Doctor Octopus

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{{| image = File:Doctoroctopus.png |caption = Doctor Octopus drawn by John Romita Jr. |comic_color = background:#ff8080 |character_name = Doctor Octopus |real_name = Otto Gunther Octavius |publisher = Marvel Comics |debut = as Doctor Octopus The Amazing Spider-Man #3 (July 1963)
as Superior Spider-Man The Amazing Spider-Man #697 (November 2012) |creators = Stan Lee
Steve Ditko |alliance_color = background:#c0c0ff |alliances = as Doctor Octopus:
Sinister Six
Masters of Evil
Thunderbolts
Legion Accursed
as Spider-Man:
Avengers
Mighty Avengers
Parker Industries
Horizon Labs
Spiderlings
Superior Six |aliases = Master Planner, Master Programmer, Doc Ock, Bowrey Bum, Prisoner #4756689, Superior Spider-Man (Peter Parker) |powers =

• Genius-level intellect
• Super-strong and durable mechanical appendages
• Telepathic control over his mechanical arms

|}} Doctor Octopus, real name Dr. Otto Gunther Octavius and also known as Doc Ock, Doc Octopus and the Superior Spider-Man, is a fictional character, a supervillain that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics since 1963. A highly intelligent mad scientist, Doctor Octopus is one of Spider-Man's greatest foes. He is typically portrayed as a stocky, myopic man who utilizes four powerful, mechanical appendages, and is obsessed with proving his own genius and destroying Spider-Man. In his first several appearances, His last name was spelled "Octavious" while all stories since have spelled it "Octavius". The character has appeared in numerous Spider-Man cartoons and video games and is portrayed by Alfred Molina in the 2004 film Spider-Man 2 as the film's main antagonist.

In 2009, Doctor Octopus was ranked as IGN's 28th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time. Comics journalist and historian Mike Conroy writes of the character: "Created by Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, Doc Ock, as he became known, has become one of the web slinger's most persistent and dangerous foes."

Publication history

The character of Doctor Octopus first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #3 (July 1963), and was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko. The character soon appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #11 and #12, and again in #31 - 33.

Fictional character biography

Born in Schenectady, New York, Otto Octavius had a turbulent upbringing. His father Torbert Octavius, a factory worker, was abusive and violent towards both Otto and his mother Mary Octavius. Young Otto's shyness and good work in school got him labeled as a "teacher's pet" and targeted as a subject for bullying. Torbert did not appreciate having a bullied son, and roared at Otto to use violence in dealing with the bullies. Mary Octavius would defend her son from Torbert's tirades, saying Otto was a gifted thinker who would use his brain to solve problems, not his fists. Due to his mother's insistence and her disgust towards men who worked in manual labor, Otto was determined not to become like his father and threw all his efforts into his education, regularly scoring top marks. Otto's devotion to study paid off with him being awarded a university scholarship. During Otto's freshman year of college, his father's death due to an industrial accident pushed Otto towards the study of, and obsession with, physical science. After graduating from college, Otto found work in an engineering firm.

Otto became a brilliant and respected nuclear physicist, atomic research consultant, inventor, and lecturer. He designed a set of highly advanced mechanical arms controlled via a brain–computer interface to assist him with his research into atomic physics. The tentacle arms were resistant to radiation and were capable of great strength and highly precise movement, attached to a harness that fit around his body. Later in his criminal career, he claimed the inspiration for the device came from The Vitruvian Man, the famous pencil sketch by Leonardo da Vinci, one of his idols.

Though his relationship with co-workers was typically hostile, a fellow researcher named Mary Alice Anders befriended him when Otto impressed her with a demonstration of his harness, and the two began a courtship. In due time, Otto proposed marriage to Mary Alice. However, Otto's mother did not approve, believing that no woman was good enough for her son. To please her, he ended his engagement. Later, when he discovered that his mother had begun dating a librarian, he rebuked her, causing her to have a fatal heart attack in the heat of their argument. With the death of his mother and Mary Alice Anders out of his life, Octavius' disposition towards nearly everyone became mean-spirited, and he had become more distracted from paying attention to detail and safety precautions in his work. His co-workers often called him "Dr. Octopus" behind his back, a pun on his actual name inspired by the four-armed apparatus; he was aware of this insult, but he barely cared.

Criminal career begins

During an accidental radiation leak that ended in an explosion, the apparatus became fused to Otto Octavius's body. It was later revealed that the radiation (or possibly his own latent mutation) had mutated his brain so that he could control the movement of the arms using his thoughts alone. The tentacles have since been surgically removed from his body, although Octavius retains the power to control them telepathically from a great distance. The accident also seemingly damaged his brain (although it was later suggested that what was interpreted as brain damage was in fact his mind rewiring itself to accommodate four extra limbs), and the scientist turned to a life of crime, first taking the hospital hostage and calling himself "Dr. Octopus" from the derogatory name that his co-workers had given him. Though Doctor Octopus himself is portly, in poor physical shape, and is near-sighted, with his harness attached he is physically more than a match for Spider-Man. The accident also made his eyes very sensitive to light, requiring him to wear glasses with shaded lenses.

In their first encounter, Doctor Octopus defeated Spider-Man, tossing him out of a window. Following this defeat, Spider-Man considered giving up his heroic career, but was inspired to continue his heroic career by the Human Torch, and ultimately defeated Doctor Octopus.

Over the years, Dr. Octopus has become one of the most identifiable members of Spider-Man's rogues gallery. Doctor Octopus formed the original Sinister Six to fight Spider-Man after taking Betty Brant and May Parker hostage. He has led subsequent Sinister Six groups, and usually takes offense when someone else leads the team. Disguised as the Master Planner, he organized a theft of atomic equipment. After he stole a formula that Spider-Man needed to cure his Aunt May, Spider-Man tracked Doctor Octopus' gang to their base. In the ensuing fight, Spider-Man became trapped underneath a collapsed building. Seemingly doomed, Spider-Man was ultimately able to draw upon sheer force of will to summon the strength to escape. It is later revealed he used a scuba tank to escape.

