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Otto Octavius (film character)

Sam Raimi's Spider-Man film series character and Marvel Cinematic Universe character From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Otto Octavius (film character)
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Otto Gunther Octavius is a fictional character portrayed by Alfred Molina in Spider-Man 2 (2004) and later in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Octavius is introduced in Spider-Man 2 as a nuclear physicist and friend and mentor of Peter Parker, whose research into fusion power with his wife Rosie (portrayed by Donna Murphy) is being sponsored by Oscorp's genetic and scientific research division, headed by Harry Osborn.

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When Octavius' fusion reactor experiment using tritium becomes unstable, resulting in Rosie's death, the harness of powerful robotic tentacle arms equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) which he was using to safely handle the materials is fused to his body, burning the inhibitor chip keeping the arms from controlling his nervous system. After ending up in the hospital and massacring the surgeons attempting to save Octavius by sawing them off, the arms' AI begin influencing his mind and they manipulate him to steal funds in order to attempt the experiment again, over the course of which crime spree the Daily Bugle dubs him Doctor Octopus, or "Doc Ock" for short, regarding him as New York's second effective supervillain. Along the way, he comes into conflict with Spider-Man, with Osborn offering to give Octavius the tritium he needs to complete his experiment in exchange for handing Spider-Man over to him. Ultimately, as the experiment begins to destroy New York City, Spider-Man reveals himself as Peter to Octavius after damaging his arms, and inspires him to regain control of them and destroy his fusion reactor. A now redeemed Octavius sinks the fusion reactor into the East River, but sacrifices his life in the process by drowning.

A past version of the character returns in Spider-Man: No Way Home, being transported into an alternate universe (the Marvel Cinematic Universe) shortly before his redemption and death, due to a magic spell gone wrong causing a rupture in the multiverse, and ends up clashing with that universe's (MCU) Spider-Man and his allies. After the MCU Spider-Man and his closest friend, colleague and Harry's father Norman replaces his faulty inhibitor chip with a working one, Octavius regains control of his arms and his mental state like he did before his original death, and joins the MCU Spider-Man, his Spider-Man and another alternate version of Spider-Man in fighting other universe-displaced supervillains, including Norman's alter ego Green Goblin. After briefly reuniting with his version of Spider-Man, now older, Octavius is returned to a branched/alternate timeline of his universe. Molina has expressed further interest in reprising the role in the in-development Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU) film based on The Sinister Six.

Molina's performance as the character, considered one of the earliest portrayals of Octavius as a tragic villain, has been acclaimed by critics and audiences, resultantly the character has come to be considered one of the most iconic villains in the superhero genre.

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Concept and creation

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Alfred Molina in 2009

The character of Otto Octavius / Doctor Octopus first appeared in print in The Amazing Spider-Man #3 (July 1963), and was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko.[1][2][3][4] Lee recounted: "usually in creating a villain the first thing I would think of was a name, and then I would try to think of, 'Well, now that I've got the name, who's the character going to be and what will he do?' For some reason, I thought of an octopus. I thought, 'I want to call somebody Octopus. And I want him to have a couple of extra arms just for fun'. But I had to figure out how to do that".[5] The character soon re-appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #11-12 and then again in #31-33, becoming a fan favorite.

Otto Octavius was originally intended to be the secondary antagonist of Spider-Man (2002), but director Sam Raimi eventually dropped the concept in favor of spending more time with Harry and Norman Osborn.[6] Raimi decided to use Octavius as the main antagonist of Spider-Man 2 (2004) due to being both a visually interesting villain and a character who could be seen as sympathetic.[7] In a draft written by Michael Chabon,[8] a younger Doc Ock becomes infatuated with Mary Jane. His mechanical limbs use endorphins to counteract the pain of being attached to his body, which he enjoys. When he injures two muggers on a date, this horrifies Mary Jane and in the resulting battle with Spider-Man his tentacles are fused together, and the fusion begins to kill him. In the script, Octavius is the creator of the genetically altered spider from the first film, and gives Peter an antidote to remove his powers: this means when Octavius is dying with his tentacles, he wants to extract Spider-Man's spine to save himself. This leads to an alliance with Harry (a detail which made it into the finished film). Beforehand, Harry and the Daily Bugle put a $10 million price on Spider-Man's head, causing the city's citizens to turn against him.[9][10]

