| “ | The real crime would be not to finish what we started. We'll do it here. The power of the sun in the palm of my hand. Nothing will stand in our way! Nothing! | „ |
| ~ Otto, now known as Doctor Octopus, justifying his evil acts and preparing to finish his fusion reactor. |
| “ | I will not die a monster. | „ |
| ~ Doctor Octopus redeeming himself by destroying his fusion reactor for good. |
Dr. Otto Gunther Octavius, later known as Doctor Octopus, is the main antagonist of the 2004 superhero film Spider-Man 2, the second installment in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, and a major character in the 2021 Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: No Way Home.
A peppy, but ultimately kindhearted scientist and friend of Peter Parker, he unfortunately lost his sanity due to the influence of his most recent invention, four mechanical tentacles that eventually got a mind of their own after an experiment with his fusion reactor went horribly wrong. After the incident, Octavius became a vile madman and one of the greatest foes Peter Parker has ever faced. Years later, when he was transported to Earth-199999 through space and time before his redemption and demise, that universe's Spider-Man freed him from the control of his tentacles. Indebted, he helps him, Peter Parker, and another Spider-Man from another world fight and cure their foes on Liberty Island.
He was portrayed by Alfred Molina, who also voiced Viggo Grimborn in Dragons: Race to the Edge and The Duke in Solar Opposites.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Heinous?[]
In General[]
- In the original trilogy, he has the highest attempted kill count and although he does need to compete with more destructive villains when crossing over to the MCU, all the villains who had attempted to cause more death & destruction that spans beyond a city all had much more resources than Doc Ock, who only has his tentacles and a fusion reactor, so unlike the Green Goblin and much like The Lizard, Doc Ock passes the larger Heinous Standards of the MCU due to a lack of resources and personal villainy with Spider-Man.
- Although he suffers from moral agency issues due to the tentacles manipulating him, there's no evidence that he is entirely controlled against his will—rather, he is influenced by them, meaning he is still partially responsible for his villainous acts.
- While he does have some comedic moments like him quipping "butterfingers" after dropping Aunt May, he and his actions are still taken very seriously.
Spider-Man 2[]
- While losing his wife to a tragic accident was horrible, he was warned that the experiment could go wrong but he chose to do it anyway. Even when the artificial sun was reaching critical levels and beginning to endanger the spectators, he refused to shut the machine off and tried to stop Spider-Man from cutting the power. This would allow the artificial sun more time to suck in other objects, destroying the windows that would stab and kill his wife, thereby making him at least partly responsible for her demise due to his arrogance.
- After the accident, he plots to build a bigger fusion reactor despite knowing that he would risk causing the destruction of half of New York.
- He steals money from the bank for parts to rebuild the machine, and then threatened to kill Aunt May, eventually drops her from a tall building, comically remarking, “Butterfingers!” afterwards.
- Threatened to drop Harry Osborn to his death if he didn’t give him the tritium he required to reattempt his experiment.
- He kidnapped Mary Jane, threatening to "peel the flesh off her bones" if Peter didn't bring Spider-Man to him (unaware they were the same person).
- He breaks the controls of a train, which would've killed the passengers of said train had Spider-Man not interfered.
- He kidnaps Spider-Man and leaves him to Harry, knowing that he wanted to kill him.
- Tells Mary Jane that Spider-Man died just to scare her, which didn’t work. He also refused to release her on the basis she would lead the authorities to him.
- During his final fight with Spider-Man, he mocked Harry saying that he didn't have the guts to kill Spider-Man.
- When Spider-Man told him to shut down the reactor, Doc Ock refused saying that it was a chance he was willing to take.
- He grabbed Spider-Man by the throat using his tentacles and was going to strangle him.
Spider-Man: No Way Home[]
- After his arrival to the MCU, he attacked a bridge and tried to kill the MCU Spider-Man just because he mistook him for his own.
- During said battle, he threw multiple cars at Peter, thus endangering many people including children.
- He threateningly told MCU Spider-Man that he should've killed his little girlfriend when he had the chance, making the hero stop fighting passively because he thought he was talking about his MJ (Michelle Jones-Watson), not Raimi MJ (Mary Jane).
- Before he was cured in No Way Home, he tried to kill the MCU Spider-Man and was very rude and cynical to the thought of being "healed".
- He threatened to tear Peter limb from limb while he was being cured.
- Even after his redemption, he never showed remorse for causing damage on the streets.
- He likewise never felt remorse for kidnapping Mary Jane during the Raimiverse.
What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]
- He is tragic as he lost his wife due to his experiment, which made him feel upset, depressed, and even suicidal, until his tentacles convinced him to try his experiment again.
- He is also fully aware that he accidentally caused his wife's death through his arrogance, even going as far as to say she's dead because of him, making him remorseful as well.
- A majority (if not all) of his evil deeds were committed due to the AI of his tentacles' manipulating/overpowering his mind, giving him heavy moral agency issues.
- Overall, all of his heinous acts were for the selfless goal for providing renewable power for the entire world, even though they were very misguided. In fact he initially refused to steal the money to rebuild the reactor before the tentacles convinced him to.
- He was willing to negotiate a deal with Harry Osborn for tritium, despite threatening to drop him over the balcony, and fulfills his end of the bargain by bringing Spiderman to Harry, and after receiving the tritium, he doesn't attack Harry and simply leaves after collecting it.
- He is genuinely respectful towards Peter and the Peter of the MCU, saying he has a bright future. He was also happy to see his Peter again upon reuniting with him in the MCU asking him how he has been.
- He offered his help to the MCU Peter and Norman in curing the rest of the villains, especially his closest friend and fellow scientist, Norman Osborn.
- After he was freed from his tentacles' influence, he stayed loyal to the MCU Parkers when Green Goblin took control over Norman's mind and convinced the rest of the villains to turn against them.
- He ultimately redeems himself, twice as a matter of fact. First, he is redeemed at the end of Spider-Man 2 after he stops fulfilling his tentacles' despicable demands, and sacrifices his life by drowning himself and his fusion reactor to prevent it from annihilating half of New York. Even if he did make a brief return to villainy in Spider-Man: No Way Home, it was only due to getting transported before his first redemption, and he redeems himself once more when regains his sanity after his tentacles were given a new chip. Showing immeasurable gratitude, he assists them in their battle against Green Goblin and was responsible for curing Electro and becoming a hero in the process.
- He sympathized with Norman Osborn after learning that he was the Green Goblin and was forced by the Goblin into assisting him.
Trivia[]
- He is one of the three versions of Doctor Octopus to be Inconsistently Heinous, along with his original and Insomniac Games versions.
- He and Zeno are the 2 Inconsistently Heinous characters who have separate timeline versions who are Inconsistently Admirable and Heroic Benchmark.
External Links[]
- Doctor Octopus on the Marvel Wiki
- Doctor Octopus on the Villains Wiki
- Doctor Octopus on the Heroes Wiki
- Doctor Octopus (Raimiverse Counterpart only) on the Inconsistently Admirable Wiki
- Doctor Octopus (No Way Home) on the Heroic Benchmark Wiki
- Doctor Octopus on the Magnificent Baddie Wiki
- Doctor Octopus on the Shonen Rivals Wiki
- Doctor Octopus on the Spider-Man Films Wiki
- Doctor Octopus on the Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki
- Doctor Octopus on the Marvel Movies Wiki
- Doctor Octopus on the Disney Wiki
- Doctor Octopus on the Wikipedia
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