A fashion designer who used questionable and ruthless business practices, Roderick developed a financial empire that reached far beyond the fashion industry. Victim to one of Kingsley's machinations, rival designer Narda Ravanna, under the guise of Belladonna, attacked Kingsley but was stopped by Spider-Man. Unsatisfied that he didn't have the physical power to protect himself, Roderick searched for and found the original Goblin formula. After modifying the formula in a manner that he hoped would avoid the insanity side effect, he found that it gave him strength nearly equivalent to that of his arch-enemy, Spider-Man.

As the Hobgoblin, Roderick went on a black-mail binge meant to cripple his major competitors. After a fight with Spider-Man left everyone assuming he had drowned, Roderick decided that the direct criminal approach wasn't for him. He brainwashed the news reporter Ned Leeds into thinking he was the Hobgoblin, and used Leeds as a puppet. Under Kingsley's direction, Leeds helped Richard Fisk become the Rose and aided Fisk during the Gang Wars that almost destroyed New York City. Becoming bored with being a behind-the-scenes mastermind, and finding that Leeds was increasingly uncontrollable, Kingsley leaked word that Leeds was the Hobgoblin. After Leeds was murdered, Roderick left his brother Daniel in charge of the Kingsley business and retired to Europe for many years.

Although at first amused that the Hobgoblin identity was taken over by another criminal, Jason Macendale, Kingsley became annoyed with Macendale when Jason brought unwanted publicity with the announcement that Ned Leeds was the original Hobgoblin. At the time, the public at large had always assumed that only one person had ever been the Hobgoblin; the resulting uproar threatened to uncover the unsavory business practices of Kingsley's corporation. Returning from Europe, Kingsley murdered Macendale and again assumed the Hobgoblin identity. Determined sleuthing by Ned Leeds' widow Betty Brant uncovered Kingsley's trail. With the help of Spider-Man, she discovered the secret of the Kingsley brothers and cleared the name of her late husband. Kingsley was defeated by Spider-Man and sent to prison.

With the return of Norman Osborn, Kingsley leaked the word of having proof that Norman was the original Green Goblin - which was Osborn's one surviving journal. This was a guise to make Norman remove him from jail. Once out, it didn't take much time for Norman to realize Kingsley's intentions, and they fought. The result was a tie, as they both escaped, and they both won something with it: Osborn took over Kingsley's corporation, and Kingsley still mantained some bank accounts that Norman wasn't aware of, so he escaped to the Caribbean.

Kingsley eventually returned to his old lair at OsCorp to have found that Norman Osborn had been working on some new goblin gear; new body armor, a winged jetpack in place of a glider, and a flaming energy sword. Kingsley also discovered Phil Urich trying to retrieve some of the gear to show Norah Winters at the Daily Bugle. Urich used his "Lunatic Laugh" to stun Kingsley long enough for him to decapitate him using his own sword, allowing Urich to claim the mantle of Hobgoblin

Powers and AbilitiesEdit

Powers

Power Grid ^[1]

ParaphernaliaEdit

Equipment

Glider, strength enhancing suit

Transportation

Demonic Glider similar to the Green Goblin's

Weapons

Rockets and pumpkin bombs.

NotesEdit

First appeared as Kingsley in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #43, and as Hobgoblin in Amazing Spider-Man #238.
For many years, the original Hobgoblin was believed to have been Ned Leeds, who died in East Germany. The story which identified Ned as the Hobgoblin was written after the departure of the character's creator, Roger Stern. After more than a decade, Stern finally had the chance to reveal the truth. The Hobgoblin was none other than Roderick Kingsley, one of the hot suspects for the role at the time of the original stories.