Spider-Man’s Biggest Fan Became The Brutal Vigilante Steel Spider

Spider-Man has earned a lot of fans over the years, both in the real world and the pages of his own comic books. Some of these fans, like cancer patient Timmy Harrison, saw their hero as a source of strength and ended up becoming friends with Spidey. Others, like Oliver “Ollie” Osnick, took their hero worship down a darker path, focusing on Peter Parker’s violent vigilante activity over his moral core and desire to help others.

Ollie Osnick would become the brutal vigilante Steel Spider – ultimately clashing with Spider-Man foe Venom in one of Marvel’s darkest, goriest “hero” fights – but it didn’t start out that way. In fact, when Ollie first appeared in The Spectacular Spider-Man #72, he seemed more goofy than dangerous – although in hindsight, there were a number of red flags.

Kid Ock

The story introduced fans to Ollie; a nerdy, overweight kid who wanted more than anything to be like… Doctor Octopus. Ollie’s fascination with Spidey’s multi-limbed foe was so great that he actually stole some equipment from his wealthy father and constructed a set of mechanical arms just like the real Doc Ock. He also tried to get his friends to form a “Super Villain Society” and dress up like Spidey’s enemies Electro, Sandman, and the Vulture. When Ollie started to trash his house with his arms, however, his friends left.

Feeling disheartened, Ollie went out with his mechanical arms, hoping to track down the real Doctor Octopus and join him. He robbed a convenience store for comic books and candy, and later broke into a toy store, attracting the attention of Spider-Man. Thinking he was dealing with the real Doc Ock, Spidey nearly clobbered the boy, but when Ollie started bawling, Spidey took pity on the kid and even covered for his crimes. Unfortunately, this just caused Ollie to shift the focus of his obsession.

The Spectacular Spider-Kid

Ollie reappeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #263 in a story by Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz with a vastly different look – now he wore a version of Spidey’s red-and-blue costume (with eyeholes cut out so he could wear his glasses over his mask). He also re-worked his mechanical legs to make them more segmented and spider-like. Convinced he was now destined to be Spider-Man’s partner, the newly-christened “Spider-Kid” patrolled the streets looking for criminals, but usually just tripping over his metal legs.

Spider-Kid attempted to contact Spider-Man – going so far as to construct his own version of a “Spider-Signal” and asking to work with his new idol. Dismayed by Ollie’s career choice, Spidey attempted to convince the overzealous kid genius to hang up his webs, but Ollie wouldn’t be deterred. Things got even more ridiculous when Spider-Kid met Frog-Man (the son of Spider-Man’s forgotten villain Leapfrog) and the X-Men villain Toad. While the three initially fought over the right to be Spider-Man’s sidekick, they later decided to team up and form a crimefighting group called “The Misfits.”

The Steel Spider

Ollie eventually retired his Spider-Kid identity (after he got a girlfriend) and most readers forgot all about the joke character. But by the 1990s, grim and gritty heroes were all the rage and writer Eric Fein and artist Mark Tenney decided to give Ollie a major makeover in Spider-Man Unlimited #5. The short story ‘Street Justice’ revealed that by his senior year, the formerly pudgy Ollie had gotten obsessed with exercise and was now a muscular, intense teenager.

However, when his girlfriend Jane was hit and possibly paralyzed in a shooting, Ollie decided to crack open his old gear to get revenge. While he had abandoned super-heroics, he couldn’t keep from tinkering with his mechanical legs and upgraded them to include a grappling hook launcher and pepper spray. Donning a dark blue costume, he tracked down the gang who shot his girlfriend and brutally beat the shooter with the mechanical arms. Fortunately, the police arrived before Ollie could finish the job, and the Steel Spider retreated, haunted by the fact that part of him had really wanted to kill the man.

Despite his anger issues, Ollie continued going out as the Steel Spider and fought alongside the New Warriors during the Onslaught event when Sentinels attacked New York City. While his new look was cooler than his original outfit, most heroes made fun of the Steel Spider behind his back and regarded him as a C-List loser. Ollie continued growing more mentally unstable and moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where he stole money from his parents to upgrade his mechanical legs by adding a gun, acid, and a taser. He became estranged from his girlfriend and began brutalizing criminals on a regular basis, attracting some deadly attention.

The Thunderbolts Strike

By this point, the Superhuman Registration Act had passed, but Ollie refused to register, especially after he saw the way his hero Spider-Man had switched sides and joined Captain America’s anti-registration team during the Civil War event. This put the Steel Spider in the sights of Norman Osborn, who was now the director of the Thunderbolts, a government-sanctioned team made up of “reformed” villains. Targeting the Steel Spider due to his psychotic fixation on Spider-Man, Osborn sent his goons – including Mac Gargan, the new, cannibalistic Venom – after Ollie.

Ollie gained a few allies in local heroes American Eagle and Sepulchre and took on the Thunderbolts. His upgraded gear and bloodthirsty attitude actually made him a match for the villains until Venom informed him that they were allowed to do everything up to killing the Steel Spider, and promptly bit off Ollie’s (real) left arm. While the Thunderbolts managed to cauterize the wound and save his life, the Steel Spider was later thrown in a Negative Zone prison.

Tragically, fans know things could have worked out differently for the Steel Spider. In the alternate future depicted in the pages of the MC2 book Spider-Girl, Ollie actually managed to become a respected superhero for a while, even joining the Avengers. However, when his wife left him, Ollie’s self-destructive tendencies resurfaced. He regained all the weight he’d lost and took out his frustrations on random street criminals. Fortunately, after getting a pep talk from Spider-Girl and American Dream, Ollie regains some of his self-respect and tries to rebuild his life.

Considering how he started out as a super-villain fanboy, Ollie’s violent streak actually showed itself fairly early on. Sadly, instead of seeking treatment, he kept evolving into darker versions of Spider-Man until his actions literally tore him apart. While it seems shocking that a goofy character like the Spider-Kid could end up being partly eaten by Venom, in hindsight it actually seems inevitable. Steel Spider is an object lesson that dressing up as – and even being sincerely inspired by – a hero isn’t enough. If what you actually want is to hurt others, the Marvel Universe has a tendency to pay that back in kind.

About The Author

Michael Jung
(700 Articles Published)

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Michael Jung is a mild-mannered freelance writer-for-hire, actor, and professional storyteller with a keen interest in pop culture, education, nonprofit organizations, and unusual side hustles. His work has been featured in Screen Rant, ASU Now, Sell Books Fast, Study.com, and Free Arts among others. A graduate of Arizona State University with a PhD in 20^th Century American Literature, Michael has written novels, short stories, stage plays, screenplays, and how-to manuals.

Michael’s background in storytelling draws him to find the most fascinating aspects of any topic and transform them into a narrative that informs and entertains the reader. Thanks to a life spent immersed in comic books and movies, Michael is always ready to infuse his articles with offbeat bits of trivia for an extra layer of fun. In his spare time, you can find him entertaining kids as Spider-Man or Darth Vader at birthday parties or scaring the heck out of them at haunted houses.

Visit Michael Jung’s website for information on how to hire him, follow him on Twitter Michael50834213, or contact him directly: michael(at)michaeljungwriter(dot)com.

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