History ComicBook / DoctorOctopus

* EvilGenius: A definite poster boy of this trope. Hell, in ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'' he drinks out of a coffee mug with this label on it.

* ArchEnemy: He used to compete with the Green Goblin and to a lesser extent Venom in this regard to Spider-Man. He held this most consistently in the first 100 issues and then only recovered that during that Dan Slott's time. Initially, he is the first villain to defeat Spider-Man, the creator and leader of the Sinister Six, the BigBad of one of Spider-Man's greatest stories, the Master Planner arc. Indirectly he killed Captain George Stacy and irreparably strained Peter's relation with Gwen Stacy. And he put Black Cat, Spider-Man's third great love in hospital. Then in Dan Slott's run, he managed to take over his body and live his life. However this experience would wind up changing Otto for the better and he would eventually become an anti-hero like Venom.

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* ArchEnemy: He used to compete with the Green Goblin and to a lesser extent Venom in this regard to Spider-Man. He held this most consistently in the first 100 issues and then only recovered that during that Dan Slott's time. Initially, he is the first villain to defeat Spider-Man, the creator and leader of the Sinister Six, the BigBad of one of Spider-Man's greatest stories, the Master Planner arc. Indirectly he killed Captain George Stacy and irreparably strained Peter's relation with Gwen Stacy. And he put Black Cat, Spider-Man's third great love in hospital. Then in Dan Slott's run, he managed to take over his body and live his life. However this experience would wind up changing Otto for the better and he would eventually become a anti-hero like Venom.

Dr. Octopus faded from view and prominence in TheEighties, with his major storyline, ''The Owl[=/=]Octopus War'' happening in the pages of the second series ''The Spectacular Spider-Man'' (Issues #73-79) rather than the flagship title. In TheNineties, writer Creator/TomDeFalco in a number of stories established his backstory, and during the Clone Saga, briefly reworked him into an ally of Spider-Man only for him to be briefly killed off and replaced by Carolyn Trainer, who became Lady Octopus for a brief time, until Defalco brought Octopus back only with his memory of being allies with Peter removed. Dr. Octopus was back and here to stay. He returned to prominence in a series of stories starting from ASM #600 where Peter comes across Octopus' brain scanner and uses it in his attempt to stop a catastrophe. The problem is that the device gives Octopus a scan of Peter's brain. Repeated use of the device over the next 100 issues gives Octopus more and more information to plot the ultimate daring heist. In addition to this, [[RealityEnsues After years of fighting Spider-Man]], [[EvilCripple his body began to succumb to the injuries he had sustained over the years]]. In one storyline, ''ComicBook/EndsOfTheEarth'', Dr. Octopus briefly ascended to a global Marvel-wide threat needing Spider-Man and the Avengers to shut him down with Spider-Man dying and decaying in his body leading to the ''Dying Wish'' storyline. As a way to prevent his death, [[FreakyFridayFlip Otto switched bodies with Peter Parker]] using one of his robots and the information from the brain-scanning. Before dying in Otto's body, Peter urged Otto to change for good and succeed the Spider-Man mantle with his last breaths. Otto complied, swearing to both live up to Spider-Man's example but do it his way, i.e. doing good by proving that he's the [[ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan superior hero]], resulting a more brutal, but still trying-to-be-heroic Spider-Man. Unfortunately, he found himself [[SlowlySlippingIntoEvil slowly slipping back into evil]], starting with his attempted erasure of a fragment of Peter Parker's soul and JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope from there. He eventually had a HeelRealization that he was doing more harm than good by the time Peter's soul fragment came BackFromTheDead, and relinquished control of Peter's body, [[RedemptionEqualsDeath erasing his own consciousness as penance]]. As Otto died, he told Peter that Peter [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre was a better Spider-Man and a better person]] than Otto (the self-proclaimed SuperiorSuccessor) could ever hope to be.

* SunglassesAtNight: He's rarely seen without them.

** Subverting this is Invoked with the Superior Octopus storyline; Otto wants to use his new body and his new costumed identity to start over and become a hero, having developed a taste for it during his time as the Superior Spider-man.
* CyberneticsEatYourSoul: After having the tentacles fused to his spine he turned evil.

