The series is part of the wider Spider-Man franchise and is set in the shared Marvel Universe. It's a sequel to the original Superior Spider-Man (2013) series.
After the events of the original series, it was revealed that a copy of Otto Octavius' mind now resides within the Living Brain, stalkingly watching over Anna Maria. After teaming up with the Jackal during Dead No More: 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 HYDRA to aid in destroying Parker Industries, reinventing himself as the "Superior Octopus".
However, after the downfall of the Hydra Empire and the restoration of the true Captain America in Secret Empire, a truce with Peter Parker after Go Down Swinging and Spider-Geddon, and a friendship with the Peter Parker of Spider-Man (Insomniac), Ock once again decides to try and abandon his supervillain ways, seeking to set himself up as the heroic protector of San Francisco.
The first issue was released December 26, 2018.
Superior Spider-Man contains examples of the following tropes:
- Affably Evil: Digger of the Night Shift. Always joking and jovial, but ready to fight and is still a criminal.
- A Million Is a Statistic: After War of the Realms, Otto proves this is not the case for him. Every person he reveals he was unable to save leads him to having a Heroic BSoD.
- Batman Gambit: When Ock confront Osborn, he pretends not to care about James and lets Osborn drop him to his death. Immediately after its shown Otto planned for this and already had an extra pair of arms to rescue James.
- Body of Bodies: Master Pandemonium returns, this time scheming to induce a mass possession of innocent people and use their now demonic bodies to shore up his own until he becomes a giant.
- Break His Heart to Save Him: In his televised declaration of his return to being Doctor Octopus, he asserts that he no longer cares for others - so there's no point in targeting anyone he's associated with again - but that out of villainous pride he'll viciously retaliate if anyone tries. His subsequent conversation with Anna Maria and Emma suggests he does still care, and that's why he can't stay and be a hero.
- Cliffhanger: After defeating Osborn, Otto grabs the piece of the Web of Life Osborn had used to travel through dimensions. He comments he will find a better use for it than Osborn.
- Covers Always Lie: The cover of issue #9 shows Norman Osborn sinisterly overlooking Otto, but while the comic's end does include him, it's not the business suit-wearing 616-Norman depicted — it's Spider-Norman.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The first fight of Spider-Osborn over Superior Spider-Man ends this way, with Norman victorious. In their next fight, it is Doctor Octopus who wins. Otto telepathically calls in his extra mechanical arms, as in ALL of his extra arms, to restrain Norman, break his bones, incapacitates Spiders-Man, and rescues James.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: Otto's attempt to stop Terrax. Otto is an experienced, well equipped fighter and it definitively shows, but he was still going up against a Herald of Galactus.
- Deal with the Devil: In issue #11, knowing he can't defeat Spider-Norman, Otto makes a deal with Mephisto to restore his classic body so he can fight him as Doctor Octopus. The deal is in return Otto gives up not only his current body but also Peter's influence on him. He will retain all memories of his heroic deeds, but not the seemingly associated empathy from sharing Peter's memories.
- Demonic Possession: Master Pandemonium sends his demons to possess the people of San Francisco. He later uses the demon possessed people to form a new gigantic body he controls.
- Downer Ending: The series ends with Otto returning to his original body, having lost his empathy for others and the majority of his memories of his time as Spider-Man, and now vowing to return to villainy. However, Ock does state no one is to harm those he cared for during his time as a hero unless they suffer his wrath. He also set up a trust fund for James to help him financially. This occurred after he became Doc Ock again.
- Fully Absorbed Finale: The War of the Realms tie-in serves as one for the West Coast Avengers (2018), whose book had recently been cancelled.
- Good Feels Good: A theme of of the comic. In the last issue, Digger, a zombie member of the Nightshift, comments that he liked playing hero, even if it was only for money.
- Hero of Another Story: The tie-in to War of the Realms discusses this. Otto believes he can be the one who saves the Ten Realms and hijacks the West Coast Avengers to do so. Despite both the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man telling him to go back to LA and help protect it, he refuses until Gwenpool tells him that this is Thor's story and the best he can do is return to LA and protect it.
- Heroic BSoD: Following the War of the Realms, Otto's bottled up emotions over the death toll finally spill out when Peter drops in for a visit. Though Peter tells him that his regret over the death toll means he's doing his job right, he ends up fully breaking down when his co-worker Emma finds him.
