Doctor Octopus’ abilities derive from his four titanium tentacles. Attached to a stainless-steel harness encircling his lower chest and waist, each telepathically-controlled, telescoping tentacle is capable of moving at speeds of 90 feet per second and can strike with the force of a jackhammer. Also, Doctor Octopus can generate a 50-mph wind by spinning the prehensile limbs like a giant fan. At full extension, the mechanical appendages allow him to travel high above the ground as if on stilts — either using two tentacles, or all four for maximum speed (about 50 mph). Each tentacle is about 5 inches in diameter and terminates in three, single-jointed pincers. The pincers can rotate in relation to the tentacle for 360 degrees, in a screwdriver-like twisting motion.

The good Doctor’s proficiency with those tentacles is impressive - he often manages to hit Spider-Man himself, and performed well against Mister Fantastic and other highly agile and/or flexible opponents. He has also occasionally proved to be surprisingly strong due to his maniacal intensity.

History

The son of an overbearing mother and a bullying father, Otto Octavius grew up to become a reclusive but brilliant atomic researcher. To help manipulate radioactive substances from a safe distance, Otto constructed a chest harness controlling four mechanical, tentacle-like arms -earning himself the nickname Doctor Octopus. In a freak laboratory accident, volatile liquids exploded -bombarding the scientist with radiation. The substances left him capable of mentally controlling the arms, but the accident also caused irreversible brain damage - transforming the respected scientist into a megalomaniacal criminal. Waking in a hospital, Otto knew this newfound strength- combined with his awesome intellect -could render him supremely powerful.

Holding the medical staff hostage, he easily defeated Spider-Man in their first meeting. Doc Ock then took control of a leading nuclear research facility and again squared off with the wall-crawler, who this time defeated him with one punch to the jaw. After serving time, Doc Ock attempted to raise funds by springing gangster Blackie Gaxton from prison -assisted by Gaxton’s lawyer, Bennett Brant. Spider-Man foiled the scheme, but could not save Bennett from being shot in front of his sister, Betty Brant. Octopus then assembled the first Sinister Six to combat Spider-Man. He plotted to take Betty hostage, knowing Spider-Man had previously rescued her and would likely do so again. May Parker, visiting Betty at the time, was also captured. Otto treated May kindly, and she remained blissfully unaware she had been kidnapped by the charming villain.

Following Spider-Man’s defeat of the Sinister Six, Doc Ock assembled another group of criminal underlings and established an undersea base. Calling himself the Master Planner, he embarked on a series of thefts of experimental substances -seeking to further expand his mastery of the atomic sciences. His goal: to develop a radiation ray with which he could rule the world. But his path was fated to entwine with Spider-Man’s: When May fell sick, Peter provided her with a blood transfusion - not realizing the radioactivity in his plasma would kill her. The only substance capable of saving her was the experimental ISO-36. Peter managed to obtain enough money to fund the operation, but the Master Planner’s forces hijacked the shipment for their own deadly research. Spider-Man tracked the Master Planner to his underwater hideout and confronted his foe, revealed to be Doc Ock. After the base was destroyed, Doctor Octopus escaped once more. Spider-Man recovered the ISO-36 and saved Aunt May’s life with the aid of Dr. Curt Connors (occasionally aka the Lizard).

Doctor Octopus’ next scheme involved the theft of a projector that could disable any device. After two failed attempts, Otto finally succeeded on his third. Turning the Nullifier against Spider-Man, he caused the wall-crawler to lose his memory and persuaded him they were allies. He then enlisted Spider-Man’s help to steal the remaining components for the device Though the hero had not regained his memory, his instinctive spider-sense persuaded him not to trust Doc Ock, and he defeated him once more.

Now imprisoned, with his arms confiscated, Otto demonstrated that the range of his psionic control over the limbs had increased to a far greater distance than previously believed. The arms freed him from captivity; in the ensuing battle between Doc Ock and Spider-Man, George Stacy was killed while protecting an innocent child.

Free again, Doctor Octopus seized upon the Kingpin’s absence to gather his forces and launch an all-out gang war against Hammerhead’s thugs But Spider-Man’s involvement quickly resulted in Otto’s return to prison While incarcerated, Doctor Octopus learned May Parker had inherited a small Canadian island containing a commercial nuclear reactor On his release, he set out to woo and marry May. But Hammerhead interrupted the wedding, and the ensuing chase and brawl led to the destruction of the reactor.

When Doc Ock went to war with the Owl, Spider-Man and the Black Cat attempted to intervene. Devastated that the confrontation had left the Black Cat near death, a cold-hearted Peter said farewell to his friends before entering what he believed to be his final showdown with Doctor Octopus. Spider-Man’s victory was remorseless, and Doc Ock developed a morbid fear of his arachnid foe. Imprisoned in a mental institution, Otto struggled with his overwhelming phobia of Spider-Man. Knowing he could not face his foe directly, Ock’s next plan involved the use of biological weapons to kill the entire population of New York. Spider-Man was forced to fake a humiliating defeat lest the city be destroyed, restoring Otto’s self-confidence.Still, Otto had clearly changed.