Doctor Octopus later attempts to steal the Defense Department's Nullifier device, and sets a trap for Spider-Man. He became May Parker's tenant, then got close enough to use the Nullifier on Spider-Man; although he had hoped that it would merely nullify Spider-Man's web-shooters, the radiation in Spider-Man's blood resulted in the Nullifier's interaction with Spider-Man's unique biology rendering him amnesiac, Doctor Octopus subsequently tricking Spider-Man into helping him before Spider-Man's own better nature resulted in him turning against his 'partner' despite his memory loss long enough for John Jameson to use the Nullifier to shut down his tentacles.

Doctor Octopus later exhibited the ability to activate his mechanical arms remotely, and used them to free himself from prison. His resulting battle with Spider-Man resulted in Captain George Stacy's death. Doctor Octopus later waged a gang war with Hammerhead. He attempted to wed May Parker in order to acquire an island with an atomic plant which she had recently unknowingly inherited. Doc Ock escaped death when the island was destroyed, and began a life as a homeless person. He next battled the "ghost" of Hammerhead, and was able to return him to human form and defeat him after a temporary alliance with Spider-Man.

Doctor Octopus later attempted to hijack an atomic submarine. He also attempted to poison New York City with printers' ink, and battled the Punisher and Spider-Man. He next battled the Owl and his gang. He successfully deactivated a nuclear reactor in a laboratory before meltdown. He later displayed symptoms which Mister Fantastic diagnosed as multiple personality disorder. Doctor Octopus was taken to the Beyonder's Battleworld, where he fought a horde of heroes and plotted against Doctor Doom for leadership of the group of villains. He was able to defeat the X-Men until Magneto came to the mutants' aid.

Arachnophobia

His crowning achievement of evil was the near-fatal beating of the Black Cat (Spider-Man's then-partner) which led to Spider-Man beating Doc Ock to within an inch of his life. The trauma of the beating he received from Spider-Man left Otto Octavius afraid of Spider-Man and spiders in general for years, and he needed to be treated for his acute arachnophobia. Spider-Man was forced to let his nemesis beat him in combat so as to allow Octavius to break free of his fears and recruit him to save New York City from an exploding nuclear reactor; Octavius had been planning to detonate the reactor to kill Spider-Man indirectly, but after his out-of-control arms beat Spider-Man seemingly senseless, Spider-Man convinced him to shut down the reactor to ensure that there were witnesses to his 'great triumph'. Octavius decided to let Spider-Man live on the grounds that he would now have to cope with the same humiliation he had endured.

Death and resurrection

During the Clone Saga, Doctor Octopus saved Spider-Man from certain death from a poison injected by the Vulture, although this was only because he desired to be the one to kill Spider-Man. During the healing process he discovered Spider-Man's identity and then allowed himself to be taken in by police, expecting to be saved by his accomplice/lover Stunner. However, Stunner was knocked out and Doc Ock was murdered by the insane clone Kaine. Carolyn Trainer took over as "Doctor Octopus" until her teacher was resurrected by a branch of the mystical ninja cult known as the Hand. Upon his resurrection, it was revealed that he had no knowledge of Spider-Man's identity, as the memories he gained came from a computer chip provided by Carolyn Trainer, and the memory of Spider-Man's identity had not been recorded at the time of his death.

Subsequent schemes

In later years, Otto Octavius attempted to create his own personal assassin in the form of a villainous mutated entity he dubbed "Spider-Woman", and was involved in a plot involving using prosthetic limbs as mind-control devices, to create an army of minions. He has also had to deal with another usurper, in the form of arrogant young businessman and con artist Carlyle, who pretended to employ Octavius at his company. This proved to be a ruse, and Carlyle subdued Doctor Octopus and stole his technology, using it to create his own version of Octavius' harness. During a prolonged battle with Octavius and Spider-Man, Carlyle was defeated when Doc Ock ripped open his suit, allowing Spider-Man to fill Carlyle's suit with webbing, although Doc Ock informed his enemy that he only did this to hurt Carlyle rather than to help Spider-Man.

Then, Dr. Octopus took the ambassador of the newly formed Free Palestinian State hostage, demanding that in exchange for the ambassador's freedom, Spider-Man would meet him in Times Square and unmask himself in front of the world. When Spider-Man went to Times Square, he pulled off his mask to reveal another mask, angering Octavius enough to distract him from the release of the ambassador by agents of the Israeli Secret Service.

Dr. Octopus was taken to Ryker's Island and was drugged and brainwashed to take down the Green Goblin. He interrupted a battle between Spider-Man and Green Goblin on the Brooklyn Bridge, and the two villains were struck by lightning and fell into the river below. Octopus was dragged out days later with no memories of the event.

Civil War

Octavius unsuccessfully tried to form and lead another version of the Sinister Six, because Captain America's Secret Avengers managed to defeat the villainous group, although Ock himself eluded authorities. In Sensational Spider-Man #28, Dr. Octopus is seen viewing a telecast of Peter Parker revealing himself to be Spider-Man. Doc Ock then goes rampaging throughout the city, in utter disbelief that not only was he beaten numerous times by a teenager, but of the lost opportunity he had when he unmasked Parker in one of their first encounters (at the time, Peter was severely weakened by a bad case of flu and Octavius assumed he was an impostor). He is again defeated by Spider-Man, who confronts Dr. Octopus unmasked, after two of Peter's students distract Octavius. He is then sent to Baron Zemo's supervillain detention facility (as seen in Thunderbolts #104 and Iron Man Vol IV #14). Later, Spider-Man contacts Octavius to see if he can help with Aunt May's condition.

Dying

Doctor Octopus is now dying, suffering from the consequences of the punishment his body took in his whole villainous career. As such, he becomes increasily despondent and brazen in his plans against Spider-Man, enhancing his failing body with technology and trying to exert control over New York City by using his newly minted Octobots. He also targets aggressively May Parker (guilty of being due to marry J. Jonah Jameson's father J. Jonah Jameson, Sr.) and the allies of Spider-Man, vowing revenge when stopped.

