Phil Urich

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Phil Urich
Superior Spider-Man
#16 (October 2013)
As Goblin King:
The Amazing Spider-Man #5 (October 2014)
Created by
In-story information
Alter egoPhilip Benjamin "Phil" Urich
SpeciesHuman mutate
Place of origin
Goblin King
Abilities(As Green Goblin):
Superhuman strength, speed, stamina, durability and reflexes
Enhanced intellect
Ultrasonic scream
Use of goblin-themed weapons and paraphernalia
(As Hobgoblin):
Superhuman strength, speed, stamina, durability, reflexes and senses
Enhanced intellect
Ultrasonic scream
Wears a costume with wings on the back
Use of goblin-themed weapons and a flaming sword

Philip Benjamin "Phil" Urich (

Goblin King
.

Publication history

The character first appeared in Web of Spider-Man #125 (June 1995) as the Green Goblin. Phil Urich's identity and origin was revealed in Green Goblin #1 (October 1995). The character later first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #649 (January 2011) as the Hobgoblin.

Fictional character biography

Heroic Green Goblin

Phil Urich's first appearance as Green Goblin in Web of Spider-Man #125 (June 1995). Art by Steven Butler.

The nephew of Ben Urich of the Daily Bugle, Phil stumbles upon one of Harry Osborn's old Goblin hideouts. Using a mask that delivers a "zap" gives him Goblin-level strength seemingly without the psychotic side-effects of the original Goblin formula, he gains enhanced strength and endurance.[1] Following Harry's death, he tries to gain a reputation as a superhero version of Green Goblin. However, he is sometimes seen as being as maniacal as his villainous predecessors. His equipment is damaged during a battle against a Sentinel in the "Onslaught" crossover; Urich sacrifices his glider to destroy a Sentinel by ramming the robot in the head, but a fragment of metal ricochets off the explosion and damages his mask's circuitry.[2] Urich is unable to repair or replace the technology and retires from being the Goblin.[3]

Phil later forms a

Hollow.[6]

Villainous Hobgoblin

Phil Urich as Hobgoblin. Art by Stefano Caselli.

Urich is next seen in the

Norah Winters who is looking into Goblin Gangs for a story. Urich goes to one of the old Goblin hideouts, hoping to find something there to impress Norah. He encounters Daniel Kingsley (posing as the original Hobgoblin)[7] who is also looking for some new Goblin technology.[8] Kingsley is about to kill him when Urich snaps and uses his Lunatic Laugh to incapacitate Kingsley. Using the fire sword that Kingsley had just found, Urich decapitates Kingsley and steals the new Goblin equipment from Norman Osborn's secret lair. Urich then assumes the Hobgoblin identity for himself now operating as a supervillain. He attacks a local think tank, and is confronted by Spider-Man who save Max Modell from being attacked by the Hobgoblin.[9] Catching Spider-Man off-guard with his Lunatic laugh, Urich tries to decapitate the hero. Bella Fishback, one of the workers at the think tank, is able to disrupt the sonic waves to save Spider-Man, but Urich escapes with the Reverbium he had come to steal. He delivers the metal to the Kingpin and becomes one of his operatives.[10] Spider-Man and the Black Cat fight Urich and the Kingpin to retrieve the experimental metal. During the fight, Urich's Lunatic Laugh causes the building to collapse, but he saves the Kingpin from falling to death.[11]

Urich gives Norah tips about possible Hobgoblin sightings so they can

Human Fly for stealing money from the Kingpin. On the transport, he encounters Agent Venom and the two fight. The fight results in a stalemate and the Human Fly escapes.[17]

During a confrontation with Spider-Man, Hobgoblin uses a weapon designed to disrupt Spider-Man's spider-sense. Although it initially appears to have failed, Peter Parker later realizes that it has intensified the spider-sense, causing it to react to the most minor of threats. Peter's mental state, along with a wrongly delivered message from Madame Web, allows Urich to capture Peter while still dazed.[18]

