50 Greatest Super Villains In Comic Book History

15. Doctor Octopus

(Write-up by Daniel Wood, Whatever a Spider Can Editor)

When it comes to great super villains, certain things are needed – a unique appearance/gimmick, a brilliant mind, eight arms and a career defining moment when you actually beat your arch-nemesis and take over his body for an entire comic book series.

Okay, so a great super-villain doesn’t need all of those things, but Otto Octavius, a.k.a. Dr. Octopus, has all of those qualities. He is undeniably one of the Marvel Universe’s greatest villains, hence why the eight-armed enemy of Spider-Man is number 15 on our list.

Doctor Octopus has been behind many genius schemes to take out Spider-Man or take over the world, such as founding the Sinister Six (and reforming it several times), posing as a criminal mastermind called “The Master Planner” and attempting to poison New York city with printer ink.

But Octavius’ crowning glory and greatest scheme cannot be ignored. He actually managed to swap bodies with Peter Parker, thus becoming Spider-Man and beating his arch-enemy, all whilst he himself was on his deathbed. How’s that for true villainy?

What was even better was reading a whole series where Spider-Man fought crime with the mind of a super villain. Many people didn’t like the self-proclaimed “Superior Spider-Man,” but seeing Otto’s personality manifested in Spidey was fantastic. There’s a reason why he’s one of the front-runners in the Spider-Verse storyline – because he gets results.

Not only has Doctor Octopus become one of Spider-Man’s most enduring and recurring villains over the years — with his incredible intellect but arrogance-based fatal flaw — but he is one of the few comic book villains to truly execute a master plan and really beat Spider-Man. Not even the Green Goblin can claim to have done something like that (in the 616 universe anyway).

Currently, Otto Octavius is dead after giving Peter Parker’s body back to him, but thanks to some timey-wimey stuff, he’s in Superior Spider-Man being as arrogant as ever. We know that his story ends with his death, but we also know that it won’t be long until another one of Otto’s master plans comes to fruition and the eight-armed genius returns!

Next: No. 14: An accidental icon