Originally Posted by
Revolutionary_Jack
If you consider Dr. Octopus' best stories -- ASM#3, the Master Planner Saga, the Sinister Six, the Death of George Stacy, the Owl/Octopus War, and a few others here and there -- all of them feature him as a villain, and a fairly dark, dangerous, and deadly one at that. In The Owl/Octopus War he attacks a hospital and at one point attempts to drop a lift by cutting off the cables even after Spider-Man told them there were people inside. He also wanted to blow up a neutron bomb in New York.
That's who the character was for his first 30 years or so, until Tom Defalco's stories in the 90s added in his backstory. Dr. Octopus wasn't intended to be, wasn't seen as sympathetic for the entire classic period of Spider-Man. And even then, between Defalco's run and Slott's, Dr. Octopus was back to being a gangster thug during JMS and Jenkins' run.
Spider-Man gets his classic rogue back. And gets to punk and beat him up and humiliate him and score an unambiguous triumph over. Dr. Octopus is an uncomplicated villain that works best as an external threat to Spider-Man, someone who Peter can beat up and look like a boss doing so. That was the logic of those stories.
Because Dan Slott stayed on the title so long, and Chris Gage wanted to do a series with Superior, and Spencer didn't have plans to bring back classic Ock yet.
In the case of Venom, it's not that hard to divorce him from Spider-Man. For one thing the classic black Symbiote outfit while well known is still not as famous as Spider-Man's red-and-blue. The name Venom is also something that stands apart from Spider-Man. In the case of Ock, his title is "Superior Spider-Man", so he's a legacy of Spider-Man's, his outfit is also similar to Spider-Man's red-and-blue.
The other thing about Venom was that he was a huge merchandise success from the beginning, and he was a genuine across the board hit. Dr. Octopus as Superior Spider-Man isn't anywhere near that. Look at the Spider-Man PS4 game and you have a psychopathic Dr. Octopus who unleashes a bio-weapon on New York, look at ITSV, where you have another gangster-thug scientist, albeit this time looking like a hippie lady.
The version of Octopus that works best is the villain. His best stories have him as a villain. His status as villain makes more sense in Spider-Man's corner than in the situation you have now.