Otto Octavius (Raimiverse)

## Otto Octavius

* Family
* Allies
* Enemies

Tobert Octavius (father)
Mary Octavius (mother)

Peter Parker (close friend/son-figure)
Norman Osborn (best friend)
Max Dillion
Curt Connors (close friend)
Harry Osborn (formerly)
Amazing Spider-Man
MCU Spider-Man
Sandman
Doctor Strange
Ned Leeds
Michelle Jones
MCU May Parker

Spider-Man (formerly)
Mary Jane Watson
Harry Osborn
J. Jonah Jameson
Raimi-verse May Parker

> Intelligence is not a gift, it’s a privilege and you use it for the good of mankind.
>
> Doctor Octopus to Peter Parker

**Dr. Otto Octavius** (later dubbed **Doctor Octopus** or **Doc Ock** by the media) is the main antagonist of the 2004 film *Spider-Man 2* and a supporting character in the 2021 Marvel Cinematic Universe film *Spider-Man: No Way Home*.

He is Peter Parker's former idol and friend who was once an enthusiastic scientist. However, he became corrupted by his own mechanical tentacles when the inhibitor chip controlling them was damaged.

## History

### Background

During his time at Columbia University Otto studied in the field of sciences, where he befriended Curt Connors and met his future wife, Rosalie, who was studying literature. Charming her over poetry by T.S. Elliot, Otto won Rosie over. After coming out of college, the couple married and Otto attained his doctrine and became a respected scientist, with Rosie assisting him on his experiments. Unfortunately the Octaviuses never had any children together mostly due to their dedications to their careers.

He became close friends with Norman Osborn at a later time, and was later funded by Oscorp when Harry took over after his father's death. Otto later developed a way to find renewable energy by creating an energy reactor that produced an everlasting sun.

## Personality

* Pre-accident
* Doc Ock
* Post-Accident
 One of the things that Otto Octavius believed in intelligence was that it and brilliance should be used to help for the good of mankind. This is one of his reasons for creating the artificial sun for it to be renewable energy for other humans. Another thing Otto highly respected was one other person's intelligence, as he isn't so easily impressed with other people's reputation unless they prove otherwise. When he met Peter Parker for the first time, it was not until the vigilante showed the good doctor some area of expertise in science when Peter analyzed Otto's energy reactor for the first time. Otto is truly a caring person, due to his love for his wife, who he is very affectionate with. He also enjoyed having Peter's presence after getting to know him. It is revealed in the second film's novelization that during Peter's visit, Otto ultimately regretted not having any children with Rosalie. Having the boy over for dinner made Otto feel what it was like to be a father and his idea of shaping young minds as a father or mentor.

Several people have noted him being one of the most intelligent men on the planet.

Even before the accident, Otto sometimes showed arrogance, even more concern for his research and neglected to take care of himself, such as sleeping and eating. His wife, Rosie, always makes sure he is attending to his human needs, such as telling him when lunch was ready and telling him he needed sleep before turning on his own invention. When Octavius turned on his device, he refused to shut it down even when Harry Osborn demanded it and Peter Parker warned him about possibilities in miscalculations, even when he tried to stop it as Spider-Man himself. He never really meant to harm anyone, including the death of his beloved Rosie and understands that his arrogance is what got her killed in the first place because he refused to shut the reactor down. As Doctor Octopus, Otto had become cruel and ruthless due to being manipulated by the Actuators. From the beginning, he was immediately horrified to see what the Actuators had done to the four doctors trying to remove them from his spine and even considered drowning himself in the river to end things before they began. Even on the verge of believing Peter was right and that he miscalculated, The Actuators influenced his mind, instead telling him to rob banks and finance the Solar Reactor on his own.

