WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Amazing Spider-Man #67 by Nick Spencer, Marcelo Ferreira, Carlos Gomez, Mark Bagley, Wayne Faucher, Morry Hollowell, Andrew Crossley & Joe Caramagna, on sale now
As one of Spider-Man's most notable foes, Doctor Octopus has a long history of performing dark deeds for cruel causes. But one of the most unexpected periods of his life came when he actually tried to become a hero and learned the true meaning of the word -- only to sacrifice that new view to save others. Now, he might have the chance to bring that element of his life back and even possibly become the Superior Spider-Man once more. All it'll take is working with the Kindred and taking part in the upcoming Sinister War.
Since the events of Superior Spider-Man, Doctor Octopus has been an increasingly conflicted character within Peter Parker's life. After briefly taking over Peter's life and taking on the mantle of Spider-Man by switching bodies with Peter and leaving his broken and dying original form behind, Otto learned the definition of heroism and what made Spider-Man such a good hero -- ultimately sacrificing himself to restore the true Spider-Man. A copy of Otto's brain survived, however, and during the course of Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy was able to take control of a cloned body of Spider-Man and eventually relocate to San Francisco. Again, Otto learned how to be a hero all on his own, eventually forging a romance and doing his best to resist his darker impulses.
But when he was pushed to the brink by a duel with an alternate reality Norman Osborn, Otto was forced to make a deal with Mephisto -- restoring his ruthless edge and his original body in exchange for losing all memory of the character development he'd gained as Spider-Man. It was a genuinely tragic loss, as Otto had actually proven himself during Spider-Geddon to have the potential to become an actual hero, only to give up that side of himself to ensure the survival of others -- a heroic sacrifice that returned him to his formerly villainous ways. But now, there might be a chance to restore that side of him -- and all it will take is another deal with a devil.
Otto has been approached by a mysterious demonic force -- the Kindred -- who knocked out Doctor Octopus and slipped one of its maggots into his brain so as to communicate. The Kindred offers to restore Otto's memories of his time as Spider-Man -- even potentially giving him back his enhanced spider-empowered body. But in exchange, Otto must reassemble his Sinister Six and prepare for the coming Sinister War -- completing some mission for the Kindred. It's a tempting offer for Otto, who's been trying to learn the truth of what happened to him since the conclusion of Superior Spider-Man. This could be the best path for the villain to end up back on the road to redemption -- or to allow him to finally set that part of his life to rest and fully embrace being Doctor Octopus once and for all.
Regardless of how he reacts when he gains the knowledge he seeks, it's unlikely that the Kindred's goals for him are going to be positive. The demonic force has been moving behind the scenes of Amazing Spider-Man, trying to make Spider-Man's life as difficult as possible. By recruiting Doctor Octopus and potentially setting up not only the return of his Sinister Six but the Superior Spider-Man, Kindred has just thrown an entirely new level of chaos into Spider-Man's world. Even becoming the Superior Spider-Man again might just throw a serious monkey wrench into the already volatile Order of the Web, who were shaken to their core by Spider-Man's recent battles with the Kindred.