Avenging Spider-Man #15.1
Doctor Octopus is Dead
This story continues from Amazing Spider-Man #700….
Day One
Otto Octavius wakes up in Peter Parker’s Tribecka apartment. Getting up and looking into the mirror and sees the face of his greatest enemy looking back at him. He once again marvels over the fact that he finally defeated Spider-Man and begins to laugh.[1]
He then calls Mary Jane and agrees to go out for dinner with her that evening. As he talks to her, Otto marvels over his victory and how he has access to all of Peter’s memories. As he goes over Spider-Man’s equipment, Otto decides that it could use some changes. As he web-slings to Horrizon Labs, Otto thinks about how he was finally able to get the best of his foe. He recalls how his old body was deteriorating and as a final gift to the world he sought to automate New York City. This caused the city to go hayware, forcing Spider-Man to use Otto’s own technology and army of octobots to shut it all down.[2] When Peter Parker interfaced with his technology, he unknowingly allowed Otto a back door into his mind. With a specially prepared octobot, Otto then transferred his mind into the body of Spider-Man.[3]
Arriving at Horizon Labs, Otto heads into Peter Parker’s lab and begins working on a new costume and equipment for his alter-ego. The process brings back memories of how he designed the mechanical arms that he used as Doctor Octopus.[4] He goes over Peter Parker’s original designs and scoffs over how Parker never took his designs far enough and held back. This is something that Otto intends to change, intending to use his superior intellect to become an even better Spider-Man than Parker ever was.
Day Two
Otto becomes annoyed that Max Modell has implimented security features to prevent Spider-Man from sneaking in and out of the facility. He contemplates deactivating them, something that will take him less than five minutes.[5] As he continues to work on his new costume, Otto is impressed how Peter Parker’s muscle memory makes it easier to sew a new costume and is impressed by how, when lost in thought, he instinctively began walking up onto the ceiling of his lab.
Day Three
By this time, Otto has finished a new set of goggles for his Spider-Man mask that will allow him to scan nearby objects and obtain intel on his surroundings. It also connects to his cell phone and allows him to see a text message from Mary Jane reminding them of their dinner date. Scanning through Parker’s memories he learns that this woman knows Peter Parker the best and his the secret of his double life.[6] He is concerned that the woman could be come a liability and considers Peter Parker a fool for letting her so close into her life.
Day Four
Otto is trudging to Horizon Labs in the snow, cursing Max Modell for not providing him with a driver. On his way to work he witnesses a thief running from a shop. He considers ignoring this, despite his vow to continue as Spider-Man. However, as the thief runs by, Otto punches him out without a thought and dismisses this action as nothing but reflex.[7] When he arrives at Horizon Labs he snubs Grady Scraps and Uatu Jackson, who find Peter’s change in attitude a cause for concern.
Returning to Peter Parker’s lab, Otto holds the helmet that led the key to his victory over Spider-Man. He thinks how Parker was a fool who wasted his genius working with the scientists at Horizon Labs. While he finds Horizon impressive, Otto wants his old lab and breaks into his old hideout. Seeing the old place makes Otto think back to all the work he did here either alone or alongside the Sinister Six. His reminiscences are interrupted when massive octobots, the lab security system, begins attacking him. That’s when a pre-recorded message he made comes on the monitor screen and denounces himself as an intruder.
As Otto fights off the defenses he is taken back how his recorded message sounds. This gets him thinking about all the times he fought Spider-Man over the years and how despite Parker’s clownish behavior he still managed to defeat Doctor Octopus every time, despite Otto’s superior intellect. After trashing the robots he looks at his old self in the recording and decides that he is now better than Doctor Octopus ever was and smashes the computer monitor.
Day Five
Otto has finished the redesigns of Spider-Man’s costume. He puts on the costume which includes the new goggles in his mask, as well as gloves and boots that have talons. As he goes out into the winter night to go on patrol, Otto declares to himself that Doctor Octopus is dead and long live the superior Spider-Man.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Grady Scraps, Uatu Jackson
Continuity Notes
As seen in Amazing Spider-Man #698-700, Doctor Octopus managed to swap bodies with Peter Parker, leaving Spider-Man to die in his withered body. This will remain the status quo until Superior Spider-Man #31.
This all happened in Amazing Spider-Man #600. The image of Spider-Man wearing the control helmet while standing next to Mary Jane is actually from when Peter used the same technology to cure everyone during Spider-Island in Amazing Spider-Man #672.
This mind transferred happened behind the scenes circa Amazing Spider-Man #697.
For more on the origins of Doctor Octopus see Amazing Spider-Man #3.
Max Modell initiated tighter security, specifically geared to keep Spider-Man from sneaking into the facility after the web-slinger started an unnecessary battle with Morbius the Living Vampire who was working in secret at Horizon Labs to cure himself of his condition. See Amazing Spider-Man #679.1.
Per Marvel Graphic Novel #46, Mary Jane has known Peter’s secret dating back to the day his Uncle Ben was murdered in Amazing Fantasy #15. However, she kept this secret to herself until she eventually revealed to Peter she knew the truth in Amazing Spider-Man #257.
This is likely a hint that the mind of Peter Parker still exists and is buried deep in the mind that Otto Octavius inhabits as we’ll learn in Superior Spider-Man #1.
