Spider-Man PS4: What to Expect from a Sequel

This article contains spoilers for Spider-Man PS4 and some speculation on the future. It comes from Den of Geek UK.

Insomniac’s Spider-Man game was one of the biggest releases of last year, garnering loads of positive reviews and spawning three well-received DLC chapters, as well as fun post-launch content like the Fantastic Four suits that arrived in January. It seems logical to assume, although Insomniac is yet to formally announce it, that a Spider-Man sequel will follow.

But what might Spider-Man 2, or whatever it ends up being called, actually entail? There are quite a few clues to uncover in the first game itself, and there are even more indicators about the future of the web-slinging franchise to be found on the web (pun very much intended).

To save you from searching for all of this info yourself, we’ve compiled everything we know (and a fair bit of speculation) into the article below…

Spider-Man 2 Villains: Could Venom and the Green Goblin appear?

Right at the end of Spider-Man, gamers got a glimpse of Harry Osborn (who is suffering from the same disease that killed his mother) encased in stasis at a secret lab owned by his father Norman.

Two things about this situation stand out: firstly, there seems to be a green sheen over this scene, which arguably implies that Norman could be using a proto-version of the Green Goblin formula to keep his son alive. Secondly, there is black goo everywhere that seems to be a reference to the Venom symbiote.

Further Reading: How Steve Ditko Inspired Spider-Man PS4

Since Spider-Man served up a remixed version of Spidey lore, with various characters’ origin stories being altered from their original comic book iterations, it wouldn’t be so far-fetched that the Venom symbiote could be strongly linked to the Osborn family in this universe. Could we perhaps see Harry becoming a version of Venom in the second game, building on Harry’s pre-recorded voice cameos in the original title?

It’s also worth noting that, as far as we know, Norman hasn’t gone full-villain in this universe yet either. He does seem to have a lot of the Green Goblin tech already made, though, which makes it seem plausible that a transformation could be in the cards for him in the next game as well.

Other villains from the comics that were referenced but not properly seen in the game include Sandman, Mysterio, the Jackal, AIM, and Eddie Brock (who is, of course, the main villainous host of the Venom symbiote in the comics). We wouldn’t say no to an appearance from any of these evildoers next time around.

Spider-Man 2 Heroes: Two Spider-Men for the Price of One

Also at the end of Spider-Man‘s core story, Miles Morales revealed to Peter Parker that he’d been bitten by a radioactive spider and gained the powers of Spider-Man. Peter returned the favor, mirroring Miles’ leap to the ceiling to unveil that he’s the original Spidey. This makes it pretty darn clear that, if we do get a sequel to this game, there will be two Spider-Men in it.

The three DLC chapters featured lots of audio interactions between Peter and Miles, with the latter becoming increasingly more keen to get started with his superhero work. Peter set Miles a series of homework tasks, before finally letting his young mentee mask-up and strap on some web-shooters before leaping off a building in the final moments of the Silver Lining DLC, which closed out that trilogy of post-game stories.

Further Reading: Spider-Man PS4 Costume Explained

In the months since Spider-Man‘s release, the cinematic debut of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has explained to mainstream audiences that there’s nothing wrong with having two or more Spider-Men in the same universe. It’ll be interesting to see, if we do indeed get a sequel to Spider-Man, how it juggles the narrative challenges of having two powerful heroes with many of the same abilities in its narrative. Here’s hoping the writers find a way to keep Miles around without having to kill off Peter!

Comic book heroes that were alluded to but not seen in Spider-Man include the Avengers, Iron Man, Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, the Inhumans, Wraith, and Flash Thompson (who becomes a heroic version of Venom in the comics). And, since the game launched, suits inspired by Fantastic Four comics have been added to the game as well. Only time will tell if any of those Easter Eggs were intended to tease a future appearance.

Spider-Man 2 Developers: What have they been saying?

Even before Spider-Man arrived on our consoles, the game’s creative team was already alluding to big future plans. Insomniac’s creative director Bryan Intihar and Marvel’s games boss Bill Roseman both revealed prior to release that they saw their first Spider-Man title as the gaming equivalent of how 2008’s Iron Man kicked off the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

“[That] is exactly how we view it,” Roseman confirmed on Twitter in September 2018. “As with that first MCU hit, #SpiderManPS4 kicks off a new era for Marvel console games.”

Since then, though, we haven’t heard all that much about how Insomniac plans to follow up its Spidey game. Although fans have taken to calling this burgeoning franchise the start of the “Marvel Games Universe,” we don’t yet know which titles will make up the future of this potential series.

Interestingly, Intihar said in a tweet towards the end of January 2019 that “Few things are more nerve-wracking than sharing your first story draft to others.” He didn’t say what story he was writing, but Spider-Man fans began to hope that a sequel to the game could already be at the scripting stage. Again, though, only time will tell if that is true.

Spider-Man 2 Suits: Is it time for a black suit?

One thing that Intihar has spoken about is the lack of a black symbiote-inspired Spidey suit in the first game. Chatting with Kinda Funny Games, he said this: “I think something like that [suit] deserves its day in the spotlight. I think just making it an unlockable suit wouldn’t be doing it justice. It’s one of the best stories for Spider-Man. I think it’s a complex story. And I think it’s a story that needs to be told, and it needs to be told the way Insomniac would tell it.”

This, of course, isn’t a confirmation that we will definitely see a black-suited Spidey in the potential sequel. But Intihar’s statement does imply that the symbiote saga from the comics and movies is something that Insomniac has a lot of respect for and its own take on. And when you couple that with the aforementioned black gloop in Norman Osborn’s secret lab, one could speculate that a Venom-based storyline could play a part in Insomniac’s future Spidey stories.

We also hope to see a proper Spider-Man suit for Miles Morales to replace the makeshift outfit he wore in the Silver Lining DLC. Of course, his iconic black-and-red Ultimate Spider-Man suit from the comics would seem like a logical option, as would some suits inspired by Miles’ costumes in the Spider-Verse animated film. This is just our speculation, though, of course.

As we hear more solid details about Insomniac’s future plans, we’ll be sure to keep you updated. In the meantime, please feel free to leave your own wishes and theories about Spider-Man 2 in the comments below…