- Otto Gunther Octavius is born in Schenectady, NY to Torbert and Mary Octavius. He is bullied in school and by his father at home and coddled by his mother. He graduates from high school with top marks and goes to college on a full scholarship. His father dies during Otto's freshman year, killed in a construction accident. Otto considers this to be no great loss.
- Otto earns a PhD, goes on to excel in the field of nuclear research and robotics, but due to personality conflicts does not stay at any one facility for long. He finally takes a position at the US Atomic Research Center. And goes through half a dozen lab assistants a year.
- Dr. Mary Alice Anders joins the US Atomic Research Center and is, surprisingly, not put off by Otto's arrogance. Otto eventually proposes to her and is accepted. Otto's mother protests the engagement and forces Otto to break it off. With the help of his cousin Elias Hargrove, Dr. Anders is dismissed from the US Atomic Research Center.
- Otto buries himself in his work, becomes even more disliked by colleagues. Comes home late to find out that his mother's been dating. Enraged by her hypocrisy, Otto verbally attacks her. Mary Octavius suffers a heart attack and dies.
- Weeks later, a distracted Otto Octavius has his accident and is physically and mentally bonded with the tentacle harness that he'd created. He also suffers some kind of brain damage and becomes paranoid and psychotic. He has his first run-in with Spider-Man while at the hospital and defeats the webslinger handily before going forth to take over the US Atomic Research Center. Spider-Man makes another go at defeating 'Doctor Octopus', using more cunning, and succeeds in defeating the madman.
- Doc Ock is in and out of prison, usually breaking out and then being defeated by Spider-Man or some other hero. Usually Spider-Man. He is physically separated from his tentacles and then demonstrates the ability to control them from a distance. He forms the Sinister Six to take down Spider-Man. The Six fails to do so.
- Doc Ock sets himself up as a criminal mastermind and engages in various schemes. He goes up against other criminal supervillians such as Hammerhead and the Owl. He attempts to marry May Parker (Peter Parker's aunt) because she's unknowingly inherited a nuclear facility in Canada. The marriage is not completed, fortunately. When not playing with the criminal underworld, Ock plans the death of millions — once by poisoning the ink supply of the Daily Bugle, and once by attempting to aquire a bomb that would turn NYC into a smoldering irradiated wasteland. In each case Ock does this simply to prove to the world how dangerous he is.
- In defeating Ock's attempt to nuke NYC into the ground, Spider-Man thrashes Ock more thoroughly than usual (probably because Ock had just savaged the Black Cat) and rips Ock's tentacles from his body, causing Ock great agony. Ock has his arms repaired and, enraged, goes after Cat and Spidey again, but after a long and vicious battle, Spidey not only defeats Ock but tells the madman that he will /never/ win against him. Ock is rattled.
- Ock is taken to Battle World to join the other heroes and villains in Secret Wars. He holds it together until the very end, when a display of Molecule Man's physics-defying powers becomes the final straw and Ock attacks him in a fit of rage. Molecule Man subdues Ock and makes sure he's delivered to the South Brooklyn Psychiatric Facility, saying that Ock needs help. (Molecule Man himself had undergone therapy in the past and found it good.) Otto is committed to the care of Dr. George Charles Jefferson, and the tentacle harness is taken to a secure facility elsewhere and put under lock and key.
Narcissist: Narcissistic Personality Disorder is a psychological condition characterized by a pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and a lack of empathy. Sound like anyone we know? While Ock was always a bit of an arrogant egotist, after his accident this bloomed into the psychological ugliness he possesses today. He has a massive sense of self-importance and entitlement, is preoccupied by fantasies of unlimited success and his own brilliance, believes himself special and unique, demands admiration from those around him, lacks empathy, is willing to use anyone around him for his own advancement, and, of course, displays haughty behaviors and attitudes. He also tends to refer to himself in the third person and will rant at the drop of a head.
Misanthropy: There are less than a handful of people in the world that Ock doesn't hate to some degree. Those like Dr. Doom and Reed Richards who dare to be better than him, to a certain web-slinging wall-crawler who constantly meddles with his plans, to the general seething mass of humanity at large — Ock loathes them all. There are, in short, very few people Ock doesn't despise, and less than a handful that he actually likes.
