Spider-Man 2 - Plot

Plot

Peter Parker struggles to balance his crime-fighting duties as Spider-Man with the demands of his normal life. Parker is estranged from both love interest Mary Jane Watson and best friend Harry Osborn. Peter starts to think about giving up being Spider-Man.

Harry, now head of Oscorp's research division, sponsors the research of brilliant nuclear scientist Otto Octavius. Octavius, who dreams of perfecting fusion power, wears a harness of powerful robotic arms with artificial intelligence for an experiment in sustained fusion. It quickly becomes unstable. Octavius' wife is killed, the neural inhibitor chip which prevents the arms from influencing his mind is fried, and the arms are fused to his spine. He is taken to a hospital, but the tentacles savagely kill the medical crew. The tentacles lead him to the resolution that he must complete his experiment. To finance his work, Octavius - now called Doctor Octopus or "Doc Ock" - robs a bank.

During a party, Peter learns that Mary Jane is engaged to J. Jonah Jameson's son, renowned astronaut John Jameson, and gets into a fight with Harry over his "loyalty" to Spider-Man. Peter's powers prove unreliable. He gives up being Spider-Man and disposes of his costume.

A garbage man brings Spider-Man's discarded costume to sell at the Daily Bugle. Jameson takes credit for Spider-Man's disappearance, but later admits that he was indeed a hero, and the only person capable of stopping Ock. Peter, out of guilt, tells May that it was his fault for his uncle Ben's death. After Peter tells his aunt everything from the thief to Ben's death, May forgives Peter and advises him that sometimes it is necessary to sacrifice one's dreams for the greater good. Peter decides to become Spider-Man once again. Even so, his powers continue to be lost.

Ock, having restored his project, needs tritium for his reactor, and goes to Harry to get it. Harry agrees to give Octavius all the tritium he possesses in exchange for bringing Spider-Man to him, and tells him that Peter, who is supposedly good friends with Spider-Man, is the key to finding him; however, he tells Ock not to harm Peter. Ock finds Peter and tells him to find Spider-Man, and abducts Mary Jane in the process. Following this, Peter finds that his powers have been restored, and he dons his costume again after stealing it back from the Bugle. A furious Jameson continues to denounce Spider-Man as a menace.

Spider-Man then proceeds to battle Ock across town. Eventually, they battle on a train which Ock disables. Spider-Man attempts to stop the runaway train - successfully saving everyone on board. When people on the train see him unmasked, they are shocked to see that he is only a young man. Two boys hand Peter his mask and promise not to reveal his true identity. Ock returns, knocks Spider-Man unconscious and delivers him to Harry.

After giving Ock the tritium, Harry pulls out the knife and prepares to kill Spider-Man, but he first relents and unmasks him. He is put in the shock when he discovers that Peter is Spider-Man. Peter wakes up, and convinces Harry to reveal Ock's whereabouts, before leaving him in tears. Spider-Man makes his way to Ock's waterfront laboratory, with the doctor putting the finishing touches on his makeshift reactor. Although Spider-Man attempts to rescue Mary Jane discreetly, Ock catches on and they fight once more. Spider-Man ultimately subdues Ock and reveals his identity to him, pleading for a way to stop the reactor. Free from the tentacles' AI, Octavius uses his mechanical arms to collapse the building, successfully drowning the reactor at the cost of his own life. Mary Jane sees Peter unmasked and understands that as long as he is Spider-Man, she and Peter cannot be together. Spider-Man returns Mary Jane to John and leaves.

Meanwhile, Harry, shocked by the trauma caused by revelation of Peter's identity as Spider-Man, has visions of his father Norman in a hanging mirror telling him to avenge his death. Enraged, Harry shatters the mirror, revealing a secret room containing the Green Goblin's equipment (which Peter hid after his death). He looks at the equipment and takes the Green serum his father did.

Meanwhile, Mary Jane is getting ready for her wedding, but she has a change of mind, and leaves John on the altar and arrives back at Peter's apartment. She tells Peter that she wants to be with him no matter what. After a passionate kiss, a fire truck is heard and Mary Jane encourages Peter to respond as Spider-Man, quietly apprehensive of the dangers they are about to face as a couple.