Doctor Otto Octavius - also known as Doctor Octopus or Doc Ock for short - is an arch-enemy of Spider-Man in Marvel Comics. A former nuclear physicist, the brilliant Octavius constructed a set of robotic arms that allowed him to handle hazardous materials during his experiments. However, one experiment turned out badly and resulted in an explosive accident that left the harness for the arms welded to Octavius' spine, connecting it to his central nervous system. Driven mad by this incident, Octavius embarked on a life of crime, but his plans would be repeatedly foiled by the web-slinging hero Spider-Man.
Dr. Octopus is the primary antagonist of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2. He is portrayed in this film by Alfred Molina.
History[]
Otto Octavius was researching into alternative energy sources and had built a machine capable of generating a miniature artificial sun. He conducted a demonstration of his device, but the intense magnetic field generated by the artificial sun began drawing in all metallic objects in the vicinity, threatening to destroy New York. Spider-Man appeared on the scene in order to save the onlookers and shut down the device, but Octavius tried to stop him, certain that he could contain the sun. Octavius struck out at Spider-Man with a mechanical arm but hit the mains for the machinery, sending a huge electrical surge into his arms' harness and burning out the inhibitor chip that protected Otto's mind from being overwhelmed by the arms' artificial intelligence. Spider-Man was able to shut down the machine and get Octavius out, but Otto's wife Rosie died during the event.
Otto awoke in hospital and discovered to his horror that his mechanical arms were fused to his body permanently. Not only that, but the arms were also acting on their own and had killed several doctors that were trying to remove them. Octavius fled the hospital and returned to the riverside lab where he had conducted his experiment. Without the inhibitor chip, the doctor's mind was left vulnerable to the influence of the intelligence in his arms which twisted his thoughts. He decided to rebuild his machine and finish the experiment, but with Oscorp no longer backing him he had to resort to crime to gain the money and resources he would need.
Eventually, Doc Ock rebuilt his machine, but still needed a sample of the rare mineral tridium to make it work. Oscorp had the only known supply and so the doctor made a deal with Oscorp's CEO, Harry Osborn. Harry had grown obsessed with Spider-Man, believing the wall-crawler to be responsible for killing his father, and so agreed to give him the tridium if Octavius gave him Spider-Man. Harry told Octavius that Peter Parker would know how to find Spider-Man and so the doctor attacked Parker one day in the street, abducting his friend Mary-Jane Watson to force Peter to find Spider-Man.
Peter donned his Spider-Man costume once again and fought against Dr. Octopus, but was left injured and weak after exhausting all of his strength to save a train full of innocent people. Doc Ock captured the wall-crawler and took him to Osborn Manor where Harry handed over a tridium sample for his experiment.
Final Battle[]
After obtaining the tridium, Dr. Octopus tried to carry out his experiment once again. The artificial sun that it generated was even more powerful than the first one with a wider magnetic field, drawing in metal from a mile around. Spider-Man arrived to stop Doc Ock and save the captive Mary-Jane and appeared to defeat him, going on to remove his mask and reveal his identity as Peter Parker. He tried to remind Octavius of something he had once said about intelligence being a privilege that should be used for the benefit of mankind, attempting to convince the doctor not to listen to his arms any more.
Octavius regained his senses and determined that his machine could be stopped by submerging it in the Hudson River. With his arms being impervious to heat and magnetism, Octavius was the only one capable of stopping the device. While Spider-Man saved Mary-Jane, Octavius used his mechanical arms to grasp the artificial sun and pull it into the river. The doctor was pulled down into the river along with his creation and he drowned.