Lady Octopus
Lady Octopus is a female comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Carolyn Trainer was a female human born the daughter of noted geneticist Seward Trainer. As a child, she came to note that neither she nor her mother were never more important than her father's work. Seward had raised Carolyn to respect science above everything including human life. (Spectacular Spider-Man v1 #229)
When she was young, she came to learn of the works of Dr. Otto Octavius and came to admire him as a scientist. Such was her admiration that her father came to notice it and sought to make his daughter happy by purchasing tickets to meet him during one of his lectures. A young and excited Carolyn thus attended the lecture where Dr. Octavius was showcasing his designs for a mechanical harness and came to speak to Trainer. Smitten with Octavius, Carolyn began to stalk him, following him on dates with Mary Alice Anders, who she loathed. Carolyn was overjoyed when Octavius' mother forced him to end the relationship. While Carolyn was in college, Octavius was caught in a massive explosion, transforming him into the maniacal Doctor Octopus. Horrified, Carolyn closely monitored his condition on the radio. After his defeat and capture by Spider-Man, Carolyn sent him the latest research journals in prison, and eventually came to visit him, where he revealed to her his plans for criminal conquest. (Spider-Man Unlimited v1 #18)
Years later, Octavius came to visit Carolyn and recruited her into his organization. Together, they planned to prevent the possibility of Ock's death in battle by constructing a computer-generated physical duplicate of him to battle Spider-Man in his stead. They succeeded in creating a virtual duplicate of Octavius' mind, which they dubbed the Master Programmer. To test the generation of a physical duplicate, they used one of Carolyn's secretaries, Angelina Brancale, as a test subject. The experiment was a success, resulting in the creation of Brancale's alter ego Stunner, but before a duplicate of Octavius could be created, he was murdered by the rogue Spider-Man clone known as Kaine. (Spider-Man Unlimited v1 #18)
Following the death of Doctor Octopus, Carolyn looked to continue her favourite professor's legacy and adopted the guise of Lady Octopus. (Spider-Man Unlimited v1 #18) Having established herself as the new Doctor Octopus, with a large criminal organization of her own, Carolyn moved against her father in order to steal his research. She blew up his cabin in Rachel, Vermont, nearly killing Ben Reilly, and ransacked his lab in New York City, abducting Seward in the process. Reilly, now in the guise of the Scarlet Spider, encountered a group of Carolyn's 'octo-spheres', which quickly subdued him. Carolyn also took the opportunity to briefly look in on her kidnapped father. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #405)
Carolyn interrogated the shackled Scarlet Spider, trying to extract any information he might have about Seward Trainer's files. Despite shocking him with electricity and showing him a holo-projection of Seward, the Spider refused to tell her anything. Inspired by his memories of Seward, the Spider broke his chains, demolished the two 'octo-droids' Carolyn had sent to watch over him, and burst back into Trainer's lab. Destroying the camera and voice projector that Lady Octopus had been using to communicate with him, the Spider defeated the 'octo-spheres' and rescued Seward, who had failed to recognize his captor. (Spider-Man v1 #62) Seward Trainer and Reilly tried to penetrate their captor's computer network, but were denied access, finding only a stylized octopus logo. Carolyn was alerted to the breach by Brucknerr, and traced it back to Seward. She then ordered Brucknerr to use Seward's data concerning a biomatter/virtual reality interface to improve their virtual reality bomb. When Brucknerr objected, citing the possible danger to innocents, she strangled him with her tentacles until he submitted. After her agents Steele and Johnson successfully tested the bomb, she visited Seward in his lab, threatening him with death unless he surrendered all of his notes. An attack from the Scarlet Spider was foiled by her force field, allowing her to battle him while capturing her father. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #406) After a brief standoff, the Scarlet Spider grabbed Seward and escaped, leaving Octopus without her father's files. Following them across the city, Ock finally confronted them on a rooftop. While Seward escaped, the Spider engaged Carolyn, who quickly gained the upper hand, leaving her assailant at her mercy. Before she could finish him off, she was attacked by Spider-Man, who teamed with the Scarlet Spider against her. After a brief battle, Lady Octopus ensnared Spider-Man and dangled him over the streets. As she bargained with the Scarlet Spider, attempting to trade Spider-Man's life for that of her father, he used his impact webbing to penetrate her force field. With her defenses broken, Trainer tossed Spider-Man over the side to cover her escape. (Spider-Man v1 #63)
