[Meeting…] Doctor Octopus

Some superheroes have a tremendously large number of villains, and yet most people only tend to remember a handful of them, the most popular.

There are many ways to become popular, for example, a villain relatively unknown to the general public can become popular overnight if they appear in a medium outside of comics, such as television or film. The seniority of the character also helps, because if he has been appearing in the regular collection for 20 years he has a better chance of being known than if he has only appeared in specific issues and without much continuity.

If both characteristics happen to come together, the character will surely be recognized even by those who have not read too many superhero comics. They may not recognize its name, but they will recognize its appearance or its most striking characteristics. For example, if we talk about Spider-man's enemies and the word mad scientist or metal tentacles is pronounced, we can only think of today's character, Dr. Octopus.

Mad Scientist Vs. Spider-Man

In the world of superheroes, Having a PhD gives you a good chance of becoming a villain, The “Mad Scientist” phenomenon, which was so abused in novels and films, had a strong representation in comics, where the clichés of the “overly clever scientist who, for some forced reason, becomes crazy and evil” were repeated over and over again.

Otto Octavius ​​suffered that fate, a brilliant scientist, good person, who while experimenting with his metal tentacles suffered an accident that permanently attached them to his body and brain. After this unpleasant event, Otto could have remained peaceful, but we all know that it doesn't work like that, if that happens to you you have to go crazy and become a supervillain. Otto's change of mentality has been explained in many ways, some of them being much more “believable” than others. For example, my favorite is “after the accident and as a result of having to control 4 new limbs – the metal tentacles – Otto's brain suffered irreparable damage that led him to act like a madman.”

The first appearance of Doctor Octopus (or Dock Ock, as Spider-man usually calls him) was in issue 03 of the wall-crawler, which gives him the privilege of being one of Spider-Man's first villains (not the first, since that privilege belongs to the Chameleon).

As an enemy of Spider-man, Octopus has been a problem on more than one occasion and for various reasons: on the one hand we have his notable tentacles, which can nullify Spider-Man in combat due to his enormous versatility; on the other hand, the fact that Octopus is a very intelligent guy and surpasses Spider-man in scientific knowledge, and finally the fact that it was Octopus who had the brilliant idea of ​​bringing together various enemies of Spider-man to try to finish him off once and for all, creating one of the most famous groups of supervillains in the entire history of superhero comics: The Sinister Six.

While it is true that this group has had many different formations and under the leadership of various characters, Octopus will always be remembered for leading them for the first time.

My moment of glory is over

The fact that this character is one of Spider-man's most recognized enemies has not helped him to always remain among the most popular. For example, During the 90s Octopus was not a draw for readers, who saw him as an outdated and stupid character, who had fallen far behind more current characters like Venom or Carnage.

During those same years, the series of Spider-man “suffered” one of the many special sagas that promise to change everything forever and come to nothing, an event known as the Clone Saga. In this saga, Peter Parker was reunited with a clone of his that he left for dead years ago and that he was an exact copy of himself (and ended up becoming another spider hero, known as Scarlet Spider). This clone was one of many that were created by the Jackal with the intention of taking revenge on Peter Parker.

One of those copies was Kaine, a deformed and muscular clone who acted as an antihero, killing Spider-Man's enemies, an idea that served to "clean up" the roster of villains, killing the enemies that no one remembered anymore and, in the process, get a special issue that would increase sales after killing off a moderately popular villain who was not going through his best moment, a description that fit Octopus perfectly.

Funeral for Octopus was the comic where Otto Octavius ​​died, but before doing so we saw some of the most hackneyed clichés in this type of situation, and in order to make the volume interesting, Octopus was made to finally discover who is hiding under the mask of Spider-man and in the process do one last act of kindness before dying (which for some reason should compensate for the last 30 years of evil).

But do not fear, in superhero comics no one dies forever, so after reusing the idea of ​​Octopus with his young assistant creating Doctor Octopus and verifying that the idea was as bad as it seemed, Marvel came up with a stupid pantomime to magically resurrect Octavius, but yes, without remembering who Spider-man was and being as evil as he initially was.

Since I have mentioned Doctor Octopus, I would like to mention that this is not the only time that the concept of this character is reused to create a newer one, because there is Carlyle, a character created as a "new version of Octopus" that failed miserably (both in the pages of the comic and in the world of popularity).

Conclusion and Recommendations

I can't say that Octopus is one of my favorite classic Spider-man villains, but it's undeniable that It would be difficult to tell the story of the wall-crawler without Otto from it., since this character has become part of Peter Parker's life, being his professor at the university or trying to marry Aunt May.

In the most recent Spider-man stories, Otto has an even more exaggerated role as he is the absolute protagonist of the story known as Superior Spider-man (another of those story arcs that change the character's history forever, but then end up leaving everything as it was).

Whoever is interested in Doc Ock has many stories where he appears as a villain, as well as his multiple appearances in the Spider-man animated series and in the 2004 film Spider-man 2.

If what you want is to see the villainous Octopus, you can turn to the classic comics of Spider-man where he is a recurring character, although it may be easier for you to look for the comic Sask-man Doctor Octopus –Greatest Battles– (2004) or the Amazing Spider-man Annual number 1 (1964) where he brought together the Sinister Six for the first time.

Si queréis ver al personaje en situaciones menos comunes, os recomiendo Funeral for Octopus (1995) y el ya mencionado Superior Spider-man, que se ha estado publicando recientemente.