Doctor Octopus

*"Intelligence is not a privilege, it's a gift, and you use it for the good of mankind."*
―Otto Octavius to Peter Parker[src]
**Dr.** **Otto Gunther Octavius** was a former scientist turned supervillain. He was a friend of Doctor Curt Connors, a professor at Columbia University who had lost an arm, as well as the husband of Rosalie Octavius. At some point in his career he founded Octavius Industries. Octavius was eventually funded by Harry Osborn of Oscorp on his fusion reactor. While finishing his fusion reactor, Octavius met Peter Parker, a student of Connors. He then demonstrated his fusion reactor, however, it turned out to be a failure and it killed his wife in the process. As a result, the tentacles that Otto created purely to aid him in his experiment began to control him, causing Otto to do criminal activities in order to rebuild the reactor. He eventually made a deal with Harry to bring him Spider-Man in order to obtain tritium for his reactor, which Octavius willingly did. However, upon learning Spider-Man's identity as Peter Parker, Otto shut the reactor down, killing himself.

## Biography

### Early Life

Otto Gunther Octavius was a good friend of Curt Connors and went to college with him, as well as going with a woman named Rosalie. Octavius and Rosie were very different students as they studied different topics. Being different, the pair tried to explain the concepts of their subjects. Octavius fell in love with her and read poetry to get her to feel the same. The pair would eventually get married. As they grew older, Connors would tell Octavius of his student Peter Parker, whom he viewed as brilliant but lazy. Otto also befriended Oscorp founder Norman Osborn. For most of his life, Otto dreamed about providing free self-sustaining energy for the entire of New York. Sometime later Octavius would learn of Norman's sudden death, however Octavius would figure out that Osborn was Green Goblin, while most others didn't.

### Fusion Reactor

#### Life's Work

Determined for his life's goal, Otto studied fusion in order to make his dream possible and make a self-sustaining fusion reactor to provide limitless energy for the entire of New York. While working on it, Otto designed some mechanised tentacles made solely for the purpose of the reactor. He placed a neural inhibitor chip inside it so that he would remain in control of them.

#### Funded by Oscorp

While working on the fusion reactor, he met Harry Osborn of Oscorp. Harry funded Otto in hopes that the company would profit from Otto's invention.

#### Meeting Peter Parker

A day before the official presentation, Otto was approached by Harry Osborn with his friend Peter Parker. Harry then introduced them together, with Peter mentioning him writing a paper on Otto. Otto began to brush him off but decided not to, due to Harry's fundings. Harry then took off due to a board meeting, leaving Peter and Octavius. Octavius then remembered Parker from his discussion with Connors and told him that despite it being a great thing, brilliance wasn't enough. Otto then showed him his fusion reactor which concerned Parker. However, him and his wife Rosie described is as being safe and that he could sleep soundly tonight.

Otto then disagreed with Rosie about going to sleep for the presentation during lunch, before Parker showed off his knowledge of the curve of quickest descent which Otto praised him about. Eventually, Rosie asked Parker if he had a girlfriend which he was confused about, before Otto told Parker about him and Rosalie, concluding that the best way to get a girlfriend was to read poetry.

#### The Birth of Doctor Octopus

The next day, Otto decided to demonstrate his fusion reactor, which was attended by Peter and Harry. Otto presented his tentacles for the public, before showing off the main event which was the Fusion Reactor. He then placed the tritium (the fuel for the reactor) inside so that it would power, before thanking Harry and Oscorp for the funds. It then powered which his assistant Raymond responded was successful. However, more power was added which resulted in the reaction to destabilise. However, Octavius refused to shut it off, believing that it would stabilise later. Octavius then attacked Spider-Man who had just showed up to pull the plug. Eventually though, Otto would witness Rosie's death as a result of collateral damage and the electricity in the reaction caused his inhibitor chip to explode and knock him unconscious.

### Quest for the Fusion Reactor

#### Attack on the Hospital

Following the failed demonstration of the accident, Otto was taken to Midtown Hospital, where the doctors would try to extract his tentacles. However, the tentacles were now in control of him due to his fried inhibitor chip. Unwilling to stay removed, the tentacles attacked all the doctors and removed the blindfold off of a now awake Otto. However, Otto realised what they had just done and yelled in agony. Upon leaving, the tentacles found an abandoned building for them to stay.

#### Criminal Ways

Following the accidents, Otto began to repent Rosie's death as well as the failures of the demonstration. He then repented the tentacles being ever created and felt that they along with him should be drowned in the river. However, he heard something talking in his head, which caused him to realize that the inhibitor chip was destroyed and that the tentacles were what is talking. The tentacles played with his vanity and ego as he wondered what the fusion reactor had done. He initially believed that Peter was right and he had miscalculated. However, he then believed he couldn't have miscalculated and that he was right. The tentacles then attempted to persuade him to turn to criminal ways to get money to rebuild his fusion reactor. While Otto initially refused stating he wasn't a criminal, the tentacles got in his head. Fully succumbing to the tentacles manipulations, he proclaimed that the real crime would be not to finish what he had started.

