Hey guys, I’m Kya,
and on today’s ‘Yellow Spandex,’
we’re taking a look at one of Spider-Man’s deadliest foes,
Otto Octavius, a.k.a. Doctor Octopus.
Nooo!!!
Doc Ock might be just a dumpy old guy with a bad haircut,
but his terrifying tentacles made him one of the most vicious and visually interesting characters in all of comics.
From humble beginnings to superior style,
this is
The Evolution of Doctor Octopus
We start, as always, with the
Comics
Ock made an immediate impact when he debuted in the third issue of “Amazing Spider-Man” back in 1963.
After a radioactive explosion fused his mechanical arms to his body,
the mad scientist handed Spidey his ass,
becoming the first supervillain to soundly defeat the wallcrawler.
In his first appearance, Ock stuck with his white lab clothes,
but as he continued his life of crime,
he traded in his scrubs for slacks and a sweater,
before settling on what would become his defining look for decades:
A green jumpsuit with yellow accents,
cool pointy goggles,
and a bowl cut that would make Elton John jealous.
Elton, just calm down!
Screw you!
For most of his career, this was Doc’s definitive style,
until he traded it in for a badass suit and shades look courtesy of artist Erik Larsen,
right before he was murdered by Kaine during the infamous clone saga.
Ock’s obsessed student Carolyn Trainer took up the tentacles as Lady Octopus,
but she gave them back after he was resurrected by the Hand.
Ock returned to the old look until the mid 2000’s,
where he experimented with slicked-back hair and new tentacles with suction cups like an actual Octopus.
Sadly, years of superpowered beatdowns took a toll on Octavius.
His arms might be swirling metal death machines,
but behind them, he’s always been just a normal dude who doesn’t really take care of himself,
and after decades of being blasted, blown up, and punched in the face by people strong enough to juggle cars,
Ock’s body began to shut down.
He created a new suit to keep him alive,
a walking iron lung that encased his useless human limbs,
to make room for four extra tentacles and an army of octobots.
It still wasn’t enough to save him,
but just before dying, Ock pulled off one final gambit worthy of the Master Planner:
He transferred his consciousness into Peter Parker’s body,
and took his place as the Superior Spider-Man,
with a radical redesign inspired by Alex Ross’s unused concept from the first movie,
and four mechanical spider legs because old habits die hard.
Ock eventually gave control back to Parker,
and let his original consciousness pass on,
but a backup of his personality was used to create a series of clones,
first in a decaying duplicate of his old self,
and finally a perfected new body that combined his intellect and insanity with Peter Parker’s powerset.
The Superior Octopus is a cool look,
but at the same time,
comics already has plenty of armored dudes with extra appendages.
Superior Ock takes things a little too far from the good Doctor’s trademark appearance,
and honestly, I’m getting a little tired of him playing the hero for all these years.
Luckily, we still have plenty of examples of the classic, evil Ock
Onscreen
So, Spider-Man! You're not the only one who knows how to use a web!
Dr. Octopus made his TV debut in the cartoon from 1967.
His appearance was based on the original Steve Ditko art,
with cool shades and a purple color scheme,
but by the ‘80s, animated Ock was back in the goggles and green jumpsuit from the comics.
The 1994 animated series made the mad scientist a little more buff,
gave him an armored outfit and, more importantly, a German accent,
Who am I? What's in a name? An octopus by any other name would still be as deadly!
despite the fact that his comics counterpart is from upstate New York.
Ock was back to his dorky, all-American self in ‘Spectacular Spider-Man,’
while ‘Ultimate Spider-Man’ gave us a version closer to his broken-down, pre-Superior version,
voiced, by the way, by Spongebob himself, Tom Kenny.
I am not insane!!!
Spidey's latest show recasts Ock as a much younger man who teaches Peter's science class,
before strapping on the arms and a cybernetic helmet.
As for live-action,
we’ve only had one Doc Ock so far,
and he’s going to be hard to top.
Octavius was included in most early drafts of what would become Sam Raimi’s first ‘Spider-Man,’
and at one point James Cameron wanted to cast Arnold Schwarzenegger as the schlubby mad scientist.
Considering how Mr. Freeze turned out, I can’t say I’m too upset about what could have been,
What killed the dinosaurs? THE ICE AGE!!!
especially in light of Alfred Molina’s amazing interpretation.
He’s a more sympathetic version of the stereotypical mad scientist,
and while he never dons a tacky green jumpsuit,
the trenchcoat and bare chest give the character a whole new level of appeal:
a Daddy Doc Ock.
As for the tentacles themselves,
the movie made some smart design decisions to make them stand out from their simpler comic book versions.
For one thing, Doc’s arms are typically shown attached to his sides,
but, just like Spidey’s underarm webbing,
that’s something that only really works in comics.
Ock’s Ultimate version had them come from his belly,
but the movie moved them to his back,
adding some yellow accents to make them pop,
and smaller mini-claws for when the “Death Blossoms” had to do delicate work.
Like knitting, or crochet, or making model boats inside of bottles...
Even cooler, for most of the movie,
the arms are entirely practical.
I freaking love practical effects.
Whenever you see Ock on his own two feet,
those are 8 foot long, fully articulated puppets,
with each individual arm requiring four operators to match their movement’s to Molina’s performance.
Honestly, Molina was so awesome in the role,
I’m almost glad we never got to see what the ‘Amazing’ movies would have done if they’d followed up on their tentacles tease,
although I’d love to see how the MCU would handle him.
But that’s a long way away, so in the meantime,
let’s take a quick look at Doc Ock in
Video Games
Doc Ock first appeared in the Questprobe Spider-Man game and...
you know what?
We’ve already done a massive history of Spidey games and honestly,
they’re usually just a reflection of whatever look he was currently rocking in the comics or cartoons,
although I do find it interesting that two of the more Ock-focused games both end with you fighting the doctor merged with a monstrous symbiote.
But hot on the heels of Insomniac’s ‘Spider-Man,’
we’ve got an all-new interpretation of Otto Octavius that might be the most fleshed out we’ve ever seen him.
If you haven’t played or beaten the game yet,
you might want to tune out, because we’re issuing our strongest possible
SPOILER WARNING.
Still with us? Awesome, because I’m obsessed with this game’s version of Ock.
When the game started, I fully expected Peter to be working with Curt Connors yet again,
but making Ock his mentor/father figure was a brilliant fakeout.
I love the new look,
ditching the bowl cut and shaggy hair for some male-pattern baldness that makes him look like a cross between Eric Warheim and the guy from the Hold Steady.
It’s not exactly intimidating,
but once the tentacles enter the picture,
we’ve got maybe the scariest version of the supervillain ever.
His arms have never looked more dangerous, or fabulous.
They’re massive, with glowing yellow tips that both look awesome,
and give Spidey a helpful target during the chaotic boss battle.
They move so smoothly, like liquid,
but the sound design and amazing animation really sells the weight and danger behind them.
Such a disappointment...
PARKER!
Between the green suit, the goggles,
and the truly terrifying tentacles,
it’s quite possibly the coolest the character has ever looked,
and honestly, it makes me wonder why the comics are still keeping Octavius in his slimmer Superior body.
It was fun for a while, but if Marvel ever decides to bring back the bowl cut,
and return Doctor Octopus to Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s classic concept,
I’ll welcome him with open arms.
Put your arms up! All of them!