Doctor Octopus
Doctor Octopus (real name Dr. Otto Gunther Octavius), also known as Doc Ock, Doc Octopus, and the Superior Spider-Man, is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. A highly intelligent mad scientist, Doctor Octopus is one of Spider-Man's greatest enemies. He is typically portrayed as a stocky, myopic man who utilizes four powerful, mechanical appendages, and is obsessed with proving his own genius and destroying Spider-Man.
The character has appeared in numerous Spider-Man cartoons and video games, and is portrayed by Alfred Molina in the 2004 film Spider-Man 2. In 2009, Doctor Octopus was ranked as IGN's 28th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time. Comics journalist and historian Mike Conroy writes of the character: "Created by Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, Doc Ock, as he became known, has become one of the web slinger's most persistent and dangerous foes."
Publication history
The character of Doctor Octopus first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #3 (July 1963), and was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko. Lee recounted that "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 though, '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." The character soon appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #11 and #12, and again in #31 - 33.