In his desperate attempts to prolong his life, Otto Octavius reforms the Sinister Six, wishing to acquire Menace's unborn son, becoming able to synthesize a pure strain of the Goblin Serum, only to be thwarted again by the efforts of Spider-Man and the guilty conscience of the Lizard, reigniting his bitterness towards his foe, but gaining a grudging acknowledgment of his abilities. Octavius and Spider-Man keep crossing their ways during the following months, with the Avengers fighting a new iteration of the Sinister Six, Doctor Octopus sending a remote Octobot in John Jameson's shuttle, and Octavius contacting Iron Man to force him find a cure for his degenerative condition. But when Iron Man genuinely offers him to have the brightest minds in the Marvel Universe finding a viable cure, Octavius smugly refuses, basking in the knowledge of his superior intellect.

His attempts to prolong his life however doesn't hinder a more vast, sinister plan in which he has the Sinister Six fighting the Avengers Academy for a piece of Hank Pym's technology, the Future Foundation for a piece of Reed Richard's tech and the Intelligencia for the Zero Cannon, a powerful antigravity weapon, later revealing to have gained something useful from his early foray in John Jameson's shuttle. All this careful preparation came to fruition during the "Ends of the Earth" storyline, where the apparently mismatched pieces of technology stolen are used to build a satellite net, the Octavian Lens, able to alter the world's climate by enhancing or smothering solar rays.

Doctor Octopus at first claims to have a benevolent intent, wishing to halt the greenhouse effect in exchange from gratitude and recognition, but he's soon exposed by Spider-Man (having enhanced himself with new Horizon Labs-built tech), Black Widow and Silver Sable, and his real plan (immolate a great part of entire population to prevent anyone from surviving his incumbing death, having the survivors remember him in perpetual fear and awe) is exposed. Playing over his ego, Spider-Man manages to stall him, by reminding that, even if he managed to have anyone surviving a drastic heating of the entire Earth, the survivors would likely be brain-damaged, and such unable to remember his actions. He then roughly defeats him, in retaliation for Silver Sable's death, openly mocking and berating his efforts by claiming that, because of the Octavian Lens' destruction and his declining health, he's now going to die alone, forgotten and without a legacy.

"Death" and Rebirth

Even captivity and incarceration are unable to stop Otto Octavius. Since Spider-Man was forced to access the Octobots' hive mind several times in previous months, he unwillingly gave Octavius a full, unrestricted access to his mind and as such he becomes able to program a lone Octobot to swap their mind pattern. Octavius is now in Peter Parker's body and able to access his foe's memories but with none of his restraints content of living his civilian life and planning for his future while his foe is now trapped in Octavius' failing body.

When Peter assembles a new, latest iteration of the Sinister Six with the task of keeping him alive and capturing "Spider-Man" in an attempt to reverse the mind swap. However, Trapster's portable life support can give Peter only 700 minutes to live. As such, Peter openly antagonizes "Spider-Man". While Peter's attempt to reclaim his body fails, he's able to imbue his nemesis with his very memories and values before apparently dying in Octavius' crippled body. Distraught, Octavius (in a sudden surge of empathy for his sworn nemesis) vows to steer himself away from villainy and accepts Peter's dying wish of having a Spider-Man protect New York. Octavius claims that since he now holds the physical might and the good values embodied by Spider-Man but also the boundless ambition and the scientific mindframe of Doctor Octopus, and will surpass the "Amazing Spider-Man" becoming a "Superior Spider-Man".

The Superior Spider-Man

Within Spider-Man's body, Otto Octavius starts his new career as a hero by redesigning his gear and putting his past as a villain behind himself. However, he soon finds himself the target of several villains, such as an Octavius-tech enhanced Stilt-Man, Boomerang, Overdrive, Shocker, Speed Demon, the unnamed female Beetle, Living Brain, and all of them trying to take over the place left by the seemingly dead Doctor Octopus and his Sinister Six. While they're still no match for the new, more ruthless Spider-Man, his violence and new mannerisms start to tip off several of his close friends and allies, such as the whole Horizon Labs, Daredevil, Wolverine (explicitly forbidden to have Spider-Man's mind telepathically scanned under the threat of legal action in court), Mary Jane Watson, and Carlie Cooper.

Despite his accomplishments, Octavius is revealed to be still haunted by Peter Parker's lingering spirit, unable to reassert control over Spider-Man's shared body, but actively hampering his efforts to stray from Peter's values, and trying to reclaim his body. Despite Peter's lingering influence, Octavius's refusal of Peter's values and perceived screw-ups prompts him to "rectify" some mistakes: "Peter" enrolls back to college, pursuing actively the PhD Peter denied himself in the past, and breaks the self-imposed "no-kill rule" by taking a proactive stance against evildoers and criminals, shooting the villain Massacre even after Massacre appeared to show signs of recovering from the brain damage that motivated his crimes, and violently assaulting Jester and Screwball for a relatively minor insult. These actions prompted the Avengers to confront "Spider-Man" about his recent activities, recognizing that their friend would never act in such a manner. When their subsequent analysis confirms that he is still biologically Peter Parker - the team's resident geniuses being otherwise occupied and thus unable to make more detailed analyses - Octavius explains that he is merely dealing with stress over recent events, Peter's attempt to scrawl a picture-warning failing. After Octavius saves a brain-damaged child during his assault on Earth using a neurological scanner, he reveals that he is aware of Peter's presence and intends to perform a 'Parker-ectomy' to try to remove Peter from his brain.

