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Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 delivers another blockbuster web-slinging story on PS5. This third game in Insomniac’s franchise teams Peter Parker with Miles Morales, as the more experienced hero both mentors and relies on his protege, as the two deal with dangerous new foes. Though Spider-Man 2 brings most of its major storylines to a conclusion, it also hints at possible things to come in future installments–including some relatively obscure pieces of comic book lore. To help you navigate, we’ve wrapped up the current status of all the major characters as of the end of Spider-Man 2, along with some educated guesses of where we could go from here based on the various teasers dropped throughout the campaign and ending.
Spoilers for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 follow.
To start, it’s worth noting that while Insomniac’s Spider-Man universe borrows familiar plot beats and characters from other universes, including the main Earth-616 continuity, the studio also tends to put its own spin on the story. A lot of elements and Easter eggs in this game are recognizable but stray from the blueprint set in the comics. The most clear and obvious example of this is Venom, whose most famous alter-ego is Eddie Brock. In Insomniac’s Spider-Man universe, Venom is Peter’s best friend, Harry Osborn. Harry’s version of Venom is very similar to Brock’s, though it’s presented with a mixture of loneliness and frustration with Peter instead of outright hatred.
Similarly, late in the game Peter gets access to “Anti-Venom” powers through the assistance of Miles and Mr. Negative. In the comics, Anti-Venom is an entirely separate character, and Peter has never had the mantle himself. Mary Jane is also briefly taken over by a Symbiote and becomes the villainess Scream, but the comic character Scream is a completely different person rather than MJ. There are also plenty of peppered-in Easter eggs, like how Harry’s crime-fighting Symbiote suit closely resembles the hero Agent Venom. For the purposes of this article, we’ll just refer to comic continuity inasmuch as it helps explain possible plot arcs and differences. Insomniac’s Spider-Verse is its own continuity–Earth 1048, to be precise–so we’ll treat it as its own world.
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Venom’s defeat
The climax of Spider-Man 2 has Peter, Miles, and MJ working together to destroy the meteorite that is apparently connected to the symbiote consciousness, all while fending off Venom. At this point in the story, Dr. Connors has warned Peter that Harry is too far gone, but Peter is resolved to save his friend. In the end, he does manage to extract Harry from the suit just in time before the meteorite is destroyed, but the effort of disentangling him from the symbiote takes a serious toll on Harry. After uttering his last words to Peter, “I love you,” he’s left barely alive and rushed to the hospital–but not before his father Norman Osborn sees Spider-Man at the scene and blames him for his son’s condition.
It’s worth noting here that Norman knows Harry had the symbiote. The opening cutscene shows Norman giving it to him, he saw his son transform into the monstrous Venom, and surely he noticed the symbiote activity all over New York City. But Norman is also portrayed as a man awash in grief, having lost his wife and at risk of losing his son. So he may not be thinking clearly when he blames Spider-Man for what happened, especially since Spider-Man actually did hoard the suit while his son’s illness got progressively worse earlier in the game.
A doctor states that Harry has some signs of brain activity but a poor prognosis for ever waking up. Norman tells the doctor to simply keep Harry alive, and he proceeds to go berserk, smashing anything within reach while Peter and MJ awkwardly see themselves out. Afterward, he calls an unknown number and tells them to prepare the “G-serum” as soon as possible.
This seems rather pointedly to be a reference to the Green Goblin, Norman’s villainous alter-ego and the Silver Age arch-nemesis of Spider-Man. Green Goblin has been conspicuously absent from the series thus far for such a major villain. Goblin is rich enough to create devastating technology, absolutely hates Spider-Man, and gets his own super-strength through scientific experiments. All the parts seem to be in place for that, so the G-serum could be the last straw to push Norman into supervillain territory. Green Goblin is also often juxtaposed against Norman treating Peter like a surrogate son, which we saw when Norman had a heart-to-heart with Peter while Harry was growing increasingly sick.
Now, whether Norman intends this G-serum as a treatment for his comatose son or if he just wants to use it himself to go after Spider-Man remains to be seen. Smart money is probably on the latter.
The fate of several villains
By the end of Spider-Man 2, several established villains have either been killed or been reformed in some way. In the case of deceased villains, that means we probably won’t see them come back for any further installments. In the instances of reformed supervillains, we may very well see them coming back to help Peter and Miles.