Doc Ock became affectionate with the Actuators, trading them as if they were his own children when they called him "father' in his head. His humor has become twisted, such as taking joy in tormenting Harry and dangling him over the edge of the Osborn's penthouse balcony. Later, when Doctor Octopus confronted Peter and Mary Jane at the coffee shop, in the novelization, he actually congratulates the boy for following his advice on how to deal with love earlier. Mary Jane is absolutely disgusted by this, but Peter admits he was given the advice before Doctor Octopus lost his mind

During his fight with Spider-Man, Doctor Octopus believes in giving both him and aunt May a quick death to be the most merciful instead of old age. When Otto was implanted with an inhibitor chip created by Norman and another version of Peter Parker, most of his original personality was restored. Now Doctor Octavius again, Otto became increasingly grateful to MCU Peter Parker, sharing have with him and expressing thanks to him. Doctor Octavius was also immediately horrified when he saw Norman revert to being the Green Goblin once again. After Electro blasted Otto out of the room, in hopes to fry the chip again and make him become Doctor Octopus again, Octavius faked his allegiance to the Sinister 5 in order to cure Electro while protecting both his Spider-Man and his Amazing Spider-Man counterpart. After Otto discovered that Tony Stark created the Arc Reactor, which was similar to his own energy reactor, he did not show jealousy, but rather, reverence and respect at a late man's work.
After a brief reunion with his Peter Parker, Octavius expressed fondness for his old friend growing up. When the Green Goblin attacked, Octavius joined the heroes and helped them cure the other villains of their ailments.

## Relationships

### Norman Osborn

Prior to the films, Otto and Norman were close friends before the latter's death. However, the depths of their relationship was not explored until the 2021 film, *Spider-Man: No Way Home*. After Norman's accidental death in the original film, Otto attended Norman's funeral in the original timeline and was aware of his identity as the Green Goblin and continued using Oscorp's money to fund his projects. However, due to Doctor Strange's spell going awry in *Spider-Man: No Way Home*, Norman and Octavius were transported into an alternate dimension before their deaths played out in the original timeline. Sometime after his boxed up fight with Peter Parker of Earth 199999, Doc Ock was shocked to see the latter again because of his previous demise by his own hand in the original timeline. Seeing his old friend's state of mind, Norman showed concern for Octavius' sanity. To cure Otto, Norman worked with Peter Parker of Earth-199999 to create an inhibitor chip Otto needed to use so the arms would not control him. After MCU Peter restored Otto's mind, Norman cautiously asked if Doc Ock was cured and a grateful Otto assured him he was. After Norman transitioned back into the Green Goblin, Otto was horrified to see his friend's descent into madness once more. He pretended to side with the villains but actually worked with the other Peter Parkers of the Multiverse to care for all the villains including Norman.

### Peter Parker

The Peter Parker of his universe has idolized Dr. Octavius for years. Being aware of his best friend's interest in the scientist, Harry arranged for Peter and Otto to meet the following morning. At first unimpressed with Peter, Otto's view of him changed when the former showed interest in Otto's energy reactor and gave his own scientific input into the reactor. This caused the two men to strike a conversation about it, long enough for Otto and Rosie to invite Peter for lunch. After Dr. and Mrs. Octavius recounted their love story, Otto gave Peter advice on his own relationship with MJ by feeding her poetry as he did his wife. The first time Peter sees Otto as Doc Ock, he briefly considers showing himself to Octavius, but then stops himself before he can. Even after becoming Doctor Octopus, Otto more or less ignores Peter until he learned from Harry that he needed Parker to tell him Spider-Man's identity. However, Otto's relationship with Spider-Man is another tale: Doc Ock considers the web-slinging vigilante to be a menace. Octavius and his AIs attacked Peter and MJ at the coffee shop they were meeting. He is all but willing to turn him over to Harry, knowing he means to kill the young hero, even if it means setting a train off.

However, an alternative version of Doctor Octopus before his redemption was teleported into the MCU, he showed contempt for the Peter of his universe in *Spider-Man: No Way Home.* He easily mistook MCU's Spider-man for his own until unmasked his opponent. After being imprisoned by Peter-199999, Ned Leeds and Michelle Jones, Otto recounted how close he was to killing his Spider-Man. However, after his mind was restored, Doc Ock was Otto once more, and may have grown regretful for his previous actions against Peter, such as threatening MJ's life or leaving him at Harry's mercy. When the reformed evil doctor was briefly reunited with Parker, Dr. Octavius protected him and the Amazing Spider-Man. For a moment, Ottoimmediately recognized him, addressing him as "dear boy," and inquired of his own well-being. Seeing him for the first time in a long time, Peter addressed him by first name, stating he was "trying to be better." Otto remembered Peter's comment from their first meeting nearly twenty years ago. The latter's fondness for his native Spider-Man had indeed returned and led the Dr. Octavius variant to help Peter Parkers cure the villains.

