Hobgoblin (comics)

Hobgoblin
Hobgoblin drawn by John Romita, Sr. and John Romita, Jr.
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	The Amazing Spider-Man #238 (March 1983)
Created by	Roger Stern John Romita, Jr.
Characters	Roderick Kingsley Arnold Donovan Ned Leeds Jason Macendale Daniel Kingsley Phil Urich Demogoblin Harry Osborn (Ultimate)

Hobgoblin 2211
Hobgoblin 2211 and her father, Spider-Man 2211
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Spider-Man 2099 Meets Spider-Man
Created by	Peter David Rick Leonardi
In-story information
Alter ego	Robin Bourne
Abilities	Superhuman strength, speed, agility, stamina, durability and reflexes Genius-level intellect Use of goblin-themed weapons and paraphernalia

The Hobgoblin is the alias of several fictional supervillains appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first Hobgoblin, Roderick Kingsley, first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #238, and was created by Roger Stern and John Romita, Jr. During the late 1980s and most of the 1990s, the Hobgoblin identity was carried exclusively by Jason Macendale instead. In 2009 the Hobgoblin was ranked by IGN as the 57th greatest comic book villain.

The Hobgoblin was created by writer Roger Stern and artist John Romita, Jr. for The Amazing Spider-Man #238 (March 1983). Like other writers Stern found himself under pressure to have Spider-Man fight the Green Goblin again, but did not wish to bring Norman Osborn or Bart Hamilton back from the dead, have Harry Osborn become the Green Goblin again, or create yet another Green Goblin. Instead he created a new goblin as heir to the Green Goblin's legacy and developed the Hobgoblin. Stern recounts that he directed Romita to base the costume on the Green Goblin's but to make it "a little more medieval-looking", while Romita asserts that he was given no direction beyond using the Green Goblin as a basis. Both agree, however, that the costume was chiefly Romita's design.

The character's identity was not initially revealed, generating one of the longest running mysteries in the Spider-Man comics. According to Stern, "I plotted that first story with no strong idea of who the Hobgoblin was. As I was scripting those gorgeous pages from JR [John Romita, Jr.], particularly the last third of the book, and developing the Hobgoblin’s speech pattern, I realized who he was. It was Roderick Kingsley, that sunuvabitch corporate leader I had introduced in my first issue of [The] Spectacular [Spider-Man]." A handful of readers deduced that Kingsley was the Hobgoblin almost immediately. In order to throw them off the scent, and in the same stroke provide a retroactive explanation for his inconsistent characterization of Kingsley in his early appearances, Stern came up with the idea of Kingsley having a brother named Daniel who sometimes impersonates him, sealing the deception by having the Hobgoblin conspicuously appear in the same room as Daniel Kingsley in Amazing Spider-Man #249.