What Will Happen in Sony and Marvel’s ‘Spider-Man 2’ PS5 Game?
With The Last of Us: Part 1 released and God of War: Ragnarok on the way, it won’t be long until PlayStation fans’ eyes turn toward Sony’s next highly anticipated exclusive: Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.
We’ve had no updates on the game since its reveal trailer last year, nearly a year after the launch of Spider-Man: Mile Morales. That trailer showed us Peter and Miles fighting criminals at night before watching Venom step out of the shadows, all while a man with a Russian accent speaks over the scene.
That’s all we officially know about the game, but there are a few things still to come that were teased in Spider-Man and Miles Morales. Below we’ll look at all the major characters who might pop up in Spider-Man 2, based on where the previous games left them and what they might be up to in the sequel.
Peter Parker
Peter was in a nice place by the end of Miles Morales. When he returned from Sokovia looking for a new job, he revealed that he and MJ had bought a house (though presumably MJ bought it under her name, considering Peter’s unstable income). Not only does he have a roof over his head, which wasn’t always the case in the first game, he and MJ seem to be in a stable relationship. However, it seems like Peter is going to be put through the wringer in the sequel, as the previous games have hinted that his best friend Harry Osborne has bonded with the Venom symbiote.
Of course, we are expecting Peter to tangle with Venom at least once in the sequel and to wrestle to free Harry, but it seems likely that Peter will bond with the symbiote at some point in the story too. Developer Insomniac deliberately didn’t include Spider-Man’s black suit in the costumes for the original game, claiming that they wanted to save some suits for future stories, so you’d have to think that we’ll see Peter don the iconic black suit in the sequel. It’s such a classic Spider-Man story that it seems highly unlikely that Insomniac wouldn’t adapt it.
Hopefully Peter comes through his conflict with Venom and the symbiote okay. Part of the story should also focus on Peter’s quest to find a new job, and maybe that will lead us to another prominent scientist that was shown at the end of Miles Morales missing an arm…
Miles Morales
Miles had his first traumatic experience as Spider-Man in his spin-off game, as he lost his childhood friend Finn “The Tinkerer” Mason during a climactic battle in Harlem. As that game also included his first confrontation with his uncle Aaron, a.k.a. The Prowler, it’s difficult to plot where exactly the story will take Miles, as he doesn’t have many memorable comic book runs to draw from.
It does seem that he will be targeted by Kingpin, who was furious when Miles thwarted his attempts to take over Harlem in the last game, but it seems unlikely that this will be Miles’ main conflict in Spider-Man 2.
Instead, I wonder what Miles’ role in the fight with Venom will be. Everyone expects Peter to get the symbiote’s black suit, as he does in the comics — and was infamously adapted in the Spider-Man 3 movie — but what if Miles gets the black suit instead? Miles is still young and inexperienced; it wouldn’t be difficult to imagine how his slightly cocky and confident personality could be twisted and bring out his darker side over the course of the game, with Peter being the one who has to make him see the light before he crosses a line and burns all his bridges.
Perhaps this could even lead to a Spidey vs. Spidey boss fight? Either way, getting the black suit could be an important learning curve in Miles’ journey as Spider-Man.
Harry Osborn
We only really heard Harry’s voice accompanied by a still photo in Spider-Man, along with some glimpses of him floating in that tank, but we’ll be seeing a lot more of him in Spider-Man 2. It seems his Venom will be the main villain of the story, fighting both spider-men and possibly someone that sounds a lot like Kraven the Hunter (maybe he’ll ally with both Spideys to fight him).
All this is expected, but what becomes of Harry when the symbiote eventually leaves him for one of the spider-men? Presumably, Harry will be angry at Spider-Man for taking away the thing that had been keeping him alive, and will be looking for revenge. Fortunately for him, he has access to Oscorp’s military tech. Could we see him use those pumpkin bombs we saw in the first game, along with the glider and helmet?
Perhaps we’ll see Harry become the Green Goblin while Venom’s not around. If Insomniac really wanted to do something crazy, perhaps we could even get a variant of the Red Goblin (when the Green Goblin is possessed by the Carnage symbiote), though obviously he wouldn’t actually be red since Carnage doesn’t seem to exist in this universe… yet.
It’s also possible that Insomniac would want to save Green Goblin for Spider-Man 3 and not rush through it in one story. They could decide to have Venom and black-suit Spider-Man co-exist, with only a tiny sliver of the symbiote attaching to Spider-Man while the rest is still bonded to Harry. But let’s not throw out the Green Goblin just yet.
