Cut Venom Content From Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 May Be Saving Up For Carnage

Tony Todd has revealed that a huge amount of the work he did for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was cut from the final game. The horror icon appeared at Fan Expo San Francisco over the past weekend to talk about his role as Venom in the acclaimed superhero sequel and offered an insight into another storyline involving the symbiote and Miles Morales.

[Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2]

According to Todd, 90% of his performance as Venom wasn’t used in the finished game, which seems like an extraordinary amount. Although the Venom character only truly appeared in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2‘s third act after bonding with Harry Osborn, Todd voiced the symbiote at times before that. Todd’s Venom voice could be heard influencing Peter Parker occasionally during his time with the symbiote suit as the superhero got more aggressive, with some audio mixing taking advantage of the speaker built into the PS5’s Dualsense controllers to play this inner voice, depending on players’ settings.

Miles Morales Almost Had A Symbiote

Venom Would Have Corrupted Both Spider-Men

In the mainline Marvel comics, Miles Morales hasn’t bonded with the Venom symbiote as much as Peter Parker, with the main instance being in the alternate universe Earth-TRN891 during the Dark Ages limited comic series. As reported by Gamesradar+, this almost wasn’t the case in Insomniac’s story as Todd revealed that he recorded dialog for scenes where Miles Morales had a symbiote in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.

Miles has bonded with the Carnage symbiote in the main Marvel Comics continuity, however. This occurred in Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman’s 2019 Absolute Carnage event, which saw Cletus Kasady returning and featured every Marvel character who had used a symbiote up to that point. During this story, Miles Morales was also infected briefly by the Carnage symbiote, transforming him into a six-armed Carnage doppelganger.

Could Todd’s Cut Dialogue Be Saved For Carnage DLC?

There’s Still One Major Symbiote Loose End

It’s possible that most of Todd’s cut dialogue could be saved for a potential DLC storyline, despite the apparent destruction of the Venom symbiote and the others under its control at the end of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. At the end of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2‘s “The Flame” side missions, former police captain turned vigilante, Yuri Watanabe, reveals the identity of a sadistic cult’s leader to be none other than Cletus Kasady, who Spider-Man fans will know better as Carnage.

Although Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 introduces Kasady in his non-symbiote form, his “prophecy” shows a ritual to become a red monster as part of an event called “Crimson Dawn.” To achieve this, The Flame cult acquires one of Oscorp’s symbiotes, and Kasady is last seen escaping with it on a helicopter, announcing that “there will be carnage“.

Although Yuri was working alongside Peter in these side missions and said she’d contact him once she’s tracked down Kasady, Peter did go on a hiatus at the end of the game’s campaign and Miles took over as the primary Spider-Man in Insomniac’s Marvel Universe. With such a massive symbiotic loose end as Carnage, it’s very likely that Miles will be the one teaming up with Yuri in the DLC to conclude Insomniac’s symbiote arc.

Miles doesn’t have Peter’s Anti-Venom suit, which gives him a major advantage in combat with other symbiotes. Therefore, it’s possible that he could still bond with some remnant of the symbiote at some point during this story to deal with the threat of Carnage, and that the “cut” dialogue and storyline Todd mentioned was instead saved for DLC.

Could Insomniac’s Venom Return?

Insomniac Will “Listen To Fans” Regarding A Standalone Venom Game

Although Venom is defeated and his host, Harry Osborn is left braindead after their separation from the symbiote, Insomniac and Marvel aren’t ruling out a return for the character. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2‘s Senior Narrative Director, Jon Paquette was asked about the possibility of the studio making a Venom spin-off game during an interview with Insider. Paquette said the studio was waiting to see how the fans react to its take on Venom, and would then listen to what the fans want.

It’s possible that some of Todd’s performance could be used in some way in this Venom spin-off. This would depend on the actor’s contract with the studio and whether it allows for his performance to be used across the Insomniac Marvel Universe, or only for specific projects. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 already featured a sequence in which Venom was playable after bonding with Harry Osborn for the first time, so there’s already a solid foundation there for the studio to build upon in terms of gameplay.

If so, while it would undermine Yuri’s Wraith storyline, Venom could go toe-to-toe with Carnage in this solo title, allowing for a more M-rated take on Kasady’s ultraviolent alter-ego that could portray him in a far darker way that other media outside the comics – such as the PG-13 movie Venom: Let There Be Carnage – has yet to attempt. Although Venom’s combat was more violent than either of the Spider-Men in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, it was still subject to the game’s “T-for-Teen” rating, but Insomniac’s Marvel Universe is going to tell an M-rated story in its upcoming Marvel’s Wolverine, so there’s potential for a Venom game to follow suit.

From Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 art dump on 80.lv, it’s clear that the symbiote invasion of New York in the game’s final act was cut down. Therefore, it’s possible that Todd’s role as Venom could have been larger in removed sequences such as an attack on the Daily Bugle, which may not be revisited. 90% of a major character’s dialogue is still a huge amount to be cut, so it would be interesting to see if or how Todd’s full performance as the iconic Spider-Man villain could resurface somewhere.