* HeelFaceDoorSlam: Prior to the Death of Spider-Man in the UltimateUniverse, he tries to back out of the Green Goblin's latest scheme, declaring he always wanted to be a scientist not a villain, he wants to go back to science, and he'd rather take pride in the fact it was his genetic engineering experiments with spiders that ultimate created Spider-man. The Green Goblin promptly kills him.

* MoralMyopia: The whole "blaming Spider-man for beating him to near-death" thing in the build up to the Superior Spider-man storyline really falls into this. Doc, if you don't ''want'' to get bashed around by the super-strong vigilante, then maybe you should, y'know, ''not commit crimes''? Especially not crimes that involve ''trying to kill said vigilante in the first place''?

** In the UltimateUniverse, part of what prompts him to try and give up on villainy is because he decides Spider-Man is so impressive that he ought to be proud of having created him, even if by accident.

A highly intelligent MadScientist, Doctor Octopus is one of the greatest foes Franchise/SpiderMan has ever faced.[[note]]He's almost universally considered Spidey's all-time #2 foe after the Green Goblin.[[/note]] He is typically portrayed as a stocky, myopic man who utilizes four powerful, mechanical appendages and is obsessed with proving his own genius and destroying Spider-Man (and not necessarily in that order). The character has appeared in numerous Spider-Man cartoons and video games and is portrayed by Creator/AlfredMolina in the 2004 film ''Film/SpiderMan2'' as the film's main antagonist. In ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'' [[spoiler:he gets a GenderFlip to become villainous scientist Dr. Olivia Octavius, voiced by Creator/KathrynHahn]]. In 2009, Doctor Octopus was ranked as IGN's 28th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.

** In some of his iterations, he protects civilians, or at least refrains from harming them but his most notable battles, such as the Death of George Stacy, and ''The Owl/Octopus War'' shows him sociopathically indifferent to collateral damage, in the climax of the latter he attacks a hospital and at one point cuts an elevator carrying runaway patients and hospital workers which Spider-Man has to stop.

* AffablyEvil:
** In the first annual, he kidnapped Betty Brant and Aunt May Parker, and then gave them tea and cookies while apologizing for neglecting his guests.
** He also once rented a room from Aunt May and behaved like a perfect gentleman, even helping her around the house. He also came very near to marrying her after she somehow inherited a nuclear plant.
** In some of his iterations, he protects civilians, or at least refrains from harming them but his most notable battles, such as the Death of George Stacy, and ''The Owl/Octopus War'' shows him sociopathically indifferent to collateral damage, in the climax of the latter he attacks a hospital and at one point cuts an elevator carrying runaway patients and hospital workers which Spider-Man has to stop.

A highly intelligent MadScientist, Doctor Octopus is one of the greatest foes Franchise/SpiderMan has ever faced.[[note]]He's almost universally considered Spidey's all-time #2 foe after the Green Goblin.[[/note]] He is typically portrayed as a stocky, myopic man who utilizes four powerful, mechanical appendages and is obsessed with proving his own genius and destroying Spider-Man (and not necessarily in that order). The character has appeared in numerous Spider-Man cartoons and video games and is portrayed by Creator/AlfredMolina in the 2004 film ''Film/SpiderMan2'' as the film's main antagonist. In ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'' he gets a GenderFlip to become villainous scientist Dr. Olivia Octavius, voiced by Creator/KathrynHahn. In 2009, Doctor Octopus was ranked as IGN's 28th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.

