The Rise and Fall of Superior Spider-Man

imagine this you've just been brain swapped into the dying body of your arch enemy you've got days maybe hours to live your toast Meanwhile your enemy is having the time of his life he's just escaped death he's got a brand new body oh well you rot away in his old one and so you try and tell your friends you say hey it's actually me you know I'm trapped in a different body please help but their first response is to shoot you okay change your plan you confront the person who stole your body and ask for it back he says no but you know what I'm taking my body back anyway everything's going well you're about to get your body back but at the last minute things go south you see your enemy can prepared your plan is now in Ruins and you get beaten to death these are the events of Amazing Spider-Man issue 700. as Peter Parker lies bleeding out in the body of Doctor Octopus he takes one last look at his loved ones before finally being laid to rest and then he wakes up back in his own body alone in a dark room wearing a completely new suit he walks outside to see that he's now CEO of an entire company named after him his employees hate him his loved ones are acting really weird around him he's got a new girlfriend though but last time he checked he was in the middle of something with Mary Jane so what the hell happened this is the premise of the first superior Spider-Man series what would happen if Dr Octopus took over Spider-Man's body and how would he change Peter's Life For Better or Worse the series is all about Otto taking that great power and responsibility and infusing it with his own idea of how to be Spider-Man learning how to be a hero a good person all while completely destroying all of Peter's relationships with his friends family Avengers and pretty much the whole city Alto has a lot of genuinely good character development throughout the series which is tragically ruined by one very bizarre out of nowhere decision made by the writers erasing all of the lessons he'd learned and spitting in the face of anyone who was already invested in a story to explain how and why why let's go back to the beginning when writer danslop killed off Peter Parker and replaced him with a villain people were very very angry so much so that slots received actual threats of violence against them and so to calm everyone down and prolong his own life he made one major change to his original plan Otto will still be Spider-Man sure but let's add the ghost of Peter Parker as a supporting character with the goal of getting his body back superior Spider-Man issue 1 hits the stands people read The Twist at the end where ghostspeeder shows up pitchforks go down danslop lives to write another day this would create the formula for superior's first few issues Alto tries to be a hero ends up completely brutalizing the villains and ghost Peter is outraged acting as a voice for the readers but much like the readers Otto can't hear Peter and doesn't know he exists and so he might as well be shouting at thin air Otto is unsatisfied with Peter's life it's too undisciplined too chaotic and so he makes some major changes first he redesigns the suit he adds new lenses with a heads-up display he puts these retractable Talons at his fingers so you can stop [ __ ] our enemies he's even added armor on specific parts of the suit made of carbonadium which is how to explain this if adamantium was the expense of [ __ ] that Posh people by waitrose carbonadium would be that off-brand version that you get from the corner shop right off the bat Otto's approach to crime fighting is way more efficient than Peter's he designs an app that will Patrol the city for him using these miniature spider bots as his eyes and ears throughout New York he calls the police and the fire department for backup so that they'll arrive at the scene before things go sideways when he finds out that Peter never got a doctorate he feels personally insulted and immediately enrolls back into University every time Otto complains about Peter's life ghost Peter will be like well I'd like to see you do any better and author does exactly that however this change in Behavior has got the attention of Peter's ex-girlfriend Carly as well as his sense of responsibility Otto has also inherited Peter's attraction to Mary Jane and spends a whole issue trying to sleep with her which is just not creepy at all unfortunately for Otto he was born in like the 1750s and so his idea of a perfect date is ballroom dancing with old people what's rather disappointing and I'm sure this is just slot giving the middle finger to fans is that these early issues rather mistreat MJ's character in Craven's last hunt one of the definitive Spider-Man stories from the 80s craving the hunter impersonates Spider-Man and commits a bunch of crimes trying to frame him the only person who doubts him is MJ who just by looking at him instantly sees through Craven's disguise because she knows Peter right down to his soul she was the first person to discover his identity and she's been there for him throughout all the tragedies in his life she's basically his soul mate and so when ghostspeater rightly