I got this info from marvel.com:
 

Real name: Norman Osborn II
Occupation: Professional criminal, former owner and president of Osborn Industries (changed to OsCorp in the film)
Group affiliation: None
Base of operations: New York City
First appearance: Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #14 (1964)
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 185 lbs.
Eye color: Blue
Hair color: Reddish-brown

Powers: An accident involving an untested, experimental formula granted Norman Osborn superhuman strength, a heightened intellect and an accelerated healing factor -- at the cost of his sanity.

Weapons: The Green Goblin's arsenal includes incendiary and concussion grenades, theatrically cast in the form of miniature jack o' lanterns; a high-flying Goblin Glider; smoke- and gas-emitting bombs, each surrounded by a light plastic mantle that flutters like a wraith when thrown; and gloves capable of discharging electrical pulses of up to 10,000 volts. Also, the Green Goblin has developed a gas that can neutralize Spider-Man's early warning danger sense for a limited period.

History: The ruthless co-owner of a leading chemical-manufacturing enterprise based in New York City, Norman Osborn was obsessed with wealth and power -- both legitimately acquired and ill-gotten. When he learned that his longtime partner, Professor Mendell Stromm, had appropriated company funds for personal use, Osborn exploited the situation to seize full control of the firm. He alerted authorities, and Stromm was arrested and jailed for theft. With his partner out of the picture, Osborn found himself with unlimited access to Stromm's private research. Therein, he discovered a formula capable of increasing an individual's intelligence and physical strength, and recreated the chemical from the professor's notes. As manufactured by Osborn, however, the solution was unstable -- literally blowing up in his face.

Osborn was hospitalized, but managed to keep secret the explosion's cause. The chemical had increased his intelligence dramatically, but slowly was driving him insane. A second, sinister persona soon emerged -- not unlike the green, goblin-like wraith whose maniacal cackling had haunted the nightmares of his youth. Outfitting himself with combustible Pumpkin Bombs, high-voltage gauntlets and a gravity-defying Goblin-Glider, the Green Goblin embarked crime spree colored by his precarious mental state. By killing the wisecracking, web-slinging super hero known as Spider-Man, he hoped to attain instant credibility among the denizens of the underworld.

Repeatedly rebuffed by the wall-crawler, the Green Goblin turned his fixation to destroying Spider-Man. At one point, he even discovered the hero's true identity: college student Peter Parker. All that prevented Osborn from realizing his murderous goal was a bout of amnesia, which hid all memory of his villainous persona. But Osborn's sanity proved transitory, and the Green Goblin soon was soaring through the skies of New York City in search of Spider-Man -- this time, with tragic results. To lure the web-slinger into a final showdown, the Goblin kidnapped Peter's then-girlfriend, Gwen Stacy. Despite Spider-Man's best efforts to save her, the Goblin took Gwen's life -- hurling her from the top of a bridge. The Goblin apparently was killed during the ensuing battle, impaled on his own glider.

Delivered from certain death by the mysterious Goblin formula, Osborn escaped to Europe. There, he carved out a sprawling, secretive criminal empire. But the death of his son -- Harry, his successor as the Green Goblin -- brought him back to the States for oneee final act of revenge against his nemesis. Wielding his evil influence to convince Peter he was a clone, the Goblin eventually killed his enemy's true doppelganger: Ben Reilly, who had assumed the role of Spider-Man.
Osborn's most ambitious plan nearly came to fruition when he attempted to mold Peter into the heir to his family's legacy. The Green Goblin resurfaced after a lengthy absence, striking at Spider-Man through his friends and loved ones. But there was something different about this Goblin. Was it his voice? The fact that he never seemed quite balanced on his glider? In truth, it was Peter who had terrorized those closest to him, acting under the influence of a hallucinogen containing traces of Osborn's own Goblin formula. Revealing himself at last, Osborn tried to corrupt Peter's soul with the very darkness his father had taught him to embrace as a child. After the briefest of hesitations, Peter rejected Osborn's offer -- throwing the Goblin formula back in his face.
 

Comparisons to the film:

• they changed his purple costume to a funky-looking green armored flightsuit and his glider looks a lot more aerodynamic (personally I thought it looked cool)
• they changed the name of his company to "OsCorp Industries"
• instead of chemical manufacturing (as in the comics), the focus of OsCorp was in military weaponry. Osborn was developing a new kind of "super-soldier", implementing the glider and a human performance enhancer, which would give the person superhuman strength and increased intelligence (that would explain how he got the glider and bombs).
• Norman's formula didn't blow up in his face.....threatened by government cuts, he used the enhancer on himself to prove it worked.....big mistake. ^_-
• I really don't know his relationship to Parker in the comics.....but they depicted it wonderfully in the movie, I think.  Norman Osborn takes on a sort of surrogate father figure persona when he meets Peter.
• as to whether the filmmakers decide to let Harry carry on his father's legacy or resurrect Norman from the grave.....who knows.

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