Ghost Peter isn't actually a ghost
He's Peter's repressed consciousness in the back of Doc Ock's head that he just ignores seeing it as an after effect of the body swap. Ghost Peter hears Otto's thoughts which seems kind of strange for a ghost to be able to do. In issue 2 he seems to be able to hear Peter's complaints such as making a web net. It'd make more sense if it was Doc's body that stopped him from killing the Boomarang instead of a ghost that can't interact directly with Ock.- Confirmed by the first page of issue 3 and the events in it. The first page says "A tiny piece of Peter Parker [Ghost-Peter] is still there in Superior Spider-Man's brain, watching Otto live out his life trying to keep the reformed villain in check." And Ghost-Peter gets summoned whenever SpOck tries to act like Peter.
Added point to the nature of Ghost Peter
He is not (only) the repressed consciousness/memories of Peter, but Otto's perception of Peter. Which is in part how Otto was able to defeat him; ghost Peter was Otto's ideation of Peter given life. Therefore, when Ghost Peter was deleted from Spock's brain he technically purged his own memory as well. This may lead to the self destruction of Spock.Osborn will play in a role in Peter's revival
In the last story before the final wish arc. Osborn's room was empty, suggesting that he might be back. As Osborn has been more of a wide threat due to dark reign. It would make sense that as the series continues, Osborn starts manipulating the background to attack "Peter" once more as a way to reintroduce Osborn as the Green Goblin in the Spider-Man comics. In the final arc of Superior, Osborn is at his strongest, he has taken MJ, Aunt May, and all of Peter's friends hostage, and forcing Spider-man in a one on one match.Otto no matter what he does cannot beat Osborn, as Otto is too much like Osborn and Osborn can easily anticipate all of Otto's moves. Which shatters Otto's ego, at that moment, Peter is able to force Otto out of his body, and faces Osborn as the Amazing Spider-Man. In which after a grueling battle, Peter wins and is reunited with Mary Jane.Either Otto or Peter are going to get a clone body
The Jackal appears in Avenging Spider-man who is known for making clones. If Peter somehow gains control of his body again expelling Otto's consciousness he'd technically die due to his original body being dead. Letting Otto die isn't something Peter would do especially since he spent quite a bit of time in Otto's head.- Ironically confirmed completely in the current special Dead No More, where Otto has used the revamped Jackal's systems in Nu You to create himself his classic body. There may be some catches, as the Jackal isn't completely trustworthy, but hey. Otto is nothing if not creative.
Ghost Peter is going to be exorcised from Otto's head in issue 9
The issue cover has a picture of Spider-Man with his brain showing, suggesting some sort of lobotomy might take place, given that Ghost Peter is all in Otto's head. However the issue description says, "Superior no more" suggesting otherwise but the cover for the next issue has Spider-Man still in the superior outfit.- Confirmed
- JOSSED! Issue 19? Peter starts digging out again.
The gold Octobot is the key to restoring Peter
Since it was used to swap their minds in the first place, was last used by Peter, and didn't show up since its last appearance in ASM 700.The Avengers kick Spidey out of the team
That "Fired" teaser is one thing, and now we're seeing just what might lead to Spidey's dismissal from the Avengers, particularly with him brutally killing a villain and now showing some Knight Templar tendencies.- Jossed; he's put on probation, but they couldn't prove that something was wrong with Spider-Man.
- And not only further Jossed, but also Inverted, as Spidey leaves the Avengers once Tony Stark reveals that Spidey tampered with the brain scan results and the cameras in Stark Tower, rather than getting kicked out.
