Originally Posted by
Revolutionary_Jack
The foundation of Doctor Octopus is that he's a bad guy, a megalomaniac and an evil person. That's who he is. That can't really be changed. A character created to be a villain and successful as one cannot be compared to the main character and supporting cast.
And Doctor Octopus is still widely known as a villain. Look at the recent video by Seth Meyers at around 08:10:
"Hollywood has convinced us that evil people are all geniuses... Some of them hold Ph.Ds like Doctor No, Doctor Doom, Doctor Octopus".
That's how the civilians see Ock.