Doctor Octopus

Origin

Otto Octavius was raised in an oppressive household, with an overprotective mother, and a harsh, abusive father. His mother encouraged the young Otto, already a good student, to push himself in school, in the hopes that he would have a better life than his factory worker father. Otto was awarded a scholarship for university, shortly before his father died in a workplace accident. Becoming obsessed with schoolwork after his father’s death, Otto applied himself even harder to his studies in science. He graduated and got work with an engineering firm, soon becoming a respected nuclear physicist and research consultant, as well as working as an inventor and lecturer. He soon developed a remarkable invention- a chest harness that connected the wearer to four mechanical arms. This invention earned him a new nickname: Doctor Octopus. Around this time, he became involved with a fellow researcher, Mary Alice Anders, to whom he eventually proposed marriage. However, the happy couple was broken up by Otto’s mother, who disapproved of the young bride-to-be. Otto broke off the engagement at his mother’s behest, but she died soon after in the middle of an argument with her son. Having lost all of his social ties, Otto became more withdrawn and sullen, and grew obsessively dedicated to his work while simultaneously throwing professional and operational caution to the wind. This recklessness with his personal safety lead directly to an accident that would change his life forever. A radiation leak in the lab caused an explosion, which fused the harness and limbs onto his body. The radiation simultaneously caused mutations in his brain, allowing him to have direct control over the arms through telepathy. Driven insane by the accident and the damage it had caused to his body and mind, Doctor Octopus became dedicated to a life of crime.

Creation

Doctor Octopus was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. He first appeared in “Spider-Man Versus Doctor Octopus” in The Amazing Spider-Man #3 in July 1963.

Character Evolution

When first introduced, his powers, including the telepathic control, were explained as a direct result of the accident that fused the harness to his body in the first place. Later stories hinted that he may have possessed low-level telepathy from a young age, which was in turn implied to have caused a brain aneurysm in his father.

He briefly abandoned the Doctor Octopus identity, creating the identity of the “Master Planner,” a criminal mastermind, to orchestrate his plots. However, he eventually resumed the Doctor Octopus identity.

Major Story Arcs

Sinister Six

Doctor Octopus is the impetus for the formation of the original Sinister Six, which occurs following a series of defeats at the hands of Spider-Man. He gathers Vulture, Electro, Kraven the Hunter, Mysterio, and the Sandman, all who have faced, and been defeated by, Spider-Man. Though he tells the other villains that together they will be able to defeat Spider-Man, he secretly plans to wait until all the other villains have tried and failed to kill their foe, at which point he will step in and defeated the greatly weakened hero. He kidnaps Betty Brant and May Parker to bait Spider-Man into the fights and when, as predicted, his teammates fail, he steps in and battles Spider-Man in a large fishbowl-like tank, planning to drown the hero. He is ultimately defeated.

Gang War

Doctor Octopus becomes embroiled in a gang war against Hammerhead following the retirement of the Kingpin. The two wage an extremely destructive war throughout the streets of New York City in dual, competing bids to gain control over the vast criminal empire left behind. Spider-Man ultimately defeats both men, and Octavius is sent to prison.

Uncle Otto

Octavius attempts to marry May Parker, in the hopes of acquiring a Canadian nuclear power plant that she has inherited. The marriage ceremony is interrupted by Hammerhead, and the two men begin a fight that soon includes Spider-Man. The battle ultimately results in the explosion of the power plant, and the death of Hammerhead. Octavius manages to escape the island unharmed, but finds himself homeless, and haunted by the spirit of Hammerhead. He soon restores his enemy to life, simply to be rid of him.

Secret Wars

Doctor Octopus is among the villains transported to Battleworld by the Beyonder. There, he and his fellow villains are forced to battle a team of heroes who have been similarly transported to the planet without explanation. While on the planet, he rebels against the machinations of Doctor Doom, along with the other villains, and engages in skirmishes with the heroes. Ultimately, he is returned to Earth along with the other combatants.

The New Sinister Six

Doctor Octopus kept on his crime spree after his return to earth. At some time he became extremely afraid of Spider-man and everything that had something to do with spiders. He tried to keep up his criminal activities but almost paralyzed whenever Spider-man would intervene. At one point it even became so bad that the arms started to control Otto himself. Luckily, he managed to get back in control and he eventually overcame his fears for Spider-man. It was at this time that Otto started a new incarnation of the Sinister Six in hopes of making Spider-man’s life a living hell. He was partly responsible for a great deal of grieve given to Spider-man over the years. He however was always defeated by Spider-man again.

Clone Saga

Doctor Octopus saves Spider-Man, who has been poisoned by the Vulture. He does this, not out of a sense of altruism, but because he believes he is the only person who should be allowed to defeat his hated enemy. While attending to the injured Spider-Man, he learns the hero’s secret identity. Following this discovery, he allows himself to be captured by police, expecting to be rescued by Stunner, who has been incapacitated and thus rendered unable to help him. Shortly after this he is murdered by Kaine. Resurrected some time later through the assistance of The Hand, he is revealed to have no memory of Spider-Man’s true identity, as this discovery was not recorded on the computer chip that was used to reconstruct his memories.

Return to Life

Doctor Octopus had much trouble with returning to life and getting back his memories, most of all, he had to accept these memories. He was helped out by the female Doctor Octopus, whom was a huge admirer of him and had taken in his place when he had died. He finally managed to make amends with his past life and vowed to become a superior scientist and ‘evil’ genius once more.

Civil War

After Spider-Man reveals his secret identity live on air, Doctor Octopus goes on a rampage through the streets of New York, humiliated at having been defeated so often by a teenager and angered by the fact that he had unmasked Spider-Man once previously, but shrugged Parker off as a mere impostor due to his poor performance. He is subdued by Spider-Man and sent to Baron Zemo’s prison; he later joins the gang of ex-supervillains engaged in hunting down non-compliant superheroes.

Dark Reign

Doctor Octopus, now in telepathic control of four additional cybernetic limbs and several “Octobots,” learns that his years of fighting have irreparably damaged his body, leaving him with only months to live. Using the Octobots, he takes control of all the technology of New York City, hoping to transform the city into a utopia that is totally controlled by him. He is defeated by Spider-Man and several others, but escapes justice.

