Ultimate Spider-Man from Marvel Comics has been a certified hit. And while writer Jonathan Hickman has been busy remixing Peter Parker, Harry Osborn, and many more, some characters have been off the board, including Otto Octavius, aka Doctor Octopus. Well, thanks to a preview page from Marvel, we’ve got our first look at Ultimate Doc Ock — and he looks eerily like classic Peter Parker.
The page comes from Ultimate Spider-Man #5, with art by guest penciler David Messina. Marvel touts via press release provided to Comic Book Club: “On May 29, one of Spidey’s most terrifying foes makes his Ultimate Universe debut!”
The page shows off Otto working on a Stark/Stane computer as Harry and Gwen Stacy look on. Gwen, who runs the company, is demanding the shady Otto get a stronger NDA. Otto, meanwhile, looks shady. Check out the page, below:
While the haircut might be slightly more extreme, between the glasses and sweater vest, it’s clear that Hickman and Messina are going for Peter Parker’s look from the original run of comics. Steve Ditko pretty consistently put teen Parker into a sweater vest/white button-down combo. Add the glasses and the brown hair, and they’re clearly nodding to the wheatcakes loving-Parker of old.
Is this also nodding in some way to a Superior Ultimate Spider-Man, where Otto and Peter will switch brains? Or perhaps showing how Peter could go wrong in this new, rebooted Ultimate Universe? Whatever’s going on, we’ll be on Doc Ock fashion watch here at Comic Book Club for the foreseeable future.