Attempting a mind wipe of all of Peter's memories to destroy the living consciousness completely, Octavius manages to delete the Daily Bugle memory. Realizing Peter would not surrender, Octavius directly engages his foe in Spider-Man's mind. After beating Peter to a pulp by breaking his spirit with the knowledge Peter was willing to sacrifice a girl to keep Octavius from finding him, Octavius declares his final victory while calling Peter unworthy to be called Spider-Man and believes that he deleted all of Spider-Man's memories. Returning to the real world, Octavius rejoices from his belief that he is free and has achieved victory over Spider-Man. But this erasure has also deprived him of Spider-Man's memories, leaving it more difficult for him to pose as Spider-Man, with some of Peter's friends (such as Carlie, Mary Jane, and J. Jonah Jameson, Sr.) questioning Spider-Man's more brutal approach. While Octavius has developed more detailed resources than Peter possessed as Spider-Man, such as creating a small army of Spider-bots and Spiderling allies to assist him, he continues to resort to more questionable methods, such as killing Alistair Smythe, and blackmailing Jameson into giving him free rein in New York by threatening to expose the fact that Jameson asked him to do this. His focus on the larger scale has also resulted in him missing the Green Goblin's efforts to establish a new criminal empire, with Green Goblin rescuing criminals who have escaped Spider-Man and recruiting them into his new gang as Octavius never followed them where Spider-Man would have done so. His fixation in proving himself Spider-Man's superior reached a particular climax when Spider-Man 2099 came to the past to deal with a temporal anomaly, with Octavius becoming so fixated with solving the problem and keeping his identity secret that he actually attacked the future Spider-Man rather than ask for his help, his actions resulting in the destruction of Horizon Labs because he couldn't solve the vibranium-related equations that Spider-Man was able to resolve. Unknown to Octavius, Peter's memories managed to survive the delete. When Octavius attempts to assess Spider-Man's memories (because Octavius can only view memories that were looked at before the delete), Peter is shown lifting the 'rocks' off himself from the mental battle.

When Carlie had found evidence that Doctor Octopus' mind is in Spider-Man's body, she mourns Peter in Doctor Octopus' grave. The grave then collapses and Carlie falls in where she discovers that Doctor Octopus' body is not there. After Carlie has been captured by Menace, the Goblin King receives Carlie's journal from Menace where Goblin King discovers evidence in there that states that Doctor Octopus' mind is in Spider-Man's body.

Following him being possessed by the Venom symbiote, Octavius receives unexpected help from Peter Parker's conscious, though Octavius is still unaware that Peter survived their mental duel. Peter decides to maintain a low profile until Octavius does something that will cause him to spring into action. Peter finds that Octavius's delete has left him with very few memories of his own, but after realizing those he still has are the ones that define him, vows not to give up, and that he will regain control of his body. The Superior Spider-Man finds himself facing the full force of the Goblin Underground since the possession of the Venom symbiote 31 days ago. When the Superior Spider-Man finally confronts the Goblin King, he mentions that he knows about Doctor Octopus' mind-swap with Spider-Man. The Goblin King then makes his next move by having missiles targeted at Spider-Island II.

Octavius survived the bombardment and escaped with The Living Brain. He then tries to find the Goblin King, however before he can do that, Menace takes Anna hostage. Meanwhile the Goblin destroys all the buildings that mean something to Octavius, to punish him for robbing the Goblin of his dream: Killing Spider-man. Octavius is lured to Empire state University, where he finds Don Lamaze. During the ensuring fight, Lamaze takes a blade meant for Octavius and dies in Superior Spider-man's arms. Heading to Alchemax, he is confronted by Spider-man 2099, who takes control of the spider-slayers and demands answers. However before he gets them, Goblin King reactivates the Slayers to kill the Spiders, stating Norman Osborn now rules New York. Although he manages to escape, Octavius is forced to realize that he has failed in his goal to be a 'Superior' Spider-Man when the restored Peter Parker takes over to save a child from a runaway train where Octavius hesitated. Octavius then willingly deletes his own consciousness so that Peter can regain control of his body. As Octavius's last memories fade, it is shown he had really fallen in love with supporting character Anna Maria Marconi, much to Peter's surprise. Octavius tells Peter he's willing to give up his love to save her, something only Peter can do as the true Superior Spider-Man, and save New York in his place.

Powers and abilities

Otto Octavius is a genius in the field of atomic physics, and he holds a Ph. D. in nuclear science. A brilliant engineer and inventor, he is also a superb strategist and a charismatic leader. His genius in radiation is so exceptional that he was once called upon by Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic Four to offer his expertise when the Invisible Woman suffered from complications during her second pregnancy as a result of the cosmic radiation that had given the team their powers.

Due to exposure to atomic radiation, Doctor Octopus has acquired the mental ability of psychokinetic control over the four electrically powered, telescoping, prehensile, titanium-steel artificial tentacle "arms" (a degree of psychokinetic control over them that he can also exercise over vast distances even when they are not connected to him) that are attached to a stainless-steel harness encompassing his lower torso. Each of these four arms is capable of lifting several tons, provided that at least one arm is used to support his body. The reaction time and agility of his mechanical appendages are enhanced far beyond the range attainable for normal human musculature. The arms allow Octavius to move rapidly over any terrain and to scale vertical surfaces and ceilings. He has developed his concentration and control to the point that he can engage a single opponent, like Spider-Man, or multiple opponents with the arms while performing a completely separate, more delicate task, such as stirring coffee or constructing a machine. Due to his weight and age, his opponents are often lured into a false sense of security, only to find he is a formidable combatant. He has managed to force opponents as formidable as Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Captain America to take up a defensive position in a fight.

Doctor Octopus has also employed an armored body suit enabling him to breathe underwater and designed to withstand extreme water pressure.

Doctor Octopus has begun wearing a full-body armor suit due to a crippling illness caused by the amount of punishment he has sustained over the years, made even worse by the fact that his ability to take damage is still at a human norm, even if he can deliver a superhuman level of punishment; he relies completely on his arms to prevent opponents with superhuman strength getting in close enough to damage his relatively unfit physical form even before his illness. To compensate, he has covered his entire body with his new suit, his normal arms are bound to his chest, and four additional tentacles have been added to his harness. He has also developed psychokinetic-telepathic control over an army of "Octobots" (small octopus-like drones).

Harnesses

Doctor Octopus has possessed a total of three different harnesses during his career: the original titanium harness, a more powerful adamantium harness, and a carbonanium harness with tentacles bearing an octopus-like motif. The original and adamantium harnesses were both destroyed in the Lethal Foes of Spider-Man miniseries.

