Doctor Octopus

**Doctor Octopus** appeared in 1963 Marvel Comics called *The Amazing Spider-Man*. **Dr. Otto Octavius** is a highly intelligent and prideful scientist, better known as the criminal mastermind Doctor Octopus. During an atomic research project, Octavius' body was fused to four mechanical, tentacle-like arms, also causing him severe brain damage that turned him into a criminal. He clashed with Spider-Man and went to become one of his greatest enemies. After multiple battles, Otto's body started to fail and decay itself. In one last attempt to survive, Otto swapped brains with his nemesis, leaving Spider-Man to die in his fragile body. However, residual memories caused Otto to understand the responsibility of being a hero and strove to become the **Superior Spider-Man**, a better crime-fighter than his nemesis ever was. Despite his best efforts, Otto's ruthless method of justice was futile in stopping the return of Green Goblin, forcing Otto to cede control of his body back to Peter Parker, understanding him to be the one worthy of being called Spider-Man.

A digital backup of Otto's mind survived and housed himself in the robotic body of the **Living Brain**. Using the cloning technology of the new Jackal at his disposal, Otto transferred his digital mind to a new body made from his and Spider-Man's genes, assuming the alias of the **Superior Octopus** while working with Hydra. Creating the identity of "Elliot Tolliver," Otto moved to San Francisco, where he resumed his activities as the Superior Spider-Man. Despite all the good he had done, Otto was forced to make a deal with Mephisto to return to his Doctor Octopus body and mind to defeat another criminal mastermind.

## Powers and Abilities

* **Cybernetic Tentacles:** Doctor Octopus' superhuman abilities derive from the four mentally-controlled, electronically-powered, telescoping, prehensile titanium-steel tentacles attached to a stainless steel harness encircling his body from lower chest to waist. Each tentacle, approximately five inches in diameter, terminates in three single-jointed pincers. The pincers are able to rotate in relation to the arm for 360 degrees, in a screwdriver-like twisting motion. Each tentacle segment contains four high-efficiency electric motors equipped with a clutched, helical-gear train, independently mounted on frictionless gimbals and housed in four thin, overlapping layers of titanium-niobium steel. The titanium-steel alloy is light, has high-tensile strength, a high melting point, and high thin-wall rigidity. The motors get their power from a small nuclear-powered thermo-electric generator, which can provide several hundred watts per hour for up to five years before needing to replace its U-239 core. The tentacles have been modified since the time of the original accident to include high-efficiency battery packs (enabling movement when cut off from the central power source) and individual micro-circuit control modules (enabling each arm to perform certain pre-programmed actions when Octopus loses conscious control). In the event that Octopus loses consciousness, the control module of each arm has enough pre-programmed conditional responses in its memory chip to enable it to perform a relatively complex sequence of actions, such as saving his life. The trauma of his arm or arms being separated from the harness causes a period of disorientation in which his arms flail about uncontrollably until the pre-programming takes over.
	+ **Technopathic Tentacle Manipulation:** Octopus can control the actions of his artificial arms psionically, even when they have been severed from his body and are separated from him by vast distances (a distance of 900 miles has been recorded).
	+ **Telescoping:** Each tentacle is approximately six feet long at full contraction, but can extend to a maximum of 24 feet in length.
	+ **Superhuman Striking Force:** Each tentacle is capable of moving at a speed of ninety feet per second and strike with the force of a jackhammer.
	+ **High-Wind Generation:** The tentacles can generate 50 mile per hour winds if spun like a giant fan.
	+ **Wall-Climbing and Traveling:** By combining the intrinsic strength of both his tentacles and the pincers, Doctor Octopus can scale stone, brick, or concrete walls by rending "handholds" in the surface of the wall. Octopus is able to use his tentacles for traversing horizontal distances as well. At full extension, he can travel high above the ground as if on stilts, either using two tentacles, or for maximum speed (approximately 50 miles per hour), four tentacles.
	+ **Sensation Feeling:** Although there are no nerve endings throughout the length of his artificial arms, Octopus can "feel" basic sensations with them. As a result of the mutagenic changes from exposure to radiation during the accident, electrical connections have been made from his chest harness to his spine. Thus, Doctor Octopus can mentally perceive "tactile" sensations by feeling the amount of electrical resistance that the pincer's electric motors feel when the pincers grasp an object.
* **Genius Intelligence:** Otto Octavius is a multi-discipline scientist with expertise in various fields of science.
	+ **Radiation Specialist:** Doctor Octopus is one of the world's leading authorities on nuclear radiation and its effect on animal physiology.
	+ **Engineering:** Doctor Octopus is a brilliant engineer and inventor, due to his own ability and more recently due to having Peter's memories.
	+ **High Concentration:** Doctor Octopus possesses extraordinary mental abilities and concentration, and through years of practice is able to perform two complex and two simple independent actions, simultaneously, one with each arm.

### Arsenal

* **Doctor Octopus' Tentacles:** Doctor 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, which was modified in 2004 to resemble the version seen in the movie *Spider-Man 2*. The original and Adamantium harnesses were both destroyed in the Lethal Foes of Spider-Man miniseries. The current harness has eight tentacles as opposed to four.
	+ **Original Harness:** With his titanium harness, Doc Ock was able to beat Daredevil, a seasoned combatant with superhuman senses, almost to death out of sheer power. It was also temporarily worn by Spider-Man after Octavius' death, until the Hobgoblin caused it to short-circuit via pumpkin bomb. Spider-Man than proceeded to rip them apart when he lost control.

### Weaknesses

* **Arrogance:** On many occasions, Otto's pride has been a major factor in many of his defeats. Otto considers himself to be the smartest person on the planet and that he could never be wrong due to his massive intellect. This confidence in his own intelligence frequently causes him to ignore factors that could derail his plans leaving him unprepared for when these factors come into play. This also makes him at wits with other heroes, mostly the Avengers.