Ok, I can't prove it beyond any reasonable doubt. But I'm telling you, Norman will be the Goblin.
When Osborn first appeared Stan Lee took great pains to conceal his identity. He teased readers for months and months on who it could be. It was a big part of what drew people to the character.
Fast forward to 90's. Spider-Man the animated series was on Fox. When the Goblin was being introduced in the show, in the same fashion as Stan had done, they with held the Goblin's identity once again. Most kids watching that show didn't know who the Goblin was. So they simply didn't tell the viewers for most of the episode that introduced the character. They finally revealed at the end that it was Norman in a *gasp* moment similar to the comics.
Jump to the early 2000's. The Ultimate Spider-Man comic book launched and gave us, in my not so humble opinion, the greatest Spider-Man comic of all time. Bendis, in keeping this tradition alive, made the Goblin a creature always bathed in shadows and mystery. We soon find out he is Norman Osborn. The same thing was done for Harry himself when Bendis turned him into a Goblin creature in the comics.
Fast forward again to the best Spider-Man cartoon we've ever had. The Spectacular Spider-Man. At this point most people knew that Norman is the Goblin because of the popular 2002 film. So it proved more difficult for the writers of the show to keep up this kind of story telling. But did that stop them? No. They tricked everyone (including me) into believing Harry was going to be the first Goblin in the show. And guess how that turned out:
So, with all this in mind you know where I'm coming from when I say, the Green Goblin has a long history of hiding his identity from the audience. It is a part of the characters long and established history. It is always a part of the story telling when doing the Green Goblin.
So what makes me so sure Marc Webb is doing it again in this new Spidey flick? A few things.
For one I've noticed they've been very careful not to give us a close up of Harry as the Goblin. We've seen close up and after close up of Rhino and Electro, but not Goblin.
The few times we've seen the Goblin in the trailers I've noticed he always looks out of place compared to the rest of the shot. Like he shouldn't be there. I think that's because he isn't suppose to be there. I think they put Harry as the Goblin in the trailers to throw us off much like the tv show did (also made by Sony I should add) did. And Sony has done this before. In the trailer for the original Spider-Man they used Spider-Man in full costume in the scene Spider-Man is jumping onto the robbers car as to keep secrete the story line. So the reason Harry looks so weird and out of place is because he is being used as a ruse to throw us off. There is no need to finish the shot with him in it because he eventually won't even be in the shot.
Two: Why haven't we seen a single toy for Harry as the Goblin? Why is that? Maybe because there are none.
Three: Both Dane DeHaan and Chris Cooper have been pretty quite about this film. We are always hearing from Emma, Andrew, and Jamie, but nothing from Dane and Chris. I think that's because they don't want to spill the beans.
Four: Why would Harry and Peter even be fighting? Harry has always gone after Peter in the comics and movies because Harry believed Peter was some how responsible for his fathers death and also hated how Peter stole some of his father's love from him. Obviously Peter won't kill Norman in this one, and Peter hasn't even met Norman yet for all that love/hate stuff to even start. So I ask again, why would Harry even fight Peter?
Five: The one shot we have of Harry "transforming" into the Goblin looks like it was filmed just for the trailer. How did I come to that conclusions? There is no context what-so-ever in the shot. All we get is a shot of Harry throwing his head back. I think they kept it simple because it's a shot done just to throw us off. Because if the shot included anything other than just a close up of Harry's head the shot would have been much more complicated. Remember they are very deliberate on what they show us and don't show us in the trailers.
Number Six: Why would Harry even take the goblin serum? His father needs it and he's dying. Why would Harry even bother taking the stuff? It's not like he believes Spider-Man killed his father like in Spider-Man 3. It makes no sense. You know what does make sense though? Norman taking the stuff to save his life and it making him go crazy.
And the biggest reason of all?
Number Seven: My gut says he isn't the Goblin. I've read Spider-Man comics and novels for decades, seen all the cartoons, played all the video games, own all the movies and even the 70's live action tv show (really not that bad IMO) and worn all the shirts (I'm wearing one right now!) And all these years of Spider-Man canon in my head tells my gut, Harry IS NOT the Goblin in this film, Norman Osborn is.