Willem Dafoe made his debut as the villainous Norman Osborn in 2002's Spider-Man, though the Green Goblin's story reached a definitive, comic-accurate end when he was impaled by his glider.
Despite that, the actor reprised the role in Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3 as a spectre haunting his son, Harry. However, the franchise ended before Norman could follow in the footsteps of his comic book counterpart by returning from the dead (it's worth noting filmmaker Sam Raimi has never suggested a resurrection was planned).
Nearly two decades after first suiting up as the iconic villain, Dafoe reprised perhaps his most iconic role in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Transported to Earth-616 before his death, Norman reminded us why he's Spidey's greatest foe by killing the wall-crawler's Aunt May and very nearly turning Peter Parker into a killer (he also stabbed Tobey Maguire's wall-crawler in the back for good measure). Cured and sent back to his own reality, we last saw the Oscorp CEO clearly devastated by what he'd done.
Did a sane Norman returning to his reality create a new, branched timeline or does Peter #2's world now have heroic Variants of the Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, and Sandman? Honestly, the Multiverse of it all is a tad headache-inducing.
We may get some answers soon, though, as scooper @MyTimeToShineH brings word today that, "Willem Dafoe is in talks to come back as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin." There are no additional details about whether this would be for Spider-Man 4, the upcoming Avengers movies, or even a post-Secret Wars MCU.
More of Dafoe's Green Goblin would be far from a bad thing, of course, and if the other Spider-Men return, it stands to reason that some familiar faces could join them. Here's hoping we see more of the Goblin than Norman, though, given how phenomenal Dafoe is in the role.
Doing the rounds to promote Nosferatu last December, Dafoe was asked if he'd be down to continue Norman's story in Spider-Man 4.
"We'll see. We'll see [Laughs]. I could come back," he teased. "Listen, Tom was great to work with and the whole series of Spider-Man films that I did were great fun. Great fun."
These remarks echo what Dafoe said in 2023. "If everything was right, sure," he said of a possible return. "I mean, that's a great role. I liked the fact that it's a double role both times. Twenty years ago, and fairly recently, both times [were] very different experiences, but I had a good time on both."
As always, let us know your thoughts on this rumour in the comments section below.