Origin of the Species

Doctor Octopus assembles a large supervillain team, and directs them to retrieve a number of items for him. Meanwhile, he targets the infant son of Menace, whose blood is composed entirely of Goblin serum, which he believes can be used to cure his failing body. Following the loss of the baby, he assembles a new Sinister Six, which fights alongside him against the Avengers, the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man. The heroes manage to defeat Octavius’ plans to explode an army base. Later, he kidnaps Tony Stark, with whom he had worked many years previously, before either had become involved in supervillainy or superheroics. He forces Stark to help him fix his broken body, and threatens to detonate a nuclear bomb should Stark fail. When Stark suggests seeking outside help, Octavius reveals that he expects Stark to fail, and hopes to use the explosion of the bomb, now set to go off in six minutes, to prove once and for all that he, Octavius, is the more intelligent of the two.

Ends of the Earth

For more information: Amazing Spider-Man

Doc Ock’s octobots have taken over the Apogee 1 Space Station and Spider-Man and the Human Torch have head out to investigate it. They find John Jameson holding out against the rest of the crew who have been taken over and controlled by the octobots. As Spider-Man and Johnny defeat the octobots, Doctor Octopus attempts to destroy their shuttle on re-entry but fails. He turns to the Sinister Six an begins his final plan.

From his secret underwater headquarters Doc Ock raises his Octahedral and activates his “choir invisible”. With his health deteriorating and death coming soon he uses the octo-satellites to scorch the earth by harnessing the greenhouse effect. He announces his plans to the world but offers to reverse the effects of Global Warming in exchange of their compliance. Doc Ock sends the Sinister Six to various locations to steal specific items, each being a means to take out the Avengers. He appeals before the UN where Chameleon is posing as Al Gore. When Spider-Man warns them and outs Chameleon Doc Ock threatens to use his Octavian Lens once more.

When Doc Ock and the Sinister Six meet up to pick up Chameleon, it is revealed the Avengers tailed him. The Sinister Six take on the Avengers who are defeated one by one thanks to the Doc Ock’s plans. Spider-Man is left to Doc Ock but manages to escape thanks to a distraction by Silver Sable. He returns again to his secret base and announces his demands to the world. Clean records for the Sinister Six, 2 billion in each of their accounts, and an academy built in his name. He reveals he has factories around the world waiting to implement his plan upon the worlds compliance.

The remaining Sinister Six begin to question furthering their plan when Doc Ock threatens them to carry out their mission. Doc Ock broadcasts a message to the “Dark Corners”, a group of various villains including Crossbones and Titanium Man, to carry out his plans upon his death. Unfortunately Titanium Man is a national hero in Russia and he alerts Spider-Man of the message. As Spider-Man continues to interfere with Doc Ock’s plans he fires his Octavian Lens upon half the world, incinerating Symkaria and many more.

The incineration of Symkaria was revealed to be an act by Mysterio who is currently operating a Doc Ock battle suit and fighting Spider-Man. When Dock Ock realizes this he scolds Mysterio who turns to Spider-Man’s side and reveals the location of Doc’s secret base in Guatemala. When Spider-Man, Silver Sable and Black Widow arrive they are met by the Avengers under control by the octo-bots. Spider-Man finally makes it to Doc Ock who reveals his plans true intentions. Octavius had planned to kill just enough of the population so that those remaining would rebuild in his image and never forget him. Doc Ock is forced to use all eight of his suit’s arms to restrain Spider-Man which causes him to eject from his suit to reach the lens control panel. Spider-Man breaks free and smashes the controls stopping Doc’s plans once and for all.

Dying Wish

Using a modified Octobot, Octavius successfully transfers his consciousnesses into Spider-man. Leaving him with Peter’s memories and body and Peter Parker in Doctor Octopus’s dying one. Leaving Peter for dead, Otto begins to take on Spider-Man’s life as his own. Peter eventually took control of the golden Octobot and had the Scorpion, Hydro-Man and the Trapster free Peter from the Raft. It was then that Peter tried to redo the body switch with Ock, but he had taken precautions to keep that from happening, but Peter instead had Otto relive all of Peter’s moments showing Dr. Octopus how much had wasted his life. As a result of Peter’s personality engrafted on his own, Dr. Octopus decided to continue on as Spider-man and make up for his past mistakes as the Superior Spider-man.

After his victory over Spider-Man Otto breaks into one of his own laboratories in order to create the new equipment he wishes to use for being Spider-Man. As he breaks in he sets off the laboratories defence systems and Otto is forced to fight off his own creations while a video of himself mocks him in the process. Vowing that Doctor Octopus’s days of losing are over Otto dons his newly finished Spider-Man suit.

The Superior Spider-Man

During a fight with the new Sinister Six, Otto manages to tag Boomerang with spider-tracers before they can escape. He then heads off to a date with Mary Jane, all the while using his spider-tracers to keep tabs on the villains. During his date, Otto discovers where the Sinister Six will pull off their next heist, managing to beat them their and lay traps. Ultimately defeating them he attempts to kill Boomerang, but he is stopped by Peter Parker’s conscience which still exists within his brain, unbeknownst to Otto.

During his second day as Spider-Man, Otto is greeted by reporters and the Mayor, J. Jonah Jameson who is nice to Spider-Man for the first time. This angers Peter’s conscience due to the grief he received while he was Spider-Man. Posing as Peter, Otto continues to woo Mary Jane, but keeps being interrupted by emergencies across the city. After becoming frustrated over this, Otto creates Spider-Bots (based on his previous Octobots) to serve as his eyes and ears across New York.

With more time to spare, Otto and MJ continue to date, however Otto cannot understand why she has not given in to his charm. He then discovers he can access any of Peter’s memories, deciding to relive moments where he and Mary Jane were together. While working at Horizon, a Spider-Bot alerts that MJ is being attacked by a group of Vultures. Otto manages to save MJ, but realizes that he cannot be with Mary Jane and be Spider-Man, leading him to break up with her. Peter then states that Otto has done something that he himself could never do to keep her safe.

