Origin

Roderick Kingsley was a famous and successful fashion designer who used questionable methods. He had connections to several criminal associates. One such associate, a petty crook, on the run from Spider-Man, ducked into the sewers. He stumbled across an old secret base of the original Green Goblin.

Knowing this was valuable information, he passed it on to Kingsley. Kingsley thanked him by killing him to ensure no one else would know. Kingsley discovered some of Norman Osborn's journals among all the Green Goblin equipment. Kingsley decided to become a criminal himself and altered the Goblin costume to become the Hobgoblin.

Kingsley attempted to reproduce Osborn's formula to gain enhanced strength but was cautious to avoid the insanity Osborn suffered. He tested the formula on a henchman by the name of Lefty Donovan. Kingsley had Lefty attack Spider-Man as the Hobgoblin as he watched to see any adverse side affects of the formula. Spider-Man thought he had defeated and unmasked the Hobgoblin but Kingsley killed Lefty before he could implicate him by using a remote control on the goblin glider.

Kingsley later discovered that reporter Ned Leeds had discovered his identity. Kingsley brainwashed Leeds into becoming his puppet. He was able to control Leeds and have him take his place in several meetings with other criminal bosses. To further draw attention away from himself, Kingsley even planted information to make it appear as if Flash Thompson was the Hobgoblin. A rivalry started between the Hobgoblin and the criminal Jack O'Lantern (Jason Philip Macendale).

Believing that Leeds was the true Hobgoblin, Macendale hired the mercenary assassin, the Foreigner, to kill Leeds when he was on assignment in Paris. The Kingpin decided to pass along information on the "Hobgoblin"s death to Spider-man. Spider-man was devastated in thinking that one of his friends and co-workers (as Peter Parker) had been one of his greatest enemies. Kingsley decided to retire to Belize with everyone believing that the Hobgoblin was dead.

Macendale decided to take on the guise of the Hobgoblin himself. Though he was a skilled mercenary, he meet defeat to Spider-Man many times.

In an attempt for power, he went to the demon N'asrih during the Inferno in Manhattan. Macendale said he would sell his soul for power but was laughed at by N'asrih. In the end as a joke, N'asrih placed a demon inside of Macendale. Later on the demon inside would split from Macendale and dub itself the Demogoblin. He would later kill Demogoblin by blasting a building on top of him.

At one point, when he was arrested and on trial, he revealed that the real "Hobgoblin" was Ned Leeds. The world had no choice but to believe this to be true.

After some time, Kingsley decided to come out of retirement. Not satisfied with what Macendale had done to his "name," and decided to come out of retirement. The first thing Kingsley did as the original Hobgoblin was kill Macendale which he did by viciously blasting him to death in his cell..

The Return of Kingsley

He kidnapped Betty Brant, the widow of Ned Leeds, in order to draw out Spider-Man. The battle ended with Kingsley finally being revealed to be the one and true Hobgoblin.

When Norman Osborn "returned" from the dead, Kinglsey was upset with his denial of being the Green Goblin. He was able to contact Osborn and claimed he had an old journal of his that proved he was the Green Goblin. Osborn had Kinglsey broken out of jail. Osborn later told Kinglsey that he knew there wasn't a journal with this information and used his own finances to buy out Kinglsey's empire. Kingsley was furious but had in fact stashed away several millions of dollars in different overseas accounts. Kingsley then decided to retire (again) in the Caribbean.

Alternate Version

Marvel 2211 (Earth-9500)

In the year 2211, Robin Bourne is Hobgoblin 2211 and is the daughter of Dr. Max Bourne, who is Spider-Man of the said year.

Feeling being neglected by her father because of his career of being a superhero, Robin turned to being a villain by destroying any alternate universe by overlapping it with other universes. She was arrested by his father and was sent into a jail of virtual reality. When her boyfriend tried to break her out by introducing a virus in the virtual reality, but by doing so, caused her mind to go completely insane. She tried to kill her father by throwing him a "retcon bomb" but hit her boyfriend, erasing him in existence. She entered the mainstream universe and fought the original Spider-Man, she tried to throw a retcon bomb at him, but Spider-Man threw it back her and she was erased in existence.

MC2 (Earth-982)

In this reality, the Hobgoblin is now an assassin hired to kill Spider-Girl, Normie Osborn and Spider-Man. He didn't get to kill all of them but found success in killing the Venom Symbiote. He is currently planning a plot to become the new Kingpin of crime.

Ultimate Universe (Earth-1610)

The ultimate version of the Hobgoblin is Harry Osborn