Doctor Octopus

"Now, watch me trap a spider in a web of my own--a web made of my new-found arms! Your strength is merely that of a spider, but mine is the energy of an atom, born of a nuclear accident! You dared to mock me before! Why aren't you mocking me now? Where are your brave words and taunts now, Spider-Man?'"

- -Otto Octavius Doctor Octopus (real name: Otto Octavius) is one of Spider-Man's most dangerous and recurring enemies. He later takes on the Spider-Man Mantle.

History


Born in Schenectady, New York, Otto Octavius had something of an unhappy childhood. His father, Torbert, was abusive and violent towards both Otto and his mother Mary. Otto was determined not to become like his father and put all his effort into his education, regularly scoring top marks. Unfortunately, a combination of Otto's shyness and good school work got him labeled as a "teacher's pet" and he became a target of bullying. Otto eventually became a brilliant and respected nuclear physicist, atomic research consultant, inventor, and lecturer. One of his most iconic inventions was a set of highly advanced mechanical arms controlled via a mind–computer interface to assist him with his research into atomic physics. Unfortunately, there was an accidental radiation leak that ended in an explosion and those "wonderful" mechanical arms became fused to Octavius' body. His tentacles were made of adamantium, and had the strength to crush materials stronger than a block of cement. They were telescopic and could stretch over 20 feet. The arms could be used for walking, lifting or throwing heavy objects, or climbing. Octavius could telepathically control the arms, even when they were not connected to him.

The accident also seemed to have damaged his brain and the scientist turned to a life of crime. His very first criminal act was taking the hospital hostage and proclaiming himself Doctor Octopus, the derogatory nickname that his co-workers had originally given him. In their first encounter, Octopus defeated Spider-Man by 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. Since then the Good (or Bad) Doctor has gone on to become one of the most identifiable members of Spider-Man's rogues gallery. He was actually Spider-Man's first arch-enemy, especially during the early days before Norman Osborn began rising to prominence.

After his first few defeats at the hands of Spider-Man, Doc Ock contacted several other super-enemies of the web-slinger (Electro, Sandman, Vulture, Mysterio, and Kraven the Hunter) to form the Sinister Six, to trap and destroy Spider-Man. Even this plan failed however, and Ock and his cohorts were once again imprisoned. Octavius continued to be a thorn to Spider-Man, and concocted many schemes that often involved taking over the world and/or forming a different version of the Sinister Six. One of these schemes was his taking on the guise of the Master Planner, a mysterious crime lord. Doc Ock has mostly battled Spider-Man, but has also had run-ins with other heroes such as Daredevil and Iron Man. Ock once even led a version of the Masters of Evil against the Avengers.

After years of fighting Spider-Man, his body began to succumb to the injuries he had sustained over the years. As a way to prevent his death, Otto switched bodies with Peter Parker. Before dying in Otto's body, Peter urged Otto to change for good and succeed the Spider-Man mantle with his last breaths. Otto complied, swearing to become better and a more superior hero, resulting a more brutal, but still trying-to-be-heroic Spider-Man. Unfortunately, he found himself slowly slipping back into evil, starting with his attempted erasure of a fragment of Peter Parker's soul. He eventually had a realization that he was doing more harm than good by the time Peter's soul fragment came back from the dead, and relinquished control of Peter's body, erasing his own consciousness as penance. As Otto died, he told Peter that Peter was a better Spider-Man and a better person than Otto (the self-proclaimed superior successor) could ever hope to be.

Spider-Man 2
Main article: Doctor Octopus (Spider-Man 2)

Doctor Octopus appears as the main antagonist in the film, Spider-Man 2, where he was portrayed by Alfred Molina. Before he became a four-armed villain, he was a scientist, and his goal was to create successful, stable nuclear fusion, thus making energy available for personal use. To make this experiment successful, he invented the four mechanical arms to assist him in making the measurements accurate and placing the origin of the reaction.

The arms would be set to connect to Octavius's spine by inserting needles through the skin along his back. To maintain full control of the arms, Octavius attached an inhibitor chip to the arms, located behind his neck in order to simply use his extra arms by the power of thought.

