Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Year One #2

Aug 3

Aug 3 Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Year One #2

Doctor Otto Octavius is overseeing a uranium experiment where his colleagues are manipulating and controlling four pairs of mechanical arms that have been constructed inside the chamber. The scientists have trouble controlling the high sensitive mechanical arms prompting the military official overseeing the project to order the plug get pulled. Otto refuses to give up, yanking one of the scientists off the control. The nuclear reaction begins going critical and Otto is enticed by the glowing light from inside the shielded chamber. In a trance-like state, Otto then takes the control of his mechanical arms and manages to cancel out the reaction before it can reach critical mass.

Following this incident, Otto is forced to see the facility psychiatrist, who expresses his concerns that Otto’s obsession with creating his mechanical arms have distracted him from his work. He also mirrors the concerns of his colleagues who are bothered that Otto only sees them as appendages to be used in his experiments. The psychiatrist then cuts to the chase and says that while he was trying to contain the nuclear reaction, Otto was exposed to a heavy dose of gamma rays and was also overheard talking to his machine like it was a real person. Otto has a fantasy where he tells off the mental health professional and after ordering him to burn, the psychiatrist is incinerated in a nuclear blast. Snapping out of this fantasy, Otto realizes that this is the first time he entertained such thoughts in a very long time. He agrees that his slip up was due to stress, what the psychiatrist wants to hear, and is told to take a few days off.

That evening, Otto goes home to dinner and his mother admits that she is upset that he is hardly ever home. She reminds him that he is all she has left now that his father is dead. He assures his mother that he’ll always be there for her. Later that evening, the pair sit down and watch television together and watch a performance being put on by Spider-Man.[1] Seeing the web-slinger use his mechanical web-shooters, Otto is inspired.

The following morning, Otto returns to work happy and is greeted by Mary Alice Anders, who apologizes for her unprofessionalism earlier during the experiment the day before. Noticing her for the first time, Otto finds her beautiful and tells her not to worry about it. He later gives a lecture to his colleagues about the military needs to invest in cybernetics because it will help them against American’s enemies, pointing out that private citizens are already using this technology to enhance themselves. In the back of the room, two soldiers are looking over recent photos of the Hulk and agree with Octavius and decide to provide him with all the funding he needs.

Soon, Otto begins working on a means of physically interfacing with his mechanical arms so that he can control them with his mind. During one of his early tests he is interrupted by Mary and another colleague. The sudden break in concentration causes painful feedback from the device, causing Otto’s glasses to fall off. He is furious until Mary finds them and puts them back on Otto’s face. He then assures her that he’s fine and retreats to his lab to get dressed. When he comes back out he finds Mary still outside waiting for him. He decides to tell her about one of his inspirations, Wilhelm Roentgen, the inventor of the x-ray. He tells her a romantic story about how he led his wife into his x-ray machine so he could look at her frame. As he tells her this story, the two walk behind an x-ray machine. When Mary begins trying to undo Otto’s pants, Octavius panics and flees the room,

Later, Otto is at home painting a picture of Mary Anders when his mother enters his room to see what he is painting. When she sees that he is painting another woman she deduces that her son has been fooling around with a girl and accuses him of trying to leave her. Mary Octavius then warns her son that the other Mary doesn’t really care for him and is only pretending to be interested so she can laugh at his inexperience and that she wants to take him away from his work because she is jealous of his genius. Left to ponder this, Otto then angrily knocks his painting to the floor. The next day, Otto calls Mary Alice into his office and tells her that she is a distraction to his work and has had her transferred to another unit so that he can be free to complete his work.

That night, Otto returns home in the rain and completely drunk. He wants to tell his mother that he has completed his experient. Thinking his mother is up in her room he goes upstairs and says that he hurt the feelings of the girl from work and admits that he kind of liked it. That’s when his mother returns home from a date to discover the front door is already open. She tells her date she’ll call him tomorrow when Otto is away. When she goes upstairs and finds Otto lurking in her room. When she asks him what he’s doing, she suddenly attacks her.

Later, Otto Octavius shows off his new mechanical arms to the military brass demonstrating that he controls them cybernetically as though they are part of his own body. Beginning his next experiment, he tells them that with his mechanical arms he’ll make radiation his servant. Suddenly, the radiation levels start to spike causing an alarm to go off. Their attempts to stop the experiment are ignored by Otto who is entranced by the glow of the radiation. Suddenly, he realizes that there is something seriously wrong but it is too late to act as the nuclear material explodes in his face.