As a young scientist, Octavius had fallen in love with a fellow researcher, Mary Alice Burke -but his demanding mother jealously sabotaged the relationship. Learning Mary Alice was dying from AIDS, Otto began a desperate search for a cure -stealing research materials to do so. His attempts failed, Mary Alice died, and the villain meekly surrendered to Spider-Man. A world-weary Otto nonetheless later escaped from prison. At the time, Spider-Man was dying from a chemical virus. Hoping to one day kill the hero himself, Doc Ock captured and unmasked his foe. Analyzing the virus, Otto offered him a cure. Daring to trust his enemy, Peter accepted the mixture and was healed. But having somewhat redeemed himself with this act, Doctor Octopus didn’t live to enjoy it. Intending to protect Peter by killing his enemies, Kaine murdered doc Ock by snapping his neck.

However, Dr. Carolyn Trainer, Otto’s young assistant, had been working with him in the field of solid holography projection and mind-to-computer communication. Prior to Peter’s unmasking, she had created a backup brain-imprint of Dock Ock. With Otto’s passing, the backup of his mind became a software projection known as the Master Programmer, and Carolyn used his tentacles to become the second Doctor Octopus.

Meanwhile, the Rose (Jacob Conover) employed a cult, the True Believers, to magically resurrect Doctor Octopus as an empty-minded servant. As soon as he was raised, Carolyn uploaded the Master Programmer persona into Octavius’ brain. She returned his tentacles to him, and they fled.

With his memories restored from a past snapshot, Otto seems to have forgotten he once knew Spider-Man’s true identity (although this is increasingly unclear - he may have kept notes or clues) as well as much of the part where he mellowed out. He remains very much the deadly and manipulative criminal genius he was in his heyday.

Description

Doc Ock is the classic megalomaniac scientist. He was long the number one archenemy of Spider-Man rivaled only by such criminals as the Jackal. Doc Ock is fat and ugly. He even has a bowl cut. For years, he wore huge, terrible glasses and green-and-orange spandex, with sometimes a lab coat. The total impression was that of a mad scientist on a crime tour. More recently, he started dressing inn a much sharper way (trench coat and tie) and his glasses became prescription sunglasses. He kept the bowl cut, however.

Recent material have retconned as always having dressed smartly. If you can handle the mind-shattering notion that somebody dressed as a dork might actually be dangerous, feel free to ignore that retcon.

Personality

Doc Ock was a brilliant research consultant. Being the world’s leading authority on nuclear physics, his criminal schemes sometimes involved the use of nuclear-type apparatus as for example nuclear missiles. Those schemes varied from rational schemes whose goal was to acquire resources (money and equipment) to quasi-psychopathic cabals, such as for example trying to blackmail and then nuke up New York. However, in any case, his plans were complex and tricky, with deceptions and multiple levels, and he always was careful not to expose himself. His main weapons were his intellect and his mechanical arMs. His main drawback was his hatred for Spider-Man and his single-mindedness. When confronted with Spider-Man, while on a crime tour, he often seemed to forget about his main goal and simply tried to kill his adversary instead, personally or with the use of his hired goons.

Doctor Octopus is not beyond using innocent bystanders to further his own goals. His logic seems to suggest that old, helpless people, such as Aunt May, are psychologically the best victims to use as hostage when needed. Doctor Octopus seems to have a fairly good understanding of a heroes psyche, and uses that knowledge to push the right buttons to further hostage or escape situations.

He formed two powerful groups of old spiderfoes called the Sinister Six which he lead (the second one was made up Electro, the Hobgobelin, Mysterio, Sandman, the Vulture and lots of high-tech weaponry); he later teamed up with the villainess Stunner. His love for Stunner made him better balanced, and he started to become a bit like a classic James Bond criminal mastermind. He even saved Spider-Man from certain death simply to have someone to fight against in the future - unfortunately, he was killed shortly after that by Kaine.

He has gotten better since - Doc Ock is currently portrayed as an old school, megalomaniacal scientist and criminal mastermind.

DC Universe History

Well, Octopus is such an established part of the Spider-Man mythos that translating him in the DCU seems a bit pointless. As part of the DC Universe the Doc probably should be used in a scheme which involves the acquisition of money and in which he perhaps could destroy his old enemy Spider-Man ; in this context, Spider-Man could be an entirely fictional character created by Octopus’ schizophrenia.

Alternatively Spidey may have died a few years after his debut, and Doc Ock refuses to believe it - his theory is that Spider-Man is now another acrobatic super-hero, such as the Blue Beetle, the Creeper or Nightwing. Many of his plans involve avenging himself of those Spider-Man suspects. A slight variant is Spider-Man disappearing during Crisis, and only Doctor Octopus remembering that he existed as he was present at the moment of Spidey’s death.

For a non-Spidey DCU History, his nemesis might have been Hawk and Dove, with Octopus refusing to believe that they died - or he could be a straight member of Flash’s Rogue Gallery. Thematically, he works as an obscure Aquaman villain, too - all Aquaman villains being obscure anyway.