Nearly two decades after first suiting up as the Green Goblin in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man, Willem Dafoe reprised perhaps his most iconic role when he starred in 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Transported to Earth-616 shortly before his death, Norman reminded fans why he's Spidey's greatest foe by murdering 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 reality, we last saw the Oscorp CEO 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.
Earlier this year, rumours surfaced suggesting that Dafoe might be in talks to play the Goblin again. Today, insider Daniel Richtman claims that Marvel Studios is "planning to introduce the MCU version of Norman Osborn."
He doesn't elaborate on whether that will be in Spider-Man: Brand New Day or a future instalment of the next trilogy. There's also no word on whether Dafoe really is set to return or if a new actor is being sought for the role.
In Spider-Man: No Way Home, Norman claimed that he didn't exist on Peter's world, but he's also a psychopathic murderer who isn't necessarily inclined to tell the truth, so that's an easy retcon.
We can only speculate about what Marvel Studios might have planned for Norman in the MCU, but there's always a chance his reach will be felt beyond the web-slinger's franchise. In the comics, the villain was appointed leader of the Thunderbolts, helped stop a Skrull invasion, and became Director of H.A.M.M.E.R. and leader of the Dark Avengers.
Ultimately, a comic-accurate Green Goblin is probably the most exciting prospect, and Damian Lewis, for example, hasn't closed the door on possibly playing the villain.
Doing the rounds to promote Nosferatu last December, Dafoe was asked if he'd be down to continue Norman's story in the next Spider-Man movie.
"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.