Peter and Otto never actually swapped minds
Tying in with the aforementioned (and confirmed) "Ghost Peter isn't actually a ghost" WMG, Otto and Peter never truly switched minds. Rather, Ock's machine overlaid a copy of his own thought patterns and memories on Peter's brain, and likewise with Peter's thoughts and memories onto his own brain. In effect, this means that Peter isn't actually Otto, he only thinks he is, aside from a small part of his mind that Otto (who believed he truly was Peter Parker until the moment he died) reawakened in Peter.- This could be further supported by the fact that they swapped "brain patterns
◊," not "souls." Octavius may have been a mad genius but he's not one to dabble in the mystic arts. - This is exactly why this 'mind swap' stories just don't work for me. Used to have a big ol' debate about this sort of thing back in college about what makes a person that person. I fully agree that this Superior Spider-Man IS Peter Parker rewritten to think he's Doc Ock in Parker's body.
Peter is getting a separate body and going to go under the guise of Ben Reilly.
Some new promotional material Marvel released shows a new Spider-man along with an outfit that closely resembles Ben's costume as Spider-man. Yet at the same there is still a Spider-man wearing the Superior costume. It is possible that as a result of issue nine that Peter and Otto got separate clone bodies but Otto got to keep the mantle of Spider-man since Peter couldn't prove to others that it wasn't the right person, yet.- Jossed, the new suit is being used by Otto as a fresh start, now that he's free of Ghost-Peter's influence.
The series/story will end with Peter coming back and Ock being Doc Spider or something.
Ock will get his own body but his experiences will have changed him. He'll still want to be prove he's better but now it'll be something of a friendly rivalry with Peter.The Story will end with Peter coming back and Ock dying.
Preferably in a horribly painful way to get rid of the poser for good.616 Miles is the new Mysterio
It would be pretty ironic. The Mysterio impersonator in Avenging Spider-Man #22 acted fairly similar to Miles and even looked like a grown version of him. And at the end of Spider-Men, when Peter looked up Miles he reacted in shock, possibly implying that in the 616 universe Miles is a criminal or a villain of some sort.Dr. Spiderpus is Marvel's answer to Knightfall
A hero with a strict Thou Shalt Not Kill ethos, Rogues Gallery who keep getting tossed in Cardboard Prisons, breaking out and playing hell with the hero's life (not to mention the city he lives in) and a portion of his fandom who wished he'd take a harder line with said gallery (read: start killing). The hero is replaced by a former enemy, who vows to be better than his predecessor and won't let silly things like morality and laws against murder stop him from cleaning up the streets. Said replacement has to, inevitably be taken down by the returning hero and his allies. Now - are we talking about Spider-Man/Dr. Octopus or Batman/Azrael?Green Goblin knows/will discover that Doc Ock is Spiderman.
Comics seem to love the idea that the heroes arch-nemesis knows them best, and if the Avengers are noticing that Parker's behaviour is a bit off, just imagine what the man who has pushed him to his very worst will be able to figure out when he sees that Spiderman has done almost spontaneously what he hasn't even done when pushed to the limit. He'll put together Doc Ock gaining a device which swaps minds, Doc Ock's death and Spiderman's new morals, and decide to put this to his advantage, either by blackmailing Ock/Spiderman into doing some deeds for him, or by straight out giving it to the Avengers in the hopes it will tear them apart as they try to hunt him down.Either that, or he'll figure it out and just decide that since it's Ock, it isn't worth playing his usual games with and will just straight out go to kill him
There'll be a battle where Osborn will surprise Ock with the fact he knows the truth. Otto will ask how he knows and Norman will give a similar response to the one he gave when asked how he outmaneuvered Roderick Kingsley. "I'm Norman Osborn!"
- As of issue #21, the Goblin King had Carlie kidnapped at Otto Octavius's grave, and through reading her journal, he now knows that Otto Octavius is Spider-Man, though he does not know that Spider-Man used to be Peter Parker. Also, he may or may not have had something to do with the fact that Otto's body is now missing.
