| “ | Father? Can you hear us? Don't let them hurt us. We will do whatever you wish. We will serve you. We are you. Father? Are you there? Don't let the bad man hurt us... Can we stop the bad men? | „ |
| ~ The first words of the tentacles to Otto Octavius, their creator, asking for his permission to kill the surgeons (novelization only). |
| “ | Looks like we've got Competition. | „ |
| ~ Doc Ock to the tentacles after seeing the Iron Spider’s legs. |
| “ | It's so quiet... Those voices... Inside my head... I'd almost forgotten... | „ |
| ~ Otto Octavius noting how the A.I. within his tentacles has been overwritten by the MCU Spider-Man. |
Doctor Octopus' Tentacles are the secondary antagonists of the 2004 superhero film Spider-Man 2 and supporting antagonists in the 2021 Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: No Way Home.
They are the A.I. mechanical tentacles of Dr. Otto Octavius, designed by him to aid him during his fusion reactor experiment while keeping them in check with an inhibitor chip. However, when the chip is destroyed, the tentacles get fused into their creator's spine and start controlling Octavius into finishing his experiment at all costs, even if that means endangering all of New York City.
In Spider-Man 2, they were portrayed by four unidentified puppeteers. In Spider-Man: No Way Home, they were portrayed through CGI.
Personality[]
After gaining their own autonomy from the inhibitor chips' destruction, the arms' artificial intelligence, now able to manipulate Otto's mind instead of vice versa, convinces Otto that they need to complete the experiment which Otto made them for at all costs.
In the film, the tentacles, upon awakening to sentience just as a group of surgeons are about to cut them off of Otto, respond in violent self-defence, brutally killing the surgeons in creative ways which border on sadistic, and afterwards proceed to help Otto escape to perceived safety. When Otto is afterwards seriously considering drowning himself and the tentacles, the tentacles move to speak to Otto and talk him out of it, but what they say to him can only be gleaned from Otto's responses: they manipulate Otto into rebuilding the fusion reactor, and notably move in gestures that indicate sentience and personality. When the tentacles suggest Otto steal money to rebuild the reactor and Otto dismisses it as criminal, they convince him the real crime would be not to finish what they started. They seem to care for Otto and take care of him, as they are shown lighting his cigar and giving him sips of a drink. Otto was able to force his will on them and make them drown the fusion reactor in the climax of Spider-Man 2. In No Way Home, the tentacles still influence Otto due to him being sent to the Marvel Cinematic Universe before Spider-Man reached out to him. Upon the Spider-Man of that universe building a new inhibitor chip for Otto, they stop influencing Otto.
The arms were nicknamed Flo, Mo, Larry and Harry in production after each of their individual animatronic puppeteers, and they exhibit individual personality quirks relative to each-other, similarly to a real-life octopus's tentacles which 2/3 of the octopus' neurons are bunched inside. The arm on Otto's upper-left (Flo) is the arm who acts the most maternal towards Otto and physically considerate of him: such as removing his hospital blindfold, taking his hat and giving him Harry's drink. The arm on Otto's upper-right (Moe) is the arm who's the most eager to act as a weapon for grabbing and attacking. The lower two arms (Larry and Harry) are supporters who follow the upper two arms' and Otto's leads.
The novelization written by Peter David gives the arms more personality, with their dialogue being shown in bold. It's revealed that all the tentacles speak in unison in a harmonious way that enchants Otto and puts him under a trance. They're also afraid of dying when Otto drowns them and himself after taking back control.
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
They are a set of long, four mechanical limbs that attach to his back, each equipped with red camera lens and three claws. They also possess each ability such superhuman strength, durability, reflexes, agility, etc.
- Superhuman Strength: Each of Doc Ock's tentacles possesses immense strength, which allows him to easily overpower humans, rip metal objects, lift cars, smash through buildings and even overpower Spider-Man. They strike at anything with a strong force, such as striking Spider-Man or through a brick wall by smashing through it. Even each tentacle can also lift 3 tons. Ock's tentacles are also strong enough to restrain Green Goblin's glider.
