Otto Octavius (Earth 130894)

History
"I am no fool, Arachnid. Do not treat me as such, underestimating one's opponent is a dangerous thing. Especially underestimating a man with mental prowess such as mine."

Doctor Octopus to Spider-Man.

Doctor Otto Octavius was a brilliant scientist and considered to be one of the smartest people of the 21st Century. He was a no nonsense kind of man and was greatly aware of his own brilliance, causing him to be extremely arrogant at times which often lead to his defeat.

In the past, he had briefly shared laboratories with fellow scientist Norman Osborn and the two were once great friends. However, the pair separated when Norman took a new direction in building Oscorp Industries and Octavius decided to continue working independently. Although Octavius was not as successful as his former friend, the two still had great respect for each other.

Otto eventually became recognised as one of the worlds greatest minds of the 21st Century and subsequently opened his own set of laboratories called 'The Think Tank' which was funded by the state in the name of public health research.

Declining Health and Accident at the Think Tank
Unaware to the public, Otto Octavius discovered that he had developed the rare Motor Neurone disease which had started to take effect slowly. Realising he had a limited amount of time, Otto began working on a temporary solution whilst looking into developing a cure.

On top of this, things started to go down hill for the scientist, due to the fact that his now rapidly declining health meant that he was unable to continue his work in the eyes of the state: they announced that they would be pulling funding at the Think Tank.

Now that time had been taken away from him, Octavius began to grow increasingly desperate. Pushed to his limits, he finalised work on the only solution he had left: a harness with four mechanical arms that were telepathically linked to his cerebral cortex. Seeing this as a double opportunity, Octavius announced this invention as a prototype for artificial limbs to replace missing ones.

This gained a huge praise from the general public and even caught the attention of his benefactors, who would eagerly await promising results at a public demonstration at the Think Tank the following day. As promised, Otto unveiled his mechanical arms in the demonstration. The demonstration was almost a success until reporters began asking questions about his (then rumoured) Motor Neurone.

This began to irritate Otto to the point of anger and finally culminated when photographers began taking photos of him and the flash from the cameras had irritated his eyes. As Otto become outraged, the mechanical arms reacted to his emotional state and subconsciously without realising, struck a photographer with one of them. The arm had sent the photographer flying into machinery that became damaged upon the impact.

The crowd began to turn on him and called for the Think Tank to be closed down. Octavius became overwhelmed with emotion yet again and this time the mechanical arms attacked the crowd in an effort to disperse them, causing severe injuries to many that were hit. During the commotion, one of the arms accidentally pierced an electrical generator and electrified Octavius, presumably killing him.

Becoming Doctor Octopus
Octavius was pronounced dead by the time ambulances arrived to treat him. However, Octavius wasn't dead but instead was just rendered unconscious but his heart rate appeared to be almost none existent. His body was retrieved by his lab partner Mendell Stromm before it could be taken to the mortuary to be autopsied.

Stromm took Octavius to the basement and attempted to salvage the mechanical harness for himself, only to find that the burns his lab partner had suffered due to be electrified had welded the harness to his skin, permanently. As Octavius was about to be operated on, his brain started to show activity which was displayed on the monitor he was hooked up to. Subsequently, Otto regained consciousness and attacked Stromm, killing him instantly.

According to the press, Doctor Otto Octavius had been announced as having died at the accident in his lab, following many accounts of witnesses claiming him to be a mad scientist and other slanderous words. Enraged by this, he declared that metaphorically, Otto Octavius had perished in the accident and Doctor Octopus (which is the derogatory name given to him by the Daily Bugle) was born.

This came following the realisation that Otto's personality had mildly been altered due to the technology fusing with his skin. Where he was once optimistic and joyful, he was now pessimistic and seemed to adopt a darker, selfish outlook on life.

Taking Revenge and Threat
Soon after, Otto began kidnapping the main people responsible for his ridicule and mockery in the media. He succeeded until he attempted to kidnap J. Jonah Jameson at his office in the Daily Bugle, who was his last victim.

Spiderman had figured out a pattern and deduced that Jameson was going to be one of his victims, if not his last and intervened when Ock tried to kidnap him. Although Doc Ock proved to be a powerful adversary for Spiderman and decided to instead throw Jameson out of the window of the Daily Bugle building, forcing Spiderman to either pursue him or save the Editor which the hero chose to do the latter and allowed Octavius to escape.