Octavius demonstrated his first trial of the experiment in front of a group of New York civilians. For a brief time, he created a successful fusion reaction. When the reaction became unstable, though, it could not be handled, and numerous objects, including wall coverings, were being sucked into the expanding nuclear hog. In the event, he lost his wife, and the inhibitor chip was destroyed.

With the inhibitor chip gone, Dr. Octavius could not maintain control of his mind with formidable power of his mechanical arms. He became convinced to rebuild a larger generator, and ignored his miscalculations which caused the accident.

The Amazing Spider-Man Series
Doctor Octopus' tentacles can be seen at the end of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which could be a sign that he will be in any of the upcoming films of The Amazing Spider-Man series.

Ultimate Universe
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.

1967 Spider-Man Cartoon
Doc Ock is one of Spider-Man villains in the 1967 Spider-Man Cartoon.

Spider-Man: The Animated Series
Doctor Octopus is a recurring antagonist in this series (along with Kingpin, Green Goblin, Venom, and Hobgoblin). He was voiced by the late Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., who gave the character a thick Germanic accent. Dr. Octopus used to be Otto Octavius, who was Peter Parker's science teacher at Science Camp. This relationship of former mentor and pupil made Dr. Octopus fond of Peter even after his descent into villainy.

One day, Octavius created a fusion experiment, using four metal tentacles. When the experiment exploded, Octavius' tentacles were permanently stuck on his back. In his first appearance, Dr. Octopus kidnaps Felicia Hardy and J. Jonah Jameson for ransom from Felicia's mother, as Felicia's mom did not have patience to fund Ock's experiments before he was a villain. When Peter calls him, Dr. Octopus decides to have Peter bring the ransom. But Ock reveals he would not release Felicia and Jameson anyway but after he was defeated by Spider-Man, who Peter was secretly, after Ock threw Peter off into another part of the abandoned space lab Ock hid out in, Dr. Octopus was captured, and was taken to jail.

Later, he became a member of The Insidious Six in the first two episodes of Season 2 and the five-part episode, "Six Forgotten Warriors" in Season 5, and one of the Kingpin's enforcers after the first episodes of Season 2, helping him commit crimes. He even came far as unmasking Spider-Man with the Insidious Six but since Spider-Man did not fight as good as he usually does because it was part of Spider-Man's lively evolution, Ock thought he was a fake. He also came to wiping out Spider-Man's memory and making him think the two were partners-in-crime. But thanks to Spider-Man's fangirl, Tiana, and a cabbie named Mousie, he got his memory back and Octavius was sent back to jail.

Ock eventually became aware that Anastasia Hardy's husband, John Hardesky, was a cat burglar known as the Cat and used this information to blackmail Mrs. Hardy into giving him his money. But he was abducted by the Kingpin and was forced to work for him and his plans were not to reveal to the world that Mrs. Hardy's husband was a crook but merely use John Hardesky because he was jailed for knowing the super-soldier formula that created Captain America during World War II.

After Hardesky was kidnapped, Ock was sent to kidnap Felicia to blackmail Hardesky that if he did not reveal the super-soldier formula, she will die. Hardesky revealed the formula and it was tested on Felicia, turning her into the Black Cat. His final appearance in the show was in the three-part "Secret Wars", in which he ruled an alien planet city renamed "Octavia".

Unfortunately, it was stolen by Dr. Doom and renamed it New Latveria, forcing Ock to work for the Red Skull. When Doom absorbed the Beyonder's powers, Doom transported Alistair Smythe, the Red Skull and Ock back to Earth with them getting amnesia from the events. In the series finale of this show, despite Ock not appearing in it, Spider-Man was sent by Madame Web and the Beyonder to stop the evil Spider-Carnage from destroying all reality, and helping Spider-Man were other Spider-Men from different realities. One of them had metallic tentacles like Ock and that Spider-Man explained it was a "souvenir from my last fight with Doc Ock". It is unknown if that Spider-Man killed or had Ock killed in his reality, even by accident, and stole his robotic arms, but it seems likely.