Mayor Jameson calls Spider-Man to Police HQ via a new Spider-Signal, which Otto deactivates immediately so his enemies won’t know where he is. He is tasked by the Police Chief and the Mayor to find and take down Adrian Toomes after reports of various crimes related to him. With the help of a very suspicious Carlie, Otto tracks down the Vulture and attempts to reason with him due to their standing friendship. The Vulture only seeing Spider-Man however, sends his minions to attack. Otto discovers that these minions are just children, enraging him due to his own abusive childhood. During a sky battle between the two, Toomes begins to gain the upper hand. Otto quickly reactivates the Spider-Signal which blinds the Vulture, leading him to fall from the sky and crash directly into the signal itself. Carlie witnesses what happens and Otto attempts to explain how Peter would, but unknown to him he has only raised her suspicions.

Octavius decides to “rectify” some of Peter’s mistakes; enrolling back in college, pursuing the PhD Peter denied himself in the past, breaking the self-imposed “no-kill rule” by killing the villain Massacre even after he appeared to show signs of recovering from the brain damage that motivated his crimes, and violently assaulting Jester and Screwball for a relatively minor crime. This increased aggression prompted the Avengers to confront “Spider-Man” about his recent activities, recognizing that their friend would never act in such a manner, but Octavius explains that he is merely dealing with stress over recent events.

Otto has a run in with Cardiac as he steals Neurolitic Scanner from the Boneyard . Cardiac is able to temporarily stun Otto with a strong blast and escape, but not before Otto tags him with a Spider-Tracer. Tracking him to the H.E.A.R.T. Clinic Octavius arrives, demanding the scanner which Cardiac refuses. Spider-Man defeats Cardiac and upon finding the scanner on a little girl’s head, demands an explanation. Cardiac reveals that when Doctor Octopus tried to destroy the planet with his Heat Satellites, he didn’t considered about those who were already sick like Amy, who barely survived with severe brain damage. Feeling remorse, Otto decides to help Cardiac with the surgery and offers to do it himself. After this he reveals that he is aware of Peter’s consciousness and intends to remove the remains of Peter’s mind from his brain using the scanner. After a mental battle between himself and Parker, Otto seemingly wins, erasing all of Peter’s memories. However, this erasure left it more difficult for him to pose as Spider-Man, especially with some of Peter’s friends. Nevertheless, Octavius continues his goal of correcting Peter’s life: developing more detailed resources, such as creating a small army of Spider-Bots and Spiderling allies to assist him and engaging in a relationship with his tutor, Anna Maria Marconi.

Mayor J. Jonah Jameson asks Spider-Man, to supervise the execution of Alistair Smythe, but as the execution begins, mini Spider-Slayers arrive freeing Smythe and renovating Boomerang, Vulture, and Scorpion. Rather than directly rescue the threatened civilians, Spider-Man goes after Smythe and fatally stabs him, which disables Boomerang, Scorpion, and Vulture. Smythe attempts to transfer his mind into Spider-Man, only to discover his true identity as Otto Octavius. Later, Spider-Man uses a recording of Jameson telling him to kill Smythe at any cost as blackmail in order to get the Raft as his new headquarters.

After establishing the Raft as his new base of operations, Otto began to collect former Sinister Six members, storing them in his underwater lab. First, he acquired the sand grain that contained Sandman’s conscious and confiscated Chameleon from S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. Then when Electro returned to Earth after being hurled into space by Thor, the Superior Spider-Man enlisted the Thunder God’s help defeat Electro again. He then came across Mysterion, an unnamed man who bought the Mysterio gear from the Hobgoblin, robbing the bank. Finally, the Spider-Man went up against an escaped Vulture, who was seeking to get even with Otto, and managed to defeat him. Using mind-control he forms the “Superior Six”. The team makes a debut when Lightmaster invades Alchemax. The team comes to blows with the Wrecking Crew, hired by Lightmaster to assist him. During the battle Octavius lost control of the Six and they turn on him. However, with the help of the second Sun Girl, Spider-Man was able to defeat them.

With his new resources Otto declares war on Kingpin’s criminal operations, attacking him in his base of operation, Shadowland, with the assistance of an army of his Spiderlings and giant spider robots. In the ensuing conflict Kingpin is seemingly killed and Spider-Man battles Hobgoblin, whose tech fails due to tempering by the Tinkerer. When Hobgoblin manages to escape, but Spider-Man publicly reveals his identity as Phil Urich to the city. Learning his location Spider-Man arrives at the Bugle and defeats Urich. He considers be-heading him, but is called away by the Avengers.

Spider-Man 2099

Problems arise for Otto when his boss, Max Modell is arrested for harboring criminals such as Morbius and Lizard, possessing hazardous materials such as Sajani’s Reverse Vibranium and Grady’s Time Door, and human experimentation. After the arrest back at Horizon labs Parker and his colleagues are surprised by the arrival of Liz Allan, who had bought up the stock cheap and was now the new majority shareholder. Her first order of business was to install Tiberius Stone as the new supervisor. This doesn’t sit well with Otto and he plans to deal with Stone himself. Stopping Tiberius on his way to a meeting, Spider-Man prepares to attack him, but is stopped by Spider-Man 2099 who had come to the past to deal with a temporal anomaly. Otto doesn’t have the faintest idea who this new Spider-Man is and he attacks. In the ensuing chaos a car Otto was carrying falls onto Normie, but is rescued by Miguel while Otto retreats. Determined to take control of the situation Otto contacts Spider-Island, order his Spiderlings to find this other Spider-Man. Heading to Horizon Labs, Otto begins removing all of his tech from the premises, but is caught by Hector and Max. Furious at Otto’s overall deportment in recent weeks, Max warns him that if leaves, he needn’t bother coming back. Unfazed Otto leaves.

However, after a quick costume change Octavius returns to confront Spider-Man 2099. To the shock of the Horizon team, he knocks out the other Spider-Man before he explains how to stop an imminent temporal event which will destroy Horizon Labs. The Horizon team figures a way to stop the destruction, but will need Reverbium and Peter Parker to solve the equation to cancel out the destructive vibrations of the event. Otto has unfortunately erased all Parker’s memories, including the required solution. He tells everyone to evacuate and tries to figure out the equation. With one minute to spare Otto comes up with an answer and enters it, but it’s incorrect. Horizon Labs is then destroyed in a controlled implosion, leaving a huge crater where the building used to be. After the dust settles Max and his team quickly set to work and are able to revive Spider-Man, but Otto has no recollection of where he was or what he did during his time gone.

