Ruthless industrialist Norman Osborn was the co-owner of a leading New York firm, Osborn Industries, which specialized in chemical manufacturing via Osborn Chemicals, as well as other areas of research and development, including robotics. His wife Emily died within a year after the birth of their son Harry, leaving Norman embittered.

The product of an oppressively stern upbringing by an alcoholic father who lost the family fortune, Norman raised Harry dispassionately, often devoid of fatherly warmth, being chafed by Harry's failure to demonstrate academic excellence or a competitive drive. Despite living in reacquired opulence, Harry felt depressed and neglected by his father. Unbeknownst to Harry, Norman had risen in power by participating in a collusion enabling the creation of powerful opponents to challenge the super-hero community, thereby offering corrupt corporations a means to distract the heroes from probing into their affairs. One failure in this regard involved using Osborn Industries employee Nels Van Adder as a human test subject, transforming him into the disfigured "Protogoblin."