Spectacular Spider-Man
In The Spectacular Spider-man TV series, Otto Octavius was a respected nuclear physicist, atomic research consultant, scientist, and inventor working under Norman Osborn at OsCorp. He is very timid and willing to apologize for every little thing, a direct contrast to his boss Norman. He is one of OsCorp's most intelligent scientists and designed a set of highly advanced mechanical arms controlled via a brain–computer interface to assist him to do dangerous experiments, playing a part in the creation of Sandman and Rhino. Eventually, as the result of a devastating accidental radiation explosion, his arms became permanently fused to his back and became insane, becoming the vengeful Dr. Octopus. He has telepathic control of these arms and they are strong enough to physically hurt Spider-Man when Octavius controls them.

After his first defeat to Spidey, Ock went to prison, but with the help of Electro, he escaped, along with several other former supervillains, including Sandman, Rhino, Vulture, and Shocker. Together they formed the Sinister Six, and, with Ock as their leader, battled Spider-Man, brutalizing him in their first battle, but losing to his new black suit in the second.

Doc Ock and Electro were sent to Ravencroft, a mental therapy institution, and while there, were approached by Kraven the Hunter who offered to break them out in order to form another Sinister Six under the mysterious Master Planner. Electro went willingly, but Otto, who was seemingly repentant of his evil ways, refused to go. After the new Six was defeated yet again, Octavius's tentacles broke into Ravencroft and pulled him away, screaming.

It was later revealed the Otto himself was the Master Planner, and had pretended to be reformed so as to be undercover. He and his cronies, Electro, Vulture, and the Tinkerer, captured Gwen Stacy as motivation to her father George Stacy, Chief of the New York City Police. Ock forced him to grant him access to every computer in New York, then the USA, and then the world, in an effort of global domination of a more subtle kind. But thanks to Spider-Man's interference and Electro's short temper, his underwater lair was destroyed and his plan foiled. He did, however, escape, to return again with another scheme.

This time Doc Ock vied against Tombstone and Silvermane for control of New York's underworld, and he had Rhino, Vulture, and Kraven to help him. In a final brawl between the three crime lords and Spider-Man, Ock was taken out by the wall-crawler and sent back to Ravencroft.

This version of Doc Ock was a very sophisticated villain, politely asking Aunt May and Anna Watson to step aside before he and the Six attacked Spider-Man.

Ultimate Spider-Man
Doc Ock is one of the main villains of the TV show; Ultimate Spider-Man. He's Norman Osborn's scientist that is attempting to duplicate Spider-Man's powers to create super-soldiers to take over New York.

Due to an unfortunate accident at OsCorp, he was horribly injured. Norman Osborn saved his life by puting him in an OsTech iron lung suit with four mechanical tentacles. However, unable to admit that he made a mistake, Norman forced Otto to go into hiding, but continue working for Oscorp.

Later, Otto hired the Frightful Four for a year to attack and collect data about Spider-Man.

After Trapster planted a tracking device on Spider-Man, the other members were able to locate him at Midtown high school, and engaged him to provide more information to Octavius. Otto contacted Norman, to ask him if he should order the Frightful Four to destroy the school to cover the witness problem, who instantly became distressed about his son, Harry, who was there.

Following that, Otto ordered the Frightful Four to capture Spider-Man. When they failed, Norman warned Otto that failure will not be tolerated again.

Later, Otto sent one of his creations, the Octobot, to get a bio sample from Spider-Man. He used said sample to create the Venom Symbiote (an isolation of all the deadliest aspects of Spider-Man's DNA), which he intended to use as way to infuse the soldiers with Spider-Man powers. However, he needed a few months to perfect it. Osborn, being impatient, wanted it fast, and Otto winds up telling him he will have something for him in the night. However, the Symbiote escapes. Otto's best guess was that the Symbiote wanted to return to where it come from-Spider-Man.

After the apparent destruction of the Symbiote, Norman told him that it was a success and he want a new one that Spider-Man and his team can't destroy. Otto responded by telling him that he will make it his life's work.

Otto hired Taskmaster to infiltrate the school to discover who is Spider-Man, and capture him. When Taskmaster fails to do so, he tricks Octavius into believing that the school is a dead end for capturing Spider-Man so he can have his revenge. Otto precedes to destroy his own lab out of rage.