points out hey MJ you know this isn't me you know that in your heart something's wrong NJ is like whatever and pretends like everything's fine I know she's not psychic or anything but it does seem weird that in this world full of shape-shifters Mind Control brain swaps there's no red flags here eventually Otto realizes that he and MJ are never going to work out because of his life as Spider-Man and so he does the mature thing and moves on which is cool I guess I'm just glad I don't have to see him getting off to Peter's memories anymore at least maybe he'll find someone his own age this time oh God at me what's also quite funny is that as these first couple issues are coming out Marvel keeps printing all of the hate mail they're getting they've just got pages and Pages saying this [ __ ] [ __ ] sucks I'm done with Marvel you've ruined everything and at the end the poor editor is just like all right then see you next week but I think a lot of people changed their minds as the series developed into its own thing one thing I really liked is how it fleshed out Otto's character mainly his childhood and his relationship with his father Aldo's dad was an abusive drunk who didn't care about his son's natural gift for Science and actively discouraged it at every chance he got this is first reflected in Otto's fight with the vulture as when he realizes that the vulture is using child soldiers he completely loses it and nearly burns the vulture to death Otto's backstory shows why he's so fitting as Spider-Man's arch nemesis because they're basically the same person they were both gifted kids who were bullied at school and received special abilities in a freak scientific accident but it's their upbringing that sets them apart in those original Comics Peter Parker was a complete knob and would have stayed that way had it not been for Uncle Ben's death but deep down he still had those good values instilled into him by his aunt and uncle had it not been for that love and support he had at that early age Peter could have easily ended up on Arthur's path as a villain there's this really touching moment later on in the series in which Otto asks himself what if he was able to go back and give his child self the love and support that he so desperately needed he thinks about how it would have impacted his life and enabled him to use his gifts for good taking Peter's path instead or was this just a fantasy of his was Otto always like this on the inside and would he have ended up as a villain regardless of his situation it's not like this is a original concept I think it's just kind of interesting how our lives could have taken different paths depending on small changes in her past alto's morality is put to the test when one of Peter's old villains escapes his name is Massacre and his special power is that he has a gun and likes killing people more specifically Dam image to his temporal lobe has left him incapable of any emotion whatsoever he feels no compassion towards human life in the past Peter had saved Massacre's life saying that it's not up to him who lives or dies and that superheroes don't kill blah blah you gotta do the right thing upon learning of Massacre's Escape Alto says that Peter was a fool and vows to put Massacre six feet under Otto once again proves himself as an efficient crime fighter he tracks down Massacre's hostages in advance so that during their final confrontation Massacre will have no leverage and can be taken out easily after he defeated and about to be shot in the head Massacre breaks down into tears something that shouldn't be possible it's here that the inclusion of ghost Peter works really well he's able to provide a more optimistic hopeful standpoint in contrast to Otto's more black and white approach if Massacre is still capable of emotion then there's a chance he can be cured and that's why superheroes shouldn't kill because everyone deserves a second chance while also still can't hear Peter he strongly disagrees to him Massacre will never change and the most efficient solution to save innocent life is to take him out now I'm not here to say whether Alto is right or not I don't believe we're going to solve deep philosophical conflicts in a comic book video but what I do want to point out is that he's a [ __ ] hypocrite when Otto rescues the hostages beforehand it's initially from a logical standpoint only if I save these people then I'll be able to take down the bad guy more efficiently nothing more to it but as he's disarming the explosives Otto acknowledges how he used to be a mass murderer yet now he's risking his life to save less than a dozen people one of the hostages starts bawling her eyes out to him saying how she never thought she was gonna see her kid again and for the first time Otto is emotionally moved by the act of saving a life one of his first steps towards being a better person and proving that people can change if given a second chance his hypocrisy is intentional because it shows his reluctance to accept that he has changed and maybe Peter has a point well once again it's not exactly groundbreaking storytelling this will be important later on this same sort of thing would