#### Bank Robbery

One day, Otto, going by Doctor Octopus as the Daily Bugle called him, decided to rob a bank to gain enough money and fund for his experiments in order to build the reactor. He walked towards the bank with a large jacket to conceal his tentacles. However, he revealed them in order to lift the vault door. He then hurled it away and made his appearance obvious. He ripped the bank's vault door without any difficulty and tossed it over, almost hitting Peter Parker and his aunt, May Parker, who were at the same bank. The residents in the bank panicked upon seeing the dangerous Doctor Octopus and his tentacles.

As he attacked policemen, he prepared to put the stolen money in the bags he had before Spider-Man showed up once again. Doctor Octopus then hurled the bags at Spider-Man and attacked him. Suffering a web block, Spider-Man was subdued by Doctor Octopus, who grabbed him by his wrists and prepared to crush his skull with his tentacles. However, Spider-Man was able to use his webs and hurl two desks at Doctor Octopus, which the latter was able to destroy the wooden desk, but the metal desk led him to crash outside the bank and into a taxi. Doctor Octopus ripped the doors off the taxi and hurled them towards Spider-Man, the first one missed but the second sent Spider-Man threw the broken window. The police showed up, ordering Doctor Octopus to freeze, but he grabbed a bystander and ordered the police not to follow him before he climbed up a building.

Doctor Octopus scaled up the walls of the building, he was stopped by Spider-Man, who ordered him to hand May over. However, Doctor Octopus tricked him into thinking he was handing her over before he dropped her. Spider-Man managed to save her with his webbing and pulled her up, as Doctor Octopus smashed Spider-Man aganist the wall. The two got into a brawl while May was left hanging by her umbrella of a statue. Doctor Octopus grabbed May again and threatened Spider-Man again if he tried to intervene with his plans again. However, Spider-Man was able to save May from Doctor Octopus, narrowly avoided getting impaled by Doctor Octopus' spike from his tentacle. Doc Ock then escaped unsuccessful with the money, a total of $2 million.

#### Alliance with Harry

Following the completion of his fusion reactor, which was larger than the previous version, Doctor Octopus approached Harry, once again asking for the tritium, but now he wanted more. However, Harry refused due to the consequences from last time. In retaliation, Doctor Octopus then lifted Harry over his house, threatening to drop him if he did not comply, prompting Harry to make a deal. Harry asked to bring Spider-Man alive and he would give the tritium. He then told Doctor Octopus that he needed to find Peter Parker in order to find Spider-Man, which Doctor Octopus agreed to. He then left and told Harry to get it ready.

#### Kidnapping Mary Jane

Following their newfound alliance, Doctor Octopus found Parker with Mary Jane Watson at a cafe. He then hurled a car at the window for a better entrance, and met Parker. He grabbed him, asking for him to find Spider-Man. He then grabbed Mary Jane and threatened to kill her if Spider-Man didn't come and to use as leverage to lure the hero into a trap. Climbing up a building, Doctor Octopus waited for Spider-Man at the Westside Market Clocktower.

#### Train Fight

Spider-Man, now returning following a loss of power, met Doctor Octopus at the tower. When Doc Ock asked him to come, Spider-Man refused and instead they fought, which extended further onto a train. Doctor Octopus then tried to sneak attack Spider-Man, but he returned and saved two passengers, who were thrown by Doctor Octopus. Doctor Octopus crawled to the front of the train, smashed a window and acclerated the train's speed to its top speed, then pulling the lever out, destroying the brakes. After reminding Spider-Man he had a train to catch, Doctor Octopus jumped to the wall of a nearby window. Spider-Man was able to save the people on the train. However, Doctor Octopus returned to the scene, and decided to grab Spider-Man, who was shielded by a handful of citizens and was exhausted by the strain from his strength he had to stop the train. However, Doc Ock grabbed him without any difficulty, knocking him out.

#### Obtaining the Tritium

After his fight with Spider-Man, Doctor Octopus returned to Harry to deliver Spider-Man to him, wrapped in metal spiked fence wires. He placed the hero on a bed, pointed by Harry. In exchange, Harry opened the safe to reveal the tritium, which Doctor Octopus took after seeing how large it was. He then escaped the Osborn Penthouse and left Harry to kill Spider-Man.