His current harness is made of a titanium-steel-niobium alloy mixture that is dense but light weight in composition. While wearing the harness, the arms are powerful enough to allow him to walk up sheer concrete walls and move about quickly. They are also used to grab items, both small and large, and as literal weapons in terms of being swung at objects and people like clubs. The pincers at the end of each tentacle can also be used to cut and tear into the flesh of his enemies. His sheer power using these appendages was great enough to beat Daredevil, a seasoned combatant with superhuman senses, almost to death.

The adamantium harness was powerful enough to both restrain and pummel the Hulk into submission during a series written by Erik Larsen. The adamantium in his tentacles made besting Iron Man in combat possible, tearing the hero's armor apart with a defeat so harsh that Tony Stark began to doubt his abilities almost enough to allow his persistent problem with alcohol abuse to flare up. The harness is also capable of holding a small jetpack allowing him to fly to places faster and able to evade Spider-Man more easily. Doctor Octopus is even capable of whirling his tentacles around to deflect small projectiles like bullets.

Eventually, Dr. Octopus' harness was surgically removed, but he was still able to control it mentally, even at a distance. This power was initially explained as having been caused by the initial accident; Octopus and his arms were fused together mentally as well as physically. In fact, when the original harness was destroyed, it caused Octavius excruciating pain. He was seen sweating profusely and screaming. Later stories suggest that Octavius possessed minor telepathic powers that gave him a direct mental link with his harness. These telepathic powers were also hinted at to have caused a brain aneurysm in his father when they first developed during puberty. However, the original controls for the harness remain on the first version, with Mister Fantastic managing to use these controls to shut down the tentacles when he needed Octavius's help, though it is obviously impractical to use this regularly, given Reed Richards's unique powers.

Powers as Spider-Man

Having taken over Spider-Man's body, Otto Octavius gains possession of all of Spider-Man's powers, abilities, memories, and equipment. But he loses access to Spider-Man's memories after apparently removing his foe from their shared mind.

But as a way to reaffirm his perceived superior mind, he tinkered with the original Spider-Man costume, adding some carbonadium plating over his neck and skull, talons on his hands and feet, split-toed footwear fashioned as jika-tabi shoes, a slightly different, more imposing spider-motif on his back and enhanced lenses in his costume, with HUD and tracking abilities.

He also retains access to some of his former Doctor Octopus hideouts, coupling Horizon Tech-derived inventions with his own peculiar brand of technology.

Octobots

The Octobots are octopus-themed robots that are created by Doctor Octopus. There are two different kinds of Octobots:

• The first model of the Octobot seen is a little metal ball with eight legs which are controlled mentally by Doctor Octopus via a remote control. These Octobots can also be used to attack, to perform different tasks, and attach themselves to anyone so that Doctor Octopus can control them.

• The second model of the Octobot seen is a giant metallic robot which Doctor Octopus uses to attack huge constructions.

The Octobots have at least two known variations:

• The Spider-Slayers - These Spider-Slayers that appeared in Spider-Island are actually first generation Octobots that Spider-Man had laden with a special serum which was used to cure the Spider-Virus that slowly turned everyone into Man-Spiders.

• The Spider-Bots - The Spider-Bots are small red and blue spiders. While inside Spider-Man's body, he controlled them by remote and able to enact constant surveillance over the whole New York city, perform different tasks and control technology.

Other versions

Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man

In the 1976 DC/Marvel intercompany crossover Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man, Doctor Octopus forms an alliance with fellow criminal scientist Lex Luthor, in an effort to conquer the world and kill their archenemies -- Spider-Man and Superman. However once he realizes that Luthor intends to destroy most of the planet Earth, Octopus betrays Luthor and attempts to stop him, but is defeated (Spider-Man subsequently defeats Luthor, and Superman prevents the East Coast of the United States from being destroyed by a Luthor-created tidal wave).

House of M

In the House of M reality created by the Scarlet Witch, Otto Octavius makes an appearance as a researcher for the government, studying stem cells.

Marvel 1602

In the Marvel 1602 universe, a version of Dr. Octopus appears in the Spider-Man 1602 miniseries. Baron Victor Octavius is an Italian nobleman living in France. His attempts to use the blood of octopuses to cure himself of bubonic plague have resulted in his becoming a deformed octopus-like monster, he is also associated with fellow Dr. Curtis Connors, transforming him into The Lizard. A potion derived from the blood of Hal McCoy by the natural philosopher Henri Le Pym keeps him human, but is growing steadily less effective. He believes that the blood of Peter Parquagh might be the basis of a more effective potion. He is later killed by a transformed Le Pym's giant foot.

Marvel Zombies

On Earth-2149 (a world in which almost all heroes and villains are zombies) an undead Doctor Octopus first appears in the Marvel Zombies series alongside several other zombie supervillains attempting to kill and devour the invading Galactus; this incarnation of Doctor Octopus is apparently destroyed piecemeal by several cosmically powered hero zombies after he got in the way of an attack they were aiming at the invading Galactus.

In the prequel series to Marvel Zombies, Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness and Marvel Zombies: Dead Days, the zombie Doctor Octopus makes only a few cameo appearances, as a member of the undead Sinister Six. Another alternate version appears in Marvel Zombies Return as a member of the Sinister Six. He was ripped in half and infected by the reality-hopping Zombie Spider-Man. The Doctor's body is then destroyed and devoured by a zombified Spider-Man and then was spit out (because zombie meat tasted terrible to other zombies) after he and the rest of the Sinister Six has devoured Peter's friends.

MC2

In the MC2 alternate continuity, it is revealed that Doctor Octopus attacked the Daily Bugle shortly after the disappearance/retirement of Spider-Man, killing editor-in-chief Joseph "Robbie" Robertson. This motivates Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson to initiate "Project: Human Fly", an attempt to create a government controlled superhero. Mercenaries (later revealed to be in the employ of Doctor Octopus) attempt to steal the Human Fly suit, but are thwarted when Jameson's grandson takes the suit (the controls of which bond to the first user) and becomes the superhero The Buzz. The Buzz and Spider-Girl eventually apprehend Doctor Octopus, who—now being struck with cancer—falls into a coma from which he is not expected to recover. Later, the mantle of Doctor Octopus is taken up by Lady Octopus.