Return of Stunner

As Otto is ready to present his thesis Professor Don Lamaze accuses Peter of plagiarizing Otto Octavius, an old friend of the professor’s. Meanwhile former assistant and lover to Doctor Octopus, Angelina Brancale, had awoken from her coma. Swearing revenge against Spider-Man for Doctor Octopus’ death, she again becomes Stunner. She starts by assaulting the Daily Bugle, and attacks Spider-Man as soon as he arrives. Octavius tries to talk her down, to no avail. Webbing her up, Otto sends his Spider-Bots to find her Virtual Reality Interface.

When Otto returns to E.S.U. he overhears Don Lamaze talking with Anna Maria. Suddenly his Spider-Sense alerts him to a bus flying toward them and he is able to catch it in time to save them. This leaves him open to an attack from an escaped Stunner, but as she thrashes him, the Spider-Bots are able to locate and shut down her interface. Going to the secret lab Otto finds Angelina unconscious. When she wakes she is shocked to see Doctor Octopus as she once knew him. Speaking through the virtual avatar, Otto tells Angelina that he is not dead but has moved on. The next day Lamaze drops his accusations of plagiarism saying that Otto Octavius visited him, and revealed that Peter gave Otto all of the ideas for his inventions. With that cleared up Otto is able to earn his doctorate and created Parker Industries with Anna Maria, Aunt May, J. Jonah Jameson Sr., and Sajani.

Superior Venom

After Flash Thompson returns to New, Spider-Man gets a call about Venom and Crime Master fighting. Tracking them down Spider-Man attacks Venom, but Thompson is able to distract him long enough to escape. While Otto and Anna Maria clean up his apartment they get a visit from Flash, asking if he can stay for a while. Seeing this as an opportunity to destroy the Symbiote, Otto acquiesces. Otto then reveal that after the success of Aunt May’s leg surgery, he’s ready to step up into full artificial limbs and wants Flash to be his first subject. When Flash is set up for the treatment, Otto changes into Spider-Man and by using sonic blasters drives out the Venom Symbiote. However, the Symbiote breaks out of the containment cell and bonds with Octavius, transforming him into the Superior Venom.

Reveling in the Symbiote’s raw power, Otto begins targeting anyone in the act of a crime, however trivial. When Superior Venom brutally attacks the culprits of a heist, Mary Jane tells the Avengers that Spider Man has been taken over by the Symbiote. Captain America asks her to tell him Spider-Man’s location. As the Avengers battle Superior Venom, Otto calls in his Spiderlings, causing Cap to call for reinforcements. Tony Stark arrives with Flash in tow, to try and re-take the Symbiote. Realizes his mistake Spider-Man tries to remove the Venom suit, but cannot until he receives unexpected assistance from Peter Parker’s re-formed consciousness. The Symbiote reunites with Flash. Otto excuses his behavior by claiming a Symbiote fragment had been taking him over, but the Avengers are skeptical. Spider-Man argues about his privacy and how the Avengers can pick inside his mind just because “He’s an Avenger”, prompting him to quit the team.

Goblin Nation

Following Goblin King’s victory over Hobgoblin, Spider-Man redirects his attention to Osborn. Otto manages to trace Osborn’s location in the underground, where he is greeted by the Goblin King. The Goblin King tells his subordinates to back off while and he reveals that he knows Spider-Man is really Dr. Octopus. He offers Spider-Man a partnership to rule New York as his second in command, to which Otto angrily declines, declaring he will free the city from his grasp. Goblin King attempts to zap Spider-Man only to realize it was a hologram. The Goblin King decides to commence an assault on Spider-Island II.

Escaping the destruction on the back of Living Brain, Spider-Man heads to Parker Industries where meets an infuriated Sajani who wants to know what he’s been up. As they argue Wraith drops in demanding from Otto information about Carlie Cooper, but Monster interrupts, swooping in and knocking Wraith out. Monster then reveals herself as Carlie, much to Otto’s shock. Otto deploys Living Brain to fight Monster while he and Sajani flee inside, where they split up. Otto lures Monster in to a closed room and in the ensuing scuffle, he lands a kick which breaking her earpiece. Freed from the Goblin King listening ear, she states that she needs Otto to fix her before she loses control.

As Otto rushes to find a safe way to cure Carlie’s condition, he’s contacted by Osborn who comments that he’s upset that Octavius stole his biggest prize: killing Spider-Man. And since he refused join him, he’s going to taking everything away from him and through is goggles makes him watch the destruction of his childhood house, the laboratory where he became Doctor Octopus, the Boneyard where most of his inventions were stored, the Mocha Cola Bottling Plant where he fended off Massacre’s bombs and saved the hostages, and the H.E.A.R.T. Clinic where he assisted Cardiac. Osborn taunts him further saying that he’s not over yet as he has one final card at the Empire State University where he holds one of his schoolmates hostage.

Spider-Man arrives ready to confront the Goblin King who reveals that his hostage is Don Lamaze. As Spider-Man launches to attack with his mechanical arms the Goblin King reveals that he had hacked the arms, causing them to attack Otto instead. However, Lamaze jumps into one of them receiving the fatal stab, stating that he did it to repay him for saving his life when Stunner attacked. As Spider-Man cradles a dying Lamaze in his arms a legion of Spider-Slayers appears. Through them Mayor Jameson tells them that he’s done with being blackmailed by Otto and he doesn’t care if he loses everything as long as he can finally bring them both down. Otto tries to fight the Spider-Slayers, but is unable to defeat them. Suddenly, the Spider-Slayers are deactivated remotely by Spider-Man 2099, who confronts Otto about his true identity. Suddenly, the Spider-Slayers are reactivated by Goblin King, grabbing both Spider-Men by their heads. Taunting him further Goblin King shows Otto an image of Anna in captivity, causing him to snap. The Goblin King then offers Spider-Man a free path out into the city, and Otto takes the bait, leaving Spider-Man 2099 stranded.

