Marvel's Spider-Man 2

for about 15-16 main missions, granting him tendrils that he can use in combat and unique web-based abilities. ''Marvel's Spider-Man 2'' is an action-adventure single-player video game played from a third-person perspective. As with the first game Peter Parker and Miles Morales are the two main characters, with Mary Jane and Venom playable in certain missions, becoming individually playable in accordance with the story as they traverse an open world New York City and fight enemies. Players can acquire new abilities and collect various Spider-Man suits. Peter and Miles can be freely swapped between at any point during free-roam in the game's open world, and have dedicated missions both in the main story and as part of side content that takes advantage of their individual traits. The game expands upon the prior entries' open world, allowing players to explore Brooklyn and Queens in addition to Manhattan, which was the main setting of the previous two games. Building on the combat system of the previous titles, both Spider-Men are able to parry physical attacks, as certain enemy types are impervious to dodging. During traversal, both Peter and Miles' new suits come equipped with Web Wings, which, when deployed, allow them to glide across the city, with their speed and distance covered increasing when taking advantage of areas such as wind tunnels. Each Spider-Man's gadget wheel has been upgraded with additional equippable mods for their web-shooters, such as being able to cast a Web Line across pillars for additional footing during stealth sequences suspended above enemies, and the Web Grabber, allowing multiple enemies to be pulled into an isolated spot for Stealth Takedowns, which can be performed on two enemies at once. In addition to Peter Parker's standard gameplay, he is playable when bonded to the Venom symbiote, granting him tendrils that he can use in combat and unique web-based abilities. Both Spider-Men have individual Skill Trees with additional unlockable abilities for both of them once they accumulate enough Skill Points in accordance with their experience level, as well as a third Skill Tree dedicated to shared abilities between them. ==Synopsis==

Characters and setting ''Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is set 10 months after the events of Spider-Man: Miles Morales (2020). Yuri Watanabe (Tara Platt), a disgraced former police captain and ally of Peter who has assumed the vigilante identity of "Wraith" following the events of The City That Never Sleeps; J. Jonah Jameson (Darin De Paul), the Daily Bugle''s chief editor and Mary Jane's boss; Danika Hart (Ashly Burch), host of the "Danikast" podcast; Peter's deceased aunt, May (Nancy Linari), who is featured in a flashback; and Miles' late father, Officer Jefferson Davis (Russell Richardson), who appears in a dream sequence. Throughout the city, the two Spider-Men are faced with several supervillains such as Venom (Tony Todd), an extraterrestrial symbiote capable of bonding to human bodies and granting regenerative powers while negatively influencing their behavior; Sergei Kravinoff / Kraven the Hunter (Jim Pirri), the leader of a faction of mercenaries called the "Hunters" who seek to hunt super-powered beings; and Cletus Kasady (Chad Doreck), also known as "The Flame", the head of a nihilistic cult who seeks to perform a demonic ritual to bring about an eschatological event dubbed the "Crimson Hour". Returning villains from the first game include Martin Li / Mister Negative (Stephen Oyoung), Mac Gargan / Scorpion (Jason Spisak), Lonnie Lincoln / Tombstone (Corey Jones), and Felicia Hardy / Black Cat (Erica Lindbeck). Additional antagonists who were referenced in prior entries make full appearances in Spider-Man 2, including Flint Marko / Sandman (Leandro Cano), a lowly burglar who, through an accident, gained the ability to turn into molecules of sand and manipulate them at will; Curt Connors / Lizard (Mark Whitten), an Oscorp scientist who transformed into a giant reptilian creature; Dmitri Smerdyakov / Chameleon (Jim Pirri), a criminal master of disguises and Kraven's half-brother; and Quentin Beck / Mysterio (Noshir Dalal), a visual effects artist and reformed criminal who became the head developer of a virtual reality entertainment attraction called "Mysterium". Furthermore, Otto Octavius / Doctor Octopus (William Salyers), who is incarcerated in the Raft after the events of the first game, appears in a mid-credits scene. The character Cindy Moon makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in the game's post-credits scene, along with her father Albert Moon (Tom Choi). The character Delilah, a skilled assassin who serves as the bartender at the Bar with No Name in an alternate universe, makes a cameo appearance during "The Message" side-quest. This version of the character was originally intended to appear in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) before