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"Intelligence is not a privilege, it's a gift. And you use it for the good of mankind."
―Otto Octavius[src]

Dr. Otto Octavius was a scientist who developed a deuterium-tritium fusion reactor, funded by Harry Osborn at Oscorp, when an accident with his project fused the "smart arms" he developed to sustain the reaction to his body, making him into the villainous Doctor Octopus.

Biography[]

Spider-Man 2[]

Otto Octavius was born in Schenectady, New York. He met his wife, Rosalie Octavius, in college, where she was studying English literature while he studied science. The two got married, and Otto went on to get a doctorate in Nuclear Physics.

Dr. Otto Octavius had devoted his entire life to developing a fusion-based energy source. Harry Osborn funded this research after the death of the company's founder, Norman Osborn, viewing a successful fusion reaction as an investment that would ensure Oscorp's future. Harry also introduced him to Peter Parker, who was writing a paper on him for a class taught by Curt Connors, Octavius's friend. Though initially skeptical of the youth, Peter's sharp, inquisitive mind quickly won Otto over, and the two formed a bond like mentor and student.

When Octavius finished his fusion reactor, he prepared a demonstration, which Peter and Harry attended. He unveiled his "smart arms" to assist in the demonstration. These four powerful mechanical arms were controlled via nanowires connected to Octavius's cerebellum, which are connected via a series of needles along his spinal column. They allowed Octavius to manipulate the reaction in an environment no human hand could enter. The experiment appeared to be a success at first, creating a small sun in the center of the reactor as the energy core. But the core soon became unstable and threatened the safety of the staff and spectators. Despite Octavius's insistence the reaction would stabilize, the experiment turned into a complete disaster, destroying the inhibitor chip keeping Octavius in control of his arms, causing the arms to become permanently attached to him, and killing his wife Rosalie. Spider-Man arrived and unplugged the device before anyone else got hurt.

Octavius was taken to the hospital, where the mechanical arms, threatened by the lead surgeon's intent to saw them off, killed every doctor in his operating room, then led a dazed and confused Otto to safety, hiding out in a nearby pier. J. Jonah Jameson gave him the name "Doctor Octopus" or "Doc Ock", and declared him a criminal.

While taking refuge in the decaying Pier 56 over the Hudson River, Otto reflected on his past mistake. He considered drowning himself and his "monstrous" arms, but the arms played to Octavius's ego, convincing him the disaster was Spider-Man's fault and that he should finish the fusion experiment. Determined to magnify his dangerous machine and use it again, he robs a bank for funding. Spider-Man attempted to stop him, and almost succeeded, but Otto managed to escape and used the stolen money to buy parts to rebuild a larger fusion reactor.

Otto then demanded more tritium from Harry Osborn, who was determined to take revenge on Spider-Man and bargained it in exchange for Spider-Man's capture. By kidnapping Mary Jane Watson, Otto forced Peter Parker to "find" Spider-Man. Spider-Man confronted Ock at the clock tower, where the two had an extensive fight. Doc Ock allowed his arms to have free rein, even if it meant killing Spider-Man or innocent civilians in an elevated train. Spider-Man saved the passengers, but Otto successfully captured and delivered Spider-Man to Harry in exchange for the tritium.

Otto returned to his lair to activate his machine, but Spider-Man managed to pursue him and resumed the fight to save the captive Mary Jane. The magnified fusion once again became unstable, threatening the entire city. But when unplugging the reactor failed to stop the now self-sustaining sun, Spider-Man unmasked himself, revealing himself to be Peter Parker. After reminding Otto of the responsibility of using his intelligence for the good of mankind, Octavius realized his mistake, and he pulled the platform, along with the reactor and sun, into the river, stopping them from destroying the city, but at the cost of his life; as the river water was super-heated from drowning the reactor and the heat instantly killed Otto.

Spider-Man: No Way Home[]

"You, Doc Ock, drowned in the river with your machine."
Sandman[src]

See: Otto Octavius

Character traits[]

Otto viewed his intelligence as a gift, to be used for the good of mankind. He grew up seeing depictions of mad scientists in media and tried to prove through his actions that science was not to be feared. He is a devoted man who cares about two things: his wife and his work. He admires intelligence in any form, loving Rosie in part due to her extensive knowledge and understanding of literature. He is skeptical of the youth, warning young Peter Parker not to take his gifts for granted, but Peter proves to Otto that the next generation is bright and has potential.

Otto's dedication also makes him sensitive to criticism, making it extremely difficult to change his mind once it is set on a goal. He is also arrogant and easily annoyed – qualities made even more apparent when the inhibitor chip is destroyed. He views himself as a loving father figure to his arms, considering himself a moral and decent man and hoping to guide his "children" to become moral and decent as well. However, vulnerable to the artificial intelligence of his mechanical arms, Otto came to believe that completing and perfecting his dangerous project was more important than using the right methods or considering the severe consequences, and he lost sight of his responsibility.

Spider-Man tricked Otto into electrocuting himself, temporarily stunning the arms. With Peter's reminder to use his gifts for the good of mankind, Otto regained control over his mechanical arms and sacrificed his experiment, as well as his dreams, to save New York from the danger he created and atone for the crimes that he had committed.