Peter later finds out that Urich and the Kingpin have not discovered Parker's secret identity when Urich refers to Peter as "Spider-Man's best friend". Urich and the Kingpin try to get Peter to tell the two who Spider-Man is but fail. Meanwhile,

Tinkerer for his Hobgoblin gear and to Kingsley for being allowed to be Hobgoblin.[21]

Goblin Knight

When

Robbie Robertson is discovered in the area, Phil believes that Ben had been trying to set a trap and delivers a serious injury to Robbie. Urich is able to get away when Ben convinces Superior Spider-Man to take Robbie to hospital, but Ben makes it clear having no interest in protecting Urich, acknowledging that Phil liked what he is now and was uninterested in redemption or help.[28]

Goblin King

Following the conclusion of

Eel to show up in order to divide the criminal underground following Osborn's defeat. The meeting is crashed by Black Cat and Electro. Black Cat mentions to Goblin King and Mister Negative that Spider-Man had outed them and wants a share in their plans.[29]

During the "

8-Ball III, Killer Shrike II, Melter III, Tiger Shark II, and Unicorn IV) after becoming a good guy.[31] While the celebration of Hobgoblin Day is being held with a parade in Kingsley's honor, Missile Mate betrays the Hobgoblin and attempts to murder in the Goblin King's name. Kingsley, however, had already expected the betrayal and had been using a hologram decoy which took Missile Mate's blow. As soon as Kinglsey confronts Missile Mate, the Goblin King appears with his Goblin Nation and attacks the celebration. The Hobgoblin bests Goblin King in combat and delivers him and the Goblin Nation members with him to the authorities.[32]

Having escaped prison under undisclosed circumstances during the "

Go Down Swinging" storyline, Urich raids one of Osborn's old gentlemen's clubs to acquire the Goblin weaponry Osborn stored there, but Osborn, currently wielding the Carnage symbiote, kills Urich by tearing his heart out.[33]

Powers and abilities

As Green Goblin

Due to ingestion of a modified version of Norman Osborn's "Goblin Formula", Urich gains superhuman strength (able to lift upwards of 9 tons), stamina, durability, speed, and reflexes. However, he is unable to access these abilities without the unknown catalyst provided by the Goblin mask he wears. He also possesses a so-called "Lunatic Laugh" capable of creating sound waves disorienting to most people. It is possible that the formula also increased his intelligence since he has shown to have an unusual cleverness when it came to strategy and modifying his equipment, as the Goblin formula had done for other users.[34] Whether or not he needed the mask for this was unknown. As the Goblin, Urich wears an alternate/spare Goblin costume composed of a chain-mail mesh capable of deflecting small arms fire. He travels on a bat-shaped, one-man, rocket-propelled "Goblin Glider". Like other Goblin gliders, it is armed with heat-seeking missiles, machine guns, and retractable blades. Other weapons Urich typically uses are incendiary Pumpkin Bombs capable of melting through 3 inches (76 mm) of steel, smoke and gas-emitting bombs with an appearance like a ghost, razor-edged bat-shaped boomerangs and gloves woven with micro-circuited filaments capable of discharging nearly 1,000 volts of electricity.[35] Most of this equipment was completely destroyed or rendered inoperable during Urich's final battle with the Sentinel.[3]

As Hobgoblin

As the Hobgoblin, Phil wears an orange Hobgoblin costume with wings on the back that allow him to fly without the use of a Goblin Glider and he took

Roderick Kingsley's mask as his own. He uses the traditional Pumpkin Bombs all Green Goblins and Hobgoblins before him have used, but he also has a new flaming sword.[9] He still retains his "Lunatic Laugh" from when he was the Goblin and he also has superhuman strength, speed, durability, stamina, reflexes and senses, and enhanced intellect. For unknown reasons, he no longer needs his mask to activate this power. With the help of Reverbium, his "Lunatic Laugh" was able to cause a building to collapse.[11]

