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Doctor Octopus (Dr. Otto Gunther Octavius) is a

Publication history

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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 Amazing Spider-Man #11 and #12, and again in #31, #32, and #33.

Fictional character biography

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Born in

During an accidental radiation leak that ended in an explosion, the apparatus became fused to Octavius' 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^[3]), and the scientist turned to a life of crime, first taking the hospital hostage although Spider-Man defeats him.^{[volume & issue needed]}

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: in his first appearance he beat Spider-Man so badly that the wall-crawler considered giving up his heroic career, until he was inspired to continue by the Human Torch.^[4]

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.^[5] He has led subsequent Sinister Six groups, and usually takes offense when some one else leads the team. Disguised as the Master Planner, he organized a theft of atomic equipment.^[6]

Doctor Octopus later attempts to steal the Defense Department's Nullifier device, and sets a trap for Spider-Man.^[7] He became May Parker's tenant,^[8] 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,^[9] 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.^[10]

Doctor Octopus later exhibited the ability to activate his mechanical arms remotely, and used them to free himself from prison.^[11] His resulting battle with Spider-Man resulted in the death of Captain George Stacy.^[12] Doctor Octopus later waged a gang war with Hammerhead.^[13] He attempted to wed May Parker in order to acquire an island with an atomic plant which she had recently unknowingly inherited.^[14] Doc Ock escaped death when the island was destroyed, and began a life as a homeless person.^[15] 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.^[16]

Doctor Octopus later attempted to hijack an atomic submarine.

His crowning achievement of evil was the near-fatal beating of Spider-Man's then-partner, the Black Cat, 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 Octavius afraid of Spider-Man and spiders in general for years, and he needed to be treated for his acute arachnophobia.^[23] 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.^[24]

Death & Resurrection

During the

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.[32]

Dr. Octopus was taken to

Octavius unsuccessfully tries 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 eludes authorities.^{[volume & issue needed]} In Sensational Spider-Man #28, Dr. Octopus is seen viewing a telecast of Peter Parker revealing himself to be Spider-Man. 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.^{[volume & issue needed]} He is then sent to Baron Zemo's supervillain detention facility (as seen in Thunderbolts #104 and Iron Man Vol IV #14). He is one of the ex-supervillains trying to hunt down the renegade super heroes.^{[volume & issue needed]}

In "One More Day" Part 2, Octavius is one of the people Spider-Man contacts to see if he can help with Aunt May's condition.^[34]

Dying

During the Dark Reign storyline, Doctor Octopus learns that due to injuries suffered from his many battles, his body is failing, giving him only months to live. He has now modified himself to be mentally connected to his own army of miniature octopus robots, and has added four additional appendages to his harness. His goal became to use his abilities to take over the utilities of New York City and turn it into a paradise under his control, though his mind's subconscious also targeted Spider-Man, and disrupted the wedding plans of his ex, Aunt May. Spider-Man and the Human Torch eventually track down his base, save the captive J. Jonah Jameson Sr. (May's fiancee), Carlie Cooper, and Norah Winters, and finally destroy Doctor Octopus' hold over the city. Doctor Octopus is then able to escape (still holding power over his mini-bots) and vows a "terrible revenge".^[35]

During the "Origin of the Species" storyline, Doctor Octopus assembles a supervillain team consisting of

Spider-Man and the Avengers later fight Doctor Octopus and his macro-octobot army. During that time, he had assembled another version of the Sinister Six consisting of Chameleon (who was posing as Steve Rogers), Electro, Mysterio, Rhino, and Sandman in a plot to slip the macro-octobot army into a military base and detonate them. This was prevented by Spider-Man, the Avengers, and the Fantastic Four. After his defeat, Doctor Octopus acknowledges Spider-Man's intellect and no longer considers him as the 'foolish child' he had believed him to be.[41]

When Alistair Smythe was having Scorpion, Fly-Girl and some cyborgs attack the launch base where John Jameson is, Doctor Octopus was observing the occurrences with a remote Octobot and uses the machine to assist the astronauts on board as part of his heretofore unknown plans.^[42]

Attempting to find a cure for his condition, Doctor Octopus attempts to capture Tony Stark to force him to find a treatment for his injuries, threatening to detonate a nuclear bomb if Stark doesn't help him. However, when Stark suggested contacting others such as Doctor Strange or Mister Fantastic for help, Doctor Octopus rejected the offer proclaiming that he had mainly made the offer to force Stark into a position where he would fail programming the bomb to go off in six minutes.^[43]

Spider-Man and the Future Foundation end up stumbling onto a plot by Doctor Octopus and the Sinister Six to cause trouble on a Caribbean Island with a plot that involves masquerading as zombie pirates.^[44]

Powers and abilities

Octavius is a genius in the field of

Due to exposure to atomic radiation, Doctor Octopus has the mental ability to control his four, electrically powered, telescoping, prehensile, titanium-steel, artificial, tentacle arms (even when they are not connected to him, he can also control them over vast distances), that are attached to a stainless-steel harness encompassing his lower torso. Each of these four arms are capable of lifting three tons, provided that at least one arm is used to support his body. The reaction time and agility of his mechanical appendages is 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.

Doctor Octopus has also employed an armored body suit enabling him to breathe underwater and designed to withstand extreme water pressure.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Doctor Octopus later began wearing a full-body armor 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. His normal arms bound to him and four additional tentacles added to the armor.^[35]

Harnesses

Dr. Octopus has possessed a total of three different harnesses during his career: the original titanium harness, a more powerful adamantium harness, and the current 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.^[45]

The adamantium harness was powerful enough to both restrain and pummel the

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.

Other versions

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