Edited sentence: Although such actions may make him seem insane at those times, it is really only the result of malignant vanity.Another example of Kingsley's easily wounded narcissistic complex and inability to distinguish between his own identity and that of the Hobgoblin persona was when Flash Thompson insulted him on national television and the Hobgoblin immediately hatched a plan to avenge himself with a level of vigor and ingenuity quite out of proportion with a mere petty insult.However, Kingsley does have an obvious narcissistic complex which, at times, impels him to irrational actions such as his decision to personally murder Macendale for tarnishing the Hobgoblin persona (resulting in his exposure).This neurotic feature of Kingsley's psyche existed long before he bathed in the serum.Though it would have been safe to hire one of his many criminal underlings, Kingsley could not resist the temptation to let Macendale know, in person, that he was the inferior Hobgoblin before he disintegrated the man