From THR:
Chris Cooper has signed on to play Noman Osborn in Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man 2 for Columbia Pictures.
The character of Osborn is pivotal in the franchise because he is the alter ego of the Green Goblin, which was played by Willem Dafoe in the original Spider-Man movies. It is unclear whether Cooper will make his villainous turn in this film or in a sequel. Osborn starts out as a mentor to the superhero before turning bad.
Also people need to realize Green Goblin used to be Spider-Man's Joker. They are arch enemies and until they started using Green Goblin as a bigger Marvel universe villain, he was in a lot of stories. Lately its been twisted to Doc Ock because other characters like Daredevil have taken Green Goblin away.
SPOILER (he has appeared again in Superior Spider-Man, which is awesome)
How can they fit them all in without it failing miserably like Spider-man 3?
don't be so close minded.