It has long been established in Marvel Comics that Iron Man is the greatest engineer and one of the overall smartest heroes in the Marvel Universe, but even with his groundbreaking gadgets and near-superhuman genius, Iron Man keeps being humiliated by a shocking MCU villain. Otto Octavius aka Doctor Octopus recently ed the ranks of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s villains in the film Spider-Man: No Way Home. Given the fact that Iron Man gave his life in the battle against Thanos in the film Avengers: Endgame, not to mention the circumstances surrounding Doc Ock in the newest Spider-Man movie, the two will most likely never meet in the MCU, though in the comics, they have a complicated history which includes Iron Man’s constant humiliation, both physically and intellectually.
One of their earlier interactions on the pages of Marvel Comics was in Marvel Fanfare #22-23 by Roger McKenzie and Ken Steacy which laid the groundwork for Iron Man’s humiliation by the robotic arms of Doc Ock. In the issue, Iron Man is working with Rikers Prison to increase its security in its supervillain-holding cells. While working on the updates, Iron Man didn’t for Doctor Octopus’ newly-acquired adamantium tentacles. Now equipped with indestructible metal arms, Doc Ock tore Iron Man apart, utterly humiliating the Invincible Iron Man by proving his moniker false with physical force.
If out-muscling Iron Man wasn’t enough, Doctor Octopus gets Tony Stark to say that the villain is smarter than him which is a huge blow to the Avenger’s intellectual pride. In Invincible Iron Man #503 by Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca, Doc Ock holds the people of New York hostage with a bomb that would kill millions, and he won’t set it off unless Iron Man can do one of two things: fix Octavius’ untreatable brain trauma or it defeat and say that Doc Ock is smarter. In the end, Iron Man can’t treat Otto’s condition but is reluctant to say the villain is smarter until the bomb is on the verge of going off, at which point Iron Man throws himself down on his knees and begs Doc Ock to deactivate the bomb, calling the villain ‘master’ and saying over and over again that Doc Ock is smarter than he is. To make matters worse, the bomb wasn’t even real, so Doctor Octopus actually did outsmart Iron Man in their battle of wits, a shame Iron Man will now have to live with.
While these examples of Iron Man being physically and psychologically bested by Doctor Octopus are humiliating and more than prove their shocking rivalry, the humiliation may not yet be complete. In the latest Marvel Comics crossover event, Devil’s Reign, the Kingpin has made it illegal for anyone to be a superhero and has appointed a number of supervillains to carry out this law. One of those villains is Doc Ock who has been given full access to Reed Richards’ laboratory. With the added advantage of the greatest technology on Earth at his fingertips, Doc Ock could once again humiliate Iron Man in any number of ways as Stark is one of the heroes on the run from the anti-superhero law.
From outsmarting Iron Man to making him it his intellectual inadequacy to physically pulverizing him with sheer might and superior-tech, Doctor Octopus continues to be a thorn in Iron Man’s side. While it is a shame that humiliation won’t carry over into the MCU as continuity currently stands, it is fun to take a look back at the odd pairing and Iron Man continuously being humiliated by the shocking MCU villain that is Doctor Octopus.
