Outside the Box

Somehow, Doctor Octopus has managed to find a way to swap bodies with Spider-Man. Peter Parker is now trapped inside the ruined body of Otto Octavius as doctors try to restore his vital signs. Although the doctors don’t like it, they are forced to cut open his chest and massage his heart until it starts beating again. Hooked back into his life support system, one of the doctors spits in “Otto’s” face before leaving. The reality of the situation suddenly dawns on Peter who is on life support in the bottom level of the Raft maximum security prison surrounded by super-villains and armed guards. He wonders how he’s going to get himself out of this situation.

He thinks about how Doctor Octopus — in his body — came to visit him moments earlier and revealed that he swapped their minds and how, armed with all of Peter Paker’s secrets, will now take over his life, leaving his greatest foe to die in his ruined body. Peter’s mind races at the prospect of the damage Doctor Octopus could do in his body, thinking how he could commit crimes, rape his former lovers, and murder his friends and family, ruining everything Peter Parker has built for himself. When he tries to think of a way out, Peter suddenly discovers that he has access to all of the memories of his foe. First he sees an image from Otto’s abusive childhood. Next he sees the accident that first turned Octavius into Doctor Octopus.[1] He is then horrified when he sees a memory of Doctor Octopus having sex with his Aunt May.[2]

He pushes ahead to figure out how Doctor Octopus managed to pull off the mind swap. He begins seeing more recent memories, such as when Doctor Octopus was first diagnosed with his degenerative condition and how he attempted to take control of New York City. A scheme that Spider-Man foiled by using control helmet that controlled all of Otto’s octobots to shut them down.[3] Peter remembers how he later used that same control helmet to control the octobots and administer the cure for the spider-plague during Spider-Island.[4] Peter also recalls how he incorporated the technology in his spider-armor used when stopping the Doctor’s attempt to destroy all life on Earth.[5] He remembers how Doctor Octopus was able to take control of the armor with his mind and realizes how he gave his greatest foe a back door into his mind.

Going through more of Otto’s memories, Peter then sees how Doctor Octopus mapped his entire brain and built one last octobot that he set loose before his last defeat and how this robot tracked him down and secretly attached itself to the back of his head during his recent battle with the Hobgoblins.[6] That’s when Peter tries and manages to contact that very octodrone and activates it. That’s when he is distracted by someone talking to him in the next cell. It’s the Lizard, who has decided to confess the truth about his condition to Otto now that he is dying. He reveals that he is actually Curt Connors trapped in the body of the Lizard and he is only pretending to be a mindless creature because he has decided that this is the penance he deserves for everything he’s done.[7]

Peter decides to stop listening because he has bigger problems to worry about. Searching for Otto’s mind to find some contingency plan that can try and get him out of this situation he finds something that just might work. He then commands the octobot to go to a nearby office and access on the of the computers to activate Master Planner Contingency Plan 6.0.[8] This sends out a pre-recorded message by Doctor Octopus to super-villains all over the city, offering six-million-dollars to whoever can break him out of the Raft. Peter hopes this will work because the octobot just ran out of power. As he waits for someone to come, Peter feels one of Otto’s organs give out and wonders what he did to deserve this.

When Otto’s body begins flatlining again, Hydro-Man suddenly arrives and knocks out the doctors. He then sets up a micro-filiment on the wall that opens a portal that allows the Trapster and the Scorpion to teleport into the prison. Hearing the screams from outside of his cell, Peter wonders what he has done. That’s when the Trapster breaks into his cell and removes the withered body of Doctor Octopus out of his life support system in order to rig him up into a portable unit he prepared to get “Octavius” out of prison alive. The three villains ask which other two villains they are breaking out for this incarnation of the Sinister Six, but “Otto” declines to break anyone else and insists that they leave right away.[9] However, be briefly reconsiders and asks Curt Connors to join them. However, the man trapped in the body of the Lizard continues his charade, prompting the villains to take “Otto Octavius” and leave.

Once they are the Trapster’s hideout, the Scorpion wants to know when they get paid. That’s when the Trapster reminds him that they still have to capture Spider-Man, dead or alive. “Octavius” orders them that they must capture Spider-Man alive at all costs.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Doctor Octopus, Lizard, Hydro-Man, Scorpion, Trapster, White Rabbit, Spider-Slayer, Morbius the Living Vampire

Continuity Notes

1. Doctor Octopus’ origin was first told in Amazing Spider-Man #3.

2. This would have been around the time that Otto attempted to marry Aunt May circa Amazing Spider-Man #131.

3. This all happened in Amazing Spider-Man #600.

4. Spider-Island happened in Amazing Spider-Man #666-673.

5. That would be during the Ends of the Earth story arc in Amazing Spider-Man #682-687.

6. Spider-Man’s battle with the Hobgoblins happened in Amazing Spider-Man #695-697.

7. Specifically, Connors is atoning for killing his son as the Lizard. See Amazing Spider-Man #630-633 and 688-691.

8. The Master Planner was the name that Doctor Octopus briefly gave himself in Amazing Spider-Man #32-33.

9. There are a lot of references made here. They are:

   • Hydro-Man suggests they break out the Wizard, saying that he and the Trapster work well with him. This is because all three were members of the Frightful Four at one time or another. The Trapster was a founding member with the Wizard in Fantastic Four #36. Hydro-Man first joined in Fantastic Four #326 and has been a member every once and a while.

   • The Scorpion suggests they free the Spider-Slayer, saying that he gave him his new gear. After Mac Garagan was separated from the Venom symbiote, the Spider-Slayer gave the Scorpion new cybernetic implants. See Amazing Spider-Man #648-654.

   • Morbius also begs to be released. Peter refuses to release him because he doesn’t trust Morbius’ bloodlust. The two clashed during Amazing Spider-Man #688-691, leading to his arrest.