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Willem Dafoe’s iconic iteration of the Green Goblin returned in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and while having Dafoe reprise the role once again would be welcome, the MCU’s forthcoming Spider-Man 4 would not be the place for it. In the comics and the films, the Green Goblin is Spider-Man’s greatest enemy, and Willem Dafoe plays him definitively in No Way Home and his 2002 Spider-Man debut. There is interest in seeing Dafoe’s Green Goblin return to the big screen, but while the next Tom Holland Spider-Man solo movie should not use him again, there are other films that Dafoe’s Green Goblin can return in.
In a recent interview, Willem Dafoe expressed interest in reprising the Green Goblin role as long as the film in question handles it well. The MCU is delving into the multiverse, creating an infinite number of ways for Dafoe’s Green Goblin to return to the Spider-Man franchise. Of course, the best explanation for Norman Osborn’s darker half resurfacing comes from the comics themselves, but the Tom Holland Spider-Man films, ultimately, need to refrain from pitting Dafoe’s Goblin against Holland’s Spider-Man. This does not mean that Willem Dafoe should not return as the Green Goblin elsewhere, however.
Dafoe's Green Goblin Returning Again Would Lose Its Novelty The Green Goblin’s return in No Way Home irrevocably changed Tom Holland’s Peter Parker. The Goblin killed Aunt May and nearly made Spider-Man a murderer. With the help of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man variants, the MCU’s web-slinger depowered the Goblin (and thus only destroyed his villainous persona) instead of killing him, giving a new and satisfying ending to Dafoe’s iteration of the Goblin in the MCU. While it is possible for the MCU’s Green Goblin variant to be played by Willem Dafoe like his Raimi Trilogy counterpart, this would ruin the impact and novelty of Dafoe’s No Way Home role.