Prologue: What if…we thought wrong?
Time. Space. Reality.
It's more than a linear path.
It's a prism of endless possibility, where a single choice can branch out into infinite realities, creating alternate worlds from the ones you know.
I am the Watcher.
I am your guide through these vast new realities.
Follow me and ponder the question…what if…?
As the Watcher, I behold occurrences and discrepancies hidden even from the most clever of multiversal travelers. Allow me to unveil this complex web of fate.
In November 2024, a pivotal moment unfolded in the life of a teenage Peter Parker. He implored Doctor Stephen Strange to erase Spider-Man's identity from the world's memory, seeking a fresh start not just for himself but for his loved ones affected by the revelation.
The spell's disruption birthed a multidimensional chaos, summoning alternate Spider-Men and their adversaries into Peter's reality. This cascade of events led to Aunt May's tragic demise and Peter's heroic, selfless sacrifice of being forgotten by everyone in the world.
Among the summoned adversaries stood Doctor Otto Octavius, a brilliant scientist given the moniker "Doctor Octopus" due to a lab accident in which his artificially intelligent mechanical actuators– akin to octopus tentacles – were fused to his body.
Peter learned of Doctor Octopus' and Green Goblin's fate when Flint Marko, the Sandman, told him that Octavius and Osborn died years ago in his world. Upon learning of their fates, and motivated to prove that he's not a killer, Peter set forth to help "fix" each of the villains from the other universes. He successfully repaired and reprogrammed Octavius' inhibitor chip, stabilizing his mind to the state prior to the lab accident. You all saw what was next, and so it is assumed that Doctor Octavius returned to his universe with an adult variant of Peter Parker, or "Peter-Two" as he has come to be known. For Peter-Two, twenty years have passed and when he met Doctor Octavius once again, it was like seeing an old friend, a ghost from his past.
What remained hidden from teen Peter (or rather "Peter-One"), Doctor Octopus, Flint Marko, and Peter-Two, was that this Doctor Octopus was not from Peter-Two's universe. Confusing? I don't quite blame you. The devil is in the details.
Allow me to reiterate. The Doctor Octavius who was summoned to this universe and the Doctor Octavius who died in 2004 in Peter Two's universe are two separate individuals, whose paths diverged long before the events that transpired.
The Doctor Octavius that was summoned is a fragmented soul long before his accident– he is an older, desolate version devoid of companionship or ties to a loving spouse. He had no wife to grieve. He knew Norman Osborn and his Green Goblin alter ego, but it wasn't his Norman Osborn. His machine was not in the confines of an abandoned pier, but in a cold laboratory at the Atomic Institute, a company he founded to compete against Parker Industries. Even his tentacles were modernized - which one might notice made it easier for Peter-One to hack into and take control using Stark's technology.
In this realm, Octavius' relentless pursuit of scientific eminence drove him into a solitary existence, consumed by an unquenchable thirst for power epitomized in his mantra, "the power of the sun at the palm of my hand." In 2002, he worked on a tritium-fueled fusion reactor alongside his friends, Norman Osborn and Mendel Stromm, at Oscorp. Two years after Norman's death, Doctor Octavius continued their work until his lab accident cost him his reputation and his career, thrusting him into a life of crime and villainy. For twenty years he worked diligently to prove the world of his superior intellect, and to get his revenge on Spider-Man and Harry Osborn. Over the years he came to learn about Osborn's identity as the Green Goblin and built upon his research. He founded the Atomic Institute, competing against Parker Industries, a partnership of Peter Parker and Harry Osborn. On the fateful day, prior to being summoned, Doctor Octopus battled with Spider-Man and discovered his identity as Peter Parker. Doctor Octopus was transported to teen Peter Parker's universe before he could successfully extinguish Adult Parker's life.
In another universe, a divergence birthed a different Octavius– the one who declared "I do." A devoted husband of Rosalie Octavius, Otto Octavius was inspired and driven to make the world a better place. In 2004, his message to the "brilliant but lazy" Peter Parker was not of power, but that "intelligence is not a privilege, it's a gift; And you use it for the good of mankind." In this realm, Doctor Octavius is unaware that his late friend Norman Osborn was the Green Goblin in the newspapers. He worked on the tritium-powered fusion reactor alongside his wife Rosie. Doctor Octavius' miscalculation set in motion a chain of events that led to the tragic death of his beloved wife Rosie Octavius, and his own heroic selfless sacrifice that led to his demise. His tale mirrors Peter-One's own sorrow at the end of No Way Home.
So, a different appearance, a different age, and a different path.
In this tale, we explore the branched reality where the widower Doctor Octavius was the one ensnared by Doctor Strange's spell, setting forth a path entwined with love and redemption.
Release Schedule
Prologue: What if...we thought wrong?
4/15
Chapter 1: What if... May Parker rescued Doctor Octopus?
4/15
Chapter 2: What if... Doctor Strange did not apprehend the villains?
4/22
Chapter 3: What if...Curt was cured first?
4/29
Chapter 4: What if...the Vulture met the Green Goblin?
5/06
Chapter 5: What if...Venom met Spider-Man's best friend?
5/13
Chapter 6: What if...the Green Goblin killed Ned Leeds?
5/20
Chapter 7: What if...the Avengers vs. the Sinister Six
5/27
Chapter 8: What if...Otto returned home?
6/03
Post-Credit Scene: What if...Peter went to Columbia University instead of MIT?
6/03