Doctor Octopus Debuts New Power, Making Him Spider-Man's Most Spine-Tingling Villain

Summary Doc Ock uses Spider-Boy's powers to create a hivemind of spiders, infecting humans with his control.

Ock has merged his mind with countless individuals, creating an army of himself through Spider-Boy's abilities.

By exploiting a 10-year-old, Doc Ock's intelligence, creepiness, and threat-level are at an all-time high in Marvel Comics.

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Superior Spider-Man #7! Doctor Octopus has always been a major Spider-Man villain, mostly due to the fact that his brilliance challenged Peter Parker’s intellect like no other member of Spidey’s rogues gallery could (not to mention the deadly mechanical tentacles). However, Doc Ock has never been more dangerous (or creepy) than he is right now in Marvel Comics canon, and his spine-tingling new power - and how he got it - is the reason why.

In a preview for Superior Spider-Man #7 by Dan Slott and Mark Bagley, Otto Octavius inhabited the body of Bailey Briggs aka Spider-Boy, just as he did to Peter Parker some time earlier to become the Superior Spider-Man. Now, as the ‘Superior Spider-Boy’, Doc Ock is utilizing Briggs’ powers in ways the 10-year-old superhero never could - and the result is absolutely terrifying.

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Spider-Boy has the power to communicate with spiders, which is something that’s unique to him as a spider-hero. However, Doc Ock has taken this power to new heights as the Superior Spider-Boy, as he’s found a way to connect every spider in an entire New York City neighborhood to a singular hivemind. Octavius has projected his mind onto countless spiders, and he commanded those spiders to ‘infect’ humans by crawling into their mouths, ears, and other orifices, resulting in those humans’ minds being overtaken by Otto Octavius.

Doc Ock has created an army of people that are effectively ‘him’ with a hivemind-infection system he created using Spider-Boy’s ability to communicate with spiders.

Doc Ock Has Never Been More Dangerous in Spider-Man Canon Than As Spider-Boy

Doctor Octopus undeniably elevated his position as a Marvel Comics villain when he took over Peter Parker’s body to become the Superior Spider-Man. The level of intelligence required to create a device capable of such a feat, paired with the level of ruthlessness it would take to effectively become something akin to a demon possessing another’s form are factors fans have never seen from Otto Octavius (on both fronts). However, as brilliantly sinister as Doc Ock proved to be when he became the Superior Spider-Man, he’s absolutely outdone himself as Superior Spider-Boy.

While the act of taking over a spider-hero’s body isn’t new, the way he’s using this particular spider-hero’s powers is absolutely groundbreaking.

Doc Ock didn’t simply become Spider-Boy to prove that he was a superior version of the superhero (as he did with Spider-Man), he did so to expand the reach of his own mind-controlling abilities. By using Spider-Boy’s power to communicate with spiders, Doc Ock has overtaken the bodies of countless people, allowing him to create an army of himself that any hero - not just Spider-Man - would find difficult to defeat, making Doc Ock more dangerous than he’s ever been.

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Doc Ock’s Creepiness is More Pronounced Than His Threat-Level

Everything about Doc Ock’s new powers is overwhelmingly creepy in every regard. Obviously, controlling spiders to crawl into people’s mouths, ears, and anywhere else to turn them into mindless slaves connected to a larger hivemind is unnerving, but the way Octavius achieved this feat is just as creepy - if not way more so. Doctor Octopus took over the body of a 10-year-old boy to obtain this power, which alone is downright icky when considering Otto is a 60-something-year-old man. Of course, taking over anyone’s body is abhorrent, but it’s unarguably way worse when it’s done to a little kid.

Otto Octavius has simply outdone himself on all fronts. His brilliance, threat-level, and creepiness factor have all reached new heights during this latest storyline, giving Marvel Comics fans ample evidence to conclude that Doctor Octopus has officially become Spider-Man’s most spine-tingling villain.

Superior Spider-Man #7 by Marvel Comics is available May 22, 2024.