This article contains spoilers for Sinister War #4.
Marvel Comics really need to decide whether or not Doctor Octopus is still an enemy of Spider-Man or an ally. Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, Doctor Octopus is one of Spider-Man's greatest foes. The two have clashed countless times, sometimes explosively and other times in surprisingly intimate ways - on one occasion Otto Octavius tried to woo Peter's beloved Aunt May, and the two retained a certain fondness for one another for years.
And then everything changed. A dying Otto came up with a way to cheat death by transplanting his memories into Spider-Man's body, achieving the ultimate victory. Deciding to prove himself greater than his nemesis once and for all, Otto became the Superior Spider-Man - only to find out he was far from superior when he was forced to learn that age-old lesson - "With great power comes great responsibility." Nowadays, his mind has been restored to a clone body, and Doctor Octopus - like Venom before him - has an uneasy truce with Spider-Man. That's right, Marvel has turned Doctor Octopus into a hero - at least in theory.
In practice, Marvel still can't quite decide whether or not Doctor Octopus is a hero or villain. Take the example of Nick Spencer's "Sinister War," in which the truce seemed to be over when Doctor Octopus joined the legions of supervillains attempting to kill Spider-Man in accordance with Kindred's orders. When all hope seemed lost, though, Octavius switched sides and saved the day - allowing Spider-Man to limp away, exhausted but triumphant. It serves as the perfect illustration of the problem modern writers have with Doctor Octopus; is he a hero or a villain? Right now, Marvel is trying to have their cake and eat it, to use him in both capacities, and it's leading to an awkward and uncomfortable overarching narrative.
Underpinning this is a bigger question. Marvel is famous for what Stan Lee called "the illusion of change" - making it seem as if a character was changing, but in reality, have them simply morph to something similar to the initial status quo. As comic book writer Peter David put it in a blog post when he discussed the example of Spider-Man:
"Peter went from high school to college… but he was still a student. Betty Brant and Liz Allen gave way to Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson, and nemesis Flash Thompson stepped aside for nemesis Harry Osborn. Otherwise, though, he was pretty much the same guy. Sure, he got a motorcycle, which was the ultimate in cool… but he wound up having to sell it, thereby bringing the money problems back to the forefront. It was evolution, but 360 degrees’ worth. Same old Spider-Man, same old Peter Parker, same old problems at the core."
This was why Marvel immediately regretted the marriage between Spider-Man and Mary Jane, and went to insane lengths to write it out before settling on a literally demonic retcon in the controversial "One More Day" storyline. And, following the principle of the illusion of change, Marvel writers will understandably be tempted to bring Doctor Octopus back to his villainous roots so he can swing his tentacles at Spider-Man again.
That would be such a waste, though. Sometimes a character has actually evolved in an interesting direction, becoming something their creators would never have anticipated. That is what has happened to Doctor Octopus, a man who was once a villain but is now gradually walking the road to redemption. Writers would be wise to resist the temptation to turn Otto Octavius into a Spider-Man villain again, simply because sometimes even comic books need more than the illusion of change.
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