Kraven came to New York City for a Most Dangerous Game-style hunt, and as the story progresses, we learn his reasons. He was sick with a terminal illness but rather than die from it, he wanted to find a hunt so deadly that it would kill him in the process. Suicide by supervillain, so to speak. In the process, he takes out various villains we saw in the first game. Scorpion, Electro, and Vulture are all either shown or implied to have been killed by Kraven. Eventually, Kraven does get his wish when Venom kills him in a particularly nasty fashion.
But it isn’t all stabbings and decapitations for the villains, as some of them live to fight (or not) another day. Sandman, who went berserk trying to protect his daughter when he caught wind of Kraven’s intentions, is safely imprisoned in the Raft. The Spider-Men tracked down all the pieces of his memories and left a little memento for his daughter. Tombstone, who was shown to have gone straight and was working at Coney Island, was captured by Kraven but escaped with the help of Peter and Harry. Dr. Connors, aka Lizard, was transformed into his monstrous alter-ego against his will by Kraven, but was cured and then went back to work looking for a cure for Harry–and growing increasingly alarmed at the symbiote properties. The last we saw him, he’s still working for Norman Osborn. The mercenary Silver Sable is never seen in the campaign, but MJ does mention that she trained with Sable briefly during Peter’s vacation during Spider-Man: Miles Morales, so she’s still out there.
Meanwhile, Quentin Beck (aka Mysterio) was nearly framed for kidnapping and robbery with his Mysterium amusement experiences, but his business partners were caught and sent to prison. Beck himself has sworn off villainy, but as he warns, now that the technology is out there and accessible to others, “Mysterio” will always be an identity adopted for villainous purposes. With the help of Miles, the super-thief Black Cat escaped to Paris with her partner and just avoided the whole Kraven and Venom kerfuffles altogether.
The most significant face-turn for the villains was for Martin Li, aka Mr. Negative. Miles’ lingering anger toward Li for killing his father was a major plot element in Miles’ own character arc, but by the end the two had found reconciliation. Mr. Negative even helped the Spider-Men in his own attempts to make amends for his past actions by teaming up with Miles to help purify the lingering symbiote consciousness in Peter. He ends up wandering off without Miles giving chase, which could mark the end of his story, but it’s also possible that he comes back to help again. Similarly, the antihero Wraith is allowed to walk away from Peter after the two complete investigating the Flame set of side-missions.
New villains emerging, including possible Green Goblin
Amid all this killing and reforming of supervillains, Insomniac also laid the groundwork to introduce a few more. Aside from the main campaign hinting at Goblin, we got some indication that two more villains may be joining in future games.
The first is Chameleon, the brother of Kraven. Through the main story we learned that Kraven was merciless with everyone, even his own family, in his pursuit of a final hunt. But in his pursuit of someone who could successfully kill him, his drones picked up the trail of a particularly strange face. The Spider-Men mistook a photograph for corrupted data showing several different people, but it turned out to be just one: Chameleon, who was caught by a drone camera mid-shapeshift. Chameleon was savvy to his brother tracking him down and set a deadly trap for Kraven, which means the shapeshifting villain is still out there somewhere. Whether he’d be relieved or angry that someone else killed Kraven is an open question–maybe both. At the very least, he hints that he will finish what Kraven started, implying he plans to hunt down the Spider-Men.
And of course, you can’t have a Venom story without at least hinting at Carnage. The Flame series of sidequests introduced a charismatic cult leader with fiery red hair. Peter pursued the cultists while also helping the antihero Wraith, aka Yuri from the first game. Wraith was more willing to kill than Peter, so the two clashed throughout their pursuit of the Flame. In the end, the cult leader staged an accident to trick the heroes into derailing a train, all so that he could capture a symbiote sample. Yuri later said she’d investigate further and check into his aliases, including Cletus Kasady.
Marvel fans will, of course, recognize that name as the alter-ego of Carnage, and if that weren’t clear enough, the Flame actually says that his prophecy will unleash carnage. It stands to reason that Kasady will be merging with the symbiote. Carnage is known for reflecting the more chaotic nature of its host, in contrast to Venom’s rage.
A hint of the Spider-Verse?