continue throughout the next few issues Auto beats the [ __ ] out of some bad guys go speeder freaks out then we'll get a beautiful moment in which Auto saves an innocent life and he's overwhelmed with doing the right thing while studying for his PhD also meets Anna Maria a personal tutor who tries to sell her services to him Otto goes to her house just so he can tell her to piss off but ends up catching feelings for her and the two become romantically involved he's becoming a better person he's falling in love what happy wholesome fun that is until Otto discovers ghost Peter and upon learning of his existence sets out to completely Purge him for good when Otto plugs his brain into a fancy machine the manifestations of Otto and Peter's consciousnesses are finally able to interact with one another Peter berates Otto for being too brutal and using his body to take a life giving a speech about doing the right thing and all that but Otto calls him out for it saying that Peter's more worried about his reputation rather than responsibility that it's not about doing the right thing but because he wants to be liked and you know what he's not entirely wrong one of the main themes of Stanley's original run was Peter's self-doubt and whether or not he was just being Spider-Man so that people would like him the idea of Spider-Man was partly just an extension of his own vanity his own need for people to idolize him more recently Peter had admitted that his no one dies rule was partly motivated by selfish reasons simply believing that he's a good guy and can save everyone gives him a sense of worth and lets him sleep at night and while it is a very commendable goal that righteousness ended up costing the lives of innocent civilians is that really fair to the families of Massacre's victims is that really the right thing to do Otto believes himself Superior to Peter because he's not tied down by his morals or what people will think of him to him he's a better Spider-Man than Peter could ever be and so Peter is left utterly humiliated and cries out as he's white from existence this is twice now that we've seen our beloved hero die an unceremonious unjust brutal death and you know what Dan slot had to say about it suck it up suck it up it's doc Ox world it is the world of superior Spider-Man my cameraman rich is shaking his head no he's saying No this can't be happening it's happening Rich thus begins Act 2 of the first run where there's no more ghost Peter Alto is free to do what he likes and Dan's lock goes into hiding once again meanwhile Carly Minecraft shirt Cooper continues her investigation going on wild chases and looking for evidence that Peter isn't who he says he is also the Green Goblins back for some reason plotting from the Shadows like he always has and this is where Arthur takes it to the next level he manages to Blackmail Jay Jonah Jameson who just so happens to be the mayor of New York City into handing him full control of the raft New York's former super prison also completely renovates the raft into his own superhero headquarters employing his own foot soldiers and building these giant spider mechs he uses his new Army to launch a full-scale assault against the Kingpin taking down an entire criminal Empire without any civilian casualties he also outs the hobgoblin's identity to the whole city and completely ruins his whole life and hey this is great for Otto because he's no longer got an angel on his shoulder subconsciously influencing him he's completely free to be the best Spider-Man he can right well sure but when Alto erased Peter from existence he got rid of all of his memories as well and so during battles he's not able to remember who a certain person is or why he should care about them this lack of Peter Parker not only inconveniences him but sometimes puts him at a major disadvantage this is not exclusive to superhero stuff either it also affects his love life Otto still doesn't really know how to act like a person and so without Peter's memories he has no idea how a proper relationship Works what's more the Green Goblin manages to hack the spider bots meaning that he and his Goblin henchmen will not be picked up by the special Patrol app and are thus free to commit any crimes they want without anyone to stop them Otto's efficiency at the expense of his Humanity has planted the seeds of his downfall where act 1 was all about getting rid of Peter his absence in Acts 2 shows why he was so important in the first place that human element that is so vital to being Spider-Man and the cost that comes with ignoring it and if Act 2 is about planting the seats of Otto's downfall then act three is well his downfall at the beginning of act 3 we get to see how all through self-acceptance has evolved before he was reluctant to accept that people can change now he's the complete opposite and takes pride in this new man he's become he's also learned the importance of his personal life he's overwhelmed by his feelings for Anna Maria neglecting his duties as Spider-Man whenever she's upset after a couple of complications Otto receives his Doctorate from University and the first thing he does is create his own company