Throughout the history of Spider-Man, Peter Parker has donned dozens of Spidey-suits. From his classic look to the Iron Spider, he’s got a wardrobe as versatile and dynamic him. However, there is one suit that stands superior to the rest -- and it isn’t even Peter's.
After implanting his consciousness into the body of Peter Parker, Otto Octavius, better known as Doc Ock, set out to show just how much better than Peter he could be if given the chance to be the hero -- and he started by making one of the best Spider-Man suits ever in Superior Spider-Man.
Otto’s first crack at the Superior Spider-Man suit wasn’t a totally drastic overhaul, but rather just a few upgrades here and there. He switched the traditional blue to black, gave the eye-lenses a more goggle-like design with an enhanced HUD system and incorporated retractable talons into the gloves and boots both for combat purposes and to inject targets with nanoscopic spider-tracers. He even added a bit of carbonadium plating to the interior of the mask -- to prevent any more mind-swapping shenanigans -- and created miniature Spider-bots for surveillance and data collection.
These upgrades were only the beginning. After his initial iteration of the superior spider-suit was destroyed in a confrontation with the Spider-Slayer, Otto gave the suit another overhaul, creating the look most commonly associated with his tenure as everyone’s favorite wall-crawler.
Redesigning the suit from top to bottom with a visual appearance almost resembling a hybrid between the classic look and the Symbiote suit, Octavius added even more gadgets to aid him in his fight for justice and self-gratification.
All the previous upgrades to his original suit carried over to the superior suit 2.0, in fact, a couple of them were even more advanced. Otto’s new talons carried over into this newer version of his suit, but they were upgraded to inflict greater damage to enemy combatants.
Not only that, but the spider-tracers they inject were also upgraded, giving them the ability to cause short term paralysis and inflict great pain upon the victim. These tracers could be activated and controlled by improved wrist gauntlets that also allowed him to communicate with and listen in on any spider-tracers he had out in the wild. Additionally, he also incorporated enhancements to the suit’s A.I. systems, enabling it to clean itself and move around on its own.
Aside from the look of the superior spider-suit, the most drastic change made to the 2.0 iteration was the addition of four mechanical spider-arms. Harkening back to his life of crime, Otto incorporated four retractable arms for combat and defense, not unlike those of the Iron Spider suit. These upgrades not only improved his efficiency as the one and only Superior Spider-Man, but they also brought a distinct visual style to the character that made him stand out from any other webhead.
Arguably Otto’s biggest insult and upgrade to Peter’s legacy came in the form of his new webbing. While Peter invented web-fluid himself and was constantly trying out new ways to improve upon its formula, Octavius nearly perfected it. The former supervillain greatly improved its strength and durability to the point that it was entirely bulletproof and lasted far longer than Peter’s own designs. Once his body belonged to him again, Peter learned the hard way just how durable this new formula was after circumstances forced him to web up a pair of underwear.
Outside of comics, this suit has made quite a few appearances in on-screen adaptations of the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Aside from a cameo as a possible redesign of Peter’s suit in Far From Home, it served as an unlockable costume in games like Marvel Heroes, Spider-Man Unlimited, and even the video game adaptation of The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
The Superior Spider-Man himself was an unlockable character in Lego Marvel Super Heroes and appeared in the Avengers Academy mobile game as a rival to Peter Parker. The storyline for Superior Spider-Man was even adapted in Marvel’s Spider-Man, with the second design of the suit serving as the basis for Otto’s animated adoption of Parker’s identity. Otto's Spider-Bots also appear in the PS4 game.