When Harry uses the small, surviving, piece of the symbiote to become the new Spider-Man, Otto instantly reconizes his work, noting that it is more focused and controlled. At Norman's demand, he sends the Dragon Man robot to test the new Spider-Man.

While watching the apparent defeat of Venom, Otto learns the truth about Harry being Venom. When Osborn suddenly walks in, he panicks slightly, turning the screen back to his research. Norman informs Otto that he wants Venom, whatever it takes. Noticing an odd expression from his worker, Norman questions if Octavius has anything to say, which the latter denies.

After Venom returns, Otto is seen talking with Osborn about getting Venom back. Norman hangs up on him when Harry enters the room. After Venom's second defeat, Osborn asks Otto if he knew about Harry being Venom. Otto, once again, denies it, asking "how could anyone know more about your son than you?". Believing him, Norman gives him a blood sample from Harry, and the scene ends with Otto saying he will give all his effort into seeing "what [he] can do with it"

The next time he is seen, he has already sent Whirlwind after Spider-Man, who, unfortunately, fails.

Norman calls Octavius up while the latter is attempting to take notes from the fight. The former then precedes to berate him, as Spider-Man still has yet to be captured, and threatens to cut off the funding for his project.

Unable to come up with anything else, Otto says he has a fail-safe plan-he'd go out and capture the web-slinger himself. Norman laughs at the idea, due to Octavius being a disabled shut-in, and gives him until sundown to catch Spider-Man.

A bit later, he yanks Spider-Man, who is enjoying some "me time", off of a roller-coaster, much to the webhead's surprise. Octavius then introduces himself as "Doctor".

In the ensuing fight, Spidey dubs him "Doctor Octopus"(much to his annoyance), and he makes references to Norman, but leaves his boss unnamed (much to Spidey's annoyance). During the brawl, they wind up in a hall of mirrors, in which he finally knocks Spider-man unconscious.

Once arriving back at the lab, Otto calls Norman, showing his success. Their talk ends when Octavius hangs up on Osborn, deciding he's going to call the shots on what to do with Spider-Man, and when to do it.

Inevitably, Spider-Man wakes up to having a blade whirring in his face.

Using the blade, Spidey frees himself, and their rematch begins.

In it, it's revealed Otto has been wearing an ear piece that allows Norman to continue talking to him, despite having gotten hung up on earlier, resulting in the former demanding that the latter "get out of my head! Stop tormenting me!". Spider-Man responds by telling Octavius to tell "him" to show himself.

Spider-Man, dodging Ock's attacks, attempts to contact Fury, as opposed to actually defeating Otto first. He resorts to webbing the latter's "lung part" of his suit, causing him to collapse and gasp for air.

This doesn't stop the doctor completely, though, as he resumes his attack on Spider-Man after Nick Fury has been contacted, and Norman has started the destruction of the place. When the place floods, Otto is unable to get himself to safety, and simply drifts further underwater. Spidey winds up saving him, but nearly drowns as a result. Back at Shield, it's revealed that the lab was too damaged for anything to be learned, and there was no trace of Otto when they arrived. However, they do have part of one of his tentacles, which Spider-Man had apparently holding onto "like [his] life depended on it".

Later on, Doctor Octopus (now using the name) sends an octo bot to hack Tony Stark's information. After the bot returns, Ock finishes his newest creation-an iron octopus suit. He precedes to attack Norman Osborn, and successfully sends Iron Man away for the entire fight. Instead, he easily smacks Spider-Man and Nick Fury around, then takes off, taking Norman and Harry with him.

Spider-Man shows up in HIS iron spider suit while the doctor is trying to get Norman to beg him for mercy. Their rematch breaks out, during which Doc Ock attempts to tell Spidey that Norman behind the attacks as much as he was, but the web-slinger (rather stupidly) ignores him. He gets defeated by Spider-Man punching him through a few buildings, but his suit kept him from dying. Norman retrieves him some time later, and puts him into a healing tank.

This Otto is currently devoid of his tentacles, and was revealed to have been friends with Curt Connors in the past.