Otto Octavius (Earth-1048)

Early Life[]

When Otto was in college, he met and became friends with his rival Norman Osborn, where they became known as the "O's". Together, they shared the vision of "changing the world", so they decided to start a business. They decided to add the word "Corp" to their nickname, thus creating the name for Oscorp, which Otto claimed was a "catchy name". However, soon Norman's selfish and greedy personality started to surface, with him only caring about financial gain, while Otto still wanted to use Oscorp's resources to help people. This created a rift between the two friends, destroying their relationship over time.

Over the years, Norman became more and more obsessed with genetics, starting projects that Otto considered unethical and dangerous. During one of these experiments, the young Martin Li was used as a test subject, being injected with a prototype serum that would be called GR-27. The experiment failed; Li gained volatile negative powers and accidentally killed his own parents in the process. After this incident, Otto decided to leave Oscorp, with the condition he would get his own settlement, that he later named Octavius Industries. Unfortunately, the money didn't last very long, prompting Otto to rely on financing from Oscorp. Some time later, Otto discovered he was suffering from a "Degenerative Neurological Disorder", probably caused by reckless exposure to chemicals in his youth. This took its toll on him, and he now feared becoming disabled.

Sometime later, Otto met the brilliant young boy Peter Parker, a student at Empire State University. Otto became an idol to Peter, becoming everything he wanted to be. Otto saw his potential genius mind and invited him to work together at Octavius Industries, an offer Peter immediately accepted.

In one occasion, Otto and Peter attended to a science demonstration at the Oscorp Science Center.

Marvel's Spider-Man[]

Now working together with Peter, they started working on neural-controlled prosthetics. Unfortunately for Otto, the city stopped financing his experiments due to minor lab accidents, an ill-veiled attempt to force Otto into returning to Oscorp. Surprising Peter one night, Otto caught him working on Spider-Man's Suit and, seemingly believing him to have been Spider-Man's technology assistant all this time, decided to help Spider-Man by designing blueprints for an Advanced Suit.

Otto watched when Martin Li, now a well known philanthropist and secretly the leader of The Demons, decided to take his own revenge against Norman, by acquiring the GR-27 (now known as Devil's Breath) which was still in development by Oscorp. Li aimed to release the chemical on the city through airborne dispersal, killing thousands and framing Oscorp, decreasing people's trust in Norman and the company. Fortunately, the plan was stopped by Spider-Man and Mary Jane Watson. Li was arrested and incarcerated in the famous high security prison, the Raft.

Inspired by Li's attempts at revenge, Otto, now obsessed with his grudge against Osborn, rushed with his project of neural prosthetics, looking to create something to use in his own plan. He planned a much larger assault on Norman, with the goal to assemble his own team to terrorize the city. Secretly from Peter, he formulated a plan to free the most feared supervillains from the Raft: Electro, The Vulture, Rhino, Scorpion, and Mister Negative, all to join him in his Sinister Six. Otto made a deal with each: he would bring Electro closer to his goal of being pure energy; create a treatment for Vulture's spinal cancer; free Rhino from his suit; clear Scorpion's debts; and share revenge on Osborn with Mister Negative. The other part of his plan was to acquire the Devil's Breath and finally release it, ensuring complete chaos.

Otto also ignored some safety measures while advancing the neural interface (already created by Peter) for his new prosthetic limbs, now four tentacles coming out his back, making his own mind and mood unstable in the process. With his mind addled, Otto ironically figured out Peter was Spider-Man. Now ready to put his plans in motion, Otto successfully managed to steal the Devil's Breath, releasing it upon a crowd of people during one of Norman's reelection rallies at the Times Square. He also caused a massive leak on Ryker's Island, releasing prisoners, and on the the Raft, where he assembled for the first time the Sinister Six. Trying to contain the leak, Spider-Man took a ride to the Raft on Yuri Watanabe's police helicopter, but was defeated by Otto, now calling himself Doctor Octopus and his team, with Otto considering Spider-Man's defeat as a warning for him to "stay out of our way."

After partially recovering from the Raft battle, Spider-Man went on a quest to defeat one by one the members of the Sinister Six that were destroying the city. He also returned to Octavius Industries, using the lab to create a new reinforced suit to battle Otto.

Otto managed to acquire the anti-serum created recently by Dr. Morgan Michaels, as well to abduct Norman, whom he took to the roof of the Oscorp Tower, before dangling him above the streets and demanding Norman to confess his crimes to the whole world. Norman refused, causing Otto to drop him before grabbing him again. Once again, Norman refused, and challenged Otto by claiming that he was only worth anything when he worked for him before calling him a failure. Furious, Otto let go of Norman before turning around to continue his plan of letting Manhattan suffer and die from the virus. Osborn had survived however, as Peter grabbed him from the air and dropped him off to a lower rooftop. Spider-Man fought against Otto, who revealed that he knew Peter was Spider-Man all along. They kept fighting until Peter managed to deactivate the neural interface on his back. Accepting his defeat, Otto stated how Peter was like a son to him, and how they could have built a future together, trying to appeal to Peter's emotional side. Peter, now with the anti-serum for the Devil's Breath in hands, said farewell to Otto, who was then arrested and locked in the Raft along with the other members of the Sinister Six.^[1]

Spider-Geddon[]

When the Superior Spider-Man of Earth-616 came to recruit this universe's Peter, they shared a brief conversation where the Superior Spider-Man (who is the Otto Octavius of Earth-616) asked Peter where his counterpart of this universe was at the moment, to which Peter replied about him being locked at the Raft.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2[]

Two years after his arrest, Otto was writing in his cell when he was visited by his former colleague Norman Osborn. Norman told him that the Spider-Men had ruined his son, and asked for their identities, but Otto said that it was a necessary loss, implying that he chose to withhold Spider-Man’s identity from him to make him suffer. When Norman asked what Otto was writing, he responded that it was "the final chapter".^[2]

• Mechanical tentacles: Otto built a set of mechanical arms with the aid of Peter Parker to help him with his motor functions due to Otto suffering from a degenerative disease.

• Genius Intelligence: Otto Octavius is a man with a self-described mind of unlimited potential. He attended graduate school with Norman Osborn (who said he was always the smartest man in the room), where he manipulated radioactive isotopes. A.I.M. has requested samples of his work in limb replacement, connecting nerves at severed extremities and replicating the the function of lost appendages. He created an intra-cranial neural network with neuro-transmission speeds under one nanosecond (faster than signals travel inside the brain, never mind to an external prosthesis). As the Octopus, he studied Sable International's technology for weaknesses and brought together the Sinister Six, which he methodically led to ruin Osborn's reputation. He helped his teammates in various ways, such as developing a corrosive to free Rhino from his suit; a certain government agency spent years trying and failing to do that, but it only took him a few days. He also provided Mister Negative with medication, modified Electro's harness to get him closer to him becoming pure energy, and developed an experimental treatment for Vulture's spinal cancer; the latter appreciated working with a man who has backup plans for his backup plans.

Degenerative Neurological Disorder: Otto is suffering from a degenerative disease, causing him to slowly lose his motor functions. He is estimated to be fully disabled within a year.

• Doctor Octopus' Tentacles

• William Salyers voices Otto Octavius in Marvel's Spider-Man, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Marvel's Spider-Man 2.
  • Salyers previously voiced Yellowjacket in Marvel's Ant-Man and Truman Marsh in Marvel's Avengers Assemble.

• Otto's phone number is 555-0198.^[1]
• Otto's audio logs reveal that Martin Li's vengeful actions against Norman Osborn inspired himself to act as well.^[1]