Recurring Characters

Otto Octavius, Mary Octavius, Mary Anders, Spider-Man

Continuity Notes

Otto and his mother are obviously watching one of Spider-Man’s early television appearances before he became a super-hero circa Amazing Fantasy #15.

On Continuity

As mentioned in my summary for issue #1, there is a question as to how this story would slot into continuity, hence why other resources (such as the Marvel Chronology Project) have not slotted this story into continuity because of apparent contradictions between past stories that have delved into the past of Doctor Octopus. I argue that these stories can fit into continuity when you take into consideration the perspectives in which these stories are told.

The majority of the stories that look into the past of Doctor Octopus are told from the perspective of Doctor Octopus himself, a criminally insane narcissist. There is no reason not to believe that his recounting of his past were embellished to present himself in a positive light. He’s also not above lying or giving alternate interpreatations of his past, such as he did in Spectacular Spider-Man (vol. 2) #6-10, when he said her was a child and was present on the night his father died. All other accounts present Octavious as a young man and away from home at the time.

When examining this issue, the dominant contradiction is regarding Otto’s relationship with Mary Anders, his mother telling him to end it, Otto’s discovery that his mother had started dating, and his mother’s death.

Original accounts (particularly Spider-Man Unlimited #3 and 18) state that Otto proposed to Mary Anders and she accepted. His mother later guilted him into breaking it off. When Otto discovered that his mother was dating he then confronted her causing Mary Octavius to allegedly die of a heart attack.

This story instead states that while Otto and Anders fooled around there was no proposal made and Otto later dismissed her. Later, when he discovers his mother is dating issue #2 and 3 of this series suggest that Otto actually murdered his mother.

As I’ve stated above, Otto was the one who recounts these events and we have proof that Otto has lied about his past before. Also, he always recounts his mother as being an over weight overbearing woman who died of a heart attack and the aforementioned Spectacular Spider-Man arc showed that Otto had some severe mommy issues. It’s my position that Otto murdered his mother but has since repressed this memory or fabricated the idea that his mother actually died of a heart attack.

Another, less egregious, instance is when Doctor Octopus is giving his pitch for having his mechanical arms funded by the military. He talks about how civilians are already modifying their bodies. This is accompanied by television screens showing silhouetted images of the Vulture, Electro, and the Green Goblin. Continuity wise, if we accept that this story takes place between Amazing Fantasy #15 and Amazing Spider-Man #3, then Electro and the Green Goblin haven’t made their first appearances yet. I’d like to think that the depiction of these characters here is less factual and more foreshadowing these future foes, understanding that the military didn’t really choose to fund Otto’s mechanical arms based on his presentation but rather because they were looking at a picture of the Hulk during said speech.