The Superior Spider-Man will be a direct lead in to a One More Day resolution
Also posted on the Wild Mass Guessing for One More DaySo when Otto fights Peter in Peter's mind, Otto not only makes the argument Peter is fundamentally selfish, but Peter is somehow unable to refute it. Superior also has both Ghost Peter (before he's deleted) and Mary Jane admit to themselves that they still love one another/they are each others soulmates. And thus when Otto is inevitably found out (likely because he keeps getting more violent, sloppy, and no longer has Peter's memories and will slip up when confronted with information he should know about, but somehow doesn't), the heroes of New York (plus MJ who will likely play a hand in his grand unmasking) try to figure out to get the real Peter Parker back. Through some Techno Babble mumbo jumbo, they're able to see the mental fight Peter lost and instantly know something must be wrong because Peter Parker, as The Avengers, Fantastic Four etc. know him, is the most selfless, responsible guy on the planet. As some of have speculated will happen on the OMD page, Ghost Rider, Doctor Strange etc. start sensing the universe was changed, but can't pinpoint how. When they try to view the change all the see us the events of One Moment in Time, wherein they hid Parker's identity. While said action did cause change, it shouldn't be enough to warrant what they sense, especially sense the physic blind spot that prevents people from uncovering the truth about Peter's ID was effectively undone in Spider-Island. Eventually it's revealed that Peter and MJ were married, and the events of One Moment in Time were placed in everyone's memory in place of what actually happened. Mephisto went out of his way to make Peter and MJ's memory of their wedding day as horrible as possible and inject petty fighting in their memory in hopes that he can prevent them forever getting back together as their either their future child was destined to defeat him, it was all part of a gambit to somehow get more souls, Quesada is actually Mesphito etc. (take your pick). Ock was only able to defeat Peter because the Peter in this timeline has subconscious memories of the deal and thinks of himself as unworthy, even more so than other Peters. Cue epic battle to undo everything, get the real Peter back, and obligory badass MJ somehow getting her revenge on Mehispto for manipulating her and taking away the love of her life.
Felicia Hardy as the Black Cat will be the one to discover the switch.
It was recently shown Black Cat will be teaming up with Otto, not realizing it. Carly seems to be the only one who knows something is wrong but as a regular person can't really do much. If Carly can figure it out so could Pete's old sidekick who is in fact able to do something, what exactly I don't know but she's not a regular civilian.- Hoo boy... If by "team-up" you mean "Got her face punched in", then yes... and rather than being the one to discover the switch she's the only person to think it's a lie.
The Goblin King is actually Peter Parker in Norman Osborn's body
At the end of Amazing Spider-Man #697, we see Norman Osborn's hospital bed vacant and a window clearly open, despite the fact that he was rendered comatose at the end of a recent battle against the Avengers. Later, after Otto brutalizes the Vulture, we see the Goblin King offering his escaped minions safety from the new Spider-Man, a goal which seems rather out of character for Norman. Then, Gobby shuts off Otto’s hacked Spider-Bots around Mary Jane’s nightclub. Again, the nightclub doesn’t seem like anything Norman would particularly care about (in a post-"One More Day" world, anyway; pre-OMD, he'd attack the place in a heartbeat). When the Vulture kids patrolling the area see the disabled robots and assume that the Goblin wants the place destroyed without Spidey noticing, they torched it, but the Spider-Bots turn back on, alerting Otto to the problem. Lastly, going back to the Goblin King’s introduction to the Vulture kids, he mentions that he knows all of the Spider’s tricks. Except that while he would know what Peter could do, there’s no way Norman would be able to know all of Otto’s tricks, since he was rendered comatose prior to the “Dying Wish” storyline. This all leads to the conclusion that this is in fact, not Norman.Instead, the scene where Norman has already left his hospital room actually takes place after the switch and the reveal, but before the fight where "Doctor Octopus" dies by the hand of "Spider-Man". Peter, knowing what happened to Norman, came up with a contingency plan just in case he couldn’t take his body back during his final battle against Otto. While he still had control over the Golden Octobot, he had it enter Norman’s hospital room and copy Peter Parker’s memories and thoughts onto his brain. When Peter-in-Norman’s-Body saw how unnecessarily brutal Otto was in his victories against the Sinister Six and the Vulture, he knew he had to take back his life, but he also knew that a straight-up fight wouldn’t work. Thus, he began to build an army, hack Otto’s Spider-Bots, and wait for the right moment to strike back. When Massacre was killed, he realized that his own memories weren’t enough to keep Ock in check, so he slightly altered the plan to keep Mary Jane safe.
