10 Insane Times Supervillains Developed New Powers

7. Doctor Octopus - Superior Spider-Man

Superior Spider-Man
Marvel Comics

Doctor Otto Octavius never actually had any powers to speak of, but he did boast four menacing extra appendages. Fused to his body in a test gone wrong, Octavius rebrands himself as Doctor Octopus - Dock Ock - and decides to take revenge against his cowardly colleagues. This of course earns him the ire of Spider-Man, which eventually leads to one of the most compelling rivalries in comics history.

At the start of the decade - and after years of losing to everyone's friendly neighbourhood Wall Crawler - Ock finally prevails. Diseased and at death's door, Otto devises a plan that sees him swap bodies with his longtime foe, leaving Peter Parker to perish in his old body, and for him to have free reign in Spidey's.

The resulting story-arc gave way to a new Spider-Man, one Otto felt was superior. Thus, the Superior Spider-Man was born, and with it a new mantra, although not the original one Ock had in mind.

Before Pete passes away, he issues one last plea to his enemy to use his new gifts for good. It takes some adjusting, but eventually Otto lives up to Spidey's mantle.

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.