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From SCIFIPEDIA
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Doctor Octopus is a fictional comic book villain, nemesis of Spider-Man, a superhero owned by Marvel Comics. Doctor Octopus began as an arch nemesis of Spider-Man, but he has been supplanted from that position by even more menacing adversaries like the Green Goblin and Venom. In the meantime, he remains one of Spider-Man’s oldest and most recognized recurring super villains.
Doctor Octopus is connected both physically and psychically to a harness of robotic tentacle-like arms of incredible power. The harness has four mentally controlled, prehensile, telescoping, rotating tentacles made of a titanium-steel alloy with pincers at the end. While possessing normal human strength, each of his mechanical arms can lift up to 8 tons. With one arm he can lift a car, with two he can hurl the car or lift a bus. The pincers at the end of the tentacles can grip with a force of 175 lbs per square inch, able to rip or crush any substance less durable than steel. It can, for instance, crush a gun. It can also pick a lit cigar up delicately enough without damaging it and lift it to Octavius' mouth. With the combined strength of the arms and the pincers, he can rip a steel bank vault off its hinges. They are also powerful enough to lift him from the ground and carry him for a distance.
While he doesn’t exactly feel pain through them, he can register tactile sensations. When the harness is severed from him, Doctor Octopus has been able to psionically control the arms from a distance.
Doctor Octopus is a founding member of the Sinister Six, and has kidnapped Aunt May, and once almost married her to gain access to property that she had inherited. Aunt May was a bit oblivious at the time to his evil nature, to Peter’s continued frustration.
Doctor Octopus was once killed by the villain Kaine, but was eventually resurrected by his young assistant, Carolyn Trainer. She preserved a back-up brain imprint, which was eventually placed them into his magically resurrected body. As such, he remains the manipulative criminal genius, inventor, and engineer he always was.
Character Origin
Son of an overbearing mother and bullying father, Otto Octavius has a difficult and painful childhood, but manages to grow up a brilliant though reclusive atomic scientist. He creates the harness and mechanical arms to work with radioactive materials. The eccentric scientist is quite a sight in them, and is nicknamed Doctor Octopus by his not always well-meaning colleagues. In a freak laboratory accident, a volatile chemical composition explodes, resulting in the scientist being bombarded with radiation. When he wakes in a hospital bed, Octavius finds he can mentally control the powerful arms. The accident also damages his mind, transforming the respected scientist into a megalomaniac. Otto reasons that his newfound strength and already massive intellect could make him supremely powerful. He holds the hospital staff hostage, and soundly defeats Spider-Man during their first battle. He later takes over a nuclear power plant and squares off again against Spider-Man again. Spider-Man knocks him out him with a single well-placed spider strength punch.
Doctor Octopus Portrayals
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