8 Worst Things Doc Ock Has Ever Done To Spider-Man

3. He Played A Role In Captain Stacy's Death

Spider-Man Death of Captain Stacy
Marvel Comics

The Stacy family have been given something of a rotten deal in Marvel's comic books. Everyone knows of Gwen Stacy, Peter's first true love who died at the hands of Green Goblin, but it's also worth remembering that her father - Captain George Stacy - perished before.

Although the Green Goblin played a huge role in Gwen's death, it was Doc Ock who had a hand in George's. The key difference here, though, is that Ock never actually planned to kill Stacy. Instead, while Ock and Spidey are fighting on a rooftop, the pair manage to send debris tumbling down to the streets below. Captain Stacy, busy trying to get people to safety, is crushed by the falling concrete, leaving Spidey to grieve, and Ock with a nice little bonus.

What made this particular death so heartwrenching is the fact it comes pretty much out of nothing. Ock and the wall-crawler are sparring like they usually do, trading insults and diatribes until George suddenly kicks the bucket.

Ultimately, his death serves as a harsh reminder of what's at stake for Spidey, and how even though he can try to save everyone, actually doing so isn't really all that easy.

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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.