Spider-Man 2’s Venom isn’t Eddie Brock — so who is he?

Venom is one of Spider-Man’s most valuable allies in many Marvel stories, but he always has to play the villain role first. Marvel’s Spider Man 2the sequel to the 2018 web-slinging game and its 2020 spin-off, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, is setting up the classic battle between his Spider-Mans and Venom. But when Insomniac Games creative director Bryan Intihar confirmed that the highly anticipated sequel will be coming to PlayStation 5 in October, he teased that Venom’s identity in the game could remain a mystery until players discover for themselves.

This came as a bit of a shock Marvel’s Spider Man fans, as the first game’s finale strongly indicates who will take on the symbiote in the sequel. With the very limited amount of information we have, we wanted to get all the facts and do some good old-fashioned Daily Bugle research. Who is Venom in Marvel’s Spider Man 2? Let’s see if we can find out.

Who isn’t Venom

During the Summer Game Fest reveal, Intihar told host Geoff Keighley that the most famous Venom – journalist, meathead and former rival of Peter Parker, Eddie Brock – will not be in the symbiote this time. This is one of the few things we know for sure about Venom in Marvel’s Spider Man 2. Keighley asked if any of the Osborns were Venom, but Intihar only confirmed that Brock was out of the game (which we’ll get to later).

Who else do we know that Venom isn’t? Well, most of the non-male characters are probably out too. The reveal featured some artwork from Venom – whose suit/skin, like the Spider-Mans, should look very familiar to comic book fans – and the character looks conventionally male. We also heard him speak in a male voice in an earlier trailer for the game. Typically, when the Venom symbiote (or any symbiote) uses a female body as a host, the combined body takes on more *cough* stereotypical female characteristics (e.g. Michelle Williams in the first venom movie).

Image: Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment

Who else? Well: neither Miles nor Peter are Venom. This may seem obvious, but with Peter wearing a symbiote suit at some point in the game, anything is possible. However, both the artwork shown during the show and the pre-order statue for the game show Venom fighting both Spider-Mans in their classic suits. Could that be anyone other than Peter or Miles under the masks? It is possible! But at that point we are talking about some marketing tricks, and that is not worth going into.

Finally, Intihar said something interesting about Venom Marvel’s Spider Man 2, which is that Insomniac wants to tell an “original story,” something fans haven’t seen in the movies or comics. This is a surprisingly loaded statement if you take it literally, as nearly every notable Marvel character, hero, and villain has ever carried a symbiote in comic book history. But before we go any further, I don’t think we can take this as literally as it seems, or that Venom in it spider man 2 will be someone who has not borne the nickname in any Spider-Man fiction. Instead, it looks like it will be someone unusual or unusual for mainstream fans. We’ve already seen two live-action Eddie Brock Venoms, so that’s probably why he’s out of the running.

Is Harry Osborn poison?

Harry Osborn – Peter’s childhood friend and son of the mayor, Norman – is definitely the leading candidate for Venom in Marvel’s Spider Man 2. Or, at the very least, Harry is who Insomniac wants players to be think will be poison.

At the end of Marvel’s Spider Man, it’s revealed that Harry (who was “out of the country” throughout the game) is actually in what is essentially a bacta tank hidden in Norman’s apartment. Harry suffers from the same illness that his mother died from, and Norman does everything he can to make sure he is cured. This particular therapy appears to be symbiote related, and we see Harry tied up in the tank amid a bunch of black, sticky webs.

This is a pretty obvious and hard to ignore tease. And when Venom showed up in one of the first trailers for Marvel’s Spider Man 2, most fans of the first game (myself included) assumed it was Harry. But Intihar’s reluctance to confirm or deny an Osborn Venom makes things a bit tricky. Isn’t it actually Harry? Or is Insomniac trying to sow seeds of doubt to build up the reveal in-game? It’s impossible to say for sure, but Harry seems like the obvious host for Venom in this universe.

Is Norman Osborn poison?

Prior to the announcement of Insomniac’s release date, Norman would have been a distant second to Harry on the “who is Venom” card. But with Intihar being so reluctant, Norman has really skyrocketed in the rankings. Giving Norman the symbiote – and then possibly letting Harry take on the classic Green Goblin role in another game – could be just the right mix of familiar and different (something Insomniac nailed in the first game) that the studio was aiming for. go.

Norman is also well positioned to become the host of Venom based on the tease, so fans wouldn’t feel like they were lured back in 2018. I mean, Venom (presumably it could be another symbiote) is currently alive in Norman’s apartment. And Norman pays regular visits to his dying son. It doesn’t seem so far-fetched that Norman’s carelessness and ambition could get the better of him on a late-night visit.

Is Kraven poison?

Image: Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment

Kraven the Hunter is one of the big bad guys in Marvel’s Spider Man 2, and will likely be the threat that causes Peter to debut his classic symbiote suit for the first time. But could Kraven also be Venom?

Venom tends to be pretty sturdy, even in the hands of shorter men (no offense to Tom Hardy, but he’s only 5-foot-9, and Venom is huge in those movies), but Kraven has already shrugged it off. It’s also relatively easy to imagine a world where Kraven loses to Spider-Man’s symbiote suit and then dons one of his own to gain advantage against his prey.

One of the few things that goes against this theory is that Kraven typically keeps his weird lion vest when donning the symbiote, and the Venom we see in the art is a very classic, vestless Venom.

Wilson “Kingpin” Fisk is a short-lived heel in both Marvel’s Spider Man And Miles Morales. In the first game, Peter puts the big man in jail in the first 30 minutes of the game. And in Miles Morales, Miles stops some of the shady deals Kingpin is trying to make behind bars. When Fisk gets out of prison in the sequel, he already has a bone to pick with every one of the Spider-Mans in this universe. And, crucially, he knows he’ll lose to Peter if he just tries to fight him again without a significant increase in power.

There are two minor issues with Kingpin wielding the Venom suit Marvel’s Spider Man 2. The first is that this Venom looks much bigger than Miles and Peter in the artwork, but he’s not Kingpin tall. Kingpin would actually have to shrink a bit to fit into the symbiote’s body, which isn’t impossible, but seems unlikely.

Still, Fisk “uniquely” fits better than any other candidate here, so it’s worth keeping an eye on him as a Hail Mary.

Is it someone else?

Image: Sony Pictures

New York is a pretty big city, so even if we keep the restrictions on male Spider-Verse characters for Venom, there’s an almost infinite number of choices.

One of the Sinister Six from the last game? Certainly! What about the other most famous Venom, who also didn’t appear in the first game, Flash Thompson? Why not!

There are characters who appeared in the first game who were able to make the transition to Venom with relative ease. And then there are so many “normal dudes” that haven’t appeared in the games yet that can also be Venomized.

Personally, I hope Darin De Paul’s J. Jonah Jameson takes on the symbiote, if only because I’d love to see a cigar between those big old teeth.