Noir Doctor Octopus

In the Spider-Man Noir series, his name however first appears in the Daily Bugle newspaper as one of the biologists undertaking an oceanic voyage on a research ship named "The Atlantis'. He appears in person in issue one of the sequel series, "Eyes Without a Face". Here, he is a doctor working in a facility on Ellis Island. His legs are crippled and withered, and he travels in a wheelchair with six long metal claw-like tentacles sticking out. He is officially conducting experiments on primates, to study their brains in connection with evolution, and in the end, it is shown he is secretly taking in kidnapped African-Americans for his own more secret experiments. He is later revealed to in fact be working with the Nazis and their American proxies, "Friends of New Germany", with the plot of making all minorities into mindless slaves. However, his experiments are uncovered by Spider-Man, and although he is allowed to leave the country due to his past service to America, he is subsequently rejected by the Nazis as they believe his crippled body reflects a crippled mind that could produce nothing of value for them.

Spider-Man: India

In Spider-Man: India, Dr. Octopus is featured as a minion/meek doctor who is transformed by Nalin Oberoi into a mystical version of Doctor Octopus to find and kill Pavitr Prabhaker, the Indian version of Spider-Man. He is later killed by Oberoi, while trying to help Spider-Man rescue MJ and Aunt Meera from Oberoi.

Spider-Man: Reign

In Spider-Man: Reign, as conceived by Kaare Andrews, in which many superheroes had grown old and retired, Octavius appeared to save Spider-Man from death at the hands of an older version of the Sinister Six. While he originally appeared to merely be world-weary, relying on his 'four sons' (his tentacles) to keep him alive, he revealed via monologue that he had in fact been dead for months, and had left the tentacles a program that would force them into action to find Spider-Man. Furthermore, the tentacles were used to play the tape on which his monologue is recorded, and take him to the graveyard where his loved ones lay. The hope is to use Spider-Man to reignite the age of the super powered beings, as both Doctor Octopus and Spider-Man were born from nuclear accidents.

Ultimate Doctor Octopus

The Ultimate Marvel version of Doctor Octopus is younger and very muscular. While the original incarnation wore sunglasses due to nearsightedness, the Ultimate Spider-Man version wears them to disguise horrible wounds inflicted on his eyes during the accident that created him, that leave him very sensitive to light. His arms are also different: he modifies them so that their ends are made up of nanobots, and thus can have various lethal accessories, transforming the three-pronged 'claws' into flamethrowers, tasers, and machine guns. Ultimate Six revealed he had a psychic link with his arms and could control them remotely. Ultimate Spider-Man #103 expanded on this, revealing he also has the ability to manipulate metal.

Dr. Otto Octavius is introduced as a scientist at OsCorp and secretly a corporate spy for Justin Hammer, Norman Osborn's business rival. He is caught in a lab accident that also turns Norman into the Green Goblin. After this accident, his traditional metal arms are grafted onto his body and he is able to communicate with these mechanical arms via telepathy. He modifies his arms to have the power to morph into different shapes, and then seeks revenge against Hammer, but Spider-Man intervenes. Although Octavius is defeated by Spider-Man, Justin perishes due to a heart attack caused by Octavius attacking him. Afterwards, Octavius is brought into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody where he, along with Osborn, form the Ultimate Six, consisting of some of Spider-Man's rogues gallery. There are only five villains to begin with, but Osborn planned to bring Spider-Man into the group. The five attack S.H.I.E.L.D. and capture an unmasked Spider-Man. They tie him to a chair, and Osborn humiliates Peter by recounting the accident that created him, and he and Otto's involvements. Osborn then blackmails Peter Parker into joining them, threatening Mary Jane Watson's life. In a battle between the Six and the Ultimates on the White House lawn, Octopus is taken down by the Wasp. Octavius is separated from his tentacles and held in a different prison far away from them. Octavius later finds out that his ex-wife is giving the rights to use his likeness in the Spider-Man film. Outraged, he summons his tentacles from the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility and goes on a rampage. He manages to capture Spider-Man, and he brings him aboard an airplane, ties him to a chair, and unmasks him. From there, he inflicts humiliation and torture on to Peter, mocking him as a teenager, pulling a tooth out, and webbing his mouth. Peter escaped, and defeats Octavius. Back in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, Nick Fury melts Doctor Octopus' mechanical arms in front of him and instructs the guards to watch the melting mechanism for at least an hour afterwords to make sure the arms would not try to escape. However, in the Ultimate Hobgoblin story arc, it was revealed that a spare set of arms existed within a bunker belonging to Osborn. Plans for these remain to be seen.

In the "Ultimate Clone Saga", Otto Octavius was revealed to be responsible for all the Spider-Man clones, including an older clone believing itself to be Richard Parker, and a Gwen Stacy clone that can transform into the Carnage creature. His experimentation and research was done for the FBI/CIA (both organizations are said to be behind it in different issues) in order to find a way to create super soldiers so the U.S. Government wouldn't have to be reliant on Fury's monopoly on the Ultimates. He smugly reveals he is now outside Fury's jurisdiction and takes pleasure in pointing out to Peter that his work perverts the hero's life. In issue #104, he creates a new set of arms out of metal scraps and battles both Spider-Man and Spider-Woman, killing two other clones in the process, before being knocked out.

Octavius makes a brief appearance in Ultimate Spider-Man #113 confronting Norman Osborn as the latter breaks out of the Triskelion; he attacks his former boss to prevent his escape, informing him that he betrayed him by giving the OZ formula to the FBI. Octavius is beating Osborn senseless until his other former ally Electro intervenes and shocks Octavius with a bolt of electricity, knocking him out.

During the Ultimate Mystery, Doctor Octopus appears as a member of Roxxon's Brain Trust.

Alongside the rest of the Ultimate Six, Otto Octavius plays a role in the "Death of Spider-Man" storyline. Norman Osborn breaks him and the rest out of the Triskelion. After their escape, Osborn informs them that God wishes for them to kill Peter Parker. Octavius wanted to leave the group, because he wanted to live a normal life as a scientist and also said that he took enough pride in helping create Spider-Man. Osborn was outraged by the fact that Octavius tried to share credit for Spider-Man's existence and attacked him. The two of them fought which ended with Osborn pummeling Octavius to death.