Powers and Abilities[]

Powers[]

  • Tentacles: Due to the first experiment that fused the tentacles to his spine, Doctor Octopus has the ability to mentally control his four mechanical tentacles. Each tentacle has superhuman strength, speed, durability and the ability to climb up walls or travel along. They also include daggers that come out of the "eyes" of the tentacles. These abilities include:
    • Superhuman Strength: With the tentacles, Doctor Octopus was crazily stronger than normal humans, even Spider-Man as he is able to use the tentacles to easily overpower humans or grab them. Each of Otto Octavius' tentacles can lift up to 3 tons.
    • Telescoping: Each tentacle is 4.5 feet long at rest and Doctor Octopus can extend them to 13 feet long.
    • Wall-Climbing and Traveling: Doctor Octopus can use his tentacles to travel along without the use of his feet and can climb up walls.
    • Superhuman Durability: With the tentacles, Doctor Octopus can withstand great impacts such as being hit on a brick wall and been slammed in a taxi. The tentacles are also immune to heat and magnetism.
    • Superhuman Striking Force: With the tentacles use, Doctor Octopus can use them to strike at anything with a strong force, such as striking Spider-Man or through a brick wall by smashing through it.
    • Superhuman Concentration: Even before the accident Doctor Octopus possesses mental abilities and concentration to be able to perform multiple complex and independent actions at once via the use of the tentacles.
    • Secondary Tentacles: The top tentacles contain a 7-foot-long tapered whip that can extend from the center of the claw and ensnare foes or hostages. The secondary tentacle is comprised of 150 vertebrae.

Abilities[]

  • Genius-Level Intellect: Otto Octavius is a scientific genius with a PhD in nuclear physics. He is also a gifted roboticist, developing his four mechanical tentacles.
  • Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Thanks to the tentacles, Doctor Octopus is a formidable combatant as he is able to overpower normal humans, especially the more experienced Spider-Man.

Relationships[]

Appearances/Actors[]

Behind the scenes[]

  • Doctor Octopus was supposed to appear in Spider-Man teaming up with the Green Goblin, but Sam Raimi cut the character because he didn't want to slow down the story adding a third origin.
  • Alfred Molina is a Marvel Comics fan and declared he was excited when Sam Raimi, amused by his interpretation in Frida, asked him to join Spider-Man 2 's cast.
  • To create Doctor Octopus' mechanical tentacles, Edge FX was hired to create a corset, a metal and rubber girdle, a rubber spine and four foam rubber tentacles which were eight feet long, which altogether weighed 100 pounds. The claws of each tentacle, which were dubbed "death flowers", were controlled by a single puppeteer in a chair, to control every available form on the claw. Each tentacle was controlled by four people, who rehearsed every scene with Molina to give a natural sense of movement as if the tentacles were moving due to Octavius' muscle movement. On-set, Molina christened his co-stars "Larry", "Harry", "Moe" and "Flo", with "Flo" being the top-right tentacle.
  • Edge FX was only hired to do scenes where Octavius carries his tentacles. CGI was used for when the tentacles carry Octavius: a twenty feet high rig held Molina to glide through his surroundings, with CG tentacles added later. The CG versions were scanned straight from the practical ones. However, using the practical versions was always preferred to save money, and each scene was always filmed first with Edge FX's creations to see if CGI was truly necessary. Completing the illusion, the sound designers chose not to use servo sound effects, feeling it would rob the tentacles of the sense that they were part of Octavius' body, and instead used motorcycle chains and piano wires.
  • In an early script of Camera Sela The Movie, Octavius would be planned to be mentioned by Ruslan Khubiev. However, the idea was finally rejected.
  • Chris Cooper, Robert De Niro, David Duchovny, Ed Harris, Christopher Walken, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sam Neill were all considered for the role of Otto Octavius before Alfred Molina was cast.
  • In an early version of the script, Dr. Octopus was supposed to be much younger and to fall in love with Mary Jane Watson. He was supposed to be the creator of the spider that bit Peter Parker in the previous movie, and to be forced to collect Spidey's spine in order to survive the infection caused by his tentacles fusing with his skeleton. The idea was later rejected by Avi Arad.
  • A physical version of the secondary tentacles was created; however, the version seen in the film is entirely CGI.
  • Dr. Octavius's home laboratory exterior is the Anthology Film Archives in New York City.

Trivia[]

  • The inscription over the doorway to Otto's lab reads "Nosce te Ipsum", meaning "Know thyself". It is his favorite Latin motto.
  • The reactor experiment was nicknamed the "Bartok Project" because Otto admired "that guy's crazy music".
  • In the video game, Octavius introduces himself as "Doctor Octopus." However, in the film, he never adopted this alias.
  • In the novelization, Octavius was kidnapped by Jack Albright, or "Jack All", while on his way to Dr. Connors' class to give a lecture. He is rescued by Spider-Man.
  • In the video game, Otto first reaches out to Dr. Connors for help. When Connors insists on calling the police, Doc Ock calls him a traitor and continues to flee.
  • In the novelization, Henry Pym is the one to question the safety of the "smart arms".
  • In the novelization, the arms tell Otto that they cannot die. After Otto's death, they cry out in fear and beg their "father" to hold them, but nobody answers.

Gallery[]

Spider-Man 2[]

See Also[]

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