WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Devil's Reign: Superior Four #1 by Zac Thompson, Davide Tinto, Matt Milla and Ariana Maher, now on sale from Marvel Comics.
Marvel Comics just gave one of their most infamous villains a serious power-up.
Devil's Reign: Superior Four #1, written by Zac Thompson and illustrated by Davide Tinto, Matt Milla and Ariana Maher, sees Doctor Octopus seek to eradicate his inferiority complex by recruiting his variants from across the multiverse. After aligning himself with Kingpin in Devil's Reign, Doc Ock controls the Bridge, a dimensional gateway housed inside the Baxter Building that can travel to any reality. However, while venturing into external dimensions for new allies, Otto's actions incur the wrath of his most powerful doppelgänger, the self-declared Supreme Octopus.
Wearing a silver suit of armor with a green cloak, the Supreme Octopus merges the mind of Doctor Octopus with the magic of Doctor Strange and the might of Doctor Doom. The variant first appears when he attacks the Atlantis of Earth-7214, killing over 10 thousand people with a single blow. He claims to be waging war with the Otto of Earth-616, whose "invisible tendrils" reach across the multiverse. As a result, the Supreme Octopus vows to end Doc Ock to prove that he is the supreme incarnation of Otto Octavius.
Though the Supreme Octopus seems uninterested in a team-up with his mainstream counterpart, many other Ottos have aligned themselves with Doc Ock to conquer the multiverse. Joining Earth-616's Otto Octavius are Earth-8816's Otto Banner, Earth-1666's Otto Blaze and Earth-9712's Otto Howlett. Collectively known as the Superior Four, the appearance of this ensemble mirrors that of the New Fantastic Four, a team comprised of Spider-Man, the Hulk, Ghost Rider and Wolverine. Initially popping up in Fantastic Four #347, the fan-favorite squad was a force to be reckoned with, successfully saving the FF from imminent doom and defeating a Skrull army in their brief time together. Doc Ock seemingly aims to replicate the New Fantastic Four's fortunes with his allies, as he tries to engrain them with a "Superior" mindset similar to the one he had when masquerading as Spider-Man.
Doc Ock's inferiority complex is a direct result of the conclusion of Superior Spider-Man, in which the good Doctor made a deal with Mephisto to defeat a variant of Norman Osborn in exchange for his mind. However, as is often the case with Mephisto, Doc Ock was misled by his deal and set back to a lesser version of himself, regaining his villainous mannerisms and his un-powered human body. Devil's Reign: Superior Four suggests that Otto remembers fragments of his time as Superior Spider-Man, fueling his quest to regain the development he had taken from him.
While Otto's quest to be his best self pits him against his supreme counterpart, he just missed out on taking over as Earth-616's Sorcerer Supreme. After the events of The Death of Doctor Strange, Stephen Strange has passed away, leaving the moniker up for grabs. But Marvel recently revealed that Strange's longtime paramour, Clea, will become the new Sorcerer Supreme. Clea will be the lead character of the appropriately titled Strange series beginning in March.
Devil's Reign: Superior Four #1 by Zac Thompson, Davide Tinto, Matt Milla and Ariana Maher is now on sale from Marvel Comics.
Source: Marvel Comics