The accident also seemed to have damaged his brain and the scientist turned to a life of crime. His very first criminal act was taking the hospital hostage and proclaiming himself Doctor Octopus, the derogatory nickname that his co-workers had originally given him. In their first encounter, Octopus defeated Spider-Man by tossing him out of a window. Following this defeat Spider-Man considered giving up his heroic career, but was inspired to continue by the Human Torch and ultimately defeated Doctor Octopus. Since then the Good (or Bad) Doctor has gone on to become one of the most identifiable members of Spider-Man's rogues gallery. He was actually Spider-Man's first recurring ArchEnemy before [[ComicBook/NormanOsborn the Green Goblin]] and his mystery overshadowed him. Goblin's death did nothing to raise Dr. Octopus' profile, since other contenders for the Goblin and ''ComicBook/{{Venom}}'' overshadowed him. He formed the first [[VillainTeamUp Sinister Six]] to fight Spider-Man. He was the villain for one of spidey's most iconic early arcs as "the Master Planner". He was also indirectly responsible for the death of Gwen Stacy's father George, who died when debris from a building where he and Spider-Man were fighting fell below, and Captain Stacy sacrificed his life to save a child from becoming collateral damage.

* ArchEnemy: He competes with the Green Goblin and Venom in this regard to Spider-Man. He held this most consistently in the first 100 issues and then only recovered that during that Dan Slott's time. Initially, he is the first villain to defeat Spider-Man, the creator and leader of the Sinister Six, the BigBad of one of Spider-Man's greatest stories, the Master Planner arc. Indirectly he killed Captain George Stacy and irreparably strained Peter's relation with Gwen Stacy. And he put Black Cat, Spider-Man's third great love in hospital. Then in Dan Slott's run, he managed to take over his body and live his life.

A highly intelligent MadScientist, Doctor Octopus is one of the greatest foes Franchise/SpiderMan has ever faced.[[note]]He's almost universally considered Spidey's all-time #2 foe after the Green Goblin.[[/note]] He is typically portrayed as a stocky, myopic man who utilizes four powerful, mechanical appendages and is obsessed with proving his own genius and destroying Spider-Man (and not necessarily in that order). The character has appeared in numerous Spider-Man cartoons and video games and is portrayed by Creator/AlfredMolina in the 2004 film ''Film/SpiderMan2'' as the film's main antagonist. In 2009, Doctor Octopus was ranked as IGN's 28th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.

** In the main universe, the original Otto Octavius died at the conclusion of ''The Superior Spider-Man'' , while the Otto that appears in all later appearances (except Spider-Verse, which features a time-displaced Otto-as-Spider-Man) feature an AI copy that has hijacked a powerful clone body. In fact, the Spider-Verse adventure ''sets up'' the creation of the duplicate since it has Otto learn-then forget- that he is destined to die in the future and take precautions. InUniverse the two are treated as one and the same, though.

A highly intelligent MadScientist, Doctor Octopus is one of the greatest foes Franchise/SpiderMan has ever faced. He is typically portrayed as a stocky, myopic man who utilizes four powerful, mechanical appendages and is obsessed with proving his own genius and destroying Spider-Man (and not necessarily in that order). The character has appeared in numerous Spider-Man cartoons and video games and is portrayed by Creator/AlfredMolina in the 2004 film ''Film/SpiderMan2'' as the film's main antagonist. In 2009, Doctor Octopus was ranked as IGN's 28th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.

The accident also seemed to have damaged his brain and the scientist turned to a life of crime. His very first criminal act was taking the hospital hostage and proclaiming himself Doctor Octopus, the derogatory nickname that his co-workers had originally given him. In their first encounter, Octopus defeated Spider-Man by tossing him out of a window. Following this defeat Spider-Man considered giving up his heroic career, but was inspired to continue his heroic career by the Human Torch and ultimately defeated Doctor Octopus. Since then the Good (or Bad) Doctor has gone on to become one of the most identifiable members of Spider-Man's rogues gallery. He was actually Spider-Man's first recurring ArchEnemy before [[ComicBook/NormanOsborn the Green Goblin]] and his myste ry overshadowed him. Goblin's death did nothing to raise Dr. Octopus' profile, since other contenders for the Goblin and ''ComicBook/{{Venom}}'' overshadowed him. He formed the first [[VillainTeamUp Sinister Six]] to fight Spider-Man. He was the villain for one of spidey's most iconic early arcs as "the Master Planner". He was also indirectly responsible for the death of Gwen Stacy's father George, who died when debris from a building where he and Spider-Man were fighting fell below, and Captain Stacy sacrificed his life to save a child from becoming collateral damage.

