Fusion in Spider Man II

Fusion in the movies typically involves disaster.  The disaster comes either from attempts by evil government/corporate forces to suppress an innovation (e.g., “Chain Reaction”, “The Saint”), or the fusion itself is dangerous and the scientist who makes it is mad, as in Spider-Man II.

Spider-Man 2 is particularly hilarious in its portrayal of Fusion. In order to work with the reactor, Doc Ock has this scary mechanical multi-limbed device fused into his spine. This gives him new arms (“actuators”) which are, miraculously, impervious to heat or magnetism. This is important, because the Doc literally handles a miniature sun that’s burning in the middle of this magnetic field. Cool special FX!

Here is some dialogue from the best picture of 2004:

The day before the actual experiment, Doctor Octavius and Peter Parker (aka Spider-Man) meet and discuss fusion. This dialog starts when Peter sees the reactor (dialog transcribed from DVD, Marvel Comics/Sony/Columbia):

Peter Parker: So…is that it?

Dr. Octavius: Yes. My design to initiate and sustain fusion.

PP: I understand you use harmonics of atomic frequencies.

DO: Sympathetic Frequencies.

PP: Harmonic Reinforcement?

DO: ...go on…

PP: An exponential increase in energy output!

DO: A huge amount of energy - like a perpetual sun providing renewable power for the whole world!

Cut to: Peter and Octavius having lunch with Octavius’ wife:

PP: Are you sure you can stabilize the fusion reactor?

DO: Peter, what have we been talking about for the last hour and a half? This is my life’s work. I certainly know the consequences of the slightest miscalculation.

PP: I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to question you.

DO: (To wife) Rosie, our new friend thinks I’m going to blow up the city.

Rosie: You can sleep soundly tonight. Otto’s done his homework.

In this scene we see that Peter Parker is too polite to be a scientist, since questioning other scientists is a big part of the “Scientific Method.” Oh well, the guy’s a bug. What do you expect?