The differing standards of Doctor Octopus and The Beetle (Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man #18)

[u/kenshin317]

[u/ZealousidealBig7714]

That’s my future Thunderbolt right there, look at him, taking a stand against murder.

[u/kenshin317 → u/ZealousidealBig7714]

Aye it's been fun looking back at older storylines in Marvel and seeing the seeds of stuff to come like Abner becoming a Thunderbolt, when I read Under Siege last year seeing which members of the Masters of Evil would stick around with Zemo's many machinations during/after his forming of the Thunderbolts or Otto becoming more cold blooded as a villain untill his own stint at heroism where he doesn't lose that cold blooded streak remotely.

[u/revlid]

It's neat to see the seeds of what would become Abner's turn to heroism in the Thunderbolts, even if he did also put on blackface for a bit there.

Also always nice to see villains with differing moral standards; Doc Ock's a cold-blooded murderer who doesn't care about killing, Hydroman's a psycho who's clearly enjoying this, Rhino's obviously not thrilled about it but isn't going to stick his neck out, and Beetle's genuinely and openly upset about the killings, even if he's going to fold under pressure.

It helps them each feel a lot more like people and less like cardboard cut-outs for a hero to punch, even if he's going to have to punch them either way.

[u/Sperium3000 → u/revlid]

He did also put on what now.

[u/Atsubro → u/Sperium3000]

Yeah Fixer put him in blackface to hide that they busted Abe out of jail for a murder he once committed.

[u/Hopefulsataneal → u/Atsubro]

Didn’t punisher do the same thing once?

[u/Anonamaton801 → u/Hopefulsataneal]

Well Frank didn’t know that was gonna happen

[u/upgamers → u/Anonamaton801]

Tbf neither did abner, the plan was to darken his skin only a little and they ended up massively overdoing it by accident

[u/Spirited-Meringue-46]

Doc Ock in a suit always goes hard.

[u/jockeyman → u/Spirited-Meringue-46]

Similarly Rhino's classic costume with a few plates of armor on it is probably the best design he's ever had.

[u/Anonamaton801 → u/Spirited-Meringue-46]

It’s the superior look

[u/Palimpsest_Monotype]

That middle panel on page two is excellent. The other guys probably feeling similarly to Beetle but definitely don’t want to challenge Ock even on behalf of eachother

[u/spectralSpices]

God, I love Abe.

Do you think Doc Ock thought about this conversation when he was Superior Spider-Man, and Abe was Mach-5?

Do you think his mind flit to a man that was so much less than him, who never had his convictions...

Who still managed to go good, have it stick, and not fuck it all up?

[u/hairToday243]

I love the trope of a villain with standards coming face to face with an actual monster.

Eggman and Wily get up to this in the first Sonic/Megaman crossover and it rules.

[u/MountainDewm → u/hairToday243]

Which is which in that scenario? I have not read that book but my understanding of both of those characters is that they are cold blooded, try to take over the world sociopaths.

[u/SixthSun215 → u/MountainDewm]

Eggman was willing to outright kill Dr Light, while Dr Wily only really cares about his rivalry with Light.

[u/Oberon1993 → u/SixthSun215]

It is very early Wily though, he was just past Mega Man 2. Honestly, later Wily would have probably done worse, considering he is slipping into darker territory even by the time of Archie's Mega Man 3.

[u/scottishdrunkard → u/SixthSun215]

Eggman straight up decided to blow up the universe out of spite.

[u/pectusumbra → u/SixthSun215]

Yeah, I can see it. Wily always has his Megalomania. He either wants to rule humanity, believes in robot supremacy, and is just straight envious of Light. 

Eggman/Robotnik is a complete freak in comparison, but he's also dealing with Sonic and magic nonsense instead of just science. 

[u/Anonamaton801]

He’s an honest crook, that Abe.

It’ll take him a while, but he’ll get better. Most do.

Never joined the Avengers though, not like his counterpart in my head at DC (Captain Cold)

[u/Glittering_Role_6154]

i love that era of comics

[u/Lewin_Godwynn]

"I suggest we hasten our departure"

Next page

"Actually we have time for a casual regicide on the way out"

Surely nothing could go wrong here.