Norman Osborn

Few villains in Marvel's Silver Age canon have cast as long a shadow as Norman Osborn, who first menaced readers in 1970 and has never stopped making trouble across an astonishing 56-year publishing run. A fixture of the Spider-Man corner of the Marvel Universe, he turns up in the company of heavy-hitters like J. Jonah Jameson, Mary Jane Watson, Iron Man, and Matt Murdock — a rogues' gallery of allies and adversaries that speaks to just how deeply embedded he is in Marvel's storytelling fabric. With 114 catalog appearances, eight of them recognized as key collector issues, and a presence stretching across Ultimate Spider-Man, Strange, and Spider-Man, this is a character whose footprint on comics history is impossible to overstate. Whether you're a longtime devotee or just discovering how far his influence reaches, Norman Osborn is essential Marvel.