Nrama: With the first issue of Superior Spider-Man due out in just a couple weeks, you've obviously started writing Doc Ock in the costume at this point. What are the similarities and differences between the mindset of the two characters?

Slott: When you look at Peter Parker, and the kid he was before he got bit by that radioactive spider, he was an outcast, he was a nerd, he was resentful of all his peers. One of the first things he says is, "Someday, I'll show them all. They'll be sorry they laughed at me." That's one of the first things Peter Parker ever says, when you read Amazing Fantasy #15.

Peter Parker, at that point, is a guy who could have really easily become a supervillain. We're just all lucky he was raised by Aunt May and Uncle Ben, and even being raised by them, he still went on to become a complete jerk until the moment he learned that lesson of "great power" and "great responsibility."

And then you look at Doc Ock. He's the adult that Peter Parker would have become. He's this spectacled nerd. And his first appearance is him saying, "They're all just jealous of my genius." This is what Peter could have become. Doc Ock had an accident with a radioactive experiment, and he became the eight legged, super-powered being. He's almost a shadow version of Peter.

When we first meet Doctor Octopus in the comics, he's already an old guy. We've never seen Doc Ock as a young guy.

is Doc Ock getting a second chance at life, and not just any kind of second chance: He gets to be this young, athletic, handsome superhero with a great job and respect, who is a member of the superhero community. He gets to be accepted in ways that Otto Octavius never was.

And in a weird way, the final gift that Peter Parker gives him is the lesson of great power and great responsibility.

So now he's been sent on the right path.

But we all know he is that arrogant, egotistical Doctor Otto Octavius. What's going to happen now?

He's going to try to be a superhero. He's going to try to take this new lease on life and use it for good. But he's Doc Ock, so of course he's going to do it through his own lens.

That's going to be an interesting journey.

To me, the fun of this is, for years, thanks to J. Jonah Jameson, everyone thought Spider-Man was a menace and the readers knew the whole story. The readers knew this was a good guy, this was a hero who's not getting any breaks. They were rooting for him.

Now we've flipped that. It's the Marvel Universe that doesn't have the whole story, and they think he's a hero. And it's the readers who are going, "No! No! No! No! He's a menace! I don't like him!" The readers have become J. Jonah Jameson.

To me, that's the greatest challenge of all. This character of Superior Spider-Man is the most "meta" Spider-Man you can get.

This Spider-Man is going to have to prove to the readers that he's a hero. That's an exciting journey.