Warning: Spoilers for The Superior Spider-Man Returns #1 ahead!
Doctor Octopus briefly returns to his role as web-slinger courtesy of a flashback to his turbulent run as the Superior Spider-Man. But memories of Otto’s time beneath the mask isn’t the only thing that returns: this flashback carries over a hefty amount of Doc Ock lore from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 (2004), canonizing several iconic memes and Easter eggs into comic continuity for the first time.
Dan Slott, Christos Gage, Mark Bagley, Ryan Stegman, Humberto Ramos, Giuseppe Camuncoli, John Dell, JP Mayer, Victor Olazaba, and Edgar Delgado’s The Superior Spider-Man Returns #1 sees Otto Octavius returning to his ruined laboratory in an attempt to jog his hazy memories of his time as Spider-Man. The issue then flashes back to during Otto’s Superior Spider-Man days, where he interrupts a heist by super-thief Slyde and steals the tritium compound Slyde himself had stolen.
Working with the tritium, Otto struggles to create his magnum opus: a miniature, laboratory-controlled star. When his lab assistant Estrella Lopez solves the issue, Otto takes full credit for her breakthrough, causing Estrella to attempt to steal the star-reactor. In a cruel irony, the reactor bonds with Estrella much in the same way that Otto’s tentacles fused with him, turning her into a living reactor.
Spider-Man 2‘s Doc Ock Lore Is Iconic
Otto’s obsession with tritium and miniature reactors is lifted straight from Spider-Man 2, in which the main conflict is derived from Otto stealing tritium to re-enact his failed experiment on a larger scale. Ultimately, Spider-Man is forced to destroy the reactor Otto has built by drowning it in the nearby river. Alfred Molina’s depiction of Otto Octavius was universally praised, leading both to meme-able moments such as his quote “the power of the sun…in the palm of my hand,” as well as his reprisal of the role in the MCU’s Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Superior Spider-Man Returns Pays Homage To Iconic Film Moments
The Superior Spider-Man Returns #1 canonizes both tritium and Otto’s quest to make the perfect reactor by making them into a major part of his motivation as the Superior Spider-Man. More winks and nods are given to the 2004 film as well: in this issue, Otto receives tritium by retrieving it from the river (the inverse of the film’s drowning of his tritium reactor) and Estrella repeats Otto’s “power of the sun” quote before the reactor explodes in her face (as happens to Otto in the movie). The art composition with the reactor mirrored in Estrella’s safety goggles during this scene is a perfect mirror of its film counterpart.
Spider-Man 2 has become a major part of pop culture’s understanding of Doctor Octopus, and now comic continuity has fully embraced those aspects of the character. It remains yet to be seen if this will pave the way for more film and MCU elements to make their way into comic lore, but it is difficult to deny that Doctor Octopus is all the better for incorporating aspects of his most iconic live portrayal into his character.
The Superior Spider-Man Returns #1 is now available from Marvel Comics.