Octavius had soon released video footage that surfaced everywhere on social media platforms of his kidnapped victims, tied to chairs and gagged. He claimed that they would watch as Octavius would overload a nuclear reactor that would go into meltdown and destroy half of the City as penance for their actions. Amongst these were some of his benefactors, who had decided to pull the funding to the Think Tank. In his eyes, Octavius truly believed that this situation was an honest retaliation for their faults.

Eventually, Spiderman managed to track Doc Ock to an abandoned nuclear testing facility that was once owned by Oscorp in the early 90's. Octavius battled with Spiderman for a while but was ultimately forced to retreat, but not before causing the reactors to go into critical meltdown. Fortunately, Spiderman (himself being somewhat of a scientist) and being amongst other like minded prisoners captured by Ock managed to prevent the meltdown.

Disappearance and brief alliance with A.I.M
After the incident with the nuclear reactor, Doctor Octopus soon faded into obscurity and was never located afterwards. However, he was at least connected with the criminal underworld during his disappearance as in The Sandstorm That Hit New York, one of the A.I.M scientists claims that Flint Marco was provided to them by "Doc Ock" in order to create the Sandman. Hinting that he was working with or at least affiliated with A.I.M during this time.

Afterwards, he is not mentioned again until he later resurfaces during the assault on the A.I.M facility by S.H.I.E.L.D and Kingpins men when both parties were trying to obtain Venom for their own reasons. Octavius was already at the facility, although he does not say whether or he was already at the facility or simply arrived after them unnoticed. Either way, Octavius was aware that Venom was their prisoner.

He makes his presence known when he attacks Spiderman whilst the latter was attempting to subdue the Prowler. The two grappled until Octavius was disabled by one of Prowlers gadgets intended for Spiderman. Satisfied that Octavius was no longer a current threat, Spiderman abandoned his pursuit of Doc Ock.

However, Octavius noticed a couple of A.I.M personal sneak off from the battle and into a secret room. Curiosity compelled him to follow them and in turn, he discovered a hidden laboratory that everyone else was unaware of. Interrogating the personel, he discovered that A.I.M had secretly been working on cloning a spawn of the Venom Symbiote, which they succeeded in doing.

Sensing an opportunity, Octavius the took the Symbiote for himself and assumedly severed all ties with A.I.M. Shortly after, he turned up at Stone Tower and presented the Symbiote as a gift to Elias Stone in exchange for Laboratory equipment and the chance to study the Symbiote for himself. Elias agreed and provided Octavius with everything he requested.

When Prowler questions his motives to Kingpin stating that he was clearly working with A.I.M, Octavius replies by saying that he already got what he needed from them. Octavius claimed that he only formed a brief alliance with them so that he could obtain the healing qualities he needed from the Symbiote in order to cure himself of his Motor Neurone disease, which he had done.

Octavius studies the Symbiote spawn in great depth, along with adding some personal modifications to his suit and mechanical arms. He then informs Kingpin that he has learned that the Symbiote is far more volatile in nature than its parent. He says that it requires a stronger and more mentally unstable host in order to survive and feed its appetite otherwise the host will die. When Kingpin ponders on who would fit that criteria, Octavius suggests Cletus Kasady. With his job done, Octavius departs from Stone Tower and begins his organise his return to the world.

The bounty on Spiderman
Constantly evading the efforts of the Police and Spiderman, Octavius begins operating below ground in one of Think Tanks old laboratories. Realising that he isn't ready to surface yet, he places an anonymous bounty on Spidermans head to the rest of the criminal underworld.

The call is first answered by low level thugs and gang members who show no promising efforts in trying to take down the hero. However, Octavius already knows this. The first real chance any has at capturing Spiderman is when the Russian animal hunter Sergei Kravinoff comes to New York and publicly announces that he has the best chance at tracking and capturing Spiderman.

While initially angry that his bounty has been made public, Octavius allows it to happen anyway as Kraven manages to actually capture Spiderman alive. Amazed, he contacts Kraven and tells him to meet him at a disclosed location with Spiderman and he will receive his payment. However, Spiderman manages to escape his captors bonds and eventually manages to defeat Kraven the Hunter.