Parker Industries as he's signing a loan for like a billion dollars antme tells him that Pride goeth before a fall if you need a translation it's basically if you're a cocky bastard you're gonna [ __ ] up big time and she's absolutely right Otto's arrogance his black and white approach to crime fighting is starting to blow up in his face he's rapidly losing allies in the superhero Community the city is turning on him fighting back against his spider bots which further benefits the Goblin's plan and to make things even worse Carly has now confirmed her suspicions and knows Otto's true identity before she's able to expose him however she is captured by the goblin now the goblin knows that Spider-Man is actually Peter Parker who is actually Auto Octavius at this point it's clear that Otto desperately needs Peter Parker something which has proven in the superior venomark one defining aspect of Peter one thing that made him Spider-Man was his indomitable will the sheer mental strength to never give up no matter what it's got him out of a bunch of situations before and is actually listed as one of his powers But Otto doesn't have that and so when he's fighting off the Venom symbiote he doesn't have the mental strength necessary to Break Free the only reason he escapes is because at the very last minute Peter Parker himself comes to the rescue providing the necessary willpower to defeat the Symbiote that's right ghost Peter is back with small traces of his subconscious having barely survived the Mind wipe and once again he's determined to get his body back and so Begins the finale of the first superior Spider-Man series with the goblins launching a massive attack on New York you see having read all of Carly's notes Norman is quite offended that he didn't get to be the one who killed Spider-Man after all he's Spider-Man's Arts Nemesis not Otto and because Otto took that from him he now wants his fiery Revenge alto's superhero headquarters raised to the ground the love of his life kidnapped remember those people he saved the ones that he felt so moved by they're [ __ ] dead and this whole time Alto is asking himself what Peter would do in this situation okay but why the goblin why choose him as Otto's final enemy while Peter and Norman came from completely different backgrounds they still shared a lot of similarities back in the day their lives were both split by Alter Egos which they struggled to balance they were often distracted by their personal problems and their attachment to people they cared about what's more they're both incredibly iron-willed and will always find a way to come back much like Peter Norman does not operate on logic or efficiency in fact he frequently gives up his Advantage due to his own ego he makes decisions based on his own feelings and instincts changing plans at the last minute and that confuses the hell out of Otto who can only think from this black and white perspective all of Norman's qualities that willpower that logic defying Instinct these are all things that Otto is missing as Spider-Man they're the reason Otto can't win again them it's here in his darkest moment that Otto admits to his own arrogance and that he's not ready for such a threat for all of his Advanced suits and spider bots and giant earth-shattering robots he was missing the key element of being Spider-Man that natural impulse to do the right thing desperate and defeated also rushes back to his lab and prepares his fancy mind machine while his time as Spider-Man may have been an utter failure his life as Peter Parker has changed him for the better his love for Anna Maria is so strong that he'll do anything to save her even if it means giving up everything he once held dear by erasing his own memories to make room for Peter Otto sacrifices himself so that Peter can return with full control of his body Peter is able to use his years of experience to defeat the Goblin and save Anna Maria he saves the day without anyone dying and even manages to get a few jokes in the first superior Spider-Man series is basically just a love letter to what makes Spider-Man well Spider-Man despite all of his mistakes his lack of organization his self-righteousness he still had that Humanity that determination and that understanding of what it takes to be a hero which is great you know hooray for Peter Parker but let's not forget that a large part of it was how Spider-Man as a concept can change other people also started off as Spider-Man being an arrogant [ __ ] only doing good deeds to prove something to prove he was better than someone else yet by the end of the series while he is still really arrogant he now appreciates the value of human life he's learned what it takes to be a hero and his last Act is one of selflessness and love however this is a comic book and as we know nobody stays dead in comics for more than five minutes and so Otto reappears in the spider-verse event through some time travel [ __ ] it's pretty cool I'll talk about it at some other point then in the new series where Peter is now a billionaire and operates Parker Industries worldwide once again I'll talk about this later it's revealed that Otto secretly made a copy of