Before Alfred Molina was cast in the role several actors were considered for the role, including Ed Harris, Chris Cooper (who would later portray Norman Osborn in The Amazing Spider-Man 2), and Christopher Walken;[11][12] In February 2003, Molina was cast as Octavius for the film, undergoing physical training for the role.[13] Raimi had been impressed by his performance in Frida (2002) and also felt that his large physical size was true to the comic book character.[14] Molina was unaware that he was a strong contender for the role, only briefly discussing it.[7] He was excited to get the role, being a big fan of Marvel Comics.[15] Although he was not familiar with Doc Ock, Molina wanted to maintain the cruel, sardonic sense of humor the character had in the comics.[16]

Special effects

To create Doctor Octopus' mechanical tentacles, Edge FX was hired to create a corset, a metal and rubber girdle, a rubber spine and four foam rubber tentacles which were 8 feet (2.4 m) long and altogether weighed 100 pounds (45 kg). The claws of each tentacle, which were called "death flowers", were controlled by one puppeteer sitting on a chair. Each tentacle was controlled by four people, who rehearsed every scene with Molina so that they could give a natural sense of movement as if the tentacles were moving due to Octavius' muscle movement.[13] On set, Molina referred to his tentacles as "Larry", "Harry", "Moe" and "Flo".[17]

For Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Doctor Octopus' mechanical tentacles were created through CGI instead of puppetry. According to Tom Holland, Molina had to subsequently "relearn" how to act using them.[18]

Return of the character

Molina first expressed interest in portraying the character again in The Amazing Spider-Man series. In an August 2014 interview, while promoting Love Is Strange (2014), Molina expressed his openness to return as Doctor Octopus in a film based on the Sinister Six, then-intended for a 2016 release, after the character's appearance in that film was teased at the end of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), but reflected that the filmmakers could choose to go for another actor.[19] By September 2019, an untitled The Sinister Six film had re-entered development,[20] Amy Pascal stating the following October that it would feature villains of Marvel Studios' Spider-Man films.[21] By September 2021, the film was confirmed to be in active development, to be set in Sony's Spider-Man Universe.[22]

After The Amazing Spider-Man film series was cancelled, Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios announced in February 2015 that Spider-Man would appear in the MCU, with the character appearing in an MCU film and Sony releasing a Spider-Man film co-produced by Feige and Pascal. Sony Pictures would continue to own, finance, distribute, and exercise final creative control over the Spider-Man films.[23] "For the first few films, it was always, 'How do we do things that have never been done before?' It did not occur to us to do a new Goblin story, or to do an Oscorp story, or to do Doc Ock, or anyone that had been done before, which is why Vulture and Mysterio were really the key characters," Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige reflected. Feige conceded "you can't get better than Alfred Molina as Doc Ock" and furthered that if they "were ever going to bring Doc Ock back, it would have to be Alfred Molina and in early development on this third Homecoming movie, we realized that thanks to the MCU, there was a way to do that."[24]

In December 2020, it was reported that Molina would reprise his role as the character in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), which is intended to be set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.[25] In April 2021, Molina confirmed his involvement with film, calling it "wonderful" to reprise his role. He also revealed that Octavius's story in the film would pick up mere moments after the events of Spider-Man 2. Molina was digitally de-aged in the film to resemble how he appeared in 2004, despite his concerns about his fighting style not looking realistic due to his age in a similar way to Robert De Niro's character in The Irishman (2019).[26]

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Fictional character biography

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Before Spider-Man 2

Dr. Otto Octavius is known as a nuclear physicist, a friend of Dr. Curt Connors, and a scientific idol of Peter Parker. His work is funded by Oscorp, run by Norman Osborn. Octavius worked primarily at home, with his wife and lab assistant, Rosalie Octavius.

Becoming Doctor Octopus

Two years later (2004), Octavius meets Peter Parker through Harry Osborn, Norman Osborn’s son and Harry’s best friend. He is initially dismissive of Parker, however understands the importance of fostering a good professional relationship with Oscorp, and recognising Parker as the "brilliant but lazy" student of Dr. Curt Connors. Octavius takes a liking to Parker because of his intelligence and shared interests, notably in Octavius’ work. He encourages Parker’s intellect, and advises him to his intelligence for good.

Octavius later demonstrates his work for Parker and Oscorp investors: a nuclear fusion reactor, a ‘perpetual sun’ created for the goal of providing the world with clean and affordable energy. Octavius also invented his own tools for working with the reactor: four bionic tentacle-like arms, each claw equipped with its own set of tools. The arms attach to the torso with a metal harness, and are connected to and controlled by the brain through a set of needles injected into the spinal cord, and an inhibitor chip connected to the cerebellum to protect his ‘higher brain function’. During the experiment, his refusal to acknowledge technical issues with the reactor results in the partial destruction of the reactor, his home, and the death of his wife. One of the reactor spikes destroy the inhibitor chip, and welding the harness and spinal support to his skin and vertebrae. Octavius is sent for surgery, but the arms act unto themselves, killing the surgeons and freeing Octavius from the hospital.