#### Stopping the Fusion Reactor

*"I will not die a monster."*
―Otto Octavius[src]
After, Doctor Octopus returned to his hideout and started the fusion reactor. He refused to let Mary Jane go, knowing that she may as well call the police doing so. Eventually, Spider-Man came to rescue her, but at first Doctor Octopus did not know Spider-Man was there, but his tentacles sensed his presence and alerted him. Doctor Octopus was enraged when Osborn did not kill Spider-Man, but still fought Spider-Man. During the fight, Doctor Octopus threw Spider-Man away, but he returned and attacked Octavius with an electric shock from the main power cable connecting to the fusion reactor, knocking him out. Spider-Man tried to rip the main power cables out of the reactor to stop it.

However, the magnetic field of the fusion reactor increased and started sucking everything metal, including most of New York City. Spider-Man, knowing he had to do something right, he then revealed himself to be Peter Parker to Doctor Octopus and asked how to shut it down. Doc Ock, under the influence of the tentacles, instead refused and attacked Parker. However, Parker made him remember his speech about intelligence. Returned to his senses from Peter's speech and from the electric shock, Octavius managed to regain control over the tentacles. Despite Otto having turned, the fusion reactor was unstoppable, so Octavius realised the only way to stop it was to drown it. Peter wanted to do it, but Octavius decided to drown it himself. After staring at Peter one last time, Octavius travelled to the legs of the fusion reactor, ripping them off so it would sink into the river. Vowing not to die a monster, Octavius sunk it into the river as an act of redemption for his crimes and for the death of his wife. However, doing this, he would also drown into the river along with the fusion reactor.

## Personality

*" Steal it? No, no, no, I'm not a criminal ... That's right. the real crime would be not to finish what we started."*
―Doctor Octopus[src]
Otto Octavius is first introduced as a very responsible and moral individual. He appears to have some sense of responsibility much like Peter Parker, understanding that he must use his intelligence for the greater good rather for personal gain. This is what motivates him to build the fusion reactor, which shows his selflessness and therefore him creating the reactor did not come out of greed and fame. He even uses his knowledge of this to remind Peter Parker that intelligence is not a privilege but instead a gift. Otto uses his belief of working for the greater good to create the Fusion Reactor, and is very hard working, as shown during his initial refusal to talk to a college student because of his continued work on the reactor. He is also shown to be hard working when he laments Peter Parker for being lazy, stating that even though he was brilliant, it was not enough to be greater. He also worked hard to make things work with his eventual wife Rosalie. He was very determined to keep things work with his fusion reactor even though it was clear the reaction would do anything but, showing his determination. Octavius is also a huge enthusiast of science, being able to use his knowledge to bond with Peter Parker and even praising him for his understanding of sciences. Octavius is also very grateful for Harry Osborn's work, deciding to ultimately talk to Peter Parker in gratitude for what Oscorp had helped him do as Harry Osborn requested. Otto is ultimately a very loving husband, expressing some sadness when his wife Rosalie died.

Eventually, however, after the Neural Inhibitor Chip of his tentacles are fried, Octavius's personality is altered by his tentacles, who manipulate him to finish his experiment at all costs. He then acts with a more crueler and sardonic behaviour. In fact, he even develops a sense of humour and has an even greater motivation to continue his work on the fusion reactor, no matter how many crimes he had to commit to get through with it. He also saw no problem in harming innocent people, including an old woman nearby and willingly kidnapped Mary Jane Watson in order to look for Spider-Man, which showed his growing determination. He even had no problem with destroying New York City to test his fusion reactor. However, upon realising his mistakes along with what the tentacles had done to him, he shut down the reactor and sacrificed himself to save New York City, fulfilling his earlier speech about how intelligence should be used.

## Powers and Abilities

### Powers

* **Mechanical Tentacles/Cybernetic Enhancement:** Due to the first fusion reactor experiment that went wrong, it fused the tentacles to his spine. As a result of this, Doctor Octopus had the ability to mentally control his four mechanical tentacles. Each tentacle had superhuman strength, speed, durability and the ability to climb up walls or travel along. They also included daggers that come out of the "eyes" of the tentacles. These abilities include:

* + **Superhuman Strength:** With the tentacles, Doctor Octopus was crazily stronger than normal humans, even Spider-Man as he is able to use the tentacles to easily overpower humans or grab them. Each of Otto Octavius' tentacles can lift up to 3 tons.
	+ **Telescoping:** Each tentacle is 4.5 feet long at rest and Doctor Octopus can extend them to 13 feet long. He extended the tentacles when he shoved passengers on a train out of the way so he can get to Spider-Man.
	+ **Wall-Climbing and Traveling:** Doctor Octopus can use his tentacles to travel along without the use of his feet and can climb up walls.
	+ **Superhuman Durability:** With the tentacles, Doctor Octopus can withstand great impacts such as being hit on a brick wall and been slammed in a taxi. The tentacles are also immune to heat and magnetism.
	+ **Superhuman Striking Force:** With the tentacles use, Doctor Octopus can use them to strike at anything with a strong force, such as striking Spider-Man or through a brick wall by smashing through it.
	+ **Superhuman Concentration:** Even before the accident Doctor Octopus possesses mental abilities and concentration to be able to perform multiple complex and independent actions at once via the use of the tentacles.