Alone and without any of his resources, Otto is at a loss, Menace appears and taunts him into following her underground. There he discovers Amy Chen held captive and about to be run over by a train driven by the Goblin King. Fearing that he would be wounded and unable to go after Anna, Otto hesitates. However, Peter Parker’s conscious resurfaces and prompts Otto to grab Amy, and he is able to leap out of the way just in time. Leaving Amy with a police officer Otto swings back to Parker Industries. Realizing that he had failed as a so called “Superior” Spider-Man, Octavius proceeds to erase his consciousness and hand Peter back control of his body entrusting the mission of saving Anna and New York.

Edge of the Spider-verse

However, Otto is not entirely gone. During the incident in Horizon Labs, Octavius was transported to the year 2099. Whilst there, he is attacked by the Public Eye, until he is rescued by Gabe O’Hara. Settling into Miguel’s old flat, he decides to return to the present, stealing equipment from Stark-Fujikara and Alchemax to do so. When he attempts travels back in time, he instead travels to multiple parallel universes all with a recently deceased Spider-Man, killed by the same individual. Realizing that someone is eliminating each universe’s Spider-Man, Otto traverses the multiverse, eventually arriving on Earth-50101 where Pavitr Prabhakar is under attack by the Spider-Man killer, a man named Karn. Otto saves him and they escape back to 2099, where it is revealed that Otto has already recruited several other Spider-Men, including a Six-Armed Spider-Man (Earth-92100), Spider-Monkey (Earth-8101), Spider-Man Noir, Assassin Spider-Man (Earth-8351), and Spider-Girl (Earth-807128).

Superior Octopus

Octavius is later revealed to have survived by implanting his mind in the Living Brain. Octavius later finds out that his corpse has been stolen by the new Jackal so that it could be cloned. After inhabiting his new cloned body, Octavius allies himself with the Jackal, and begins taking special pills to prevent the body from degenerating into dust. After the Jackal insults Anna’s dwarfism, Octavius attacks him and activates the Carrion Virus, which begins destroying all of the recently-created clones. Octavius seemingly perishes when his new body crumples into dust alongside the other clones.

However, it turns out that he actually survived by transferring his consciousness into the “Proto Clone” the Jackal had created. With his new, more handsome body, Octavius returns to one of his old lairs, only to find it occupied by HYDRA agents. After a battle, Octavius and Arnim Zola come to a truce, and agree to work together to bring down Parker Industries. They create a new uniform and harness for Octavius, who now dubs himself the Superior Octopus.

During HYDRA’s takeover of the United States, Octavius becomes part of Steve Rogers‘ new team of HYDRA Avengers (which includes Deadpool, Black Ant, Taskmaster, Odinson, a brainwashed Vision and a Cthon-controlled Scarlet Witch).

Elliot Tolliver

With Peter’s memories still influencing his decisions to be a hero, Otto would remake himself as Elliot Tolliver, a Horizon University employee, who was able to work side by side with Anna Marconi and try to reclaim his status as the Superior Spider-Man.

As Tolliver, he would combine Jackal and Jennix‘s technology to create an army of duplicate bodies he could upload his consciousness too in case of injury or death. This got the attention of the Inheritors, who used these blank bodies for themselves. Thus, Otto would fall in with the other Web Warriors to face off against the Inheritors.

After the Web Warriors were victorious, Otto continued fighting crime as Superior Spider-Man, eventually being found out by a suspicious Anna Marconi. She wanted to go to the cops, but she settled on letting Otto continue being a hero as long as she was able to keep an eye on him.

Return of Doc Ock

Otto would be targeted by a variant Norman Osborn, who had become Spider-Man on his Earth and feuded with Otto on the Web Warriors. Mephisto made a deal with Otto that would allow him to overcome Osborn.

Mephisto would return Otto’s mind back to how it was before Otto combined himself with Peter and his body to before all the trauma from fighting Spider-Man. This would allow for a duplicate body to act as a deceased Elliot Tolliver, convincing variant-Osborn that there was no one to kill. Anna pleaded with Otto not to do it, but he did it anyway.

Mephisto altered some of his memories. Otto remembered his heroics in the cloned body, but he doesn’t remember any of his heroics in Peter’s actual body. Without Peter’s influence, Otto returned to villainy. While trying to fill the missing gaps in his memory, he would fall under the influence of the demon, Kindred, who snuck one of his centipedes into his ear and pushed him to reform the Sinister Six.

Sinister War

Dr. Octopus’s new Sinister Six was made up of:

• Sandman, who Otto rescued from his island
• Electro, who Otto resurrected from ambient electrical energy
• Kraven, who found in the Savage Land and given an offer he couldn’t refuse
• The Lizard, who Otto separated from Dr. Connors with an Isotope Genome Accelerator
• Mysterio, who was hand-picked by Kindred whether Otto liked it or not.

Otto led his team of five to the premiere of Mysterio’s movie to recruit him but found Mysterio being attacked by the Savage Six, angry about their portrayal of themselves in his movie.

They are able to get away with Mysterio in their ranks. With his illusion tech, they get close to Spider-Man during a brawl in a graveyard with the other supervillain teams. Doc Ock had Spider-Man literally in his clutches, but he hesitated to kill him when Spidey tried to connect emotionally. He was ultimately interrupted by The Savage Six, again, and eventually, he used a piece of Black Ant’s helmet to knock everyone out through the ear centipedes Kindred was using to control them.

Beyond

After Peter falls deathly ill after a run in with the U-Foes, Doc Ock is requested by Aunt May to help find a cure.

Powers and Abilities

As Doctor Octopus:

Doctor Octopus has a genius-level intellect related to the field of atomic physics and radiation. He holds a PhD in nuclear science, and is skilled as an inventor and an engineer. He is an excellent tactician, as well as being a charismatic leader. He is able to effectively segment his attention in such a way as to engage multiple people in battle while simultaneously performing some other, more delicate task.

He has telepathic control over four prehensile, electronic arms that are attached to his torso. Even when the harness is detached from his torso, he maintains a level of telepathic control over the arms, even over great distances. The arms, which have pincers at the end, can extend to 24 feet at the maximum, and are capable of superhuman strength and enhanced reaction time. He can use them to lift a maximum of three tonnes per arm, though at least one arm must support his body, and he can use them similarly to legs, to lift his body and move rapidly over a variety of terrains, and also to scale walls. He wears an armored body suit because, while capable of dishing out an enhanced beating, his body is that of a regular human, and has become increasingly worn down by the constant fighting and injuries he has sustained. This suit adds an additional four cybernetic arms. His telepathic control also extends over an army of octobots, small, eight-limbed robots.

