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Lady Octopus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For Olivia Octavius, see Doctor Octopus.
Lady Octopus
Marvel Masterpieces (1996) lithograph of Lady Octopus.
Art by Boris Vallejo.
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceThe Amazing Spider-Man #406 (October 1995)
Created byJ. M. DeMatteis
Angel Medina
In-story information
Alter egoCarolyn Trainer
SpeciesHuman
Team affiliationsSinister Syndicate
Sinister Squadron
Notable aliasesDoctor Octopus II
Abilities
  • Genius-level intellect
  • Wears super-strong and highly-resistant mechanical appendages, impervious to conventional attacks and armed with lasers
  • Force-field generation via harness

Lady Octopus (Carolyn Trainer), also known as Doctor Octopus II, is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, primarily as an enemy to the superheroes Spider-Man and Scarlet Spider. The character is the protégée of Otto Octavius, the original Doctor Octopus, and assumes her mentor's mantle and an upgraded version of his tentacle harness following Octavius' death in the "Clone Saga". After Octavius' resurrection only a few years later, she becomes Lady Octopus to distinguish herself from him, and has made minor appearances in several stories since.

Publication history

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Lady Octopus was introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man #406 (October 1995) and was created by writer J.M. DeMatteis and artist Angel Medina.

Fictional character biography

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Carolyn Trainer is the daughter of Seward Trainer who was a student of Otto Octavius. After Octavius was killed by Kaine Parker during the "Clone Saga", Carolyn sought to continue her favorite professor's legacy.[1]

Trainer obtained a set of a four-tentacle harness identical to Octavius's, which she upgraded by adding a force-field that protected her from any exterior attacks, but allowed her tentacles to freely go through. She took the "Doctor Octopus" name in honor of her instructor and began a campaign to steal her father's research in merging reality and virtual reality.[2] Doctor Octopus works for the Master Programmer, a digitized copy of Otto Octavius' mind, and works with the Hand to resurrect the real Octavius.[3][4]

Carolyn Trainer later appears in "Secret War", where she assumes the alias Lady Octopus to distinguish herself from Octavius. She is given a new suit of armor by Lucia von Bardas and Tinkerer.[5]

In The Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 5), Lady Octopus joins the Sinister Syndicate.[6] She appears with the group in the subsequent storylines "Sinister War" and "Gang War".[7][8] In the miniseries Spider-Society, Lady Octopus joins the Sinister Squadron in attacking the eponymous Spider-Society in an attempt to prevent it from forming.[9]

Powers and abilities

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Lady Octopus demonstrating a personal force-field.

Lady Octopus possesses no superhuman abilities. Instead, she wears a special harness, similar to the one used by the original Doctor Octopus, which incorporates four strong and highly-resistant mechanical appendages, which can be extended or retracted at will. These "tentacles" can lift weights far greater than any human, be used as a means of transportation, and respond faster than human reaction times. They are also armed with lasers and can generate a force-field; the result of upgrades she had made to the harness. The force-field is resistant to most traumatic concussive force and conventional weapons attack, though the tentacles themselves are still vulnerable.

Through the tentacles, Lady Octopus can interface with appropriately equipped computer systems and enter virtual reality interfaces telepathically. Additionally, Lady Octopus possesses a genius-level intellect; having studied robotics, information technology, applied physics, and mechanical engineering.

Reception

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  • In 2020, CBR.com ranked Lady Octopus 8th in their "10 Most Powerful Members of the Sinister Syndicate" list.[10]
  • In 2021, Screen Rant included Lady Octopus in their "Spider-Man: 10 Best Female Villains" list.[11]

Other versions

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An alternate future variant of Carolyn Trainer appears in the MC2 series Spider-Girl. This version works for the Black Tarantula. Years after Otto Octavius's death, Trainer assumes the mantle of Doctor Octopus and attempts to create mutant soldiers. In pursuit of this, she temporarily turns John Jameson back into the Man-Wolf, defeats Spider-Girl, and frees the crime boss Canis from prison; ostensibly to join forces with him to fight Black Tarantula for control of New York's criminal underworld while secretly intending to use Canis as a scapegoat. However, Spider-Girl thwarts Trainer's plans.[volume & issue needed]

In other media

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Television

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Film

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A female Doctor Octopus named Dr. Olivia "Liv" Octavius appears in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, voiced by Kathryn Hahn.[15]

Video games

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  • Serena Patel, a character inspired by Lady Octopus, appears as a boss in Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, voiced by Tara Strong.[16] She is the head scientist of Alchemax's Shadow Division, which is dedicated to the secretive creation of dangerous super-weapons and DNA splicing-based experiments. Patel later creates a battle suit with mechanical arms and calls herself "Doctor Octopus" after her idol Otto Octavius.
  • Lady Octopus appears in a teaser image for Marvel: Avengers Alliance as a victim of the Circle of Eight.[17]

Miscellaneous

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Lady Octopus appears in the animated web series Marvel Battleworld: Treachery at Twilight.[12]

References

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  1. ^ Spider-Man Unlimited #18 (November 1997)
  2. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #405 (September 1995)
  3. ^ The Spectacular Spider-Man #232 (March 1996)
  4. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #425–428 (August - November 1997)
  5. ^ Secret War #3 - 5 (October 2004 - December 2005)
  6. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 5) #26 - 28 (September - October 2019)
  7. ^ Sinister War #2 (September 2021)
  8. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 6) #39 - 44 (February - April 2024)
  9. ^ Spider-Society #1 (October 2024)
  10. ^ Allan, Scoot (July 13, 2020). "10 Most Powerful Members of the Sinister Syndicate, Ranked". CBR. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
  11. ^ Hernandez, Brenda (September 29, 2021). "Spider-Man: 10 Best Female Villains". Screen Rant. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
  12. ^ a b "Lady Octopus Voices (Spider-Man)". Behind the Voice Actors (A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.).
  13. ^ "Kelly Ohanian on Instagram". Instagram. June 9, 2021. Archived from the original on December 24, 2021. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
  14. ^ Holub, Christian (June 7, 2021). "Patrick Stump breaks down his theme song for new cartoon Spidey and His Amazing Friends". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
  15. ^ Vejvoda, Jim (November 29, 2018). "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Official Credits Reveal Surprise Voice Actor Cameos". IGN. Archived from the original on November 30, 2018. Retrieved December 2, 2018.
  16. ^ Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions Achievements
  17. ^ "Get Set for Avengers Alliance Season 2," Marvel
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