Marvel's Spider-Man 2018 Spoiler Thoughts

The way the game handles the implementation of Dr. Otto Octavius, aka Dr. Octopus is, again, absolutely brilliant. It plays with fan expectations by establishing an extremely wholesome relationship between Peter and Otto at the start of the game. At the climax, Peter even admits that he saw Otto as a father figure. From the moment he’s introduced, Otto is shown to have a genuine desire to help people and use his genius and talents for the sake of others. However, as the game continues, the dark side of Otto’s personality is gradually dragged out into the light, and those glimpses of Otto being a genuinely good person and positive influence in Peter’s life makes his eventual downfall and transformation into Dr. Octopus hurt all the more, especially since we know it's coming. The final boss battle with Peter doing everything he can to talk Otto out of his mad ravings and make him see the harm he’s doing to himself and so many people is heartbreaking. When Peter finally stops Otto, after Otto reveals that he knew about Peter’s identity as Spider-Man the whole time, and that deep down Otto saw the people he had vowed to help as *beneath* him, all Peter can do is turn his back to him and leave him to his fate while Otto literally cries for him out of desperation and terror of being left alone, trapped in a non-responsive body. It is emotionally devastating, and is genuinely one of my all-time favorite finale sequences in all of video games.

I absolutely love the parallels he has with Mr. Negative, but whereas Martin Li would likely still be a good man if it weren’t for Norman Osborne, the game intentionally obfuscates whether or not the same could be said for Otto. Otto is a deeply insecure man who, despite a desire to help people, also harbors a desire to be recognized for his genius and talents in the same way Norman was. In addition to the fact that the arms were causing damage to his brain, he’s also losing control of the muscles in his body. He’s in a race against time to make something of himself, and the fact that Norman gets in his way causes all of that resentment, frustration, and jealousy to come out. If Otto’s ego was satiated, would he still have the best interests of mankind at heart? It’s hard to say, and that’s what makes this version of Otto so, so good.

Otto’s paralysis might be a hint at possibly doing a Superior Spider-Man adaptation in the future, which would be insanely cool. For those that don’t know, in the comics, Superior Spider-Man is a story where, after Otto becomes paralyzed and terminally ill as a result of the injuries he sustained from fighting Spider-Man for years, he manages to swap minds with the Wall Crawler, leaving Peter’s mind trapped in his dying body, while Otto’s mind takes over Peter’s body. However, during the process, Otto’s mind is flooded with memories of Peter’s entire life, and as a result, he comes to understand Peter’s virtues, realizes his wrongdoings and renounces his villainous ways, instead resolving to become a better Spider-Man than Peter ever was. He then spent a period of time in Peter’s body, acting as the Superior Spider-Man. While at the time, I don’t think it was marketed especially well, in retrospect, I actually really liked the Superior Spider-Man storyline, and I would love to see what Insomniac does with that concept.