As Spider-Man:

Due to him having Spider-Man’s body Otto has access to all of Peter Parker’s abilities and standard gear however has yet to show knowledge of the Way Of Spider fighting style. He also has some new technology integrated into his suit such as claws that can inject nanite spider-tracers allowing him to follow and hear anyone who’s is injected with them, computer integrated into the lenses that have allowed him to see in multiple forms of vision (night-vision, infrared, etc.) as well as showing him data on the opponents he faces such as powers. The Superior Spider-Man also has 4 mechanical appendages that can retract from the suit akin to the arms he had as Doctor Octopus. These arms have shown considerable amounts of strength being able to lift and throw cars with ease. Otto also uses these arms to impale his opponents. Due to the amount of money he amassed as a villain Otto has also built his own base of operations with large amounts of tech including giant spider-like robots as well as an army of mecernaries under his command. The amount of new gear he has and what it is actually used for has yet to be fully revealed.

Alternate Versions

House of M

Doctor Octopus is a researcher working for the government, involved in the field of stem cell research.

Marvel 1602

Baron Octavius is an Italian baron living in France. Suffering from the bubonic plague, he attempts to cure himself with a potion created using octopi. This fails, and mutates him into a monster. He is able to retain a human form through the use of a potion created from the blood of Hal McCoy by Henri le Pym. However, this potion grows increasingly less effective, and he sets his sights on acquiring the blood of Peter Parquagh, which he believes could be used as a permanent cure for his condition.

Marvel Zombies

An undead Doctor Octopus is among the zombie supervillains who attempt to eat Galactus. He was later destroyed.

MC2

Doctor Octopus attacks the Daily Bugle, killing Joseph “Robbie” Robertson. This attack lead directly to the creation of the Human Fly suit, intended to create a government-controlled superhero. He hires a number of mercenaries to steal the suit, but they fail, resulting in the creation of The Buzz. He is later diagnosed with cancer, and is soon after captured by The Buzz and Spider-Girl. He falls into a coma due to the cancer, and is not expected to reawaken.

Spider-Man: Noir

Doctor Octopus is a crippled scientist working on Ellis Island, officially working with primates and investigating evolution. He has a wheelchair that is equipped with six robotic tentacles. He is later shown to be performing secretive experiments on African Americans. He is revealed to be a Nazi sympathizer, working towards the ultimate goal of turning all minorities into mindless slaves.

Spider-Man: India

Otto Octavius is a meek minion who is mystically transformed into a version of Doctor Octopus by Nalin Oberoi. Oberoi later kills Octavius while he is attempting to aid Spider-Man.

Spider-Man: Reign

An older Doctor Octopus saves Spider-Man from the Sinister Six. He is revealed via a taped monologue to have been dead for months, and kept moving by his tentacles, which are animated by a program left behind by him that was designed to seek Spider-Man out in the hopes of restarting the age of heroes.

Ultimate

Ultimate Doctor Octopus is younger and more fit than his main universe counterpart. He wears sunglasses to disguise the wounds around his eyes that were created by the explosion that gave him his powers. They also protect his eyes, which are extremely sensitive to light, also a consequence of the accident. Instead of the pincers on the end of the main universe’s, Ultimate Doctor Octopus’ tentacles are topped with nanobots, meaning they can transform into a variety of weapons at will. He has a telepathic connection with his tentacles, and also a largely unexplored ability to manipulate metals. He worked for OsCorp, and was involved in corporate espionage on behalf of Justin Hammer. After being involved in a laboratory accident that results in his metal tentacles being fused to his body, he sought revenge against Hammer, but is defeated and captured by Spider-Man, who turns him over to SHIELD custody. While in SHIELD custody, he forms the Ultimate Six, with whom he battles the Ultimates on the lawn of the White House. He is defeated by Wasp, and returned to SHIELD custody. He is separated from his robotic arms, and held in custody until he discovers the rights to his image have been sold, whereupon he summons the limbs and goes on a rampage. He is defeated and again returned to SHIELD, where his arms are melted by Nick Fury.

During the Ultimate Clone Saga, he was the impetus for the creation of the myriad clones, all of which were created while he was working for the FBI/ CIA as part of a plan to create super soldiers. He creates new arms out of metal scraps, and briefly battles Spider-Man before being defeated. During the Death of Spider-Man arc, Doctor Octopus was broken out of the Triskelion alongside other Ultimate Six members. Norman Osborn attempts to incite them to kill Spider-Man. Doctor Octopus tries to leave the group, intending to return to being a normal scientist. He claims to be satisfied by having had a hand in creating Spider-Man. Enraged, Norman Osborn beats him to death.

In Other Media

Animation

Spider-Man (1967)

Doctor Octopus appears in the episodes “The Power of Doctor Octopus” and “The Terrible Triumph of Doctor Octopus.” He is played by Vernon Chapman.

Spider-Man (1981)

He appears in the episode “Bubble, Bubble, Boil and Trouble”. He is played by Stanley Jones.

The Incredible Hulk

He appears in The Incredible Hulk series, in the episode “Tomb of the Unknown Hulk”. He is played by Michael Bell.

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends

He appears in the episode “Spider-Man Meets the Girl of Tomorrow”. Michael Bell reprises his role.

Spider-Man: The Animated Series (1994)

He first appears in the fifth episode of season 1 “Doctor Octopus: Armed and Dangerous”. He appears as a recurring villain in the 1990s Spider-Man series, featuring in a number of episodes. He was also revealed to have been a mentor for Peter Parker when the boy was attending a science camp as a child. He is played by Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.

Spider-Man Unlimited

He makes a brief cameo appearance in this series.

The Spectacular Spider-Man

Doctor Octopus features as a major recurring villain throughout the series. Originally a meek and bullied scientist working in OsCorp’s labs, a lab accident fuses robotic tentacles to his back and drives him dangerously insane. During some of his many appearances, he forms the Sinister Six and also uses the Master Planner identity to orchestrate various plots. He is played by Peter MacNicol.

