The official announcement of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 added fuel to theories around Venom and the symbiote, with the Norman and Harry Osborn-centric stinger at the end of the original game leading to the idea that Peter Parker may accept the symbiote to save Harry’s life if things take a turn for the worst. Since the September 2018 release of Marvel’s Spider-Man on PS4, fan theories about where developer Insomniac Games will take the series next have inundated the web, and speculation about Venom and the symbiote, in particular, have reached an all-time high.
The original Marvel’s Spider-Man mentions Harry Osborn in passing a handful of times; Peter also maintains the Research Stations during side missions in honor of Harry’s humanitarian efforts. Apart from pictures, though, the web-slinger’s best friend never actually appears on-screen. That changes at the tail end of the experience, however. Peter and Mary Jane Watson believe Harry’s backpacking across Europe, a ruse that ends when MJ learns their friend suffers from a neurodegenerative disease he inherited from his mother.
What players find out during a post-credits scene is that Harry’s condition left him terminally ill, inspiring Norman to submerge his son in a stasis tank to secure himself more time to discover a cure. While the experimental Devil’s Breath serum that wreaked havoc in Marvel’s Spider-Man won’t save Harry’s life, the second post-credits scene suggests Norman either developed or stumbled across a symbiote that may work wonders for the Osborn family’s medical crisis. And said treatment could very well turn the younger Osborn into Marvel’s Spider-Man 2‘s Venom.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Could Feature Black Suit Spider-Man
With Kraven the Hunter presumably acting as one of the sequel’s main antagonists, it’s not too farfetched to assume a Venom-infected Harry Osborn will become a person of interest for the proficient tactician. One potential route to Peter getting the black costume could be that Spider-Man steps in if Kraven pursues Venom as a possible opponent, ultimately resulting in Peter Parker bonding with the symbiote to combat the villain in his best friend’s stead. Such a potential outcome isn’t unprecedented, either. Spider-Man initially came into contact with the alien species in Marvel’s limited Secret Wars event in the late 1980s, leading to the first appearance of a Black Suit-wearing Spider-Man in continuity. Famously, the web-slinger later donned the iconic look in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 film.
Despite the suit’s popularity among fans, however, there was never any Marvel’s Spider-Man black suit costume DLC, an absence especially surprising after players stumbled across a glitch indicating it may once have been in development. Insomniac Games may rectify this narratively by introducing its own version of the Black Suit wallcrawler. Of course, the game franchise’s Ultimate Spider-Man influences leave the door open for another interesting possibility, as well.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 – Peter Parker Could Get A Different Symbiote
In Season 2 of the animated Ultimate Spider-Man series, Norman Osborn/Green Goblin kidnaps Peter Parker to transform him into the ideal son. Without knowing of Peter’s true identity as his arch-nemesis – Spider-Man – Green Goblin injects the young man with what he refers to as “an old family recipe” – aka the symbiote. The inorganic parasite skips past Venom and instead morphs its unwilling bonding mate into Ultimate Spider-Man’s first Carnage. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 could very well pursue a similar story arch with respect to Carnage’s debut in the Insomniac-made interactive Spider-Man universe.
Peter transforming into Carnage à la Ultimate Spider-Man would likely rob fans of a story-driven Black Suit reveal, yet the iconic garb could still enter the mix in some capacity. After all, there must be a reason behind the much-coveted outfit’s absence in Marvel’s Spider-Man. Hopefully, Insomniac merely wanted to hold on to the surprise for a few years longer.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 swings onto PS5 on an unspecified date in 2023.
