Identity theft: Doctor Octopus pulls off big switch
Written by Jim Beard | | news@toledofreepress.comDoctor Octopus doesn’t just want Spider-Man’s credit cards, bank accounts and voter registration — he wants nothing less than everything, body and soul.
Doctor Octopus
And in the recent Amazing Spider-Man No. 698, apparently he succeeds. Peter Parker, the wondrous web-slinger himself, awakens in a sick bed in the broken-down, aged, drooling body of his longtime nemesis and with a familiar-looking, handsome young man standing over him.
That’s right, it’s the old body-mind switcheroo, but this time Peter gets the short end of the deal.
And then the good doctor’s body flatlines …
Did the Internet crack in half after the issue’s release? Yes, it did. Writer Dan Slott most likely cackled with glee over the fan reaction to the switch, as it’s all part of his Machiavellian master plan leading up to December’s landmark Amazing Spider-Man No. 700. But, the big question is, what do you do after that? Marvel Comics’ answer is to cancel the venerable 50-year-old title and replace it in January with Superior Spider-Man No. 1 starring — yep, you guessed it — mean, old-as-the-hills Doctor Octopus in Peter Parker’s youthful form as a darker wall-crawler with the entirety of Spidey’s life in his grip. Oh, and that includes that gorgeous red-haired Mary Jane Watson.
As Stan Lee might say, ’nuff said.
But, wait! Why Doctor Octopus, of all Pete’s enemies, to play the role? Well, their bitter little struggle goes back pretty far, to 1963’s Amazing Spider-Man No. 3 in fact, giving the Doc a slight edge on the Green Goblin — he didn’t debut until 1964’s Amazing Spider-Man No. 14. Seeing as how Gobby has just come off a few years’ worth of big storylines in the Marvel Universe, it’s only fair that Doc Ock’s moment of glory would finally arrive … and boy, has it.
The wily genius isn’t disclosing exactly how he pulled off the mind-swap, leaving both Spidey and readers in the lurch and forcing them to follow along with his new adventures, daring everyone to see if he might make an even better Spider-Man than the original.
Tags: Doctor Octopus, Jim Beard, Spider-Man