Ultimate Spider-Man

Doctor Octopus appears in the series as a recurring foe. This version of the character draws more heavily from the modern comics, with Doc Ock being physically handicapped and requiring a life support device to breathe. Once a promising OsCorp scientist and a friend of Curt Conners, Otto Octavius was paralyzed from the neck down due to a catastrophic lab accident. To deal with this new disability, Octavius was outfitted with a special life support suit and mechanical tentacles that enable him to move around. He works with Norman Osborn throughout the first season as a recurring threat to Spider-Man, operating out of a secret lab underneath the Hudson River. As the series progresses, Doc Ock clashes with Spider-Man and his S.H.I.E.L.D. team on numerous occasions, eventually forming alliances with the likes of the Sinister Six and even HYDRA.

He was voiced by Tom Kenny.

Marvel’s Spider-Man

Doc Ock appears as a recurring villain in the series. This version of Otto Octavius is a young man who works as an instructor at Horizon High, where he teaches students like Peter Parker, Miles Morales, Gwen Stacy and Anya Corazon. Though initially on the side of good, Otto eventually turns to a life of crime after being manipulated by Norman Osborn. The second season of the show loosely adapts the “Superior Spider-Man” arc from the comics, with Otto stealing Spider-Man’s body and switching minds with him.

He was voiced by Scott Menville.

Film

Spider-Man 2

Doctor Octopus features as the main villain in the second installment of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movie trilogy. He appears as a sympathetic character, driven insane by the lab accident and subsequent death of his wife, Rosalie. He turns to crime at the behest of his semi-sentient tentacles, which encourage him to commit crimes to acquire funds for his experiments. He is defeated following a fight with Spider-Man, wherein he accidentally stabs a machine, causing it to overload. The machine begins to spiral out of control, and Doctor Octopus destroys its support beams, dragging it down to the bottom of the river and rescuing the city at the cost of his own life. He is played by Alfred Molina.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

An alternate version of Doctor Octopus appears as a villain in the animated Spider-Verse movie, voiced by Kathryn Hahn. In a departure from the comics, this version of Doc Ock is a woman named Olivia “Liv” Octavius, the head of the Alchemax corporation. Using funding from Wilson Fisk, Octavius builds a dimensional portal, believing it will make her famous. The heroes attempt to stop her and shut down the machine, realizing it will destroy the Multiverse. During the final battle, she is taken out of the fight after accidentally being hit by a truck.

Video Games

Questprobe

Doctor Octopus appears in this game.

Spider-Man: the Video Game

Doctor Octopus appears among a number of villains.

The Amazing Spider-Man

Doctor Octopus appears as a boss.

Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister Six

Doctor Octopus appears as the final boss.

The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin

Doctor Octopus is a boss.

Spider-Man

In the game based on the animated television series, Doctor Octopus makes an appearance as the first boss.

Spider-Man: Lethal Foes

Doctor Octopus appears as a boss.

Spider-Man

Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. reprises his role, appearing on a team with Carnage, who later turns Doctor Octopus into a symbiote-based monster, Monster Ock, who is voice by Marcus Shirock.

Spider-Man 2: The Sinister Six

Doctor Octopus appears as a boss.

Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro

Doctor Octopus makes an appearance at the end of the game.

Spider-Man 2

Predictably, Doctor Octopus appears in the adaptation of the movie of the same name, again played by Alfred Molina.

Spider-Man: Friend or Foe

Doctor Octopus is both a boss and a playable character in this game. He and a number of other villains are abducted and mind controlled. When freed, he fights alongside Spider-Man, seeking revenge against the people who mind controlled him.

Super Hero Squad Online

Doctor Octopus makes an appearance in two missions.

Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions

Although not Otto Octavius, this 2099 female character has taken the alias and mantle of her idol as the Dr. Octopus of her time. She is voiced by Tara Strong. As head scientist for Alchemax’s Shadow Division Dr. Serena Patel is responsible for conducting horrific experiments and creating highly advanced, dangerous weaponry, all of which she sees as nothing more than scientific endeavours. Upon learning of Spider-man’s conquest against Alchemax she fears the worst for her twisted ambitions, and as a preemptive measure takes to manufacturing a battlesuit similar to that of her idol, and present time counterpart, Otto Octavius. Believing the Heroic Age Spider-man was killed by Octavius she sets in motions plans to defeat Spider-man 2099, which involves manipulating the simple-minded Scorpion a.k.a Kron Stone, and the creation of the unidentified Hobgoblin. Having discovered a fragment from the tablet of Order and Chaos her sanity is pushed over the edge, evidenced by the creation of a condensed matter reactor and development of megalomaniac aspirations, such as world domination. The first encounter between her and Spider-man results in him initiating a self-destruct sequence for her base of operations. Both escape unscathed and engage each other once again at the, previously built, condensed matter reactor. To avert the destruction of this weapon she unleashes creatures fitted with her tentacle technology, as Spider-man attempts to bring down four reactor power core. She is, however, unsuccessful and defeated by Spider-man 2099, while he reclaims the tablet fragment.

Spider-Man: Edge of Time

A consequence of Walter Sloan’s (company ‘founder’) machinations mean that Alchemax was formed in the seventies, far earlier than it had previously been established. Doctor Octopus, voiced by Dave B. Mitchell, due to the altered timeline, appears as a citizen that had never taken up criminal activities. He is, instead, an employed scientist for Alchemax who retains his four mechanical tentacles but utilizes them for his research rather than villainous purposes. His primary appearance is only brief, albeit an integral piece of the storyline towards the climax though. While he and Sloan use a mind-controlled Anti-Venom to subdue and kill the original Spider-man, they are foiled at the last second by the intervention of Spider-Man 2099 (Miguel O’Hara) and all three are pushed into the temporal gateway, resulting in their merger and the formation of a creature that comes to be known as Atrocity, which closely resembles an enlarged Anti-Venom with tentacles. The two Spidermen soon discover the identity of this beast and realise they must reverse this process by separating them using the temporal gateway. While Spider-man battles the Atrocity, Spider-man 2099 faces off against the Alchemax CEO which, coincidentally, is revealed to be a corrupt, future incarnation of Peter Parker. As the Atrocity’s tentacles are systematically removed and tossed into the portal, they arrive as aid for Miguel O’Hara when they momentarily disable Alchemax’s CEO.

