 At the conclusion of Marvel Knights Spider-Man #12, the Green Goblin plummeted into the waters of the Hudson River. Despite this, Norman still manages to evade the authorities once again, returning to the shadows to plot against Peter. During the Sins Past story arc, Norman continues to operate in a stealth manner, striking at Peter from unknown whereabouts through his offspring. However, somewhere along the line, Norman is picked up by the authorities and placed into the custody of S.H.I.E.L.D. (this was an off-panel development first mentioned in the All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update #1). With the initiation of the Superhuman Registration Act, the resulting C.S.A (Committee/Commission on Superhuman Affairs/Activies) was formed to apprehend the non-compliant super-humans. The C.S.A. resolves to using super-villains to track unregistered super-heroes. Norman is selected as a candidate for this task. This marks the beginning of Norman's second transformation into a legitimate citizen (the first being his return from death in the Dissociation From the Goblin section) and path that will carry him toward directing the Thunderbolts and eventually replacing both Tony Stark and S.H.I.E.L.D. The events that lead to Norman heading the Thunderbolts operation in Colorado are featured in Civil War Front Line #2-11. After revealing himself as Spider-Man to the public, Peter Parker is questioned about his relationship with the Green Goblin. Peter responds that Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin, had killed an innocent person that Peter cared for greatly. Peter goes on to say that this person did not deserve to die and that is why Norman should be in jail for the rest of his life. An infuriated Osborn watches this on television and claims Peter broke their pact, so he makes a deal with S.H.I.E.L.D. to get back at Peter and to get out of jail. In Civil War Front Line #4-5, Osborn, now in his Goblin attire, attacks Ben Urich and threatens others as well. But before he can exact any revenge on Urich, who had outed him publicly as the Goblin, Norman goes into a seizure and passes out on the ground. Norman was foaming at the mouth and was seemingly losing control of his body.  Urich then questions Stark in Civil War Front Line #6 concerning his involvement with the Green Goblin, noting that the Goblin did not appear to be in complete control of himself during Urich’s encounter with him.
Back at Osborn Industries, Norman is paid a visit from a man that he is grateful to, but whom he hates very much in Civil War Front Line #7. This mysterious figure gives Norman a serum that shuts down the nanites in his bloodstream and allows him to be “invisible” whenever he is needed to be. Norman has had nanites (nanorobotic machines) placed into his body by the government for restraint purposes. The unknown person who is making deals with Norman is also responsible for getting him out of jail. The Green Goblin is immediately put to work and he soon kills a small group of Atlanteans who were gathered in a warehouse. Wonder Man was there on surveillance and was caught up in the carnage caused by the Goblin.  He witnessed first hand the Green Goblin's involvement in the destruction of the Atlanteans. In Civil War Front Line #8, Detective Danny Granville informs Urich of a “warehouse fire” that resulted in the deaths of members of an Atlantean terrorist cell. The explosives/chemicals that caused the fire at the warehouse are traced back to the Green Goblin, who has recently gone awol. The Detective suggests that someone from within Stark’s organization is responsible for these actions since they would be the only ones able to have access to Norman and the capability of shutting down the nanites in his bloodstream. Later, Norman attempts to assassinate a member of an Atlantean delegation on a diplomatic mission with a simple handgun. Osborn is then subdued by police officers relatively efficiently.
After this "botched" attempt, Norman is placed into police custody and interrogated by Detectives Dixon and Alteri in Civil War Front Line #9. The two detectives are mainly interested in how Norman was able to breach security, possess a handgun, and avoid showing up on any surveillance tapes. The most pressing question of all to the detectives is why he did this, Norman seems to completely lack a motive. They are convinced Norman was aided by a powerful/connected person who tipped him off and allowed for the security. Norman's response to all of these questions is, "I can't say."  At first it appears as if Norman is being tight-lipped, but it soon becomes obvious that the nanites in his bloodstream are also blocking access to his own memory. Shortly after the detectives begin their interrogation a shadowy individual breaks up the group up, claiming the interview is over. The individual also claims that Osborn is now under their jurisdiction and this case is now a matter of national security, under the request of the President of the United States. Whether or not this person is the same shadowy figure who made the deal with Osborn in Civil War Front Line #7 is still unknown, but it very likely. At the conclusion of this story arc in Civil War Front Line #11, Ben Urich and Sally Floyd have pieced the truth together. They surmise that it was all a staged series of events with the purpose of engineering a fake war with the Atlanteans to encourage more heroes to join the pro-registration side. They accuse Tony Stark of being the traitor within his own organization, and that it was he who manipulated Osborn as part of well conceived plan. Urich and Floyd are later informed that Norman has been released back into Tony Stark’s custody and that he is now in charge of the Thunderbolts program in Colorado.
  Although Norman is not featured in any of the books of the Civil War series, the Green Goblin is depicted on the cover of issue #5. More importantly, however, is that the redesigned Thunderbolts team that he will eventually be chosen to direct is formed. The pro-registration force reorganizes the Thunderbolts team and includes some notorious super villains, including Venom II (Mac Gargan), Bullseye, Taskmaster, and Jack O’Lantern. The goal is of this new team will be to hunt down and detain unregistered super heroes that are not in compliance with the government. Looking back at this story arc after the fallout from the Secret Invasion plot, there's a good chance that the shadowy individual could be Hank Pym, who was proven to be a Skrull. However, Tony Stark's claim that he was "aware of the traitor" the whole time suggests that it may have been him, or he was probably involved to some capacity. Considering Urich's assessment of Stark in Civil War Front Line #11, it is difficult to discern what level of involvement Tony Stark had.
|  Norman witnesses Peter's unmasking with great dismay as Peter also outs him as the Goblin, as seen in Civil War Front Line #2     Norman has a meeting with a mysterious figure in which they discuss their 'deal', as seen in Civil War Front Line #7      |