Doctor Octopus and the Master Programmer monitored Seward's calls, learning that the wife of Seward's friend Peter Parker had fallen ill, and required a treatment involving a rare isotope. She dispatched her henchmen to interrupt the delivery of the isotope and steal it, then informed Seward that she would trade it for him. Meeting him at the docks, Lady Octopus's men disabled the spider-tracer on his ankle and took him to their secret base beneath the Hudson River. She and the Programmer forced Seward to transfer all of his files to her, only for Spider-Man and the Scarlet Spider to infiltrate the base. After they tore through the henchmen and rescued Seward, Spider-Man found the canister of isotope being guarded by Octopus herself. Donning a protective helmet, she proved a match for the web-slinger, but became distracted when he mentioned her father. Taking advantage of her distraction, Spider-Man swung her around by her tentacles and threw her through the wall, flooding the base. (Spectacular Spider-Man v1 #229)
Relocating to her complex on Staten Island, Doctor Octopus became embroiled in a gang war with club owner Jason Tso. After Tso's agents Kannor and Patrick stole a number of experimental cyberneural inductor computer chips from Vytek Labs, Lady Octopus dispatched a helicopter full of her agents to steal them from the thieves. Thanks to the interference of the Scarlet Spider, the chips ended up in the hands of the police, instead. Undaunted, Ock's agents stole the police van carrying them, and defeated the Spider in the process. (Web of Scarlet Spider v1 #1) One of Lady Octopus's New York City bases was attacked by Tso's agents. In order to prevent them from acquiring the experimental VR visor within the base, she remotely destroyed it. Ordering her agent Joe Wade to track down Tso, she learned from the Master Programmer that the visor had survived. She also learned that ex-supervillain Norton G. Fester, alias the Looter, had been released from the Vault, and sent an agent to recruit him. Later, when Seward Trainer used the visor to enter cyberspace, Trainer dispatched her virtual operative VR-37 to intercept him. Although he was defeated by the Scarlet Spider, he did succeed in rendering Seward comatose. (Amazing Scarlet Spider v1 #1) Lady Octopus hired the Pro to kill Jason Tso. Later, she met with the Master Programmer in cyberspace, and demanded to know why he'd informed Daily Bugle reporter Ken Ellis about the hit, unaware that the consciousness of Seward Trainer, trapped in cyberspace, was spying on them. When the Pro cornered Tso in his office, Trainer watched via video phone. She agreed to triple the Pro's fee to kill the Scarlet Spider after he interfered, but the assassin failed to kill either of his targets. (Scarlet Spider v1 #1)
Ock and the Programmer watched a training session between Override, Aura, and the Looter. On that evening, she sent all three to raid Tso's Club Noir to recover the chips. They failed to locate the chips, but managed to escape back to Lady Octopus's headquarters. (Spectacular Scarlet Spider v1 #1) Carolyn berated the three cyber-criminals for their failure. Arranging a meeting with Tso at the Central Park children's zoo, she sent the three to redeem themselves. All three were defeated by the Scarlet Spider and Tso's Cyber-Slayers, inciting Trainer's to direct her efforts away from Tso and towards eliminating the Spider. (Web of Spider-Man v1 #2) Lady Octopus and the Programmer revived the dormant Stunner, in order to duplicate the process that created her. While doing so, she was alerted to the suspicious behavior of Joe Wade by her agent Linette Martinez. (Amazing Scarlet Spider v1 #2) Lady Octopus captured Wade while he was snooping around her equipment, and strapped him into her machines. She and Dr. Martinez tapped into Wade's brain, using him to project a destructive holographic duplicate of the Scarlet Spider. The ersatz Spider blasted out of her lab and began rampaging through the city, much to Trainer's delight. Later, she met with the Master Programmer in cyberspace, and was again observed by Seward Trainer. (Scarlet Spider v1 #2)
She came to be hired by Lucia von Bardas as part of her plot at revenge against Nick Fury. Fury had used several superheroes in a strike against Latveria with Lady Octopus]] and the new Hobgoblin were sent to attack Captain America. (Secret War v1 #3)
During night time, she was on a mission to break into a building to steal some papers when she was attacked by Mockingbird and Ronin who had gone out on patrol with the two superheroes knowing her out. (New Avengers v1 #63)