Marvel: Avengers Alliance

In this game, Doctor Octopus is a recurring boss. In “Tentacular”, he is an epic boss, who will only appear until all deploys are done and all threats are neutralized. In the Spider-Man premium stage, “Cephalocarrier”, he is a final boss. He was later added to the game as Superior Spider-Man.

Marvel Heroes

In the Marvel themed MMO game, Doctor Octopus appears a boss fight villain in the Club District of Hell’s Kitchen.

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012-Video Game)

Upon viewing Scorpion‘s character bio in the extras menu, Doctor Octopus is said to be the one responsible for the creation of the creature. In the sequel, one of the side missions tasks the player with photographing Octavius’ tentacles.

Lego Marvel Super Heroes

Otto Octavius is present in the game as both Doctor Octopus and the Superior Spider-Man.

Marvel Avengers Academy

Doctor Octopus is a recruitable character in Act 1-Ep. 4 of the Spider-Verse event within this mobile game.

Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite

Doc Ock’s Superior Spider-Man costume appears as an alternate DLC skin for Spider-Man. The costume was included as a special bonus for purchasing the digital version of the Spider-Man: Homecoming movie, and was eventually released as a paid DLC piece as well.

Spider-Man (2018)

Otto Octavius appears as a major character in the 2018 Spider-Man game for the PS4, voiced by William Salyers. In a notable departure from the comics, this version of Octavius is introduced as a kind and friendly researcher who employs Peter Parker at his laboratory. In his youth, Otto was best friends with Norman Osborn, and helped found OsCorp with him. However, he left the company after Norman began engaging in dangerous and unethical genetic experiments, including one that resulted in the death of Martin Li‘s parents. After leaving OsCorp, Octavius started his own company, but quickly ran out of money, resulting in him not becoming as famous as his former friend. Despite his cheerful and polite demeanor, Otto secretly harbors intense bitterness over this perceived betrayal, leading to a decades-long hatred of Osborn.

In the present, he and Peter are working on a special project to create advanced cybernetic limbs, which will hopefully be used to help people with physical handicaps. As the game progresses, Otto reveals that he also has a personal stake in the experiment, as he is suffering from a degenerative disease that is slowly destroying the motor functions in his body. He believes that the prosthetic limbs he and Peter are developing will be able to replace his arms and legs after the disease progresses. Otto has seemingly has a breakthrough after Peter inspires him to create a neural interface that allows him to directly control the prosthetics, but the imperfect system turns out to have dangerous psychological effects. The brain implant begins to drive Otto insane, and causes his deep seated resentment towards Osborn take hold. Octavius becomes Doctor Octopus, and sets out to destroy Norman’s empire and expose his crimes to the world, hoping to ruin his life before ultimately killing him.

Doc Ock stages a massive breakout at the Raft, and gathers a group of Spider-Man’s enemies together to form the Sinister Six. He then releases the Devil’s Breath, a dangerous disease that Osborn had accidentally developed, into New York City, infecting countless citizens. With the city in chaos, the Sinister Six begin targeting various locations connected to Osborn, but are defeated by Spider-Man. Octavius kidnaps Norman and takes him to the top of the OsCorp building, hoping to force a confession out of him for the whole world to see. The plot is foiled when Spider-Man arrives and saves Norman, leading to a final confrontation between mentor and pupil. Spider-Man pleads with Octavius to stop this madness and surrender the cure for Devil’s Breath, hoping to appeal to the goodness still inside Otto. However, the implant has caused too much damage to Otto’s mind, and the two engage in a fierce battle. Spider-Man ultimately emerges victorious, and removes the implant from Otto’s skull. Powerless, Otto pleads with his former pupil and begs him to join forces, but a heartbroken Spider-Man leaves him for the police.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order (2019)

Doctor Octopus appears as a boss character in the third Ultimate Alliance game, with William Salyers reprising his role. During the prison break at the Raft, he is confronted by Spider-Man, Ms. Marvel, Crystal and Venom while trying to deactivate the facility’s forcefields at the behest of the Green Goblin. After Osborn is defeated, he is abandoned by Osborn and taken back into custody by the heroes.

Merchandise

• Doctor Octopus has been recreated in action figure form multiple times, first as part of Mattel‘s Secret Wars line, then later many times by Toy Biz in their Spider-Man and Marvel Legends series, and finally by Hasbro as part of their Spider-Man: Origin series. One of the movie figures was also reused in Hasbro’s Marvel Legends Spider-Man 3 wave. The action feature from this figure was removed. Hasbro released a Spectacular Spider-Man action figure later.
• A Doctor Octopus figure was released in 2004 as part of the Marvel Manga Twist’ems line with wind up tentacles.
• Doctor Octopus has also been recreated in several statues and mini-busts, by the likes of Diamond Select, Art Asylum and Bowen Designs.
• Doctor Octopus is the third figurine in the Classic Marvel Figurine Collection.
• Doctor Octopus was featured in Diamond’s Marvel Select line as part of a two-pack with Spider-Man.
• Doctor Octopus has been featured in kits by Lego.
• Hasbro later released another Marvel Legends Doc Ock figure as part of the SP//dr Build-a-Figure wave.
• Hasbro released a Marvel Legends figure of Otto as the Superior Octopus as part of the Demogoblin Build-a-Figure wave.

Superior Spider-Man

• Diamond select released a Superior Spider-Man action figure as part of the Marvel Select line.
• Superior Spider-Man was featured in the HeroClix figure game.
• Hasbro released a Superior Spider-Man action figure as part of the Ultimate Green Goblin Build-a-Figure Marvel Legends wave.
• Hasbro later released a Superior Venom figure as part of the Marvel Legends Rhino Build-a-Figure wave.
• Superior Spider-Man was featured in Funko’s Pop! line of bobbleheads.
• Superior Spider-Man was featured in Hasbro’s Marvel Mashers line.
• Superior Spider-Man was featured in Hasbro’s toy line for Marvel’s Spider-Man.