Hobgoblin Vs. Green Goblin: Differences and Who Is Stronger

Green Goblin Vs Hobgoblin

Marvel Comics has a ton of interesting characters with astonishing powers and the focus of this article will be on two goblins, Hobgoblin and Green goblin. When you hear the word goblin, you might think of a grotesque and hideous creature that hides in the shadows, but these two guys will prove you wrong. The battle between Hobgoblin and Green goblin will be tough but there can be only one winner.

The stronger of the two is Green goblin as he spent more time in a formula thus the formula made him stronger than Hobgoblin. It was really hard to think that the substitute will beat the original and this was proven to be the truth,

Both origin stories, weapons, armor, and personality will decide on who is stronger, Hobgoblin or Green goblin.

Origin of Hobgoblin

Hobgoblin Laughing

Hobgoblin was created by Roderick Kingsley who was a successful businessman and a fashion designer who had strong ties with the criminal underworld. His criminal associate had found a secret lair of the Green Goblin a fact that Kingsley used to get the journal of Norman Osborn.

His goal was to create a more powerful formula than the Green Goblin formula, in order to defeat Spiderman. He was able to do it and after seeing the successful results on Lefty Donovan, he decided to use a new formula thus becoming the first significant Hobgoblin.

Origin of Green Goblin

Green Goblin Flying

Green Goblin is a creation of an unscrupulous businessman Norman Osborn. His company dealt with biological enhancement research. 

After discovering the strength-enhancing formula that was created by one of his scientists, Osborn used it on himself as he was always power-hungry. Prior to this, he tested it on one of his employees, but this failed horribly as the employee was turned into a disfigured Protogoblin.

Powers and Abilities

Both Hobgoblin and Green Goblin have similar powers and abilities such as superhuman strength, speed, endurance, agility reflexes and both of these characters can regenerate. Their abilities are the same, but Hobgoblin has one major advantage and that is the fact that Hobgoblin doesn’t become insane as Green Goblin does.

Weapons (Hobgoblin)

Hobgoblin Weapon

Hobgoblin does not have a wide variety of weapons in fact he has only one weapon, the notorious pumpkin bomb. These have several versions such as the gas pumpkin bomb and stun pumpkin bomb, which Hobgoblin had used against Spiderman.

Another weapon was used when Norman bonded with Carnage symbiote, thus creating bombs enriched with carnage biomass. These proved to be very effective against Spiderman as his spider senses couldn’t predict them.

Weapons (Green Goblin)

Green Goblin Weapons

Just like Hobgoblin, Green goblin has the Pumpkin bomb, but unlike him, he has a way bigger arsenal of weapons at his disposal. These include different pumpkin bombs that are concussive, incendiary, and smoke/gas bombs.

Other weapons at Green Goblin’s disposal are razor bat that is a very sharp shuriken and the bag of tricks which contains different weapons like a ghost that has more strength than steel, a crescent moon boomerang, and many other different weapons are located in the bag.

Armor (Hobgoblin and Green Goblin)

The armor of Hobgoblin and Green goblin is almost the same, except there is a special version of Hobgoblin armor that was developed by Norman Osborn. This armor was stolen by Phil Urich. Its goblin mask is soaked with the formula, thus the one wearing the mask gets all the powers of the Hobgoblin.

Another great feature of the Hobgoblin armor is the addition of flight-capable wings which remove the need for a Goblin Glider.  

Goblin Glider  (Green goblin) and Demonic Glider (Hobgoblin) are very similar, thus neither of them gets the advantage in transportation over the other.

Personality (Hobgoblin)

The first Hobgoblin was Roderick Kingsley and he was a megalomaniac but he did not suffer from any significant mental illnesses. His reliance on henchmen will not help him in this fight, as it just proves that Hobgoblin cannot take on Green goblin alone.

Personality (Green Goblin)

Green Goblin Laughing

As it was shown in his origin story, the first Green Goblin Norman Osborn suffers from a serious mental illness. He is seen sometimes talking to Green goblin, as it is a whole different being and not the part of him. This shows that he has a split personality.

On the other hand, Green Goblin does not rely so often on henchmen, and this shows that he is more certain of his abilities than Hobgoblin.

Hobgoblin Vs. Green Goblin Who Is Stronger

The original goblin, the Green Goblin is stronger due to several factors that will be listed below.

Green Goblin has a larger variety of weapons that he can use against Hobgoblin. Despite his mental condition, his effectiveness is shown as he does more dirty work by himself than Hobgoblin. The only advantage that Hobgoblin has over Green Goblin is the Hobgoblin Armor, but that doesn’t stand for much in their 1 vs.1 fight.

The clear winner of the battle in strength of these very similar Marvel characters is Green Goblin mostly due to his large variety of weapons and his self-reliance.