- He's Back!: In issue #11, the classic Doctor Octopus returns, with both his original body and weaponry.
- History Repeats: Once again, Otto, as Spider-Man, is on the losing side of a battle with Norman Osborn. Also once again, (a) Spider-Man makes a deal with Mephisto to Take a Third Option.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Even having turned over a new leaf, Otto still escaped consequences for his prior villainous actions as Doctor Octopus and even collaborating with HYDRA during Secret Empire. The final arc of this series has Norman reveal Otto's secrets to public at large.
- Mundane Utility: Otto uses his Spider-Bots to cook dinner for a date with a co-worker.
- Never My Fault: After getting his new body, he claims to see his past actions as influenced by various factors:
- He blames his behavior as Doctor Octopus on supposed brain damage that he suffered after the mechanical arms fused with his body, whereas his clone body's brain is undamaged. Anna Maria crushes the claim, stating that all the radiation did to rewrite his brain was give him the ability to control his arms telepathically. Even Mephisto claims such.
- On the other hand, he sees the adverse effects of his first time as Superior Spider-man as the result of attempting to live as Peter Parker, rather than embracing his full potential.
- Inversely, Mephisto challenges Otto on whether his currently morality is his own fault or merely a result of Peter's memories. After the deal, Otto publicly claims that it was a defect of his clone body that gave him a "delusion of the mind" to become a hero, and that his original body was and is the mentally healthy one. However, this is implied to be part of his Break His Heart to Save Him ploy.
- Redemption Rejection: After becoming Otto again Anna Maria and Emma Hernandez, Otto's love interest, attempt to get him to stay. He refutes them, claiming that part of his life is over.
- Reformed, but Rejected:
- Anna Maria realizes that the new professor in Horizon is Otto and proceeds to read him the riot act over his actions, vowing to call the cops on him. Anna Maria acts as Otto's conscience and to help actually reform him.
- Other heroes have shown complete reluctance to work with him due to him taking over Peter's body. However, they do acknowledge that he is making a genuine effort to become a hero and even try to defend him when Norman Osborn reveals his identity.
- So Bad, It's Good: In universe, this is how Quentin Quire views Otto. He views Otto's embarrassing attempts at banter and his "The die is cast!" catchphrase as so dumb and lame that he can't help but love them.
- Something Only They Would Say: Tolliver using the "The Die is Cast!" catchphrase ends up tipping Anna Maria on who he really is.
- Status Quo Is God: The series ends with Otto making a deal with Mephisto that purges Spider-Man's influence — genetic and mental — from him, restoring him to his original body and supervillain mentality. Otto returns to his Doc Ock identity, beats Spider-Norman to a bloody pulp, and declares That Man Is Dead when his friends try to rekindle the spark of goodness in him.
- Take a Third Option: Spider-Norman offers Otto a deal to free James: He either kills 3 innocent people to get James back, or he could try to rescue James himself. Either way, Otto knows Norman will probably kill James. The third option Otto takes? Mephisto.
- That Man Is Dead: After Otto goes back to being Doctor Octopus, he knows he can no longer be the Superior Spider-Man or even a hero again. More so, a funeral is held for Elliot Tolliver (actually a disposable last-minute clone created by Otto), with those in attendance knowing who he truly was.
- Took a Level in Kindness:
- While in the previous run Otto learned empathy from Peter's ghost and memories, in this version he actually starts taking this to heart. Anna Maria acts as The Heart for Otto, James becomes a Morality Pet for Otto for whom he sympathizes over the death of James' parents, and Emma as his love interest also becomes a Morality Pet. All of this contributes to Otto actually wanting to help people and seeing them as people, and not just prove he is a "superior" Spider-Man.
- After becoming Doctor Octopus again much of this is undone. However, he still did some good, like setting up a trust fund for James after he became Doc Ock again. His last moments with Anna Maria and Emma as well as when he spied on Elliot's funeral suggests that despite his reversion, he still feels some of this empathy and reluctance, though he manages to supress it easier.
- The Unmasking: Otto's identity as Superior Spider-Man is outed on television in issue #10. At the same time, Max Modell realizes that Elliot Tolliver was Otto. So both of his secret identities are kaput.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: In a rather jerkish and condescending way, Otto believes that someone as powerful and intelligent as Peter should be incredibly successful and rich by now. Why is this jerkish and condescending? He thinks Peter is too childish and navel-gazing to achieve those things.