Lady Octopus was among the animal-themed individuals kidnapped for Kraven the Hunters great hunt. She rallied under the Vulture when they began striking back against the hunters though warned that they were suffering heavy casualties in the process. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #21) Afterwards, she was recruited by Janice Lincoln to join the newest incarnation of the Sinister Syndicate. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #26)
Overview
Personality and attributes
After the death of Octavius, she sought to honor him and began to take the name Lady Octopus. (Spider-Man Unlimited v1 #18) Though at first, she insisted to be called the new Doctor Octopus'. (Spider-Man v1 #63)
When she was a child, her father Seward used to sing Itsy Bitsy Spider to Carolyn. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #406)
She claimed she was the product of her fathers genes where her penchant for learning and her interest in science came from him. (Spider-Man v1 #63)
Carolyn resented her father who she believed refused to be her teacher and did not share his secrets with her. (Spider-Man v1 #63)
Powers and abilities
When constructing her tentacles, she claimed to had learnt from the mistakes of her predecessor. These mechanical constructs were said to be state of the art. A forcefield protected them though this could be penetrated by targeting one of the tentacles. (Spider-Man v1 #63)
Her personal forcefield was said to be impenetrable and easily able to hold back superpowered strikes made against her. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #406)
These robot drones were capable of shooting out energy blasts at their targets. (Spider-Man v1 #62)
Lady Octopus had established a young criminal organization whose symbol was an octopus. To reach their goals, they sought to be the sole winner in the techno-wars. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #406)
Notes
- Lady Octopus was created by J. M. DeMatteis and Angel Medina where she made her first appearance Amazing Spider-Man v1 #406 (October, 1995)
Alternate Versions
In other media
Television
- In Spider-Man, Carolyn Trainer appeared in the setting of the 2017 animated television series second seas episode "Between an Ock and a Hard Place" where she was voiced by actress Kari Wahlgren. She was shown as a brilliant young woman with a PhD in electronics who was an admirer of the works of Doctor Octavius. After he became Doctor Octopus, the supervillain was arrested by the efforts of Spider-Man where he was sent to the Cellar for rehabilitation. After learning of this, Trainer faked a criminal record so that she could be in the cell next to him so that she could speak to her idol. Octavius then manipulated her into becoming a supervillain and to secretly aid him in obtaining crystals he needed for his secret experiment in modifying the Neuro-Cortex to enhance his own mind. During this time, Caroyln adopted a guise similar to his as Doctor Octopus where she constructed a backpack that produced numerous tentacles and she used enhanced Octobots to aid her leading to her confrontation with Spider-Man. During one such fight, she revealed that she was working for Doctor Octopus who had seemingly left the life of a supervillain to return to working at Horizon High. Spider-Man went to investigate where he found Octavius using the minds of Miles Morales, Anya Corazon, and Gwen Stacy to enhance the performance of the Neuro Cortex to give him enhanced psychokinetic powers that was his plan with him using Trainer to aid him. Upon hearing this, Carolyn in anger attacked him where she teamed up with Spider-Man in defeating leading to her admitting that she made a terrible supervillain as the police arrived at the school. Spider-Man commented that she had a brilliant mind and that she should not squander a second chance at redemption leading to Carolyn abandoning the tentacles she had constructed for herself.
Video games
- In Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, a new female Lady Octopus was created for Marvel 2099 where she appeared as a villainous boss character in the videogame and was voiced by Tara Strong. This version was Dr. Serena Patel who was a head scientist of Alchemax's Shadow Division where she was responsible for black-ops dangerous super-weapons and twisted experiments.
- In Marvel: Avengers Alliance, Lady Octopus was teased in the Facebook video game where she appeared on a cover for Season 2 release as among the villain's bring targeted by the Circle of 8.
Appearances
- Amazing Spider-Man v1: (1995)
- Spectacular Spider-Man v1:
- Spider-Man Unlimited v1:
- Secret War v1:
- New Avengers v1:
- Invincible Iron Man:
- Amazing Spider-Man v5:
External Links
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