Domineering: Ock hates being anything but absolutely in control of any situation that he's in, which of course includes social situations. If forced to be subservient to someone else, he'll seethe and plot and generally attempt to sabotage the situation for his own gain somehow. He sees himself as the pinnacle of humanity, and accepts no one else as his better. In anything important, anyway.
Treacherous: Though it is possible for Ock to develop a sense of true loyalty, it happens so rarely that it's not worth counting on. Usually, he'll use, abuse, and discard people. He'll keep a promise only as long as it suits him. On the flipside, if in the very very rare instance he /does/ make a commitment to an individual, he'll hold onto it for years.
TENTACLE BOND: After the explosion that grafted the tentacled harness to Dr. Octavius, he was misdiagnosed with brain damage. In actuality, his brain was creating new neuro-pathways so that he could possess the superhuman ability to telepathically control his tentacles at will. Originally, at his earliest stages, it was thought he could only control his tentacles while they were attached to him. However, when he became separated from his tentacles, he proved he was able to telepathically control them, even if they were a considerable distance; the longest recorded distance is over 900 miles, some years ago. In addition, Ock is able to 'feel' through the arms as if they were part of his flesh-and-blood body.
TENTACLE REACH: Each tentacle is approximately six feet long at full contraction, but can extend to a maximum of 24 feet in length.
TENTACLE STRENGTH: The pincers at the end of each tentacle can grip with a force of up to 175 pounds per square inch. The tentacles can also lift weight up to three tons (although /that/ much weight requires at least one tentacle to be braced against the ground for support).
TENTACLE TRAVELING: By combining the intrinsic strength of both his tentacles and the pincers, Doctor Octopus can scale stone, brick, or concrete walls by rending "handholds" in the surface of the wall. Octopus is able to use his tentacles for traversing horizontal distances as well. At full extension, he can travel high above the ground as if on stilts, either using two tentacles, or for maximum speed (approximately 50 miles per hour) four tentacles.
TENTACLE MULTIPLE ACTIONS: Each arm is capable of independent action; Ock can light a cigarette, pour a glass of wine, pick up a brick, and smack Spider-Man across the room all at the same time. This is also separate from any actions he may take with his physical body.
TENTACLE WIND GENERATION: The tentacles can generate 50 mile per hour winds if spun like a giant fan.
SCIENCE!: Though his specialties are nuclear physics and robotics (he is considered to be the world's top expert on radiation), Ock has as much of an insatiable thirst for knowledge as any great scientist and has mastered or partially mastered several other disciplines. If it's a hard science, Ock probably knows at least something about it. Rarely does he use his knowledge for good, of course.
JURY_RIGGING: Ock is, by necessity, very good at creating scientific marvels with less than optimum equipment. While not capable of making, say, a Spider Slayer out of duct tape and tinfoil, he could rebuild one with "sub-standard" materials that works almost as well as one of Smythe's originals. Or adapt the robot designs of Mendel Stromm to create his own.
TENTACLE_COMBAT: Octavius's control over his arms is absolute, and his mind has adapted to allow him to perform separate actions with each limb. In combat, he is fierce, with the main intent on battering his opponents or simply out-lasting them — the arms, being mechanical, are tireless. The trick is getting past those arms and to the vulnerable and all-too-human man at their center — but that's quite a trick. Octavius is also not shy about using the environment — or anything — to his advantage; he does not play fair.
CRIMINALITY: Not long after turning supervillain, Ock turned his genius into mastering the criminal underworld. He's learned the ins and outs of the NY underworld and has any number of nefarious contacts. He can plan a bank heist (child's play!) or the theft of a well-guarded piece of new technology. He knows where to recruit henchmen and how to contact sellers and buyers on the black market. Et cetera. He's no Kingpin, though; Ock just doesn't have Fisk's charisma, his instinctual feel for the criminal underworld, or his staying power as a mob boss. Too much of an angry nerd at heart, one may suppose.