### Harry Osborn

At some point before he became Doc Ock, Otto met Harry (the son of his close friend Norman Osborn) before or after the latter became Oscorp's new CEO. By the time of *Spider-Man 2*, Otto was using Harry's fundings for his project, the Energy reactor. Reluctantly, the good doctor agreeing to meet with Harry's best friend, Peter Parker, an idolizer of his work. Also, to the doctor's annoyance, wherever Harry referred to his artificial solar reactor project as a profit, Otto immediately corrected him and refused to let it be associated with making a profit of it. Otto also couldn't understand why Peter would be friends with Harry due to their vast differences.

When the reactor failed and killed Rosalie Octavius, Harry funding Otto's project fell through and set Oscorp's assets back to several months. Not only did it hurt the company but Harry blamed both Spider-Man and Otto for this setback and the incident. The next time Octavius and Harry met was as enemies, when Otto attacked Harry with his tentacles. He threatened to kill the young man for the tritium, an element he needed to power his solar device. However, Harry offered a deal with Octavius: he brings Harry Spider-Man and in exchange, Harry would give him the tritium, on the other account that he does not harm Peter Parker when acquiring Spider-Man's true identity. In the end, both parties ended up getting what they wanted. After leaving Spider-Man for dead, Doctor Octopus hoped Harry would kill his rival while Harry wanted Doctor Octopus's plans to succeed without realizing he put Mary Jane in danger as well. After unmasking Spider-Man as Peter, Harry was in shock, temporarily wondering if Doc ock had set him up and only left him Peter as a joke. In the end, Harry was forced to tell Peter where Doctor Octopus was hiding after learning he was holding MJ hostage. After seeing Spider-Man alive, Otto believed Harry just didn't have the guts to kill the vigilante.

## Trivia

* Otto is based on the character of the same name created by Steve Ditko and Stan Lee. In the comics, **Doctor Otto Octavius** was a brilliant but arrogant scientist. He grew up with an abusive father and a controlling mother. He suffered from an accident that molded him into becoming the villain Doctor Octopus, one of Peter Parker's most recurring enemies. One the most infamous storylines involved Doc Ock swapping bodies with Peter Parker and becoming the **Superior Spider-Man**.
* Like his counterpart from *Spider-Man: The Animated Series*, he is an idol to Peter Parker and his chief work was a fusion energy project.
* Several things explained in the novelization:
	+ Despite years of being marriedto each other for years, Otto and Rosie were unable to have children together.
	+ During the movie, he is heard hearing voices in his head. The book reveals that Otto is actively communicating with the tentacles.
	+ Doc Ock thinks that he's helping Aunt May by giving her a quick death, rather than a slow one of old age.
	+ Doc Ock knew where Peter was meeting MJ by tapping into his phone lines, something that was mentioned in the original script as well.
* Instead of being props like *Spider-Man 2*, Doc Ock's tentacles are completely CGI in *Spider-Man: No Way Home*.
	+ During production, Alfred Molina named them Harry, Larry, Moe and Flo.
* Otto was single in the comics. However, his *Ultimate Spider-Man* counterpart is married as well to a woman who has a name similar to Rosie's. However, unlike their movie counterparts, their Ultimate counterparts were not happily married.
* One of the proposed names J. Jonah Jameson's employee came up with was "Doctor Strange," and even though he liked it Jameson couldn't use it because it was already taken. This referred to the Marvel character of the same name.
	+ Ironically, Doctor Octopus would meet Doctor Strange in *No Way Home* and Sam Raimi would go on to direct the 2022 film, *Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness*.