I'm working on Marvel's Spider-Man in American comics.

Chapter 292 The Shadow of the Octopus
The projector displayed the final result of the battle on the wall. Electro's self-destruction caused an explosion with a radius of about 30 meters, but because he was facing two heroes with supersonic mobility, his explosion was ineffective. Apart from blowing himself into a pile of lightning and dissipating, it had no other purpose.

Even so, it was still a great moment for those watching the live stream.

"Gentlemen, we have seen the cross-research progress of Project One Rebirth, Project Two Beast, and Project Ten Weapon X. With just simple gene editing, we completed a project that had been impossible for decades in just a few hours: an enhanced Alpha-class mutant that we can control."

Otto Octavia stood in a secret conference room beneath the Pentagon, broadcasting live to viewers the entire battle involving their modified Electro, Max Dillon. The audience included high-ranking military and Pentagon officials, as well as President Matthew Ellis, who was running for president. They witnessed the Avengers finding a way to eliminate Electro.

It could be said that it was precisely for this performance that the White House and the Pentagon chose to completely shut down all facilities in the New York area and prevent the Avengers from launching their attack. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been difficult for Ms. Marvel Carol Danvers, who has the ability to absorb energy, and Ares, the Greek god of war, to deal with Electro.

"The biggest issue isn't success or failure, but the cost. Thanks to this operation, we successfully recovered a crucial strategic asset from the mutant's non-French lands: the gene-editing device designed and manufactured by the renowned geneticist Nathaniel Essex. This equipment can provide us with a continuous and stable production of super soldiers, capable of producing approximately 20 per day..."

Matthew Evans rubbed his cheek, uninterested in the super-soldier program or anything like that. Compared to his predecessor, the Elephant Party president whose term was marked by constant mutant trouble and the destruction of the Twin Towers, he was actually quite open to superheroes and mutants.

With superheroes around, he could easily downsize the police force, save money, and use that money to appease voters. As for the losses caused by superheroes and criminals, the heroes would foot the bill themselves. If Stark Industries weren't so profitable, the reparations alone would have bankrupted Tony Stark.

Of course, Tony Stark doesn't pay for the alien invasion; he's only responsible for collateral damage caused by the superheroes while stopping the villains.

“Very good demonstration, Dr. Octavia, except whether it is really necessary.” President Ellis glanced at the Pentagon officials with little interest. The Secretary of Defense, who was also from the Democratic Party, was clearly uninterested, while the CIA and FBI were more interested. As for General Ross, he was absolutely thrilled.

The thought of a super soldier force controlled by the US military was incredibly exciting for him.

“If Magneto finds out, he might go to war with the United States. We don’t need to go to war with 1600 million mutants for a single machine.” Ellis shook his head. “Besides super soldiers, the United States is the most powerful country in the world. We don’t need a stronger army. If there are alien invaders, we have the Avengers, American Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D. to protect us, and we can even call in the X-Men.”

“One super soldier can replace an army of hundreds of soldiers, Mr. President. If the U.S. military had enough super soldiers, not many, just imagine, 20,000 Captain Americas, then America would not need any non-technical branches of the military, saving hundreds of millions of dollars in military spending every year. The most troublesome part of the whole process, the gene editing machine that cost tens of billions of dollars, we don’t need to build a new one. We got a ready-made one.”

Otto smiled, and upon hearing that hundreds of millions of dollars in military spending would be saved, President Ellis finally raised his eyebrows in interest and nodded.

"But there is only one obstacle to all of this: the research on Project Two, which is under Norman Osborn's control, cannot be integrated with ours. I strongly recommend that the Pentagon reclaim the development rights for Project Savage Force..."

"We'll discuss this later, Doctor."

President Ellis, who had already learned from his advisors that Otto and Norman had a personal feud, stood up and interrupted Otto: "Norman Osborn has proven that his project is progressing steadily and doesn't need any complications. As for you, just don't forget your job, Project Five, Doctor. Well, I need to go back and rest. Today was a very good performance, but everyone remember to keep it a secret."

Otto adjusted his glasses with a sigh and nodded. "Yes, Your Excellency."

A few hours later, Otto returned to his lab in Lower Manhattan. With the artificial symbiote, he could walk normally on his own. However, Spider-Man's continuous growth and Otto's meddlesome nature made him realize that if he intended to carry out his revenge, he had to get rid of Spider-Man, or at the very least, prevent Spider-Man from having time to deal with him.

He activated the device placed beside the laboratory. As the current continued to gather, the lightning that had been scattered and collapsed due to the self-destruction began to coalesce and form a somewhat rudimentary, but blurry, humanoid shape.

“I had Nathaniel Essex plant a seed in your mind that if you couldn’t escape, you should self-destruct in Manhattan, and it turned out to be true—Spider-Man, he always finds a way to deal with us, and I can’t let him interfere with my revenge.”

Otto stood in front of the device, which was barely maintaining Electro's vital signs, but it would take several more months for him to be fully revived. However, those months would be worthwhile; he wanted to see just how much Spider-Man could grow.

“You’re just the first, Max Dillon.”

Otto sat down, watching one candidate after another appear on the screen: Quentin Baker, codename Mysterio; McDonald Gagan, codename Scorpion; and Alexei Sisevich, codename Rhino.

Max Dillon, codenamed Electro, and Otto Octavia, the ultimate Doctor Octopus.

This list is already quite long, and it's not enough to defeat Spider-Man. I also need to find some helpers who can deal with Spider-Man.

Of course, before that, he could collect some interest from Norman Osborn.

But as what happened inside the Pentagon illustrates, there was no such thing; he wasn't trying to prove himself more successful than Norman Osborn.

Rather, it was Norman Osborn's complete failure.

Otto smiled and looked at the two scientists on the list in charge of the Savage Force Project, Jonathan Drew and Kurt Connors.

"So, who will be the last member of my sinister six-person team...?"

(End of this chapter)