Okay, so I don’t read a lot of Ultimate Spider-Man. If someone says a particular storyline is really good, I’ll flip through it. I bought the first HC when it first came out and really enjoyed it. I also bought the scriptbook and a few other assorted issues.
I recommend it, but I am certainly no authority. I admit this. But since it is a popular book and from what I understand the Clone Saga storyline went over pretty well, I have to ask you the viewer an important question.
How did Spider-Man (and Girl-Type) defeat Doctor Octopus.
As far as I understood, Doc Oc had just admitted to getting his hands all over Peter Parker’s troubled life to … test him… make clones… I dunno. Do evil. Because he’s a villain and that’s what he does. He may even be doing it for the government! Double evil. Anyhoo, he admits this as well as the fact that he has a mental control over metal instead of just arms. He’s throwing metal bits all over the room and it’s looking all very swirly and wind tunnely and in one panel, it even looks like part of Girl-Type’s face gets ripped off! Yikes! So he’s monologuing and Peter’s angry (as well he should be goddammit!) and getting beat up by what I can only assume is a very powerful villain. Man can shove a metal spike through him at a distance, go clone another one and start again. A bunch of dudes just watched ‘Peter Parker’ walk out of a room previously filled with his clones! People don’t know what’s what.Sure, the clone would degrade and probably turn… I dunno, evil or insane (oh, both is the new black!), New-Clone-Peter’s life would spiral out of control and hey, some dude named ‘Ben Reilly’ can show up, be real Peter and then outsmart the entire mess!
Or he and his Girl-Type can punch Doctor Octopus to death.
Death. Not just knocked him out. DEATH. With a punch. Sure, it was a combo punch but a moment ago this guy was throwing everything and the kitchen sink around and Girl-Type got part of her face ripped! Oh, Octavius and your glass jaw.
Tell me that’s not how Peter Parker conquered the man who was ruining his life. Tell me all this madness from issue #1 doesn’t come down to a team attack with his girl clone.
2 Comments
I didn’t think they actually killed Octavius, but as far as ending the fight, yeah, it was a double punch.
Beyond that though, I think the way Peter beats his longtime nemesis is through all the friends he’s got. Sue probably saved Aunt May by taking care of her until they got her to a hospital, Reed and Sue’s dad cured MJ, heck even Fury seems to be helping, since it’s likely he’ll take care of Gyrich (who will otherwise probably hold a grudge against Pete for ruining his stupid clone plan).
So in that sense, it wasn’t just punching, but in the sense of Ock as an immediate threat, yeah, punching (plus the velocity they launched themselves at him with, plus him not thinking to cushion his landing with metal) solved the problem.
Yeah, it was kind of a weak ending, but given the source material, I have to give Bendis some props. He did a lot better than I thought he would.
Keep in mind that defeating Doc Ock with a single punch is a tradition going all the way back to his first appearance. Here’s Spidey’s thought balloon from ASM #3 in the post-punch panel: “Strange that an old-fashioned punch to the jaw defeated the most dangerous villain I’ve ever faced.” Once you get past the arms, he really is a just a pudgy guy with a glass jaw. The trick is getting past the arms.