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Doctor Otto Octavius, also known as Doctor Octopus, or Doc Ock, is the main antagonist of Spider-Man 2, the second installment of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy. He later appears as the quaternary antagonist-turned-supporting protagonist of Spider-Man: No Way Home.
He is a brilliant scientist who spent his life working on a fusion reactor with which to create strong renewable energy, helped with four robotic tentacles he created. During a demonstration, however, the reactor exploded, killing Otto's wife Rosie, and fusing his tentacles to his spine. The AI of the tentacles began manipulating Otto, and he took to a life of crime to recreate his reactor, completely apathetic to the danger it poses to the city.
In No Way Home, Otto is brought minutes before his death to a parallel universe, where an alternate Peter Parker frees him from the AI's control, causing him to help defeat Electro in the film's climax.
He was portrayed by Alfred Molina.
Biography[]
Spider-Man 2[]
Doctor Octavius first appears alongside his wife Rosie as a scientist working on a means by which to provide cheap, renewable energy to the entire world via Fusion Power. Peter Parker visits the couple and befriends them, with Otto reminding Peter that intelligence is not a privleage but rather a gift to be used for the good of mankind.
On the day of the demonstration, Otto unveils his mechanical arms with which he will tap into the energy he is creating due to it being too dangerous for a human hand to enter. To prevent the mechanical arm's artificial intelligence from taking control of his mind Otto also wears an inhibitor chip to protect his higher brain functions. At first, the demonstration goes well, but the experiment soon proves to be unstable, becoming akin to a miniature black hole. During the chaos that ensues, Otto's wife Rosie dies and Otto himself is electrocuted, which also destroys the inhibitor chip and fuses the mechanical arms to his spine. Taken to the hospital, Otto's mechanical arms reactivate and savagely murder all of the ER doctors and surgeons. Awakening, Otto panics upon realizing where he is and retreats to the ruin of an old warehouse on the edge of New York city. Consumed with grief at his wife's death and feeling responsible, Otto sinks into despair before realizing too late that the inhibitor chip has been destroyed. With it gone the mechanical arms swiftly corrupt Otto, convincing him that his experiment had been going successfully and that it's his "duty" to rebuild it, no matter the moral cost. So Otto Octavius becomes Doctor Octopus.
Doctor Octopus first attempts to steal the money needed to rebuild his invention, and in doing so first comes into conflict with Spider-Man. Though he takes May Parker as a hostage he is ultimately driven off by Spider-Man, who rescues his aunt. Afterwards Doctor Octopus visits Harry Osborn and demands that he give him more Tritium with which to complete his experiment. When Harry arrogantly refuses him, Otto threatens his life, at which point Harry makes him a deal: kill Spider-Man and he will receive his Tritium.
Seeking out Peter Parker on Harry's advice, Doctor Octopus kidnaps Mary Jane and tells Peter to find Spider-Man, lest he kill Mary Jane. As Spider-Man Peter confronts Doctor Octopus and after an intense battle uses up all of his remaining energy to stop a train crash after Doctor Octopus sends the train off-course. Capturing the fatigued Spider-Man, Doctor Octopus delivers him to Harry Osborn and then goes off to complete his experiment. After Spider-Man returns, the two battle once more, with Spider-Man being unmasked in the process. Appealing to Otto Octavius's inner goodness, Peter is able to convince Otto to abandon his doomed plan, at which point Otto reasserts control and returns to his original personality. With his machine now raging out of control, Otto sacrifices himself to drown it in the river, noting as he does that he will not die a monster.
Spider-Man: No Way Home[]
In an alternate universe, another version of Peter Parker asks Doctor Strange to create a spell to make the entire world forget he is Spider-Man after it was revealed by that universes's Mysterio. However, when Peter overcomplicates the spell, it causes a reaction that summons people who know Spider-Man's true identity from other universes, including Octavius.
Octavius is the first villain encountered by Peter, fighting him on the Alexander Hamilton bridge, mistaking him for his Peter. Octavius gets the upper hand by stealing the nanotechnology on Peter's suit, but realizes he is not his Peter, allowing Peter to take control of Octavius's arms through the nano tech. Octavius is teleported to Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum after witnessing Green Goblin arrive. He is locked next to an alternate version of Curt Connors who transformed himself into a lizard-human hybrid, and later meets both his universes's Norman Osborn and Sandman, as well as Connor's universe's Electro, during which they all realize they die.
All of the villains are brought to Aunt May's house, where Peter and a seemingly redeemed Osborn begin working on a cure for the villain's various ailments. Octavius is the first to be cured, being given a new inhibitor chip which stops his arms control of them. During this, however, Osborn's Goblin personality resurfaces, and convinces all but Octavius to join him. In the ensuing fight, Electro blasts Octavius out of the building.
In the film's finale, Octavius arrives seemingly to help Electro, only to instead rip out his arc reactor and cure him. He also reunites with his universe's Peter Parker, only for the Goblin to arrive. In the end, Otto is returned to his universe.
Trivia[]
- He is portrayed by Alfred Molina.
- Doctor Octopus was originally planned to appear in the first film and team up with the Green Goblin, but that wasn't included because Sam Raimi thought it "wouldn't do the movie justice to have a third origin in there."