- Superhuman Durability: The tentacles are capable of withstanding blunt force, allowing Doc Ock to survive great impacts such as smashing through a brick wall or the side of a taxicab. The tentacles are also shown to be completely immune to heat and magnetism. However, the Goblin Glider's blades are actually sharp enough to cut one of Octavius' tentacles, leaving him with only three left.
- Telescoping: They are 4.5 feet long and can extend them to 13 feet long.
- Superhuman Agility: Ock's tentacles are designed with the precision and accuracy necessary to maintain a fusion reaction, with a reach of up to thirteen feet and the ability to move both quickly and precisely to reach a target.
- Superhuman Reflexes: Similar to an octopus' tentacles, the arms' AI relies on "distributed processing," which allows them to react to stimuli before Ock has time to react and act independently of Ock to warn him of danger or shield him from incoming threats.
- Wall-Crawling: The tentacles can climb up walls.
- Secondary Tentacles: The top tentacles contain a 7-foot-long tapered whip that can extend from the center of the claw and ensnare Ock's foes or hostages. The secondary tentacle is comprised of 150 vertebrae.
Trivia[]
- Though Doctor Octopus' Tentacles are mentioned to be able to communicate with Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man 2, the film doesn't show what they say to him and leaves the audience to interpret. However, the film's novelization by Peter David reveals this to be true, with the text describing what the tentacles think and how they speak to Otto.
- The Spider-Man trilogy version of Doc Ock's Tentacles is so far the only version of Doctor Octopus' Tentacles to be sentient. All other versions have the tentacles being non-sentient.
- The scene of Spider-Man 2 in which Doctor Octopus' Tentacles attack all the surgeons trying to remove them from their creator's spinal cord is widely considered by audiences as one of the scariest scenes in superhero films, given the absence of music throughout the scene expect the sounds of the agonizing surgeons being killed.
- While filming Spider-Man 2, Alfred Molina nicknamed Doctor Octopus' Tentacles as "Larry", "Harry", "Moe" and "Flo" on-set. However, it's unknown if these names can be considered canonical in-universe (if Otto even decided to name them).
- An early draft of Iron Man intended to reveal that Tony Stark created the tentacles for Otto Octavius, which would have connected Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the idea was dropped due to Sony Pictures not wanting to share the Spider-Man film rights with Marvel Studios at the time.
- In Spider-Man 3, Doctor Octopus' Tentacles make a non-physical cameo in one of J. Jonah Jameson's newspapers.
- So far, Doctor Octopus' Tentacles are the only villains in Spider-Man: No Way Home, alongside the Green Goblin, who don't redeem themselves by their own volition: they end up being forcibly redeemed when the MCU's Peter Parker creates a new inhibitor chip for Doctor Octopus, allowing him to regain control of the tentacles and purging the A.I. which influenced him.
- While Raimiverse version of the tentacles are first to be sentient, the concept later implemented into original Marvel comics iteration as shown in Issue 28 - 30 of 2022 Amazing Spider-Man. However, the latter's sentience was byproduct of what best described as muscle memory as opposed of malfunctioning built-in AI; up until he discarded them, Doctor Octopus had used his original tentacles for so long the mad scientist left behind a vestige of himself within their processors. It was from said vestige the original tentacles not only attained their sentience, but also endowed necessary knowledge needed to repair and upgrade them upon those who don them. Unfortunately, wearing the original tentacles for too long will affect the user's psyche that they unknowingky take on their creator's mannerisms and personality, something Spider-Man learned when he used them against Doctor Octopus' Ocktoid Tentacles until Norman snapped him out of it.
External Links[]
- Doctor Octopus' Tentacles on the Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki
- Doctor Octopus' Tentacles on the Spider-Man Films Wiki
- Doctor Octopus' Tentacles on the Marvel Database Wiki