- This troper fully supports this. For the first time, favorite WMG! But, I do like the Superior Spider-Man, and I hope it goes on.
- Jossed. Peter Parker is still a living hidden soul inside his body and the Goblin King is confirmed to be Norman Osborn.
- Not necessarily. While recent events have made this theory less likely (in particular, Gobby forcibly turning Carlie Cooper into a Goblin), this theory specified that a copy of Peter Parker was created in Norman's head via the Golden Octobot before Peter died in Otto's body, and so far, while Gobby has claimed to be Norman and has what he claims is a scar that he gained from his impalement by his own glider (as seen in The Night Gwen Stacy Died), this doesn't mean that he actually is Norman. So I wouldn't call it Jossed until they finally reveal the truth of the Goblin King's identity.
This will be a repeat of the Clone Saga
That is to say that it will be initially very popular and sell well. This will cause it to be greatly expanded on, past it the original ending point. By the time it finally ends people will be clamoring for the true Spider-Man back. And the comics sales will be way down by the time this finally happens.Kaine will become the new Spider-Man
There is, in fact, one Spider-clone still running around and recently Jackal made an appearance.The story arc will end with Peter Parker in a cloned Dr Octopus body
For added bonus it will be just as "Otto" has managed to pull off his greatest masterplan ever proving to be a greater villain then Otto ever was. "Peter" sees this and uses the mind swap trick again but the real Peter plans for it and defeats Dr. Octopus while back in his body.——- Jossed: Peter got his body back.
There is a recurring theme of mistaken/stolen identities
Aside from Ock!Spidey, there are a number of other characters who fit this subtle trend within the book.- Daniel Kingsley (the former Hobgoblin) has been selling supervillain identities for his own profit
- Mentioned in a turf war between the New White Dragon and Owl before Freaky-Friday Man breaks it up
- Kingpin has a body double specifically for this purpose
- Dan Slott has even stated that the Green Goblin might not even be Norman Osborn, but a new Green Goblin may be under the mask
- Possibly averted, as he did suggest Harry as a possibility...
Loki will eventually undo the switch
Or be involved somehow. Now that he hijacked his child self and regained all his memories there's no way he doesn't remember his dept to Spidey. Liar he might be but he prefers using things like trickery or Exact Words when betraying people and then gloating about it. He does take his deals and promises seriously. And there was no small print for the guy who helped save his daughter. He'd be able to tell what exactly is wrong with him the moment he lays his eyes on him considering his own history and powers. Add to that his Young Avengers and Journey into Mystery Character Development, general fondness of Spider-Man, bodyjacking parallels, new trusted statues and overall Avengers connections plus his new Reality Warper hero buddy who even lends him his powers at times and the Dimensional Traveller AND being Loki: the Marvel Go-To-Guy for Evil vs. Evil and Enemy Mine. He's almost too perfect for the deed.- ...Hope you're reading this Marvel, if you didn't have the idea already.
- Jossed. Otto erased himself and let Peter have his body back, with no involvement from Loki.
Otto's good fortune will wind up being short-lived and he'll start to experience the unrelenting misery that Peter used to.
Jameson will in some way discredit Spidey-Ock enough that the blackmail won't matter and go back to publicly hunting him and the populace of New York will go back to hating and fearing him. Because of this he winds up so busy as Spider-Man trying to fix the damage that he fails his doctorate exam and is promptly fired from his day job. His new henchmen turn against him and Kingpin blows up his new base, requiring him to move in with Aunt May. And in response to his willingness to kill, Spidey's Rouge Gallery escalates and become more ruthless and aggressive, making their fights much more dangerous than Otto was expecting.Having Otto go through all this would be pretty good commentary on Peter's status as The Chew Toy.