Miles Morales later views footage of a fight between his predecessor and Doctor Octopus.

Doctor Octopus' Ultimate version is ranked as 179th greatest comic book character of Wizard.

In other media

Television

• Doctor Octopus appears in the 1960s Spider-Man TV series, voiced by Vernon Chapman.

• Doctor Octopus appears in the Spider-Man episode "Bubble, Bubble, Oil and Trouble", voiced by Stanley Jones.

• Doctor Octopus was a guest villain in the 1982 The Incredible Hulk episode "Tomb of the Unknown Hulk", voiced by Michael Bell.

• Michael Bell reprises the role in the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends episode "Spidey Meets the Girl of Tomorrow".

• Doctor Octopus made several appearances in the 1990s Spider-Man TV series, voiced by Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. with a thick Germanic accent and a gruff voice. First appearing in the episode "Doctor Octopus Armed and Dangerous", Otto Octavius was Peter Parker's science teacher at science camp when the youth was 10 years old. This relationship of former mentor and pupil made Doctor Octopus fond of Peter even after his descent into villainy as Spider-Man's nemesis. Doctor Octopus was also a member in both incarnations of the Kingpin's Insidious Six as the group's leader in the field. In the three-part "Secret Wars" saga, Doctor Octopus was among the villains the Beyonder chose to represent evil. They conquer some of the planet. He originally colonized Octavia before it was taken over by Doctor Doom renaming it New Latveria.

• Doctor Octopus makes a cameo appearance in the pilot episode of Spider-Man Unlimited.

• Doctor Octopus appears in The Spectacular Spider-Man, voiced by Peter MacNicol. Otto Octavius is a timid research scientist working under Norman Osborn at OsCorp and plays a part in Flint Marko's transformation into Sandman and Alex O'Hirn's into Rhino, earning him the 'Doctor Octopus' nickname which he considers demeaning. After the four-armed harness he creates becomes fused to his spinal cord thanks to the Green Goblin, he becomes deranged and megalomaniacal, blaming Osborn and Spider-Man for the accident. He forms the Sinister Six with Electro, Rhino, Sandman, Vulture and Shocker but they're eventually defeated and incarcerated again. Pretending to become cured of his dementia, he secretly becomes the Master Planner and begins to organize several plans to ensure super villains would run New York with him as their leader. However, his plans are foiled again by Spider-Man during New Year's Eve.

• Doctor Octopus appears in the Robot Chicken episode "Tapping a Hero", voiced by Seth Green. In the episode "Superheroes Tonight" segment, paparazzi nabbed Spider-Man emerging from a window from Aunt May's house which causes Doctor Octopus to think that Aunt May was Spider-Man.

• Doctor Octopus appears in the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon series, voiced by Tom Kenny. This version has a lab accident that leaves him physically paralyzed and entirely dependent on his tentacles. Thanks to Norman Osborn, Otto Octavius has an unclean appearance with long hair, wears an apparatus similar to an iron lung, and the tips of his tentacles can convert into various weapons. In the first season, he is a black market criminal genius associated with Osborn and is Venom's creator. He is abused repeatedly by Osborn making selfish and unreasonable demands. Following his fight with Iron Man, Doctor Octopus is shown to be bald and residing in a tentacled orb when he manages to catch Spider-Man for Osborn. Eventually, Doctor Octopus gets revenge by turning Osborn into the Green Goblin then places a control collar on his victim. However, Green Goblin overcomes the control collar and attacks Doctor Octopus. In the second season, Doctor Octopus has returned to his previous appearance and sports some new glasses. After working on several serums that turns anyone into human/animal hybrids, Curt Connors uses the lizard DNA to regrow his missing arm but turns into the Lizard in the episode "The Lizard" and Alex O'Hirn steals some rhino DNA and becomes the Rhino to get revenge on Flash Thompson in the episode "The Rhino". In the episode "The Sinister Six", Doctor Octopus gathers Beetle, Electro, Kraven the Hunter and Rhino to form the Sinister Six. To further his revenge and expand the Sinister Six, Doctor Octopus mutates Connors into Lizard then attaches a chip that controls the sixth member. During the fight at the Statue of Liberty, Lizard broke free of the control collar and attacked Doctor Octopus. After Lizard escapes into the sewers, Spider-Man rips off Doctor Octopus's tentacles. Doctor Octopus and the remaining Sinister Six members are arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. In the episode "Venom Bomb", he appears as the main target of Green Goblin's vengeance after unleashing the Venom symbiote upon the S.H.I.E.L.D. Tricarrier and combines with the symbiote as Goblin-Venom. Although he helps Spider-Man form an Anti-Venom to cure the infected S.H.I.E.L.D. agents as well as Green Goblin back into Osborn, Doctor Octopus escapes while swearing a terrible comeback. Doctor Octopus later returns in the episode "Second Chance Hero" where he has his Spider-Soldiers (an amalgam of Venom-like drones and OsCorp's armor technology) fight Iron Patriot (Norman Osborn) and Spider-Man. In the episode "Return of the Sinister Six", Doctor Octopus armors himself and Lizard then breaks Electro, Kraven, Rhino and Scorpion out of Ryker's Island to reassemble the Sinister Six with armored teammates. The armored Sinister Six give Spider-Man a hard time until Iron Patriot and the rest of Spider-Man's team arrive. While Spider-Man's team fight the other Sinister Six members, Doctor Octopus fights Iron Patriot. When the armored Sinister Six end up combining their attacks to take down Iron Patriot, Doctor Octopus plans to inject Spider-Man with the Goblin serum but instead injects Iron Patriot while Spider-Man restored Lizard back to Connors. However, Green Goblin's rampage ironically ends ups defeating Doctor Octopus and the Sinister Six.

• Doctor Octopus appears in the Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. episode "The Venom Inside", voiced again by Tom Kenny. He creates a modified Venom symbiote that assimilates Skaar, She-Hulk, Red Hulk and finally the Hulk in an attempt to conquer and also destroy Spider-Man. However, the Hulks and Spider-Man defeat the modified Venom Symbiote and eventually find Doctor Octopus's hidden lair. Doctor Octopus is presumably beaten up by the Hulks.

