Uncontrolled, the tentacles begin to influence Octavius' mind, playing on his vanity and ego, and he decides he must complete his experiment at any cost. Unconscious, he is taken to hospital to have the tentacles removed, but the tentacles kill the surgeons, and he escapes. Octavius refuses to halt it, with devastating results: his wife is killed the neural inhibitor chip which enabled him to control the arms is destroyed and the arms are fused to his spine. Though the experiment overloads and becomes unstable, Dr.
To perform a sustained fusion experiment, Octavius has developed a set of artificially intelligent mechanical arms, which are impervious to heat and magnetism. Harry, now head of Oscorp's research division, has invested in the research of brilliant scientist Otto Octavius, Peter's idol. Moreover, he has become estranged from both love interest Mary Jane and best friend Harry Osborn, and Aunt May is threatened with foreclosure. He loses a job, faces financial difficulties, and struggles to maintain his physics studies at Columbia University. Precariously struggling to balance his crime-fighting duties with the demands of his normal life, Peter often finds his personal life taking a back seat. Two years after Norman Osborn's death, and Peter Parker is finding his double life increasingly difficult.