- Ended up the other way around: he went through the far greater misery that was actually starting off seeming to be a more effective, if morally gray, hero than Peter ever had been. Then he started acting more ruthless. And he burned every single bridge Peter had built up. Then he went full on Mad Scientist supervillain-in-spidey-suit. He was still king of the castle, though. Then the Goblin King destroyed literally almost everything he could have possibly cared about without even trying all that hard and basically every potential ally he had remaining, hero or villain, turned their back or was incapacitated, slaughtered, or looking to him for answers he was looking to them for. Which all took place over the course of a day, and left him completely broken.
Peter Parker may return during the Spider-Man 2099 team-up.
In a recent interview, Slott is saying that something big will be happening during SpOck and Miguel O'Hara's team-up in issues #17-19. He also mentions that time itself has become unstable throughout the 616 universe after the events of Age of Ultron. That being said, it could be possible for a past incarnation of Peter Parker to show up in today's timeline. Who knows, it could even be a Peter from before the events of One More Day/Brand New Day. It's wishful thinking at its best.- Not quite; Ultimate Peter would need to turn up there too. Alive, of course.
- CONFIRMED! But, not the way you think. Look at the two page spread at the very bottom as Otto's trying to get Peter's memories back. A certain someone's digging out of the rubble...
Peter Parker will return as Doctor Doom
Doctor Doom will, once again, try to bring his mother Back from the Dead. Peter will seize the opportunity to possess Doom. Unlike the Ghost!Peter who was temporarily living with Otto, he'll be an actual ghost and interact with Doom without help from any special devices. They'll even make some sort of deal.- Jossed. Ghost-Peter took his body back without Doom's help.
There's a Ghost!Smythe in Peter's body
As a result of Smythe's failed attempt to steal Spidey's body.Deadpool will discover the switch and team up with Squirrel Girl, Loki, Doctor Doom, and all of Peter's love interests to undo it
Because Deadpool is the kind of person who could find it out, Loki and Doom could undo it, Squirrel Girl is necessary to persuade Doom, and Peter's love interest provide incentive for Peter to win and distraction to Otto (plus Gwen's ghost would screw with Peter's mind, Deadpool's real reason to bring all the interests there).- Wasn't Peter already deleted?
- That's why Deadpool will involve Doom.
- Jossed. Otto and Peter switched back on their own, and Otto removed himself from Peter's brain. Deadpool didn't help at all.
Frank Castle and/or Daredevil will figure out it's not the real Spider-Man
When "Spidey" went after the Kingpin, Frank and Matt figured out something was amiss because the two of them knew Spidey feared the Evil Power Vacuum resulting from Fisk's demise so they decided to investigate. It's just a matter of time before either of them links "Spidey"'s change of behavior to Doc Ock's "demise".- Matt figuring it would would make a fair amount of sense, given he's already a Living Lie Detector and all it'd take would be to ask "What's been different lately?" to tell something's up.
In SSM #19, Otto accidentally freed Peter
In SSM #19 when trying to save the day, we see Ock trying to go through Peter's memories. Sprinkled throughout are 3 key moments when Spiderman overcame a great obstacle (eg, climbing out of Kraven's grave) twisting his body in different ways (like to lift something up). There is a shadowed figure in the exact same 3 poses, who looks very similar to Peter Parker. Immediately after Ock comments outloud in a semi-delirious state "Parker is here" or something along those lines. Ock dug too deep into Peter's memories and brought back him back, after metaphorically burying him in his mind. This is how Peter returns.This is Dan Slott's Take That! towards DC Comics and the New 52
Hear me out here. An entry here and an entry in the YMMV entry mentions that this is almost like Knightfall, which a villainous character takes over the role of a hero, only to screw up majorly and force the real hero to take back his role. Of course, there are a lot of differences here between Superior and Knightfall. However, note a lot of the Broken Pedestal entries, how people who used to see Peter/Spidey as such a great guy now see him as a major jerk. Note the other entries, where Ock is doing things Peter would never do. Now, think about what's going on in The New 52 - heroes being less moral-bound, being a little more violent than they should. Doing things that they would never do in their original incarnation. Slott is essentially saying "You want a Marvel New 52? Here it is. Sucks, doesn't it?" Hate his decisions or love them, it seems that his ultimate plan is to say "You want readers to enjoy your books even after so long? Changing your character doesn't work. Give them a reason to love the character."The Peter we get back will have all his memories, as in also pre-One More Day
Memories are never forgotten just rearranged. Also who knows what memories that will be dug up with him so this is kinda feasible.- Peter's back, but he never lost his memories.