Octavius considers suicide due to his physical state and guilt, but is convinced otherwise by the arms, which are no longer limited by the chip, connected to his brain through his spinal cord. The artificial intelligence (AI) built into the arms plays on his grief and ego, manipulating him into reconstructing the failed experiment. Succumbing to the AI's manipulations, he does everything he can to rebuild his experiment. After his infamous bank robbery, the J. Jonah Jameson of the Daily Bugle - or more accurately, his lackey, Hoffman - dub him Doctor Octopus.

After repeated conflict with Spider-man, a desperate Harry strikes a deal with Octavius to bring Spider-man, alive, to him in exchange for more tritium. Octavius initially threatens Peter Parker, connected to Spider-man through his photography, demanding to know his whereabouts. When Parker claims he doesn’t know where Spider-man is, Octavius kidnaps Mary Jane Watson as leverage, sparking the famous Train Scene. Spider-man, weakened after the train battle, is taken captive by Octavius, and delivered to Harry. With Mary-Jane as a hostage, Octavius begins his second attempt at the fusion reactor.

With the increased quantity of tritium, the second attempt is more dangerous than the last. The magnetic field generated becomes strong enough to pull cars across New York City, and threatens the life of Mary-Jane, who is held captive in metals chains. Spider-man arrives in time to save her from the reactor, apprehend Octavius, and encourage him to defy the control of the arms, reminding him of his speech on intelligence. In his moment of clarity, Octavius takes it upon himself to destroy the reactor in the East River, taking himself with it.

Entering an alternate reality

In the alternate reality of Earth-616, during the year 2024, Dr. Stephen Strange casts a spell to restore the secret identity of his Peter Parker (dubbed "Peter-One") after it was revealed by Mysterio.[c] However, Peter-One's frequent alterations causes the spell to bring in people from across the multiverse who knew Parker's identity, including an alternate version of Octavius while strangling his version of Parker (nicknamed "Peter-Two"), moments before the latter can redeem Octavius and stop his experiment. After being transported to this new reality, Octavius, still under the control of his AI arms and going by Doctor Octopus, encounters Peter-One on the Alexander Hamilton Bridge. Believing Peter-One is his Spider-Man and that he did something with his fusion reactor, Octavius battles him and steals a piece of his nanotechnological Iron Spider suit, upgrading his arms. After discovering Peter-One is not his Parker, Octavius loses control of his arms when Peter-One uses the stolen nanotechnology to hack into them. Peter-One interrogates Octavius, but they are interrupted by an alternate version of Green Goblin, whom Octavius recognizes as his late friend Norman Osborn.

Strange teleports the two of them to the New York Sanctum and locks Octavius in a cell next to an alternate version of Curt Connors from another alternate universe. Later, Octavius meets Max Dillon (an alternate version of Dillon from Connor's universe) and Flint Marko (from his and Osborn's universe), and reunites with Osborn; the two learn from Marko that they both died while fighting their Spider-Man, which Octavius angrily refuses to believe, but is convinced, after realizing that his fight with his Spider-Man was the only thing he remembered before being brought to this universe. Strange, however, arrives and locks Osborn in another cell, preparing to send the villains back to their universes, though the villains (sans Marko) are against being sent back to their universes because they don't want to die upon return. Fortunately, Peter-One fights and traps Strange in the Mirror Dimension, intending to cure them. Octavius is surprised at Peter-One's act and tells him he could have let them die, but MJ tells him that it was not who Spider-Man is. Hearing Peter-One's intentions to cure the villains, Octavius is reluctant, believing he does not need fixing.

