The Iron Octopus
First Aired: September 30th, 2012
Synopsis: Harry Osborn is complaining about his father to Peter, who's over at his place, when Iron Man crashes into the penthouse. In the confusion Peter changes to Spider-Man and fights Iron Man, who is unresponsive and doesn't say anything. After Norman takes out Iron Man with an electrified gauntlet, Spider-Man knocks his helmet off, revealing the armour to be empty. Spider-Man goes to Stark Industries where he discovers Iron Man fighting more of his armours, which have been compromised. Once they're defeated they find the culprit - an octobot hacking the mainframe. It manages to get away, but not before Spider-Man rips a tentacle off it. The octobot returns to its controller, Doctor Octopus, and gives him the data for making an arc reactor, which he uses to power a suit of armour. Elsewhere, Norman and Harry have been taken to the SHIELD Helicarrier for their protection, and Norman is arguing with Iron Man. As they bicker Doctor Connors comes in and reveals that he's analysed the tentacle Spider-Man acquired, and the technology is indicative of being Otto Octavius'. Only one thing - Otto Octavius is dead.
Norman reveals that Otto used to work for him at Oscorp but he was killed during an experiment, and died in his arms. Doctor Octopus bursts into the room in a bulky suit and manages to drive Iron Man away. Although Spider-Man fights him, Octopus manages to successfully escape with Norman and Harry. Once he's away he torments Norman, saying that it's revenge for enslaving him once he'd saved his life and keeping him secreted away. Spider-Man shows up in the Iron Spider armour, and as they fight Ock claims that Norman's been responsible for recent attacks on Spider-Man, as the two were trying to capture and study him. Ock's arc reactor starts sparking and Iron Man shows up, revealing that there's more to the arc reactor than what's on his servers, with some of the information being kept in his head. Spider-Man and Iron Man are able to defeat Doctor Octopus, but his body disappears shortly afterwards, seemingly having gotten away. Spider-Man's a little wary about what Octopus said, and warns Norman that he'll keep an eye on him. Later, Norman goes away to a secret lab and it's revealed that he took Octopus away and is keeping him in a large tube, impressed with how he held his own against two superheroes.
Miscellaneous Notes:
- It's not commented on by anyone, but one of the armours that Tony and Peter have to fight at Stark Industries is the infamous Iron Nose.
Review: As an episode featuring the return of Doctor Octopus, the revelation to Spider-Man that Norman's not really on his side, and a team-up with Iron Man, this should be an exciting episode that, even if it doesn't change it, should at least challenge the status quo. While I'm glad that we've got an episode continuing what I'll hesitantly call the main arc of the series, it doesn't really feel as important as it should. There's a lot of setup before Ock shows up to challenge the heroes, and once he does, it's mostly just punching. It's a pity, because some of the things this episode plays with - Tony Stark and Norman Osborn clashing, Doctor Octopus having to fight Iron Man so that he can steal his technology - are great concepts, but they're only really explored at surface level.
I mentioned last time Ock appeared that the hints given about his backstory were quite juicy, and it's in this episode that we get the story. The result? A pretty boring tale - he was injured in an accident, Norman secretly saved him, the end. I've got a feeling that that's the most we'll find out about it, and just like with some of the stuff I mentioned above, it feels like wasted potential. Give us some body horror, give us scenes of Norman frantically trying to save Ock's life. Hell, show us the moment when Norman reveals that he wasn't acting altruistically in saving Ock! We don't get anything, though, and it turns what could be a really nice reinterpretation of a great Spider-Man villain's backstory into something that's just bland. Also, can we talk about the suit Ock needs the arc reactor technology for for just a second? Because yikes that thing is uggers as heck.
Sadly, as mediocre as this episode is, it's still probably one of the better episodes of the series so far. What does that say about the low, low bar that it has to surpass? I'll give it credit for writing a competent enough story, and for trying to move the main plot along, but it easily could have been much, much better than it turned out to be. It's definitely watchable, but I really wish the writers would pull their fingers out a bit.
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