The "Superior Venom" will be Norman
His last few outings, he's been fixated on power suits (Iron Patriot, Adaptoid).- Jossed. The Superior Venom was SpOck bonded to the Venom symbiote.
The "Superior Venom" will be a mini series starring Flash as venom
The Symbiote will go to Otto and reject it due to the fact that he isn't really Peter. The Symbiote will then go back to Flash. The rest of the first half of the series will then focus on Flash going to New York to try bringing Peter back or at least prove that Otto isn't Peter to no avail. The second half of the series will be Flash making the decision whether to avenge his friend and idol by killing Otto or do what said friend and idol would do and sparing the Jerkass.- Jossed. The Superior Venom was SpOck after taking the symbiote from Flash. Flash eventually got it back and returned to being Agent Venom.
There's a reason that only 27 issues of this have been announced.
That's how long it will be; Peter regaining his body (and or undoing some of the damage Otto did) is how it ends.- Jossed. Marvel's February 2014 solicits have revealed the existence of issue #28. And that #27 and #28 are parts 1 and 2 (respectively) of the five-part "Goblin Nation" story arc. That said, the solicit for #27 outright says that "The End starts here," so it seems that this guess may not have been too far off the mark.
- According to the solicitations, issue #31 will be the last issue, so this guess was somewhat close.
Superboy-Prime will defeat Ock and bring everything back to pre-One More Day
How? He'll so pissed at both One More Day and this storyline he'll kidnap Quesada, travel with him to the Marvel Universe and then, with Quesada watching, punch reality into enacting the following changes: Peter is back in his body with the pre-One More Day powers, and married to MJ; everybody knows that Ock had switched body with Spider-Man and was mind-controlling Peter Parker; Ock is alive, in an healthy body, and in the same jail as Black Cat, with Carlie Cooper being the new warden and helping Felicia get some revenge on Ock; Mephisto is now terrified by spiders. After this, Superboy-Prime returns to our world with Quesada and warns him to not even think to pull something like those again, for otherwise he'd show him what happens when Superboy-Prime get really mad.
This book will undo One More Day
Now that the Goblin King knows Otto's dirty little secret, he'll unveil it to the whole world. This will have the side effect of the world as a whole finding out that Peter Parker is the original and true Spider-Man again, undoing Mephisto's bargain. Time will rewrite itself and once Peter reclaims his body he'll be married to Mary Jane again.
Because goddammit Marvel, you owe us something good after this tripe.
- Call it a hunch... but given recent events, I think that is Dan Slott's endgame with this series: Peter recently came back, the Goblin King knows about Otto... it makes sense to a degree...
"Superior Venom" will be Peter Parker... Sort of
The Venom symbiote will attempt to return to Peter Parker's body, but while bonding with Peter while he sleeps, notices that something is not quite right. It lingers, and then notices that Peter is in there, but fighting for control of his body. Superior Venom, in a bit of an Ass Pull reveals that he can allow Peter's memories to enter Venom's and that would allow him to use the Symbiote to fight Venom head on. Peter, hesitant but seeing very few other options, accepts but only on the conditions that this is a temporary arrangement.- Jossed. Superior Venom was just Otto in Peter's body bonded to the Venom symbiote. Otto eventually got it off with Ghost-Peter's help, and Peter stayed in his body rather than jumping over to the symbiote.
Otto will be exposed as Spider-Man and Peter Parker will take back his body, but...
