When it comes to supervillains, Doctor Octopus stands apart from the common clay. While motivated by revenge and profit, Doc Ock occasionally shows some signs of humanity amid his madness. Such a sign came in All-New Venom #8, where Otto Octavius revealed a new rule he has because of Spider-Man.
Written by Al Ewing, with art by Carlos Gomez, All-New Venom #8 opened in Doc Ock’s lab. Newly recruited by the government agency S.C.A.R. (Symbiote Containment and Rendition), Doctor Octopus was helping to find a way to end the threat posed by symbiotes.
Beyond scientific curiosity, Doc Ock had another reason for helping S.C.A.R. He hoped to redeem his reputation, in much the same way as Norman Osborn. To that end, he discussed his newly cemented moral code with a captive Rick Jones.
Doctor Octopus now refuses to unmask superheroes
When Rick Jones began to speculate about the new host of Venom, Doc Ock cut him off. He explained that he had a firm rule against discussing the secret identities of other costumed individuals. Publicly, he pretended this was out of some sense of fair play. In truth, the rule was meant to cover up a newly acquire weakness involving Spider-Man.
Doc Ock explained to Rick Jones that he had learned Spider-Man’s secret identity twice. However, he erased this knowledge from his own mind for reasons he could not recall.
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From what memories remained, however, he deduced that such knowledge brought him nothing but misery. Given that, he was now determined not to risk learning any other superhero secret identities.
This new rule comes into play once again by issue’s end, when Venom invades Doc Ock’s lab. Doctor Octopus was able to subdue the symbiote hero and their host after a brief struggle. However, when the S.C.A.R. agents chasing Venom spoke of unmasking them, Doc Ock was quick to defend his new rule and Venom’s right to die with their mask on.
All-New Venom #8 is now available at comic shops everywhere.