* TruerToTheText: Dr. Olivia "Liv" Octopus, despite being a DistaffCounterpart is personality-wise closer to the classic Dr. Octopus of Lee and Ditko and others who followed their direction, then Creator/AlfredMolina's portrayal in ''Film/SpiderMan2''. As a MadScientist in service to a gangster, who is indifferent and uncaring to the human toll and cost of her experiments, she's the classic gangster scientist version of Doc Ock.

* TheDragon: Some stories show him as this to ComicBook/NormanOsborn.

The accident also seemed to have damaged his brain and the scientist turned to a life of crime. His very first criminal act was taking the hospital hostage and proclaiming himself Doctor Octopus, the derogatory nickname that his co-workers had originally given him. In their first encounter, Octopus defeated Spider-Man by tossing him out of a window. Following this defeat Spider-Man considered giving up his heroic career, but was inspired to continue his heroic career by the Human Torch and ultimately defeated Doctor Octopus. Since then the Good (or Bad) Doctor has gone on to become one of the most identifiable members of Spider-Man's rogues gallery. He was actually Spider-Man's first ArchEnemy, especially during the early days before ComicBook/NormanOsborn began rising to prominence. He formed the first [[VillainTeamUp Sinister Six]] to fight Spider-Man. He was the villain for one of spidey's most iconic early arcs as "the Master Planner". And he was indirectly responsible for the death of Gwen Stacy's father George.

[[RealityEnsues After years of fighting Spider-Man]], [[EvilCripple his body began to succumb to the injuries he had sustained over the years]]. As a way to prevent his death, [[FreakyFridayFlip Otto switched bodies with Peter Parker]]. Before dying in Otto's body, Peter urged Otto to change for good and succeed the Spider-Man mantle with his last breaths. Otto complied, swearing to become better and a more [[ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan superior hero]], resulting a more brutal, but still trying-to-be-heroic Spider-Man. Unfortunately, he found himself [[SlowlySlippingIntoEvil slowly slipping back into evil]], starting with his attempted erasure of a fragment of Peter Parker's soul and JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope from there. He eventually had a HeelRealization that he was doing more harm than good by the time Peter's soul fragment came BackFromTheDead, and relinquished control of Peter's body, [[RedemptionEqualsDeath erasing his own consciousness as penance]]. As Otto died, he told Peter that Peter [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre was a better Spider-Man and a better person]] than Otto (the self-proclaimed SuperiorSuccessor) could ever hope to be.

As of ''ComicBook/AllNewAllDifferentMarvel'', it is revealed that Dr. Octopus' mind now resides within the Living Brain, stalkingly watching over Anna Maria. After teaming up with the Jackal during ''The Clone Conspiracy'' and temporarily inhabiting a clone version of his old body, he eventually betrayed the Jackal for insulting his love interest. Afterwards, he hijacked a new, powerful experimental clone body. He was then recruited by Armin Zola and ComicBook/{{HYDRA}} to aid in destroying Parker Industries, reinventing himself as the "Superior Octopus".

After the downfall of the Hydra Empire and the restoration of the true ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, he decides to try and abandon his supervillain ways, seeking to set himself up as the heroic protector of San Francisco in ''Superior Octopus #1''.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Or in his case, someone worse, as Peter considers him his "runner-up nemesis at best" with Norman Osborn taking up his top slot on the villain totem pole.
* AnArmAndALeg: After putting the Black Cat in the hospital, Spider-Man was so consumed with rage, he tore Ock's metal arms off. Because they are physically meshed into his spinal column, this was ''incredibly'' painful for Doc Ock.

** In some of his iterations, he protects civilians, or at least refrains from harming them.

* ArchEnemy: He competes with the Green Goblin and Venom in this regard to Spider-Man. Octavius has quite the resume: He is the first villain to defeat Spider-Man, the creator and leader of the Sinister Six, the first of the three to seemingly kill Spider-Man, the one that managed to take over his body and live his life, and the one that forced Peter to give up his worldwide company. He mainly had the role during most of the original Stan Lee run and the early hiatus when Norman Osborn was thought dead (although Jackal, Hobgoblin, and especially Venom fulfilled the role later on).

