Review: Marvel’s Spider-Man “My Own Worst Enemy”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Doc Ock is now in Spider-Man’s body while Peter’s consciousness is stuck inside the very robot, Ock supposedly destroyed. With this newfound power and knowledge, Ock intends to bring New York City to its knees. At least until his newly acquired brain isn’t without side-effects as Peter’s brain regardless of who’s taken over it, still contains some of Parker’s memories and personal experiences (particularly ones involving Uncle Ben who is decently voiced by Patton Oswalt) that frequently trigger conscience-like responses which compel Octavious into being a hero despite himself and even go as far as to putting him in an ethical dilemma of stopping a plan of his own devising being carried out by Silver Sable.

Our Take

In the last episode of Marvel’s Spider-Man, which aired almost one full year ago, Doctor Otto Octavius (Scott Mellville) had transferred his consciousness from The Living Brain, priming the series for its loose reimagining of Dan Slott’s Infamous “Superior Spider-Man” storyline. During Slott’s run of the comic, it arguably divided the comic book fandom as some believed it was an interesting idea, while some found it to be an insult to the fans with even Stan Lee openly expressing his displeasure towards Slott’s writing back when he was still alive.

Thankfully the writers at least manage to make this adaptation somewhat watchable when it delves into the psychological aspects and inner thoughts narrated by Scott Melville while Robbie Daymond attempts to nail Scott Melville’s performance right down to the intellectual dialect, inflections and idiosyncrasies in an effort to keep Ock’s personality consistently different compared to his Peter Parker performance which at least acts and speaks like a teenager.

If there are any other positives I can at least say about this episode, it’s that it delves into the age-old question of “Nature vs Nurture” if whether or not we are made good or evil by the environment, people and decisions we make in life and it’s further conveyed in the inner-dialogue scenes such as Octavious briefly mentioning a father who raised him to have a superiority complex compared to Peter’s Uncle Ben who’s worldview was always about the value of human life no matter how insignificant humanity as a whole may seem, and these thoughts gradually affect Otto in ways that move the plot forward while giving Otto a new sense of purpose to 1-up Peter’s heroism, but the question is how long will it last and since nobody else knows about this major change within Peter’s mind, how will this affect the people within Parker’s personal life?

Only time will tell in this 5-part storyline which I’m motivated to keep watching.