### Abilities

* **Genius-Level Intellect:** Dr. Octavius is a genius in various fields of science. He had obtained a PhD in Nuclear Physics, and is skilled in robotics, computer engineering and science.
* **Master Scientist:** Dr. Octavius is a highly talented scientist and was an expert in various types of science, including advanced science. He has devoted his life to study fusion reaction.
* **Master Engineer:** Using his knowledge and expertise in robotics and engineering, Dr. Octavius was an accomplished engineer. He was able to build his four mechanical tentacles, his first fusion reactor and his second reactor.
* **Expert Tactician:** After he became Doctor Octopus, he was an accomplished tactician. He was able to trick Spider-Man into thinking he was handing May Parker over to him, but dropped her before she could reach the hero. Doctor Octopus was also able to prompt Harry Osborn to provide him tritium when he threatened to drop him off the Osborn Penthouse.
* **Expert Combatant:** Despite not having any formal training, Doctor Octopus's tentacles made him a skilled combatant. He was able to defeat numerous police bank guards, push train passengers aside and fought the experienced hero, Spider-Man.

## Equipment

### Weapons

* **Doctor Octopus' Tentacles**: While creating his fusion reactor, Otto Octavius created heat/magnetism-resistant tentacles. However, due to the fried neural inhibitor chip, it started to control Otto and turn him into Doctor Octopus. This led him to use criminal ways in order to rebuild his fusion reactor.

### Other Equipment

*"The power of the sun, in the palm of my hand."*
―Otto Octavius[src]
* **Otto Octavius' Fusion Reactor**: Otto Octavius built two versions of the fusion reactor.
	+ **First Fusion Reactor**: The first reactor was used for the demonstration before he became Doctor Octopus. The reactor was destroyed when Spider-Man pulled the plugs out, though it fused the tentacles to Octavius' spine when it went rogue.
	+ **Second Fusion Reactor**: The second reactor was built by Doctor Octopus and placed into his hideout, but it was larger than the previous version. It was destroyed when the redeemed Doctor Octopus drowned it in the river.

*"If the A.I. is as advanced as you claim to say, wouldn't you be as suspectable to the Arms?"
"How right you are, that is why I made this Inhibitor chip, allowing me to control the arms, and not the other way."*
―Reporter and Otto Octavius[src]
* **Inhibitor Chip**: As a precaution to his Tentacles A.I. from controlling him, Octavius made an Inhibitor chip to allow him to retain control of the arms. However, due to a surge of electricity from his fusion reactor, the chip would become fried, allowing the Tentacles to control Octavius for sometime.

## Facilities

* **Doctor Octopus' Hideout**: Octavius discovered this abandoned warehouse on a waterfront pier after he escaped from the Manhattan General Hospital. It became his hideout where he started to rebuild his fusion reactor. The hideout was destroyed during his final battle with Spider-Man and when the fusion reactor went out of control.

## Relationships

### Allies

* Curt Connors - Friend
* Oscorp
	+ Harry Osborn †
	+ Norman Osborn †
* Raymond - Assistant
* Peter Parker/Spider-Man - Former enemy

## Trivia

* When considering a name for Doctor Octopus at The Daily Bugle, Ted Hoffman comes up with the name Doctor Strange. While J. Jonah Jameson likes the name, he mentions it is already taken.
* Octavius finds T. S. Eliot confusing.

## Behind the Scenes

* Doctor Octopus was originally considered to appear in *Spider-Man*, but was written out in order to make the plot less complicated.
* Chris Cooper, Christopher Walken and Robert De Niro were all considered for the role.
* Alfred Molina was excited to play the part, having been a fan of Marvel Comics.
* Molina underwent physical training for the role.
* Doctor Octopus in the *Spider-Man* trilogy is the first live-action incarnation of the character.
	+ Molina reprises his role as Otto Octavius / Doctor Octopus in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film *Spider-Man: No Way Home*, with the character transported from before his death. His return to the *Spider-Man* trilogy timeline would have to create a divergence.

## References

The Spider-Man Trilogy Wiki has a collection of images and media related to **Doctor Octopus**.

The Spider-Man Trilogy Wiki has a collection of quotes related to **Doctor Octopus**.

1. ↑ https://www.tvguide.com/news/alfred-molina-octopus-37245/

## External Links

* Doctor Octopus on Wikipedia
* Otto Octavius (film character) on Wikipedia
* Doctor Octopus on Marvel Database