Doc Ock is Breaking Marvel's Multiverse To Slaughter His Own Variants
Warning! Spoilers ahead for Devil's Reign: Superior Four #1
In the new tie-in series to Marvel's Devil's Reign event, Doctor Octopus is playing an extremely dangerous game, one where he's threatening to break the entire multiverse due to his pride and ego. Having assisted Mayor Wilson Fisk in his war against New York's superhero community, Doc Ock was granted access to the lab of Reed Richards, including the Fantastic Four's Forever Gate, allowing him access to any point in time and space. As such, Otto Octavius seeks to remedy what he sees as a flaw in the multiverse, intending to slaughter variants of himself all in the name of becoming superior.
After aiding in the arrest of Mr. and Mrs. Fantastic as one of the Kingpin's newly recruited Thunderbolts in Devil's Reign, Otto Octavius constructed a device that was capable of transferring the persuasive power of Zebediah Killgrave (aka The Purple Man) and allowing Fisk to use it (albeit on a smaller, more suggestive scale). As payment, Otto was given Reed Richards' lab where he immediately recruited three variants of himself from the multiverse using the Forever Gate, revealed to be Octopus versions of the Hulk, Wolverine, and Ghost Rider to become his Superior Four.
However, the new Devil's Reign: Superior Four #1 from writer Zac Thompson and artist Davide Tinto reveals that Otto was never going to stop with just three variants. The new issue sees him initially intending to create a Council of Ocks to rival the Council of Reeds, the assembly of infinite Mr. Fantastics in the multiverse. However, Otto eventually scans the multiverse and comes to realize that he isn't a fixed variant with an infinite number such as his rival Spider-Man. Instead, Otto discovers that he has around 3,000 variants of himself. As such, Otto decides to gamble with the stability of the multiverse with his new Superior Four by his side, looking to kill all the variants they can find with an outrageous plan to make himself superior across all worlds.
As confirmed by the variants the primary Otto has already recruited, the hope that killing other Octopus variants will create branch timelines where even more Octopi will be created in the wake of the murders is incredibly dangerous. While it could create the infinite army the Superior Four desires, it could also cause unknown levels of catastrophe. Furthermore, the end of this first issue reveals that there's one Octopus variant that will be looking to stop their efforts, a version of Otto mixed with the Doctors Doom and Strange (known as the Supreme Octopus).
Essentially, this upcoming multiversal murder spree will be one of Otto's biggest journeys yet, punctuated by his ego and pride as he ventures beyond his own reality. Apparently, Doctor Octopus refuses to be seen as mediocre and must be superior on all worlds as this new mini-series continues. As such, it's going to be really interesting to see if he and his Superior Four will succeed or epically fail, breaking the entire Marvel multiverse in the process.