Dr. Otto Octavius’s transformation into the evil Dr. Octopus is a major plot twist in Marvel’s Spider-Man, but one observant player recently discovered that it was foreshadowed in the game's Photo Mode from the very beginning. Insomniac's take on Marvel's iconic wall-crawler received near-universal acclaim when it first swung onto the PlayStation 4 back in 2018 for its blistering traversal and combat gameplay, as well as an emotionally charged storyline that explored the balance between Peter Parker's ordinary life and his responsibility as Spider-Man.
At the heart of Marvel’s Spider-Man is the relationship between Peter and his mentor/employer Dr. Otto Octavius. At the beginning of the game, Peter is working alongside Otto as he tries to develop cutting-edge robotic limbs for amputees, which naturally leads to the well-meaning scientist building his signature mechanical tentacles. Otto hopes that these metal arms can help him with a neurological disorder that threatens to leave him handicapped for life, but soon the tentacles begin to corrupt his mind. Driven mad by his betrayal at the hands of Norman Osborn years ago, the newly minted Doc Ock rallies a group of Spider-Man’s enemies as the Sinister Six and unleashes a deadly bio-weapon known as Devil’s Breath onto the citizens of New York City. Poor Peter is ultimately left heartbroken as he is forced to defeat his fallen mentor, but it turns out that the warning signs of Otto’s turn to the dark side were present from the start of Marvel’s Spider-Man.
As reported by Game Rant, an eagle-eyed Reddit user by the handle of EamoM2oo4 noticed something interesting while playing around in Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered for the PS5 a couple of days ago. In Photo Mode, players have the option to remove enemy NPCs from pictures, but there’s a twist when this is applied to Otto: he disappears when players turn off the “Enemy visibility” option, something that doesn’t happen to Peter’s other allies like Mary Jane or Miles Morales. Additionally, a commenter notes that this happens again when players use Photo Mode during a flashback of Peter and Otto at a museum during the 2020 sequel Spider-Man: Miles Morales. This is a clever hint that foreshadows Otto's villainous role at the end of the game.
Peter’s battle against Doc Ock at the climax of Marvel’s Spider-Man might not be the last time he has to face a former friend, as the post-credits scenes for both the first game and Spider-Man: Miles Morales have hinted that Harry Osborn will take the role of Venom in Insomniac’s Marvel universe. Sure enough, the monstrous Symbiote has been confirmed as an antagonist in the upcoming Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and Marvel creative vice president Bill Rosemann recently confirmed that the 2023 sequel will feature a much darker tone than the two Spider-Man games before it.
Otto Octavius's descent into villainy as Doc Ock in Marvel’s Spider-Man was a forgone conclusion to longtime fans of the comics, but the fact that Insomniac thought to foreshadow this development in Marvel's Spider-Man's Photo Mode is a clever example of the level of detail the developer put into its record-breaking superhero extravaganza. Peter might not have been able to spot the signs of his mentor's villainy until it was too late, but for players, it's a simple matter of turning off the enemies in Photo Mode.
Source: Game Rant, EamoM2oo4/Reddit