Spider-Man: 10 Alternate Spider-Verse Stories Fans Must Read

What started as another controversial story decision on the part of Marvel concerning the web-head, became a storyline so beloved that, when Spider-Verse rolled around, they established that it was still technically going on in another universe, because fans had grown to love this version of Peter Parker so much.

Otto Octavious, the Superior Spider-Man.

The interesting thing about this storyline is that, while it started off in the 616 universe, it may as well be an alternate universe, considering how different Spider-Man is in this.

In this story, Doc Ock switches bodies with Peter when his body starts decaying from disease. But before Peter can die in his place, he gives Otto access to all of his memories. This, as you can imagine, hits Otto like nothing else before. Seeing just how similar their upbringings were, and just what a good man he took from the world, Otto decides the best way to make up for it is to continue - nay, surpass - what Peter did for the city.

While still exciting, fun, and bombastic as any good Spider-Man story should be, it never loses sight of the central question: what does it mean to uphold a legacy? Do you continue as it was? Or - in the event of seeing a chance at improving it - do you take it?

Superior Spider-Man lasted a long time before Otto eventually gave Peter his body back. But it's made perfectly clear in Spider-Verse that there exists a universe where that didn't happen. So, at least in some way, Otto really did become a superior Spider-Man.