his Consciousness and is planning his return a bunch of [ __ ] happens it's all very complicated but all you need to know is that Otto finds himself a new clone body and is more or less given Peter's blessing to go off and be Spider-Man does this take away from a sacrifice advice sure was also needlessly complicated yes but the point is he's back he's moved to San Francisco and is now living under the name of Elliot Toliver working at Horizon University during the day and operating as the new Spider-Man in secret and so begins superior Spider-Man Vol 2 written by Christos Gage and sure Otto is still very arrogant insanely egotistical and brutal but he still learned his lesson from the first series he still has a passion for saving lives and goes out of his way to comfort people even if it isn't the most logical efficient thing to do at the time he tries to practice honesty and yes it doesn't go very well but he's trying at least and he now believes in second chances both for others and himself in the past he ridiculed Peter for being self-righteous and now he's doing things just so that people will like him and think he's a good guy it does kind of bug me how he keeps calling himself The Superior Spider-Man when the whole point of the first series was that he wasn't The Superior Spider-Man but you know it's his brand I guess I'll call him some slack author's tenure is the superior Spider-Man is short-lived and comes to an end in the most [ __ ] way possible Norman Osborne returns but it's not the one you think instead it's an alternate reality version who has spider powers and six arms this is not the dumb part Norman Osborne six arms yeah pretty cool Final villain sure except that once again Otto doesn't believe he's good enough to take down Osborne that he's once again failed as a hero and doesn't have what it takes to save the day and so does he go and ask Peter Parker or all the other Avengers for help uh nope that wouldn't work apparently no instead he's got a way better solution as I'm sure most of you know back in 2007 Marvel thought it would be an amazing idea to divorce Peter and MJ but instead of them leaving naturally or growing as people they made them do a deal with the devil AKA Mephisto Mephisto then erased their marriage from existence and along with it most of their character development so when it came to end the second run of superior Spider-Man Marvel thought what if we just do that but again and so to stop this spider Osborne and save the day also makes a deal with Mephisto to revert back to his old villain self completely disregarding all of the lessons he's learned as Spider-Man and yes this is an absolute kick in the face to all the readers but if they want it so badly for him to go back to being a villain they could have done anything why Mephisto if this storyline was so despised by fans and other writers alike why do the exact same thing again my theory is that Christos Gage was told by the higher-ups at Marvel that he had to make Otto a villain again that he had to revert back to the status quo because that's just what happens with Comics every now and again no change is permanent and Gage couldn't speak out against his employers maybe they have a contract in place or maybe it's just bad form to chitalk the people who are paying your bills regardless he didn't want to do this but couldn't say so directly and so he picked the idea that was so unbelievably stupid as if to give the readers A little nudge as is to say hey look what's going on here you know remember one more more day yeah same shit's happening here nothing I can do about it it's either that or he wanted to piss people off and so fake Norman Osborne is defeated and Otto Octavius is back to his original form cursed to be just another Spider-Man villain forevermore like the whole thing never happened the rise the fall and the even worse fall if you're new here I'm not gonna beg you to subscribe because you should be able to make your own decisions and only do it if you actually enjoyed the video but for those already in the loop my Mr Bean vs Superman video is gonna be out next week obviously I'm biased but I think it's one of my best videos at least the one that I've put the most effort into so keep an eye out for it check out my Twitter Instagram my [ __ ] home address you know come to this exact location and beat the [ __ ] out of me regardless thank you for watching my video and um yeah peace

Channel: alex lennen

Views: 1,718,683

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Id: s2WE70LAH8k

Length: 21min 32sec (1292 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 15 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/Interesting_Try6267]

I liked most of it

[u/Kogworks]

Gage’s Superior run is great.

That having been said, I think we might see Otto back as Superior sooner rather than later.

The current Avengers run has Mephisto waging war with the Avengers across pretty much every reality and every time period.

With a backdrop like that it’s a perfect opportunity to have Spider-Norman come back and try to take his revenge on Otto, and a perfect time for Otto to regain his full memories and powers.