Mister Negative
Martin Li’s story was wrapped up nicely enough in Spider-Man that you’d be forgiven for thinking his arc was done with, but he could have an important role to play in Spider-Man 2. It could be that Mister Negative is the only person capable of killing Venom.
In the comics, the symbiote bonds with Martin Li to become Anti-Venom, a white-suited version of Venom who uses Mister Negative’s powers to kill other symbiotes with a single touch, burning them away. If Spider-Man and Kraven are struggling to defeat Venom, it could be interesting to see what would happen if Li did manage to bond with the symbiote. Peter and Miles could have no choice but to make use of his unique powers to free Harry from the symbiote once and for all.
Could he be trusted with this responsibility? Maybe, maybe not, but it could make for one hell of a redemption story for Martin Li.
Kraven the Hunter
We still haven’t seen any concrete evidence that Kraven is in Spider-Man 2 beyond the Russian voiceover in the reveal trailer, but the voice does talk about looking for an equal, someone who could defeat him in combat. This talk of fighting like it’s a sport certainly sounds a lot like Kraven, who could make for a fun secondary villain in this story.
Kraven is an accomplished big game hunter who excels at both ranged and close combat, so he would be a challenge for Spider-Man. Considering how inexperienced Miles is, it wouldn’t be a shock to see Kraven beat him in a fight. Of course, he’ll be looking to kill both of them and probably Venom as well, which should raise the stakes.
It’s unclear how he’ll integrate into the world Insomniac have created; he could just be a wildcard who doesn’t ally with any other villains, showing up at the worst moment to try and kill Spider-Man.
The Lizard
One character who popped up in the mid-credits scene of Miles Morales was Doctor Kurt Connors, who we see helping Norman in his project to cure Harry’s disease. Peter never mentions Lizard when discussing his past villains, so we can assume that Kurt’s origin story hasn’t played out yet.
Perhaps when Norman realizes that the symbiote has turned his son into a monster, he will pressure Kurt into finding an alternative method to cure him. This could lead Kurt to work on a cure that regenerates skin cells instead of using the symbiote. It’s easy to imagine Norman cranking up the pressure to get it working quickly, forcing Kurt to test the cure on himself and become the Lizard.
While it would be fun to see the results of that origin story play out (Kraven would surely love to test himself against a human-lizard hybrid), Peter is usually closely intertwined with Kurt in the lead-up to his transformation, so Insomniac would have to come up with a way to connect the two characters.
It could be that Kurt works with Peter on this cure rather than Norman, giving Peter another scientist mentor who eventually turns into a monster. That would be rather similar to the events of the first game though, so it will be interesting to see how Insomniac can handle the Lizard’s origin story.
Yuri Watanabe
Yuri is Spider-Man’s main ally in the police force in the original game, though the events of the game’s DLC chapters send her on a dark path that leads to her killing a mobster, considering it a form of justice that will suffice when the legal system fails to work. It seems this descent will put her into conflict with Peter in Spider-Man 2, though it’s unclear how she would factor into the main storyline.
Perhaps if she ever discovered that Harry Osborn was Venom, she would take it upon herself to kill him. That would place her in direct confrontation with Peter, who will surely try to keep Harry alive at all costs. Otherwise, she seems too grounded a character to go up against heavyweights like Venom or Kraven. Perhaps she’ll be more focused on stopping Kingpin from rebuilding his operation in NYC — we saw in the first game’s DLC how tough Yuri is on organized crime.
In the comics, Yuri becomes a vigilante known as Wraith, so it seems she’ll be taking her next steps along this path regardless.
Kingpin
We barely saw anything of Kingpin after he was defeated and arrested in Spider-Man‘s opening mission. However, he did pop up again in Miles Morales, with Miles successfully thwarting his plans to take over Harlem. Fisk was furious at the new Spider-Man’s intervention, promising to make him and everyone he loves pay.
While he has no idea that Miles is the new Spider-Man, it seems likely that Fisk will be targeting Miles in the sequel, something that will keep him busy when he’s not fighting Venom or Kraven. He notably didn’t leave The Raft when the big breakout happened either, so perhaps he will be rewarded for his good behavior and released from prison during the game, providing another opportunity for a boss fight.
