3. Spider-Man
You may chuckle seeing this movie on here, given Dafoe’s eclectic filmography, but he really nailed it in Sam Raimi’s imagining of the famed web-slinger in Marvel’s Spider-Man. As Norman Osborne, aka The Green Goblin, Dafoe was able to really jump right in and he looked like he was having one hell of a time.
The actor is known for his penchant for playing memorable villains, and in comparison to his previous work, this might be his best. The Green Goblin has always been a formidable character in Spidey’s rogues’ gallery of villains, and Raimi needed an actor with the gravitas to pull it off. Dafoe delivered with just the right balance of charm and treachery, and based on the film’s totals at the box office, audiences agreed.
Dafoe reprised his role with a small cameo in Raimi’s last entry in the series – the notorious Spider-Man 3. Since then, the role has been recast with director Marc Webb’s version of the story in which he will be portrayed by Chris Cooper (although the Goblin role will be played by Dane DeHaan as Harry Osborn). But, we all know who the best Goblin is.