Despite being unwilling, Octavius is convinced to come with Spider-Man, but protests when Peter-One told him that he was going to be cured first. Nonetheless, Peter-One and Osborn make a new inhibitor chip for him. The new inhibitor chip gives Octavius his humanity and control over his arms back. Octavius expresses his gratitude to Peter-One for his help, returns the nanites he absorbed back to Peter's suit, and offers to help cure the remaining villains, but Osborn's Green Goblin persona retakes control of Norman and convinces the uncured villains to fight back. Octavius attempts to stop them, but is blasted out of a building by Dillon and forced to escape. However, Octavius later assists his universes' Parker, Peter-One and an alternate version of Parker from Dillon's and Connors' universe (nicknamed "Peter-Three") to cure Dillon and fight back against the Green Goblin, while also briefly having an emotional reunion with his universes' Peter (who is much older). Afterwards, Strange returns the displaced individuals to their native universes, with Octavius taking an arc reactor back with him to a branched/alternate timeline of his universe where he would likely be given a second chance at life.[d]

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Characterization

Although Octavius maintains the egocentric, selfish and arrogant nature of his comic counterpart when under the influence of the arms, he is shown to be more friendly and well-meaning pre-accident. These changes to his character aid the emotional through-line of the film. Despite his role as the main antagonist, Octavius’ story and character arc in the film bear more resemblance to a Byronic Hero or Antihero archetype.

David Crow of Den of Geek calls Octavius "a megalomaniacal fiend" who, despite building four mechanical arms, is "still inexplicably searching for a creation that will justify his genius and get him worldwide acclaim." Crow notes that the relationships Octavius has with his wife and Peter "give the accident which welds the mechanical arms to his spine and drives him insane some emotional weight."[27]

In other media

Films

Video games

  • Molina reprises his role as Otto Octavius in the video game adaptation of Spider-Man 2 (2004).
  • The film version of Otto Octavius appears as a playable character in Spider-Man: Friend or Foe (2007), albeit voiced by Joe Alaskey. This version went through similar events, but survived his death and didn't redeem. Octavius joins several of Spider-Man's enemies in an attempt to kill him, but they are attacked by a swarm of symbiote-like creatures called P.H.A.N.T.O.M.s created by Mysterio, which brainwash the villains and teleport them across the world, with Octavius being sent to Tokyo to build a P.H.A.N.T.O.M. generator. After Spider-Man is recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D. to stop the P.H.A.N.T.O.M.s, his journey takes him to Tokyo, where he frees Octavius from Mysterio's control. Following this, Octavius reluctantly joins forces with Spider-Man to stop Mysterio.
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Reception and legacy

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Molina's role in Spider-Man 2 has been widely well-received. In May 2014, IndieWire ranked him as the 5th greatest film supervillain of all time.[29] Additionally, Abraham Riesman of Vulture.com in his February 2018 list placed the character as number 16 in the rank of his 25 greatest movie supervillains.[30] Den of Geek, Screen Rant, and Collider ranked Doc Ock as the greatest villain in the Spider-Man film franchise.[31][32][33] The special effects used for his robotic arms were also praised, with Roger Ebert calling it the film's "special-effects triumph".[34] Chicago Tribune's Mark Caro stated that Octavius was a "pleasingly complex" villain in Spider-Man 2,[35] with Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times concurring with Caro, opining, "Doc Ock grabs this film with his quartet of sinisterly serpentine mechanical arms and refuses to let go."[36] IGN's Richard George felt "Sam Raimi and his writing team delivered an iconic, compelling version of Spider-Man's classic foe... we almost wish there was a way to retroactively add some of these elements to the original character."[37] Empire also praised Octavius as a "superior villain" in 2015.[38]

The character's revival in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) was spotlighted before the release of the film with a trailer. The reveal was cited as a highlight and inspired various Internet memes of the scene of Octavius saying "Hello, Peter".[39][40] While looking back at Sam Raimi's 2000s trilogy, Tom Holland, who portrays Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, praised Molina's performance in Spider-Man 2, noting that he was initially terrified of the character back when he saw Spider-Man 2 for the first time.[41] Holland later expressed his enjoyment at later working with Molina in Spider-Man: No Way Home, calling Molina "one of [his] favorite people [he]'s ever worked with".[18] Benjamin Lee,[42] Neil Soans,[43] Manohla Dargis,[44] Peter Travers,[45] and Jade King singled out Norman Osborn portrayer Willem Dafoe and Molina for praise, King asserting that the two stole "the show as Green Goblin and Doc Ock" and were "brilliant depictions of these characters".[46]

Awards and nominations

Molina has received multiple nominations and an award for his portrayal of Otto Octavius.

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See also

Notes

  1. Molina voiced the character in the video game film tie-in, Spider-Man 2 (2004) and through archive audio in the film, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023).
  2. Alaskey voiced the character in the video game film tie-in, Spider-Man: Friend or Foe (2007).
  3. As depicted in Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019).
  4. More specifically, to the point where they were originally taken in the timeline, in Octavius's case, this is a diverged timeline occurring during the events of Spider-Man 2 (2004), possibly averting his death as a result.
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    References

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