CBM's Sunday Showdown pits two heroes (or villains) against each other to let you, our loyal readers, decide which of them deserves to be crowned the better comic book character.
The Green Goblin wasn't Spider-Man's first villain, but he's quite easily his greatest. Norman Osborn has been tormenting the wall-crawler since Amazing Spider-Man #14 in 1964, and even unmasked the hero. Despite a brief bout of amnesia, he returned again and again to try and take the hero down, and even murdered Peter Parker's girlfriend and one true love, Gwen Stacy.
As the years followed the Goblin managed to convince Peter he was a clone, faked his Aunt May's death, quite possibly murdered his child, and even bonded with the Carnage symbiote.
Other people have held the Green Goblin mantle, of course, including Norman's son. However, this bad guy will seemingly be a monster Spider-Man can never rid himself of, and that's factored into the movies too. Willem Dafoe played the villain in Spider-Man, while James Franco and Dane DeHaan have suited up as Harry too. Chris Cooper was the last actor to play Norman.
The Joker is an icon, and every bit as popular as Batman himself. The Clown Prince of Crime appropriately debuted in the first issue of Batman in 1940, and has menaced him ever since. The villain has been portrayed in a myriad of ways, but there's been one common thread: he makes the Dark Knight's life a living hell. He even brutally murdered his sidekick, Robin (Jason Todd) once upon a time.
While The Joker has never truly defeated Batman, he's pushed him to the edge on countless occasions...plus, he doesn't want Bruce Wayne (yes, he knows his secret identity) to die because that means their game would reach its end. This is a villain who is twisted beyond belief, and behind his insanity is a cold, calculating nature which makes The Joker a truly brilliant bad guy.
On film, Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, Jared Leto, and Joaquin Phoenix have brought the Harlequin of Hate to life, while even Gotham shared a unique take on him thanks to Cameron Monaghan.
There's no denying that both the Green Goblin and The Joker are two of the world's most terrifying supervillains, but we want you to decide which of them is better! You can do that by casting your vote in the poll below, while we'd love to also hear your thoughts in the comments section.
Be sure to check back here next week for the results and another instalment of CBM's Sunday Showdown. If you have any characters you think should be pitted against each other here, let us know!
Last week's results:
Batman - 44.2%
Spider-Man - 55.8%