Doomsday Scenario

This story follows the events of Age of Ultron #2…[1]

Following Ultron’s attack on New York City, Otto Octavius surveys the ruins of the city. He thinks about how he managed to cheat death by stealing the body of Peter Parker.[2] However, seeing the state of the world right now, he believes that death doesn’t like to be cheated. Of all the times Otto tried to destroy the world, now that he is standing in its ruins he can’t help but think of all that was lost. He curses himself, a self-professed master of machines, for not being able to do something to stop this from happening. He blames this on focusing his time on cleaning up Peter Parker’s life. Looking at his reflect he sees the face of his greatest enemy looking back at him. Otto calls this Parker’s fault and punches his reflection. He then begins breaking down

Otto’s tantrum is interrupted by Tony Stark who tells “Peter” that he knows where he is coming from. Stark points out that, as Iron Man, he’s the tech guy and even he didn’t see this coming. Still, Tony is still a scientist and believes that they can find a solution to the problem. Otto considers Stark an imbicile and wonders why Peter Parker would waste his time with the Avengers.[3] As Otto is dismissing his ability to help on this endeavor, Tony explains that he has come to get “Peter’s” help to get access to Horizon Labs as it may have what they need to turn back the tide. Returning to the others, Tony tells Spider-Man about Luke Cage’s plan to attack Ultron’s citadel, and dismisses it as a suicide run. He then shows Spider-Man something that Tony came up with back when he was the director of SHIELD.[4] It is a device that could shunt a location into the Negative Zone, however the only place left that has Negative Zone tech is Horizon Labs now that the Baxter Building has been destroyed. They can then have Quicksilver placed the devices and send Ultron’s citadel into the Negative Zone. It’s their last resort and since there are no other options, Otto agrees to help.

Soon, Spider-Man is dropped off outside Horizon Labs by Quicksilver. After another reminder to work quickly, Otto is left alone to do his job. Going inside, Otto thinks about how Max Modell tries to evacuate his staff to safety. When he comes across Modell’s body, he pushes aside any feelings of remorse, reminding himself that such feelings are for weaklings like the real Peter Parker. Getting to Peter Parker’s lab, Otto abandons Tony Stark’s plan for one of his own.[5] He has a plan of his own, recalling his encounter with Ultron during the Secret Wars. He recalls how, at that time, Ultron was subjugated by Doctor Doom.[6] Otto begins working on a new type of spider-bot that will allow him to take control of the Ultron Sentinels that patrol the city.

Once completed, Otto activates the spider-bots, which alert the Ultron Sentinels to his location. The first three that arrive, Spider-Man quickly destroys and waits for the next group to arrive. This time, he unleashes his spider-bots and they take over some of the Ultron units. The override works and the Ultron Sentinels under his control sprout additional mechanical arms patterend after the ones used by Doctor Octopus. With these units under his control, Otto sends them to Ultron’s citadel where he intends to install malware into the central mainframe. However, once inside, he discovers that Ultron isn’t there and that the robot was biding its time to utterly defeat this intruder. Kicked out of the mainframe, Otto watches as Ultron reasserts control over the units he had taken control of.

Deeming his original plan a failure, Otto rushes back inside and tries to obtain the parts that Tony Stark originally sent him to obtain. Unfortunately, the devices are blasted by the Ultron Sentinels and Spider-Man is forced to flee as they blow up the lab. If it wasn’t for the secret tunnels built by Max Modell, Otto would never have made it out alive.[7] Utterly defeated, Spider-Man returns to the heroes sanctuary and reports that his mission was a failure. When Tony Stark figures that the Ultron Sentinels arrived as he was charging up the device. Wanting to hide what really happened, Otto agrees that’s exactly what happened. As Tony walks away, Otto stops him and admits that his plan would have worked. Tony figures it doesn’t matter now, but they should keep fighting and even begins to think that maybe Luke Cage’s plan might actually work.

As Spider-Man goes to join the others, he realizes that Peter Parker always won because he treated his teammates as equals instead of lackeys. He returns to his thoughts about how death hates to be cheated and believes that with the right people on your side, death can be defeated.

… This story continues in Age of Ultron #3

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Ultron Sentinels, Avengers (Iron Man, Captain America, Hawkeye, Wolverine), Luke Cage, She-Hulk, Pulsar, Doctor Strange, Beast, Quicksilver, Vision

Continuity Notes

1. This story takes place during the Age of Ultron event. In it, the robot Ultron has launched an attack on the present day from the future using armiest of Ultron Sentinels to decimate the planet and its superhero community. Ultimately, Earth’s heroes manage to stop Ultron via time-travel. As such creating a divergent reality separate from Earth-616. Secret Wars: Official Guide to the Marvel Multiverse #1 classifies the events of this story as occurring in Reality-61112. See Age of Ultron #1-10.AI

2. The past of Earth-61112 mirrors that of Earth-616 as such in this reality Otto Octavius also just recently stole the body of Peter Parker. To see the Earth-616 version of events check out Amazing Spider-Man #698-700.

3. Otto has had a long standing negative opinion about Tony Stark dating back to when they met as young scientists before becoming Iron Man and Doctor Octopus. See Iron Man #501-503 for details.

4. Following Civil War #1-7, Tony Stark was made the director of SHIELD to help enforce the Super-Human Registration Act. He was later fired and replaced by Norman Osborn when Tony failed to prevent a Skrull invasion of Earth. See Secret Invasion #1-8.

5. Otto states that Tony Stark as an “alcohol-damaged brain”. This is a reference to Tony Stark’s struggles with alcoholism. This was first explored in Iron Man #128.

6. For more on the Secret Wars see Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1-12. Otto states those events happened “some years ago". Per the Sliding Timescale, Secret Wars happened about eight years prior to this story.

7. These tunnels were originally built to allow Michael Morbius to come and go unseen during the period he worked at Horizon Labs. See Amazing Spider-Man #671.