Once Peter returns, nobody will believe that he's not Doctor Octopus. As a result, he will be hunted by the police (and facing execution if caught) as well as being hated by the public more than ever before. Because the universe hates Peter, that's why.Two words: Madame Webb
As a near omnipotent, omnipresent being, she'll fetch the original web-slinger out of Otto's head, give him a new bod, and tell him to go and kick some ass!- Either that, or she'll get some other friends like Ultimate Spider-Man and kick some ass.
The first Marvel event of 2014, Original Sin, will erase Spock.
It's a murder mystery based on the death of The Watcher. The new person will spill a lot of secrets. It came about that in April, Amazing Spider Man will be relaunched, but with Dan Slott. Additionally, the Superior Spider Man will continue, but by the great Peter David. My theory is that, even thought I like Doc Ock as Spider-Man, Peter will get his body back, but the two will have to coexist as spider-themed heroes.The Green Goblin was not lying
When asked by Carlie, now turned into Monster, about his secret identity, he said that he was Norman Osborn, but refused to take off the mask. This troper's theory is that the Green Goblin is actually a time-displaced Normie Osborn, Liz and Harry's son. Dan Slott had already stated that he was planning on using time-travel, even before Age of Ultron, for Spider-man 2099, meaning time-travel was already essentialy to the story. So the Green Goblin is either a grown up Normie Osborn from the future, or Normie Osborn from the future who somehow took over his grandfather's own body much like how Doc Ock did to Spidey. Or he could be a grown up Stanley Osborn, who also time-traveled or grew up to fast because of the Goblin Formula.- This seems all but confirmed in the preview for Issue 30, as Miguel says that only someone from his time should be able to hack the Spider-Slayers. So the Goblin King has to be from the future.
The Goblin King is actually Norman Osborn, but...
After we saw that the Goblin King does actually have a scar on his chest, left from a glider, we are lead to believe that it is Norman. If that is the case, why have we not seen him without a mask? Why is he refusing to remove the mask? Maybe because it isn't actually a mask. Norman has mutated into a Goblin creature, and therefore can't simply remove the mask. This could also be a way to tie into the Amazing Spider-Man film series, as the Goblin appears to be a mutation in the adaptation.The series will end not only with Peter's return, but Otto's erasure
Everything that Otto Octavius has done was done in an attempt to have a legacy and be superior to his predecessor. Obviously, he screwed up big time with the latter after his incident with Miguel O'Hara, so he double-timed on making the former come true, but ironically, he only ended up soiling it. He's being undergoing a Villainous Breakdown after the Avengers tried questioning him. The series seems to be headed toward a conflict with the Green Goblin, and Peter's well on his way back. Most likely, Otto will end up using his most ruthless methods to fight the Goblin, all while claiming to be the hero. The resulting fight will leave Otto so battered and weakened that Peter Parker will be able to fight for control of his body again - Peter will return the favor of giving a "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Otto, who his weakness, will have a Heel Realization and simply cease to exist as penance. When Peter regains control of his body, he will attempt to pick up the pieces of his damaged life and take responsibility for the consequences Otto's action - but to the public, the Superior Spider-Man will be all but forgotten. Given the heinous acts Otto has tried to pull in the name of justice, nothing would be more fitting as a punishment.- Confirmed.
The Spider-Man that Otto faces in #32 & #33 is...
Peter Parker 2099, CEO of AlchemaxDoctor Doom will buy a Spider-Slayer
Like other nation "representatives" who watched the Spider-Slayers fighting the Avengers, he'll be interested. However, instead of buying several of them, he'll buy one and use reverse-engineering to make several Spider-Slayers that are superior (intended joke) to Alchemax's.Otto never really intended to set himself up as the greatest monster in human history by killing 99.92% of all humans on earth, and had always intended for Spider-Man to stop him. The whole scheme was a Zero-Approval Gambit meant to keep Spidey trapped in the Raft once the Golden Octobot reached Manhattan, found him, and swapped their minds.Alternatively, it was a Xanatos Gambit, and Otto had planned for both outcomes ahead of time.