* DependingOnTheWriter: Much like Doctor Doom, Otto can be a NobleDemon AntiVillain in one story and a remorseless mass-murdering psychopath in another. Case in point, in 2002 both Paul Jenkins and Creator/JMichaelStraczynski (writing the titles "Spectacular Spider-Man" and "Amazing Spider-Man", respectively, both part of the mainstream canon) did a story with Ock as the villain; the latter has Ock pursuing a vendetta against an amoral corporate yuppie who stole his tech, but shows Otto going out of his way to save civilians (then leaving Spider-Man to die, because [[ExactWords "you're not a civilian"]]) and suggests what he really wants is [[CutLexLuthorACheck legitimate scientific and business success]]; the former portrays him as an utterly ruthless ManipulativeBastard professional criminal motivated entirely by ego and {{Greed}} who, in the words of Spidey, [[LackOfEmpathy (doesn't) care enough about anyone to hate them]], Ock responding with a "touché" before savagely beating on Spidey (remarking [[ItsPersonal he's an exception]]). His hatred of Spider-Man is the one consistent character trait, but otherwise he could be saving the innocent one minute and [[ComicBook/EndsOfTheEarth trying to kill all life on Earth out of spite]] the next.

* EvilVirtues: Octavius has a stellar work ethic, as Anna Maria observes in ''Superior Spider-Man''.

* ShadowArchetype: He is what Spider-Man could have easily have become if he let his powers go to his head. Much more so when he actually ''becomes'' Spider-Man.

** While he despises Spider-Man and is obsessed with defeating him, Octavious nonetheless appreciates that Spidey is highly intelligent and respects him as a formidable enemy.

* NotThatKindOfDoctor: He had a doctorate in Nuclear Physics originally. The Ultimate version seems to have replaced this with genetics. The Sam Raimi films maintain his nuclear physics background, while the PS4 incarnation of the character is instead primarily a robotics expert.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: In a few versions, most notably the 90s cartoon, Dr Otto Octavius encouraged a young Peter Parker's love of science, and told him to ignore those who would mock him. They weren't exactly friends, but close enough that Octavius remembers who Peter is when they meet after he's become Dr Octopus. The PS4 incarnation of the character takes it even further, where Otto was practically Peter's surrogate father before his descent into villainy.

** Subverted in ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvel''; when Norman Osborn tries to recruit the Sinister Six, Octavius actually refuses to join in, pointing out that the whole idea is stupid, that he's never really had a particular enmity for Spiderman and, if anything, he's ''proud'' of Spidey, since he engineered the spiders that made Spiderman in the first place, and so Spiderman is basically the living pinnacle of his work. Sadly, Norman promptly kills Otto for refusing to join in.

* HeelFaceDoorSlam: Prior to the Death of Spiderman in the UltimateUniverse, he tries to back out of the Green Goblin's latest scheme, declaring he always wanted to be a scientist not a villain, he wants to go back to science, and he'd rather take pride in the fact it was his genetic engineering experiments with spiders that ultimate created Spider-man. The Green Goblin promptly kills him.

* DistaffCounterpart: In the 90s, ''ComicBook/ScarletSpider'' faced off against Lady Octopus, a female supervillain who was enamored with Otto and deliberately patterned her identity off of his, complete with a cybnetic arms harness. The Web Warriors mini-series also introduced Octavia Otto, a heroic female counterpart of Otto's from Earth-1104, who returned in ''ComicBook/SpiderGeddon''.

* NotThatKindOfDoctor: He had a doctorate in Nuclear Physics originally. The Ultimate version seems to have replaced this with genetics.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: In a few versions, most notably the 90s cartoon, Dr Otto Octavius encouraged a young Peter Parker's love of science, and told him to ignore those who would mock him. They weren't exactly friends, but close enough that Octavius remembers who Peter is when they meet after he's become Dr Octopus.