Entering Marvel Contest of Champions: Green Goblin

Who flies through the air with the great of ease, and throws pumpkin-shaped munitions on unsuspecting heroes until they’re deceased? Why Norman Osborn aka the Green Goblin obviously! The deranged aerial ace soars into Battlerealm this week and we talked to Kabam Art Director Gabriel Frizzera and Champion Designer Piero Herrera about “Marvel Contest of Champion’s” newest combatant.

Marvel.com: Is this the classic Norman Osborn Green Goblin we all know and love? There’ve been so many glider-riding Goblins in the past it’s hard to keep track of them all!

Gabriel Frizzera: Yes, the psychopathic CEO with a Halloween-inspired arsenal! Osborn has been wearing his Iron Patriot armor to fight in The Contest for a couple of years now, but thanks to the Grandmaster we’ll finally see ol’ Norman in classic green-and-purple glory. The Grandmaster wants to make Spider-man’s life miserable (he hates that the web-head is his brother’s favorite), so he started to recruit some of his most sinister foes. Check out who they are in our brand new motion comic!

Marvel.com: It’d be easy to have the Green Goblin duking it out on the ground with the other combatants and only use his glider for special moves. What kind of challenges went into making his move set work while airborne?

Gabriel Frizzera: Oh, he’s definitely airborne all the time. That was condition #1 to create an authentic Green Goblin experience for our players. In Norman Osborn’s mind, walking is for lesser villains! There’s a bunch of technical challenges in making a gliding character, but we’ve had a lot experience with floating characters like Dr. Strange and Rogue, so we knew what to expect. We also have a wealth of reference to draw from: at this point people have a pretty good idea of how the Goblin moves around (thanks to previous movies, games and animation), so we looked at a lot of previous work to make sure we got his manic personality right.

Marvel.com: And he’s sporting a classic look here. Where’d the team find their inspiration?

Gabriel Frizzera: Straight from the source! Steve Ditko, John Romita, and many other awesome classic Spider-Man artists. Like we usually do, we tried to add our own “Champions” twist: We made some of the cloth pieces more ripped and haphazardly put together, and added metal bits here and there for that extra gothic flavour. But our job here was to keep that classic look intact, and just update it with very subtle details to make it shine.

Marvel.com: Let’s talk a little about his kit. What’s up with Oscorp Weaponry?

Gabriel Frizzera: Laser fingers! After-burner black smoke! Lots of Oscorp-patented Pumpkin Bombs! And who knows what else he keeps in his big saddlebag of tricks…

Marvel.com: And what else is in his deadly bag of tricks? Maybe a can of Raid for all those pesky spiders hopping around Battlerealm?

Piero Herrera: Green Goblin’s ability “Bag of Tricks” allows him to Inflict Power Drain, Poison, Incinerate and Weakness Debuffs through his Special Attacks. The real power comes when you unlock his Signature Ability, which allows for ALL of the effects on his Bag of Tricks to activate at the same time, instead of just one per Special Attack.

He also has two mechanics called Cunning and Madness, which are basically his offensive and defensive stances, one allowing him to deal more damage while disrupting the opponent’s flow of Power and the other allowing him to Regenerate Health and also take less damage from the opponent’s Special Attacks.

Marvel.com: How do we get the most bang for our Green Goblin buck? Who do we team him up with to really bring the pumpkin pain?

Piero Herrera: Pairing him up with Iron Patriot enhances both of those Champion’s Signature abilities through his unique “Split Personality” Synergy Bonus. To maximize Green Goblin’s powers, you will also have to pair him up with Electro and a Spider-Man Champion. Those Synergies will provide him more damage on his Pumpkin Bombs based on how many active Cunning and Madness charges Green Goblin has and the other will grant increased Potency to his Bag of Tricks abilities.

Marvel.com: When can we harness the Green Goblin’s insanity for ourselves?

Piero Herrera: Everybody can try to get  Green Goblin right now! This exclusive Champion will also be a prize in the Arenas, be sure to log-in and check him out.­­

Stay tuned to Marvel.com and follow us @MarvelGames on Twitter for more “Marvel Contest of Champions” news and interviews!