green Goblin's equipment along with some experiments. Knocking over some chemicals, she absorbed them and was now able to transform at will. She explained that she discovered Menace's attacks against her father gave him more public support. She also told him that she accepted his marriage proposal. After their talk, Harry entered one of his father's weapons caches, taking a Glider, a pair of Green Goblin gloves, and a dart gun containing an unknown chemical. In the midst of a battle between Menace and Spider-man, he confronted and shot her with that chemical, which was a type of antidote that reverted her back to her human form. He saved Spider-Man from the crowd and left. Lily was imprisoned but escaped later leaving Harry's ring and a note. This caused Harry to sink into alcoholism, but he was eventually saved by Carlie Cooper.
Following the events of the Skrull Invasion, Norman Osborn being placed in charge of the H.A.M.M.E.R. organization, and forming his own team of Avengers, Harry Osborn is approached with the offer of a job within his father's organization. Harry declines, but after getting a visit from a pregnant Lily Hollister, he accepts. Norman welcomes him into Avengers Tower, wanting to make his son part of the "American Son" project. However, Harry is shown to have an ulterior motive, based on his need to protect Lily and their child (his second child), disabling the camera in his room and sneaking off. He found a cure for Lily's Goblin Serum that would be safe for her and the baby, but she pushes him away, revealing that it was all a ruse to make Harry into American Son, whom Norman would eventually have die in a tragedy to increase sympathy for Norman and the Dark Avengers. She also revealed that the baby was not Harry's but in fact Norman's. In retaliation to this news, Harry donned the American Son armor and fought against his father, sparing Spider-Man from his father.
During the battle, Norman declared that Harry was no longer his son, and that he had bred a better child to replace the failure Harry. After further taunts from Norman, Harry lashed out and defeated his father, declaring "I was never your son!". When Harry had the option to kill Norman, Spider-Man goaded him to decapitate Norman, as his healing factor may repair a blow to the head. Spider-Man stated that by killing Norman, he would "become the son Norman always wanted". Harry backed down, and walked away from his father forever. Harry is then seen in a psychiatrist's office, claiming he is getting over the effects of a medical treatment he received. The doctor offered to prescribe him oxycodone, a nod to Harry's past drug abuse, but it is unknown if Harry tooke the prescription.
After some time when Parker Industries became a success, he's revealed to be Parker Industries New York chief, having legally changed his name to be Harry Lyman to distance himself from his notorious father.
Current Version:
Kindred
Former Versions:
Harry Osborn
Green Goblin II
American Son
Harry Lyman