In easily the strangest Easter egg, we get a hint at the multi-verse if you collect all of the Spider-Bots. This is the toughest collecting quest since the locations aren’t marked on your overworld map. You just need to scout for them, although this can be made easier with an upgrade that will highlight them on your minimap. Throughout the quest, Ganke will comment on the strange energy readings he’s getting from the collected bots. Upon completing the quest and going to a newly marked waypoint, you’ll find a portal that looks suspiciously like the ones in the Spider-Verse movies.
Inside, you find Delilah, who bills herself as a simple bartender who sometimes takes odd jobs. But something is noticeably off about Delilah, who is rendered in a low-polygon style that makes her look more like a PS1-era character model. She confiscates the Spider-Bots and closes the portal, but not before telling you to send a message to Miguel if he comes looking for the bots. Peter or Miles are understandably confused.
Delilah appears to be a reference to the supervillain of the same name, an assassin who has tangled with Spider-Man throughout various points in her baddie career. And Miguel, of course, is Miguel O’Hara, aka Spider-Man 2099, a futuristic alter-ego of Spider-Man who was featured prominently in the recent film Across the Spider-Verse. Now, why Miguel is spreading Spider-Bots across the 1048 timeline, and why Delilah would want to take them, is anybody’s guess. And of course, there’s that odd rendering style that suggests the multi-verse in video game form could include several eras of gaming technology as well. For the time being, this might be best regarded as an Easter egg, since it doesn’t connect the rest of the story in any particular way.
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Norman and Octavius
In a post-credits scene, we get one more indication of how far Norman is willing to go for revenge on Spider-Man. He visits Dr. Otto Octavius, the villainous Doc Ock from the first game, now imprisoned in the Raft. He knows that Octavius knows Spider-Man’s true identity, but for now at least, Ock isn’t willing to give up the secret. The two men loathe each other, and Ock is perfectly happy to see Norman suffer even if they do share a common enemy.
Octavius is also seen writing in a book, and when Norman asks what it is, Ock forebodingly says: “the final chapter.” That certainly seems to indicate that Insomniac is planning this as a trilogy meant to conclude in the next major release–though it is possible that we get another half-sequel in the meantime, a la Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
The heroes get a break, for now
With the day saved, the heroes move on with their lives in various ways. Mary Jane finds her calling as an independent podcaster, allowing her to pursue her journalistic ambitions without being under the thumb of J. Jonah Jameson, or anyone else for that matter. She also plugs her new podcast venture on a mini-episode with the podcaster Danika, which you can hear when swinging around the city.
Meanwhile, Peter appears ready to take a step back from being Spider-Man. This isn’t quitting out of frustration or pique like in the famous “Spider-Man No More” storyline. He just wants to devote his time to other projects. One of those is the renewed Emily-May Foundation, the organization that he had tried to co-found with Harry, and which he’s restarting in his garage now that the EMF building was destroyed by Venom. He had been looking for a way to talk to Miles about this throughout the game, so the ending provides him this opportunity. Miles, for his part, says he has the Spider-Man duties covered, but will continue to look to Peter for advice.
That doesn’t mean Peter will never be Spider-Man again, but he is semi-retired and future entries will probably need something big to pull him back into action.
Who is Cindy Moon aka Silk?
In a second post-credits scene, we get a sweet scene with Miles and Hailey, who he had been struggling to ask out on a date throughout the campaign. After they share a kiss, his mother Rio calls them for dinner with the new boyfriend she’s been eager to introduce Miles to. When the doorbell rings it’s a middle-aged man who calls himself Albert, and he introduces his daughter, Cindy.
We only see Cindy from the back, but her name, her father being a Korean-looking man named Albert, and her short choppy black hair are indication enough that this is Cindy Moon. Cindy is also known as Silk, yet another hero who was bitten by a radioactive spider and developed superpowers. In the comics, Cindy was bitten by the very same spider that bit Peter, which would mean that by this point she would have had her powers for several years. But in the main comics continuity, Cindy also had trouble controlling her powers, and was sent away for years to help her master them. This Cindy appears to be around Miles’ age, rather than Peter’s, so Insomniac could be changing her backstory significantly for this game.
As Silk was bitten by the same spider that bit Peter Parker in the original continuity, her superpower ability set is essentially the same. However, she was also trained in a way that Peter never was, which makes her an expert martial artist as well. She also doesn’t need web-shooters, able to biologically produce silk-like webs from her fingertips, and has a much stronger spider-sense than Peter. If Silk is ultimately set to become another playable Spider-person, she’s likely to tap those martial arts and web abilities.
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