Spiderman manages to reverse engineer Kravens phone and uses it to track the location of the call he receives, leading him to an unused subway system. Octavius hires thugs to keep Spiderman distracted long enough for a small bomb to go off in the abandoned Subway. Severely injured due to the explosion and debris, Spiderman is helpless when Doc Ock appears and detains him.

When Spiderman awakes, Doc Ock reveals that this was his plan all along and that Spiderman fell for every step of it. He allowed the low level thugs to tire him out, then Kraven to be the one to capture and bring him in. However, failing that he knew that Spiderman would be smart enough to use the phone call to track his location, which is where the bomb trap was set.

With Spiderman now weakened and his prisoner to boot, Doc Ock claimed he would have the honour of unmasking the hero on a live feed that would be broadcast on the internet, followed by his eventual death. However, Spiderman goaded him for this in an effort to damage his ego and appeal to his arrogant nature, which he succeeded in doing. Octavius then proceeded to explain all of the ways he could hurt Spiderman instead and leave him to suffer before killing him.

Octavius began streaming the live feed and attempted to unmask Spiderman in front of his audience. However, this time spent gloating allowed Spiderman to muster up enough strength to break free of his bonds and attack Octavius before he was able to begin unmask him. Despite this, Spiderman was still heavily fatigued from the explosion debris and his previous time spent battling Kraven, which allowed Ock to overwhelm and restrain him.

But before delivering the final blow that would end his life, NYPD stormed the underground laboratory and rescued Spiderman from Octavius. Outgunned and outmanned, he had no other choice but to flee and abandon his makeshift lab while the option was available.

Recruiting Harry Osborn and Founding the Sinister Six
Suffering what Otto considers to be a humiliating defeat, he works on other ways to destroy Spiderman once and for all. When he comes to the conclusion that alone, Spidermans greatest foes put up an amiable effort but ultimately cannot defeat him. Together though, if they unified under a powerful leader such as himself they could actually stand a chance at defeating him. He begins working on the idea for his Master Plan immediately after.

When Harry Osborn, Son of the late Norman Osborn decides to take up his Father's legacy as the Green Goblin, he goes in pursuit of Spiderman in an effort to exact for his Normans 'Murder'. During their battle across New York, Octavius notices spies them from afar and is captivated by Harrys desire for revenge and how he applies it to fighting Spiderman. He remarks that Harry is the final piece needed in order to complete his 'Master Plan'.

Defeated from his fight with Spiderman, Harry returns home to the Osborn Mansion where he finds Doc Ock waiting for him. Harry makes a juvenile threat to kill him, but Doc Ock swiftly disarms Harry of his weapon. The two discuss the possibility of recruiting Harry into Octavius' Sinister Six, a group of villains with four other members already in mind.

Harry asks Octavius who has already agreed to it, prompting Scorpion to appear behind him and introduce himself. Scorpion explains that they all hate Spiderman for one reason or another and that Octavius has the answer to defeating him if they work together. Convinced, Harry agrees to join Doc Ock and Scorpion.

Octavius sends Harry Osborn (now calling himself the Black Goblin) to attack the Triskelion: a S.H.I.E.L.D airship that is currently holding Electro captive on board. Electro escapes the Triskelion and is taken to meet Doc Ock, who swiftly brings him on board with his plan. He then takes Electro and Scorpion to attack the raft while Octavius frees Rhino and Vulture. However, Octavius doesn't tell Harry that Vulture is one of the six due to him previously trying to kill his Father.

Upon the five of them all returning, Harry lashes out at Vulture and by proxy Octavius too for not telling him Toomes was a part of the plan. Octavius manages to quell the fighting for time being, convincing Harry to cool down by reminding him that Spiderman actually succeeded in killing his Father and that his anger should be directed towards him and not Vulture. With a successful roster of Spidermans rogue gallery all gathered together and finally willing to cooperate, Doc Ock begins planning how to lure Spiderman into the open and eliminate him.

Some time passes and the Sinister Six remain hidden and inactive, allowing enough preparation to enact their plan. Otto proposes that they should divide into 3 teams of 2 in order to create as many problems at once so that Spiderman can only react to one of them. Octavius sends Rhino and Vulture to attack the NYPD station while Scorpion and Electro attack New York's main power grid. Leaving himself and Black Goblin to create a bomb scare in Times Square.

The Sinister Six vs Spiderman
See Rise Of The Sinister Six.