Marvel has announced to bring back Otto Octavius (aka Doctor Octopus) in his own ongoing comic series, The Superior Spider-Man this December. The series will give him a Spider-journey of his own, independent of Peter Parker, to be the best Superhero he believe he can be.
Written by Christos Gage and art work by Mike Hawthorne, the events of this book will most likely build off of The Superior Octopus, which has been announced for an October release. This new era for Otto Octavius promises to be filled with plenty of emotion, conflict, and adventure!
Gage shared few details about taking Otto as Superior Spider-Man: “The Superior Spider-Man is back! But this time he’s not trying to be a superior Peter Parker. He’s trying to be the best possible Otto Octavius. [This] includes protecting San Francisco, teaching at Horizon University in his cover identity as Elliot Tolliver and of course, doing everything much better than anyone else can which is why he’s still the Superior Spider-Man! I had the great pleasure of collaborating with Dan Slott on his incredible Superior Spider-Man run, and I can’t wait for people to see this new chapter in Otto’s journey toward… redemption? Corruption? Triumph? Tragedy? That remains to be seen. What I can tell you is that the appropriately superior artistic team of Mike Hawthorne, Wade Von Grawbadger, and Jordie Bellaire are absolutely killing it on the art.”
The Superior Spider-Man follows the events of Dead No More: A Clone Conspiracy and Secret Empire, where Octavius has had his mind placed into a perfect clone of Peter Parker. But things didn’t turn out the way he hoped after he took on the mantle as the Superior Spider-Man. After he came to the rescue of May Parker during Going Down Swinging and risked his life to save her, Peter agreed to give Octavius a fresh start to make something of his life. Moving to San Francisco to teach at the prestigious Horizon University under the assumed name Elliot Tolliver, Otto will also once more assume the role of the superhero.
Hawthorne also provided his excitement for working on The Superior Spider-Man as his next big challenge as an exclusive artist at Marvel: “I’m more than thrilled to renew my exclusive with the folks at Marvel. I want to emphasise ‘folks’ here, as I think we often talk about Marvel as this big entity that just makes things happen. Marvel, to me, is the people that work day in and day out to try to make the best comics they can. They’re the ones that keep me coming back. I’m ecstatic to dedicate the next few years of my creative energies to adding to the Marvel Universe!”
Gage also informed that the comic book series will depict Stilt-Man, the Night Shift and some rather more heavy-hitting villains who shall remain nameless.