Doctor Octopus Remembers Being Spider-Man (But Not Being Peter Parker)

Marvel’s Spider-Man has seen his share of tragedies, but one of the biggest was the loss of his entire identity to Doctor Octopus, one of his major villains. Otto Octavius has tangled with the webslinger in the past, but in the Superior Spider-Man series, Otto became Spider-Man and vowed to become a better Peter Parker than Peter Parker could ever hope to be by himself. Unfortunately for Octavius, he doesn’t remember all of his adventures…including Peter’s true identity.

After the Dying Wish storyline, Peter Parker is ‘dead’ (as dead as a major superhero can be in comics; he gets better eventually), but Otto Octavius’ consciousness exists in Peter’s body. Octavius experiences Peter’s memories – and guilt – and vows to become a better person, as well as a better Peter Parker. Thus, the Superior Spider-Man series begins, with Octavius acting admirably; he uses his genius to become a better crimefighter and a much more put-together Peter Parker (he is, occasionally, slightly more verbose than Peter). Spider-Man’s fellow Avengers are none the wiser, even when Otto-as-Peter kills a supervillain.

As Spider-Man, Otto took over the Raft prison, obtained Peter’s doctorate, defeated the Sinister Six, and even created ‘Spiderlings’ to aid in his crimefighting crusade. But Peter was never truly dead, and eventually (perhaps inevitably) retakes control of his body. The peculiarities of the story begin when one wonders if Doctor Octopus remembers that Peter was in fact Spider-Man’s true identity after Superior Spider-Man. Otto has made several attempts to reclaim his Superior Spider-Man title, but because he used machines to restore his consciousness from a created backup (similar to the way the X-Men currently revive), Otto’s memory is circumspect.

Finally, readers get their answer regarding Octavius’ memory gaps: Mephisto, of One More Day fame. Agreeing to a deal with the devil in order to defeat Norman Osborn, Octavius’ memories were changed and no longer remembers that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. However, he still remembers his time as Spider-Man…but he doesn’t remember his heroic intentions after the swap. Thus, Otto remembers being Spider-Man without being Peter Parker. Exactly what Otto does and does not remember can be difficult to categorize, but proof (of sorts) can be found in Amazing Spider-Man #81.BEY, where Otto teams up with Aunt May to save Peter, currently in the hospital. Otto makes no comment about saving the life of the man he used to “be”, and thus most likely doesn’t remember being Peter Parker at all.

Deals with Mephisto have a habit of changing reality while also altering the memories of dozens of people. Consider the ending of Spider-Man: One More Day, in which Peter and Mary Jane forgot their history while married…along with plenty of others. Spider-Man has tangled with Mephisto in the past to disastrous results, but Doctor Octopus met a similar fate when dealing with the Prince of Darkness.