The denizens roaming around and taking photos with tourists in New York's famed Times Square consist of the usual suspects.
There's Mickey, Minnie, and Elmo, all of whose likenesses remain questionable.
But there was one character sighting not part of the usual lineup that had people guessing about his mysterious identity. Many thought he was Spider-Man's nemesis, the Green Goblin.
A video of a guy hoverboarding above the heads of tourists was posted by Twitter user Rex Chapman, and it went viral with 5.5 million views and received over 116K likes to date.
He casually captioned the video with:
"Oh nothing – just a dude flying around NYC..."
Oh nothing - just a dude flying around NYC\u2026pic.twitter.com/qJp2mKgV8R— Rex Chapman\ud83c\udfc7\ud83c\udffc (@Rex Chapman\ud83c\udfc7\ud83c\udffc) 1624290009
Many on the internet were convinced the airborne individual wearing a helmet was the famous supervillain.
GREEN GOBLIN pic.twitter.com/MKuobzw5Ur— BLURAYANGEL (@BLURAYANGEL) 1624292603
Spider-Man\n\n3 May 2002 (USA)pic.twitter.com/OT6e6n3tnM— Blockbuster Plus (@Blockbuster Plus) 1624290480
The dude in his headpic.twitter.com/RnQSZWLsUB— \ud83d\udc22jay\ud83d\udc2c (@\ud83d\udc22jay\ud83d\udc2c) 1624298958
Everyone's sleeping on this man tho.\n\nHobgoblinpic.twitter.com/JzpLSfxiiu— Timothy (@Timothy) 1624300635
So\u2026we\u2019re just gonna kick back while the next green goblin is in training https://twitter.com/rexchapman/status/1407000396233687041\u00a0\u2026— Sammy Rizek (FREE PALESTINE) (@Sammy Rizek (FREE PALESTINE)) 1624291204
Someone better step up an let yourself be bitten by a spider real quick— bruce (@bruce) 1624293382
There was also speculation the guy was trying to be Loki – Thor's also-ran adopted brother who has his own eponymous spinoff series on Disney +.
And it looks like he has Loki's helmet? 0_o\n\nHe's DEFINITELY a big Marvel fan, lol.— NRF3703 (MAIN) (NSFW Acct.) (TOH & LOKI Spoilers.) (@NRF3703 (MAIN) (NSFW Acct.) (TOH & LOKI Spoilers.)) 1624293436
Others weighed in with their thoughts about the available mode of transportation.
Hoverboards are awesome. That one can be bought and costs about 40k.— Max Ehfort (@Max Ehfort) 1624300764
I know it sounds stupid, I am 44 and when I see stuff like this, the future is here!— PAUL A (@PAUL A) 1624296919
Not everyone approved.
Next time you wonder why it's 2021 and we don't have flying cars yet, imagine what the skies would sound like with thousands of those lawnmower-mobiles buzzing around.— Scott Seymour (@Scott Seymour) 1624290581
The video was also shared on Reddit's PublicFreakout subReddit – where a reader expressed safety concerns over the stunt.
"Man usually I'm all for people doing whatever the hell they want, but seeing this operating around that many non consenting people makes me a bit hesitant."
"Maybe he's in a controlled area but I would be upset if I just saw some random Joe hovering around my city on one of these."
The flying man's identity remains a mystery.
@TheWhiteHouse/X
@wsj/Instagram
@wsj/Instagram
@wsj/Instagram
@wsj/Instagram
@wsj/Instagram
@wsj/Instagram
@wsj/Instagram
@wsj/Instagram
@wsj/Instagram
@wsj/Instagram
