NAME: OTTO OCTAVIUS (A.K.A DR. OCTOPUS) AGE: EARLY 50's EYE COLOR: BROWN HAIR COLOR: BROWN HEIGHT: 5'9" WEIGHT: ~245 LBS RELATIVES: TORBERT OCTAVIUS (FATHER, DECEASED), MARY LAVINIA OCTAVIUS (MOTHER, DECEASED), UNNAMED MATERNAL GRANDMOTHER, HARGROVE (COUSIN) by Sal Buscema HISTORY: Otto Octavius was rather shy as a young boy. His father, a common laborer, was constantly abusing him verbally because of his inability to stand up for himself, while his protective mother, Mary Lavinia, had high hopes for him and did not want him to turn up like his father did. To please himself and his mother, Otto decided to become a nuclear research scientist. He worked 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for years to earn his place as one of the nation's leading scientist. He went as far as inventing a special mechanical harness comprised of four long tentacles that allowed him to perform dangerous experiments at a distance without risking his own life. But as his fame grew, Otto became arrogant, condescending, and self-centered. One day, while he was arguing with his Mother, she suddenly collapsed and died of a hear attack. Stricken by guilt and grief, Otto stumbled through the following weeks as if in a daze. It was in this distracted state that Otto was involved in a freak laboratory accident that somehow physically and mentally bonded the mechanical harness he was wearing to his body and mind. Realizing that a life a crime was a more profitable enterprise, especially with his newfound powers, Otto Octavius changed his name to Doctor Octopus and engaged himself into various criminal activities. Although Doctor Octopus has fought many super-powered heroes through the years, his hatred remains mainly towards Spider-Man. The two have battled each other on several occasions with mixed results. Although Doctor Octopus was killed by Kaine during the infamous Clone Saga, a group of criminals made up of the Rose, his trusty assistant Delilah, Carolyn Trainer (Doc Ock II) and Stunner hired the cult of the True Believers to perform an arcane ceremony that brought Doctor Octopus back to life (Read Amazing Spider-Man Volume I, #426 to 428 for further details).
More recently, a weak and pathetic Doctor Octopus was seen working for the super-villain known as Fusion II in Peter Parker: Spider-Man Volume II, #30-32. However, this was only a ruse. Doc Ock was actually pretending to be Fusion's minion. The latter nearly paid with his life for ordering him around. After vanishing from the radar screen for a few months, he reappeared in Amazing Spider-Man Volume II, #43-45, where he was tricked by a senseless businessman named Carlyle into sharing information about his tentacles, which Carlyle later replicated and improved to commit heinous crimes while the real Dr. Octopus was unwillingly detained in a steel cage. However, the real Doc Ock managed to free himself and with Spider-Man’s help, the two defeated Carlyle. Unfortunately for Spider-Man, Doc Ock managed to escape before neither him nor the authority, were able to apprehend him.
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