So, how about that Spider-Man? With his Spider-Tracers, Web Shooters, and Spider Light he sure seems like the inventive type. But before The Amazing Spider-Man ever became The Iron Spider-Man, he had a foe/friend who took the motif a little too far. This week's Z-Lister is the itsy-bitsy Steel Spider!
Oliver Osnick was created by Bill Mantlo and Ed Hannigan in 1982's "The Spectacular Spider-Man #72". Ollie was an overweight high school student who was constantly harassed, despite his intelligence. This taunting from his peers caused Ollie to grow an admiration for Doctor Otto Octavius, aka the villain Doctor Octopus. Duh! Ollie saw that Otto's experience as a teenager was much like his own and took it as inspiration to become Kid Ock. He invented less-impressive robotic tentacles and dressed up as Doc Ock, he then began a career of villainy. One such crime was convincing other teens to dress up like other Spider-Man villains, but those kids ended up ditching Kid Ock when Spider-Man showed up to stop him. Spider-Man though Ollie was the real Doctor Octopus and chased him into a toy store. Their fight eventually brings them into a tank of water where Spider-Man rips off one of the tentacles and realizes Ollie is just some kid and pulls him from the water before he can drown. Ollie wakes up back home that night.
Ollie reappeared in "The Amazing Spider-Man #263" as Spider Kid. Ollie was so impressed and enthralled by Spidey, he redesigned his tentacles into spider legs and donned a Spider-Man Halloween costume, turning his life of crime into a life of heroism. Unfortunately, most of hero career consisted of Spider-Man saving him from trouble. After these adventures and serving on a team called The Misfits, Ollie decides to hang the legs up and become a normal kid.
The next time we saw Ollie was in "Spider-Man Unlimited #5" were we learn during his college years he began working out and became very physically fit. He also kept his dreams of heroism to a minimum, simply perfecting his robotic legs as a hobby. However, Ollie's girlfriend was shot and paralyzed by a group of muggers and Ollie dons the new persona of Steel Spider, equip with a black suit and weaponized robotic spider-legs. As Steel Spider, Ollie brutalized the muggers and held back at the last minute, choosing to turn them in rather than kill them. Ollie hung up the suit again after this, choosing his girlfriend over his heroism.
Ollie dons the Steel Spider suit again when The Superhuman Registration Act puts a ban on unregistered superheroes. Acting against this government system, Steel Spider becomes the target of The Thunderbolts who are a team of villains ordered by the government to work as soldiers. They're like Marvel's Suicide Squad if that makes it easier. The Thunderbolts at that point were led by Norman Osborn-former Green Goblin, then Iron Patriot and Director of SHIELD-who broke into laughter every time he even thought about Steel Spider. Backed by American Eagle and Sepulcher, Steel Spider battled The Thunderbolts to a stand-still. The fight concludes after Venom (Mac Gargan) bites off Steel Spider's left arm. His real arm. Ollie is imprisoned in Prison 42 and is most likely released after Norman is kicked out of SHIELD, however his current whereabouts are unknown.
It's nice to see the kind of influence Spider-Man has on people, especially those who live lives not too far from his own. I always thought if Peter Parker was supposed your typical nerd shouldn't he be overweight? Though, that ruins his mobility as Spider-Man. That's why this character is appealing to me, this character shows that you don't need to be slim to be a Spider-character. And the arc this character goes through from being a vengeful loser to a dimwitted hero to a badass vigilante is awesome, I love seeing characters evolve in that way. I really hope Steel Spider shows up again soon, it's not Spider-Man is using the Iron Spider suit so he could pass that along to Ollie. Not to mention that Peter Parker's current company Parker Industries employs Spider-Man/Peter Parker allies like Harry Osborn and Hobie Brown, why can't Peter give Ol' Righty a job? And hopefully a prosthetic. In any case, whether he reappears or not, I think Oliver Osnick is a fine example of what a Spider-Man supporting character can be!
Thank you for reading!
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Ollie reappeared in "The Amazing Spider-Man #263" as Spider Kid. Ollie was so impressed and enthralled by Spidey, he redesigned his tentacles into spider legs and donned a Spider-Man Halloween costume, turning his life of crime into a life of heroism. Unfortunately, most of hero career consisted of Spider-Man saving him from trouble. After these adventures and serving on a team called The Misfits, Ollie decides to hang the legs up and become a normal kid.
The next time we saw Ollie was in "Spider-Man Unlimited #5" were we learn during his college years he began working out and became very physically fit. He also kept his dreams of heroism to a minimum, simply perfecting his robotic legs as a hobby. However, Ollie's girlfriend was shot and paralyzed by a group of muggers and Ollie dons the new persona of Steel Spider, equip with a black suit and weaponized robotic spider-legs. As Steel Spider, Ollie brutalized the muggers and held back at the last minute, choosing to turn them in rather than kill them. Ollie hung up the suit again after this, choosing his girlfriend over his heroism.
Ollie dons the Steel Spider suit again when The Superhuman Registration Act puts a ban on unregistered superheroes. Acting against this government system, Steel Spider becomes the target of The Thunderbolts who are a team of villains ordered by the government to work as soldiers. They're like Marvel's Suicide Squad if that makes it easier. The Thunderbolts at that point were led by Norman Osborn-former Green Goblin, then Iron Patriot and Director of SHIELD-who broke into laughter every time he even thought about Steel Spider. Backed by American Eagle and Sepulcher, Steel Spider battled The Thunderbolts to a stand-still. The fight concludes after Venom (Mac Gargan) bites off Steel Spider's left arm. His real arm. Ollie is imprisoned in Prison 42 and is most likely released after Norman is kicked out of SHIELD, however his current whereabouts are unknown.
It's nice to see the kind of influence Spider-Man has on people, especially those who live lives not too far from his own. I always thought if Peter Parker was supposed your typical nerd shouldn't he be overweight? Though, that ruins his mobility as Spider-Man. That's why this character is appealing to me, this character shows that you don't need to be slim to be a Spider-character. And the arc this character goes through from being a vengeful loser to a dimwitted hero to a badass vigilante is awesome, I love seeing characters evolve in that way. I really hope Steel Spider shows up again soon, it's not Spider-Man is using the Iron Spider suit so he could pass that along to Ollie. Not to mention that Peter Parker's current company Parker Industries employs Spider-Man/Peter Parker allies like Harry Osborn and Hobie Brown, why can't Peter give Ol' Righty a job? And hopefully a prosthetic. In any case, whether he reappears or not, I think Oliver Osnick is a fine example of what a Spider-Man supporting character can be!
Thank you for reading!
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Twitter: @ThePanelBiter
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