• Doctor Octopus appears in Lego Marvel Super Heroes: Maximum Overload, voiced once more by Tom Kenny.

Film

File:Doctor Octopus 2004 film.jpg

Alfred Molina as Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man 2 (2004).

• The Spider-Man films' director Sam Raimi has stated that Doc Ock was intended to appear in the first film and team up with Green Goblin, but wasn't included because Raimi thought it "wouldn't do the movie justice to have a third origin in there."

• Doctor Octopus appears as the main antagonist in the 2004 feature film Spider-Man 2, portrayed by Alfred Molina. This version is portrayed as a sympathetic character and he is married to a woman named Rosalie. He first meets Peter Parker when Curt Connors recommends visiting him. A disastrous experiment with tritium that Octavius uses his four-armed harness to handle results in Rosalie's death and the fusion of the harness to Octavius. The arms have artificial intelligence that influence Octavius into acting irrationally, and he comes into conflict with Spider-Man when he tries to rob a bank to further his experiments. He eventually kidnaps Mary Jane Watson to an abandoned pier warehouse where he makes another attempt to harness energy from tritium. When Spider-Man arrives, they do battle, but after Peter willingly reveals his identity and being reminded of his own words on how science shouldn't be used for evil Octavius's original personality manages to reassert itself over his arms' A.I., and he ultimately sacrifices himself to destroy the tritium reactor before it explodes.

• Archive footage of Doctor Octopus appears in the opening scene of Spider-Man 3 and one of the newspaper portraits on J. Jonah Jameson's office wall is the "Doc Ock Still at Large" paper seen earlier in Spider-Man 2.

Video games

Doctor Octopus appears in many Spider-Man computer games and video games, some of which feature him as the game's primary antagonist:

• Doctor Octopus appears in the Spider-Man Questprobe game.

• Doctor Octopus was one of many Spider-Man villains to appear in the arcade game Spider-Man: The Video Game.

• Doctor Octopus is one of the bosses in The Amazing Spider-Man for the Game Boy.

• Doctor Octopus is the final boss in Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister Six.

• Doctor Octopus is the first boss in the game The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin.

• Doctor Octopus is the first boss in both the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis Spider-Man Animated Series games based on the animated series.

• Doctor Octopus appears as a boss in the Japanese only Super Famicon game Spider-Man: Lethal Foes.

• Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. reprises his role of Doctor Octopus in the Spider-Man video game for the PlayStation, Dreamcast, PC, Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Color. Doctor Octopus works with Carnage to turn everyone in New York into symbiotes but they are both defeated by Spider-Man. After being defeated, the Carnage symbiote bonds with Doctor Octopus, turning him into Monster Ock (voiced by Marcus Shirock). After Monster Ock is defeated, the Carnage symbiote separates from Doctor Octopus and he is arrested.

• Doctor Octopus appeared as the final boss in the Game Boy Color game Spider-Man 2: The Sinister Six.

• Doctor Octopus is seen at the end of Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro still in his cell.

• Doctor Octopus appeared in the Spider-Man 2 game, voiced by Alfred Molina. He appears as a boss character several times in the game and is the final boss at the end of the game.

• Doctor Octopus is a playable character and a boss in Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, voiced by Joe Alaskey.

• Doc Ock appears as a villain in two missions in the MMORPG Marvel Super Hero Squad Online, voiced again by Peter MacNicol.

• Doctor Octopus is available as downloadable content for the game LittleBigPlanet as part of "Marvel Costume Kit 1".

• Doctor Octopus appears in Spider-Man: Edge of Time, voiced by Dave B. Mitchell. When history is altered so that Alchemax was established in the seventies, Otto Octavius is a scientist employed by the company and never turned to crime, although he still uses his tentacles as tools for his research. His in-game bio reveals that the time-travelling company founder Walker Sloan recruited him the day before the accident that would have fused his tentacles to him in the original reality. He and Sloan attempt to use Anti-Venom to kill Spider-Man. But when Spider-Man 2099 intervenes, Doctor Octopus is thrown into a time portal with Sloan and Anti-Venom where they're trapped between the present time and the year 2099 then are subsequently fused into the monstrous Atrocity (voiced by Fred Tatasciore) which uses Doctor Octopus's tentacles and Anti-Venom's ability to negate Spider-Man's powers.

• Doctor Octopus is featured as a boss in the Facebook game Marvel: Avengers Alliance.

• Doctor Octopus and Superior Spider-Man appear in the MMO Marvel Heroes, voiced by Tom Kenny (Doctor Octopus) and Christopher Daniel Barnes (Superior Spider-Man). Doctor Octopus is featured as a boss in multiple locations while Superior Spider-Man is featured as a playable character.

• Doctor Octopus and Superior Spider-Man both appear as playable characters in Lego Marvel Super Heroes, voiced by Dee Bradley Baker (original incarnation and Ultimate Spider-Man TV series version) and James Arnold Taylor (Superior Spider-Man).

Theatre

• Doctor Octopus will appear in the Marvel Universe: LIVE! stage show.

Toys and collectibles

• Doc Ock 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. The movie figure will also be featured 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.

• The character 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.

Amusement park rides

Doctor Octopus appears as the leader of the Sinister Syndicate in The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man ride at Islands of Adventure at the Universal Orlando Resort, voiced by Rodger Bumpass. He has invented an anti-gravity cannon, and uses it, with the Syndicate, to hold the Statue of Liberty for ransom. He attacks guests several times during the ride, until he is finally defeated by Spider-Man on the New York rooftops. Doctor Octopus is last seen bundled together with the rest of the Syndicate, attempting to attack Spider-Man one last time before his tentacle is webbed to the Hobgoblin's head.

External links

• Doctor Octopus (Otto Octavius) at Marvel.com
• Doctor Octopus at Marvel Wiki
  • Octobot at Marvel Wiki
• Ock's profile at Spiderfan.org
• Doc Ock's profile at Samruby.com