Doctor Octopus took the reins of Marvel Comics’ newest ongoing superhero series the other week in Superior Octopus #1 from writer Christos N. Gage and artist Mike Hawthorne. That sentence would have been unbelievable more than five years ago. Doctor Octopus has been one of Spider-Man’s greatest villains and an occasional threat to the entire Marvel universe ever since his introduction in Amazing Spider-Man #3 from Steve Ditko and Stan Lee. The pudgy, power-mad scientist crawled his way to the top of criminal organizations and nuclear power plants alike with the use of four artificial limbs. Now he stands as a superhero with his own series, and the sole protector of San Francisco.

It was the midway point in writer Dan Slott’s run that brought about a major change for this iconic villain. In the build to Amazing Spider-Man #700, it was revealed that a dying Doctor Octopus planned to escape death by trading bodies with Peter Parker. To the shock of many fans, he actually succeeded and retained control of Spider-Man’s body as his original form passed away in his new arms with Peter’s consciousness still inside. What followed was one of the strangest and most exciting eras in Spider-Man comics to date as Otto Octavius protected the world in the guise of his arch-enemy for more than a year of stories under the banner of Superior Spider-Man. It was a series that managed to redeem Doctor Octopus before returning the original Spider-Man to life, with the newly heroic Otto Octavius sacrificing himself to save the day.

While the final version of the Superior Spider-Man died in the series finale, future incarnations of Otto Octavius have not lost their knack for doing the right thing. Following the resurrection of his somewhat villainous consciousness in a younger body, Doctor Octopus has returned to the Marvel universe and now seeks to continue playing on the side of the angels to become a superior superhero. And no matter how counterintuitive this may seem, the truth is that after the last five years of Spider-Man stories and Marvel Comics events, Doctor Octopus may very well be the hero Marvel deserves.

A Broken Marvel Universe

Before looking at the placement of Doctor Octopus, it’s valuable to look at the status of Marvel Comics as a whole. It’s fair to say that in the wake of Secret Empire, Marvel’s superheroes are broken. Most have returned to their normally heroic positions, but a wide swath of Avengers remain tarnished either by their own misdeeds or a lack of public trust. This is a problem that the current run of Captain America is grappling with in a fascinating fashion, although it runs through many of the series that play into the universe’s continuity in important ways. Heroes like Thor collaborated with fascists who ruled America by force while Steve Rogers’ face was used to run the whole affair. In many ways this event was a low point for the ongoing Marvel narrative, and the universe has still not recovered.

This is the state that Doctor Octopus enters the world. He, like so many other heroes of much greater renown, was part of the Hydra takeover, and played into it believing in his own good intentions. Whereas many series have been inclined to hand-wave their own protagonist’s mistakes, Doctor Octopus is more capable of grappling with the evil done by his hand. Unlike Thor or Ant-Man who have long reputations for heroism and are more inclined to be forgiven, the tension of Marvel’s fallen state and a hero’s own failures can be easily evoked in the form of the Superior Octopus.

A Dark Hero

It’s equally important to note that unlike many heroes who collaborated with Hydra during Secret Empire, Doctor Octopus has a long record of being a very bad guy. Even in his recent heroic turn, Otto Octavius has struggled with the ethics of being a superhero. As the Superior Spider-Man he built an army of drones that spied on the citizens of New York City and savagely assaulted many criminals beyond any reasonable measure of force. In spite of his more noble intentions, he has continued to be defined by the use of violence and a destructive paternalistic impulse.

While this can make it very hard to root for the Superior Octopus, already offering multiple examples of ugliness in the debut issue, it also helps to draw out some of the key tensions that surround superheroes. There is a stark contrast between good intentions and good outcomes, something that Superior Spider-Man addressed at length. While the aims of Doctor Octopus are now clearly noble, his methods make it clear that intentions cannot justify actions. It is not an issue existing solely within the story of the Superior Octopus now either. Every hero who helped Hydra must come to terms with their terrible actions, no matter how good their intentions might have been, and the Superior Octopus serves as a great focal point for that sort of story.

Hope for Redemption

The key to the story that Superior Octopus is starting and the larger narrative that Marvel Comics is working through can be boiled down to one word: redemption. While most superheroes start from a place of good intentions or will, that has never been the case for Spider-Man and his one-time successor Otto Octavius. They are both defined by mistakes that led them to understand the value of doing the right thing and subsequently striving to do better. This is not only a great hook for a story, but a necessary one both for Doctor Octopus and Marvel as a whole.

Secret Empire took a superhero universe filled with bright costumed heroes to a very dark place, but the history of Marvel Comics make it clear that no single story can define this expansive universe forever. Each new event joins a conversation that pushes the genre in new directions and redefines what a superhero means to readers. As we look to the future of Marvel Comics, it’s Otto Octavius in his role as the Superior Octopus that stands to redefine that role once again. Fighting against a long history of criminal acts and terrible choices, he is still striving to be a hero. It’s possible that he could show the value in doing the right thing today, no matter what came before.