TENTACLES: Doctor Octopus' superhuman abilities derive from the four mentally-controlled, electronically-powered, telescoping, prehensile titanium-steel tentacles attached to a stainless steel harness encircling his body from lower chest to waist. Each tentacle, approximately five inches in diameter, terminates in three single-jointed pincers. The pincers are able to rotate in relation to the arm for 360 degrees, in a screwdriver-like twisting motion. Each tentacle segment contains four high-efficiency electric motors equipped with a clutched, helical-gear train, independently mounted on frictionless gimbals and housed in four thin, overlapping layers of titanium-niobium steel. The titanium-steel alloy is light, has high-tensile strength, a high melting point, and high thin-wall rigidity. The motors get their power from a small nuclear-powered thermo-electric generator, which can provide several hundred watts per hour for up to five years before needing to replece its U-239 core. The tentacles have been modified since the time of the original accident to include high-efficiency battery packs (enabling movement when cut off from the central power source) and individual micro-circuit control modules (enabling each arm to perform certain pre-programmed actions when Ock loses conscious control). In the event that Ock loses consciousness, the control module of each arm has enough pre-programmed conditional responses in its memory chip to enable it to perform a relatively complex sequence of actions, such as saving his life. The trauma of his arm or arms being separated from the harness causes a period of disorientation in which his arms flail about uncontrollably until the pre-programming takes over.
HENCHMEN: Some years ago, under the alias of 'The Master Planner', Ock formed a gang of well-equipped thugs to help him do his dirty work. Though he didn't keep the Master Planner title long, he did keep the thugs. When Ock's at the top of his game, his "gang" is large in number and highly organized. When things are going poorly, however, the gang's numbers may drop to a handful of die-hard faithfuls who are loyal for some reason or another. Most of Ock's followers are of the common thug variety, with some (usually the vets) being a cut above that. A few even possess technical skills that Ock finds useful. Sometimes, he makes them wear uniforms (dark purple SWAT-like outfits).
FINANCES: Ock's not a rich man, and most of the money he (usually illegally) obtains is funnelled back into his organization and scientific pursuits. Yet he always seems to be able to get what he needs for his next dastardly plan, with occasionally some left over for the finer things, like a Cuban cigar or a double-breasted white Armani suit.
HIDEOUTS: Ock's main base is located at the bottom of the East River; he's had this underwater lair since the early Master Planner days, and while it needs major repair sometimes, it's still the closest thing Ock things of as 'home'. Being a somewhat paranoid and cunning sort, however, Ock maintains a number of other boltholes, safehouses, and secret storage facilities all over the tri-state area.
MAY PARKER: Dear old Aunt May just doesn't seem to get that Otto Octavius is anything more than a misunderstood man with an unfortunate 'arms' problem. She doesn't even seem to mind that he had to leave her at the alter. She's rented a room to him before and would likely do so again, much to her nephew's chagrin.
DOCTOR JEFFERSON: The head of the South Brooklyn Psychiatric Facility truly believes that Otto Octavius can be cured of his psychosis.
MICHAEL GERDES: A ruthless and cunning lawyer, Gerdes has made quite a bit of money defending Ock over the years and has, more than once, managed to keep the villain's tentacle harness from being destroyed by the authorities.
ELIAS HARGROVE: Otto Octavius' cousin from his mother's side of the family, Hargrove was an administrator at the US Atomic Research Facility when Ock worked there, and continues to administer that facility. Though he loathes and fears his infamous cousin, Hargrove is too weak-willed not to do whatever Ock (or his lawyer, Gerdes) tell him to do.
GENIUS: Otto Octavius has a genius-level intelligence, and there are few people on the planet smarter than he is (not that he'd admit to /anyone/ being his intellectual superior).
MONOLOGUING: Ock just has to have everyone around him know how brilliant and awesome he is. Even when alone, he'll often rant to himself about his unappreciated genius, and if there's an audience to his master plan? Watch out for flying villain spittle. Still, it's better than a tentacle to the face.
IMPULSIVE: Ock has anger issues. While he can be cold and deliberate at times, more often he'll act violently and impulsively, attacking when it would be better to stay his hand. He deals with frustration very poorly and is prone to ranting, raving, and otherwise acting out when sufficently angry.
INSECURE: The flipside of Ock's sociopathic narcissism is a deep-seated and very much unconscious insecurity. His psyche overcompensates by refusing to acknowledge that any failure is his own fault. On the rare occasion that Ock actually believes he has personally failed, he falls into a gloomy, depressive fugue. But usually he'll blame anyone else but himself.