Chronology

Doctor Octopus

Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Year One #2 (Page 1-10): Otto develops mechanical arms that operate in a reactor through remote control. Narrowly prevents a meltdown is advised to take time off. He spends this time with his mother. Watching Spider-Man on TV gives him the inspiration to redesign his mechanical arms as cybernetic appendages. Giving a lecture which secures military funding on his new mechanical arms.
Spider-Man Unlimited #18 (page 7, panel 3-5): Otto gives a lecture on his mechanical arms, meets Carolyn Trainer who is smitten by him gets his autograph.
Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Out of Reach #1 (page 2, panel 2): Otto shows off his mechanical arms to his colleagues who scoff at his invention.
Invincible Iron Man #501 (page 1, 10-11): Otto Octavius attends a technology symposium in Arlington, Virginia and meets Tony Stark. When Stark is more interested in the Rubix Cube they were all given in gift baskets instead of going to lunch with Octavius, Otto dismisses Tony as an idiot. Later they argue over their motivations for working with the military. Otto further writes Stark off as a trust fund kid with no concept of money.
Invincible Iron Man #503 (page 1-2): Otto finds Stark drunk on a beach and tells him that in order to get ahead he needs to cheat to win. He then figures that one day Stark will work for him.
Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Year One #2 (page 11-14): Mary Anders begins working with him on these cybernetic apendages and the two become smitten for one another. Otto is initially shy.
Spider-Man Unlimited #3 (page 9, panel 2-5): Otto begins working at US Atomic Research Center. He develops his mechanical arms and works with Mary Anders.
Web of Spider-Man (vol. 2) #12 (2nd story page 3, panel 1-4): While working for US Atomics he goes through six research assistants earning the ire of his co-workers.
Spider-Man Unlimited #18 (page 8 panel 3-4): Otto works for US Atomics, his colleagues gossip about his mechanical arms.
Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Year One #2 (page 15-16): Mary Octavius catches his son painting a picutre of Mary Anders and gets upset. She tries to convince him that Mary is only interested mocking his inexperience.
Spider-Man Unlimited #3 (page 14, panel 2-3) ~ Spider-Man Unlimited #18 (page 9, panel 3-4): Otto tells his mother how Mary accepted his engagement. Mary Octavius sees this as a sign that Otto is going to abandon her. Carolyn Trainer spies on Otto's dates.
Spider-Man Unlimited #3 (page 14, panel 4) ~ Spider-Man Unlimited #18 (page 14, panel 5) ~ Web of Spider-Man (vol. 2) #12 (2nd story page 3, panel 5): Otto breaks off his engagement to Mary Anders. Carolyn Trainer witnesses Otto breaking up with Mary Anders.
Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Year One #2 (page 17): Mary Anders meets with Otto at work the next day, he dismisses her. Spider-Man Unlimited #3 (page 14, panel 5): Otto has his cousin, Elias Hargrove, fire Mary Anders.
Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Out of Reach #1 (page 2, panel 3): Female colleagues turn him down when he asks them out on dates.
Spider-Man Unlimited #18 (page 10, panel 4): Otto tells his colleagues watch him make radiation his servant.
Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Year One #2 (Page 18-19): Otto returns home to tell his mother that his experiment was a success. Discovers that she is not home. Mary Octavius returns home from a date, finds Otto waiting for her in her room.
Spider-Man Unlimited #3 (page 18, panel 2-8) ~ Spider-man Unlimited #18 (page 10, panel 5-7) ~ Web of Spider-Man (vol. 2) #12 (2nd story page 4, panel 1-2): Otto returns home to discover his mother preparing to go out on a date. He gets mad at her for doing so after he forced her to break off his engagement to Anders. Mary Octavius suffers a heart attack and dies or does she?
Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Year One #3 (Page 1-2): Otto strangles his mother to death while confronting her about dating.
Web of Spider-Man (vol. 2) #12 (2nd story, page 4, panel 3): Otto calls 9/11.
Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Out of Reach #1 (page 2, panel 4): Otto mourns at his mother's grave.
Spider-Man Unlimited #3 (page 19, panel 1) ~ Spider-Man Unlimited #18 (page 11, panel 1): Otto is in a private world of grief on the job for 3 weeks.
Amazing Spider-Man #3 (page 3, panel 1-3) ~ Spider-Man Unlimited #3 (page 19, panel 2): The day of the accident, Otto puts on his mechanical arms and demonstrates their abilitites.
Spider-Man Unlimited #18 (page 11, panel 2) ~ Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Out of Reach #1 (page 2, panel 5) ~ Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Out of Reach #3 (page 15 panel 3): Otto prepares his next experiment
Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Year One #2 (page 20): Doctor Octopus addresses his military handlers and announces that he is going to make radiation his servant before beginning his experiment.
Amazing Spider-Man #3 (page 3, panesl 4-6): Otto begins to work on radioactive materials. The other scientists in the facility detect a spike in radioactivity.
Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Year One #2 (page 21): The scientists detect a spike in radiation. Otto realizes that there is something wrong.
Amazing Spider-Man #3 (page 4, panel 1) ~ Spider-Man Unlimited #3 (page 19, panel 3) ~ Spider-Man Unlimited #18 (page 11, panel 3) ~ Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Out of Reach #1 (page 2, panel 6) ~ Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Out of Reach #3 (page 15 panel 4) ~ Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Year One #2 (page 21): Otto is caught in the explosion.
Amazing Spider-Man #3 (page 4, panels 2): A rescue crew finds Otto's body in the rubble and discover he is still alive.

Spider-Man

Doctor Octopus and his mother watch Spider-Man on television. This is clearly a period when Spider-Man was in show business circa Amazing Fantasy #15.