Reception

  • In 2021, Screen Rant included Phil Urich in their "10 Best Marvel Legacy Villains Who Lived Up To Their Predecessor" list.[36]

Other versions

MC2

In the

Venom symbiote after taking possession of Peter.[38]

In other media

Collected editions

Green Goblin

Title Material collected Date published ISBN
Green Goblin: A Lighter Shade of Green Green Goblin #1-13, Web of Spider-Man #125, Spectacular Spider-Man #225 and Amazing Scarlet Spider #2. September 14, 2011 978-0785157571

Hobgoblin

Title Material collected Date published ISBN
Axis: Carnage & Hobgoblin AXIS: Hobgoblin #1-3 and AXIS: Carnage #1-3 March 3, 2015 978-0785193111

References

  1. ^ Green Goblin #1 (October 1995). Marvel Comics.
  2. ^ Green Goblin #12 (September 1999). Marvel Comics.
  3. ^ a b Green Goblin #13 (October 1996)
  4. ^ Runaways vol. 2 #1-6 (April - September 2005). Marvel Comics.
  5. ^ The Loners #5 (October 2007). Marvel Comics.
  6. ^ The Loners #5-6 (October 2007, January 2008). Marvel Comics.
  7. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #691 (August 2012). Marvel Comics.
  8. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #649 (November 2010). Marvel Comics.
  9. ^ a b The Amazing Spider-Man #649 (December 2010). Marvel Comics.
  10. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #650 (December 2010). Marvel Comics.
  11. ^ a b The Amazing Spider-Man #651 (January 2011). Marvel Comics.
  12. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #654 (February 2011). Marvel Comics.
  13. ^ Herc #1-2 (April 2011). Marvel Comics.
  14. ^ Spider-Girl vol. 2 #6 (April 2011). Marvel Comics.
  15. ^ Spider-Island: Deadly Foes (August 2011). Marvel Comics.
  16. ^ Spider-Island: Spider-Girl #1-3 (August - September 2011). Marvel Comics.
  17. ^ Venom vol. 2 #16 (April 2012). Marvel Comics.
  18. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #695 (October 2012). Marvel Comics.
  19. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #696 (October 2012). Marvel Comics.
  20. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #697 (November 2012). Marvel Comics.
  21. ^ The Superior Spider-Man #6. Marvel Comics.
  22. ^ The Superior Spider-Man #14
  23. ^ The Superior Spider-Man #15. Marvel Comics.
  24. ^ The Superior Spider-Man #16. Marvel Comics.
  25. ^ The Superior Spider-Man #17. Marvel Comics.
  26. ^ The Superior Spider-Man #25. Marvel Comics.
  27. ^ The Superior Spider-Man #26. Marvel Comics.
  28. ^ The Superior Spider-Man Annual #2. Marvel Comics.
  29. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 3 #5. Marvel Comics.
  30. ^ AXIS: Hobgoblin #1. Marvel Comics.
  31. ^ AXIS: Hobgoblin #2. Marvel Comics.
  32. ^ AXIS: Hobgoblin #3. Marvel Comics.
  33. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #797. Marvel Comics.
  34. ^ Green Goblin #2 (November 1995). Marvel Comics.
  35. ^ Green Goblin #2 - 12 (November 1995 - September 1996). Marvel Comics.
  36. ^ Beaty, Drew (2021-05-07). "10 Best Marvel Legacy Villains Who Lived Up To Their Predecessor". ScreenRant. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  37. ^ Spider-Girl #30 (March 2001). Marvel Comics.
  38. ^ Spider-Girl #5 (February 1999). Marvel Comics.
  39. ^ http://heroclix.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/041b-Hobgoblin.jpg [bare URL image file]
  40. ^ "The Hobgoblin Pt. 1". Spider-Man. Season 1. Episode 24. February 18, 2018. Disney XD.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Phil_Urich&oldid=1168438801"