Mary Jane Watson
It’s difficult to be sure exactly how large a role MJ will play in Spider-Man 2, as while she did have her own missions and got into plenty of trouble in the first game, ultimately I don’t think her life really changed beyond getting back together with Peter. I don’t see them splitting up again, and she’s a really good reporter, so I don’t see her ending this story in a much different place to where she is now: a top reporter for the Daily Bugle in a relationship with Peter.
However, one thing to note is that Harry is her best friend as well as Peter’s. She’ll have just as much emotional investment in his health and safety as Peter, so it’s possible that her stakes will be much more personal than they were in the first game.
I don’t think Insomniac will kill her off; Peter has already lost his parents, uncle, and aunt, so MJ is his only loved one still standing. If they were to kill her off, surely that would be saved for the inevitable Spider-Man 3 video game.
Taskmaster
Taskmaster only had a minor role in the first game, showing up to test Spider-Man’s skills and to evaluate whether he was good enough to join a mysterious, shadowy organisation that he represented (an organisation that paid seven figures). It would be surprising if this organisation didn’t show up in Spider-Man 2 unless Insomniac wanted to continue teasing it so it could take a centre stage in the third game.
What could this organisation be? We’ve already seen AIM in the story, contracting work to Otto before his transformation. Could they be the people who employed Taskmaster? They certainly fit the bill as a shadowy organisation with dubious morals. HYDRA are another possibility, or could it be SHIELD or SWORD?
I find it hard to believe the latter two are capable of paying that kind of salary, while HYDRA seem too big for Spider-Man to deal with on his own, so AIM seems the likeliest to me now that Roxxon was already dealt with in Miles Morales.
Hopefully, we’ll see Taskmaster come back in a larger capacity in Spider-Man 2, though admittedly it’s hard to see where he fits in.
Black Cat
As a big Black Cat fan, I was delighted to see her appear properly in the first game’s DLC after she was teased in the main game. I’d love to see her return in Spider-Man 2, though I’m not exactly sure how she’d fit in given she almost always complicates Pete’s love life when she does. Pete’s in a very good place with Mary Jane at the moment, so it seems unlikely he would be tempted.
I would love to see her come back in a side quest of some kind, as her last appearance in the first game’s final DLC was fleeting at best, but admittedly I’m not sure how she fits in with everything else that’s going on. Perhaps she could also be hired by Taskmaster’s mysterious employers?
Doctor Octopus
I don’t really see Otto playing a big role in the sequel as his arc played out pretty well in the first game, but of course we know Doc Ock often comes back to fight Spider-Man again and again. As the only villain to know Peter’s identity though, he does represent a constant threat to his way of life.
It could be that Peter comes to Otto to get his scientific opinion on how to cure Harry, but I think that kind of cameo is the most we’ll get from him in Spider-Man 2. Maybe we’ll fight him once more in the threequel.
The Prowler
I doubt that Prowler will play a large role in Spider-Man 2, given his most memorable story is part of Miles’ origin, and we already got that in Miles Morales. He got locked up at the end of that game, though on a reduced sentence in exchange for flipping on Roxxon. I could see him released midway through the sequel and offering Miles help in fighting Kraven, Venom, or anything else threatening Harlem and the rest of NYC. Alternatively, I could also see him getting into deeper trouble with some other villain.
Uncle Aaron could also play an important role in saving Miles if his nephew does end up bonding with the symbiote and getting the black suit, though admittedly I expect Peter to be the most influential figure here (aside from his mother Rio of course).
The other supervillains in The Raft
While I don’t expect any of the supervillains currently residing in The Raft to be particularly important to the story (aside from Martin Li and maybe Kingpin), they did still get a minor role in the first game, some of them even forming the Sinister Six for a brief time. I don’t really expect to see Electro, Vulture, Rhino, Scorpion, or Tombstone again, but who knows really?
They could easily pop up for a quick boss fight or two if the story demands it, though I don’t know how unless there’s another breakout from The Raft. Hopefully that doesn’t happen, as it would feel a bit too familiar to the events of the first game.
Screwball
Nope. Please don’t force Screwball on us again, Insomniac. Just no.
Hopefully, it won’t be too long before we see some more footage of Spider-Man 2, and with it some more clues as to what the story holds.
Josh is a huge a fan of Star Wars, superheroes and video games. He spends most of his time wondering who would win in a fight between Boba Fett and Star Lord.