her scene was cut from the final film. Plot 10 months after the events of Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Peter starts his first day as a physics teacher at Brooklyn Visions Academy with Miles among his students, but they are interrupted by a rampaging Sandman, requiring both the Spider-Men to subdue him. Fired for abandoning the class, Peter returns to his Aunt May's home in Queens–which he has moved into following her death–to meet with Mary Jane. They are surprised by Harry, who has miraculously recovered from his terminal illness. Harry hires Peter to work at his environmental technology startup, the Emily-May Foundation (named after Aunt May and Harry's mother Emily), so they can pursue his dream of "healing the world". Concurrently, Kraven and his Hunters arrive to New York. While overseeing a prison transfer with Peter at The Raft, a vengeful Miles fails to stop the Hunters from capturing Martin Li, who previously killed his father, Jefferson Davis. Investigating Kraven, Peter discovers he is hunting super-powered individuals in search of an "equal". Having already killed Scorpion, Vulture, Shocker, and Electro, Kraven attempts to capture Black Cat. However, Miles helps her escape to Paris by using the mystical Wand of Watoomb. Peter, Mary Jane, and Harry visit Coney Island to reconnect; while there, the Hunters attack the park to capture a reformed Tombstone. While Peter rescues civilians, he is assisted by a super-powered Harry, who learns about Peter's double life. Harry reveals that, on his father Norman Osborn's insistence, he was cured by Curt Connors via a powerful organic exosuit that physically augments his body. With the exosuit's powers rapidly developing, Harry helps Peter rescue Tombstone while Mary Jane discovers that Kraven has kidnapped Connors. The trio attempt to save Connors, but Kraven forcibly turns him back into the Lizard, steals the serum needed to transform him back and mortally wounds Peter. Before Peter can die, the exosuit transfers itself from Harry to Peter's body, saving him. After Peter viciously defeats the Hunters with his newly enhanced powers, Kraven develops an interest in hunting Peter personally. Peter reunites with Harry and Mary Jane and attempts to return the suit to Harry, but it refuses to leave him; the three figure they need Connors' help. While investigating Kraven, Peter discovers that Kraven is dying of cancer and is looking for someone who can give him a "warrior's death" in combat. Peter manages to retrieve the serum from Kraven, who discovers the exosuit's weakness to loud noises. After Peter and Harry synthesize an antidote for Connors, Peter locates him with Miles' help and eventually defeats and cures him. Upon seeing Peter wearing the exosuit, Connors reveals that it is actually an alien lifeform called a symbiote, which Oscorp obtained years prior from a meteorite, and warns Peter to destroy it. Under the symbiote's corrupting influence, Peter refuses and keeps it for himself despite learning that Harry's illness has returned, straining their friendship. As Peter goes on a symbiote-induced rampage against the Hunters (even nearly killing Mary Jane at one point), Kraven captures Miles and forces him to fight Li. Miles overcomes his anger towards Li and helps him escape, directing him to find Peter. Once Li informs him of Miles' location, Peter arrives to storm Kraven's fortress in an effort to rescue him and nearly kills Kraven before Miles intervenes, defeating the corrupted Peter and convincing him to remove the symbiote. Peter takes the symbiote to Oscorp to destroy it, but a desperate Harry intercepts him and reclaims it, transforming into a monstrous creature. After slaughtering Oscorp staff trying to remove the symbiote from him, the symbiote-induced Harry escapes into Times Square, where he defeats several of Kraven's Hunters before overpowering and killing Kraven himself. The symbiote convinces Harry to "heal the world" by infecting everyone on Earth with symbiotes, starting with New York. Dubbing themselves "Venom", Harry and the symbiote transform Mary Jane into Scream, but Peter helps her break free after battling and reconciling with her. As Peter and Miles attempt to stop Venom, Peter is debilitated by a trace amount of the symbiote still within him. After Miles settles his differences with Li, the latter uses his powers to convert Peter's symbiote traces into the Anti-Venom symbiote, which can destroy other symbiotes. Concurrently, Venom recovers the meteorite that originally brought him to Earth and empowers himself with it, accelerating his infestation on New York. Peter and Miles distract Venom while Mary Jane steals the meteorite and destroys it with the EMF's particle accelerator, destroying Venom's symbiote horde. At Harry's insistence, Peter destroys the symbiote and frees Harry from its control, but renders Harry comatose. In the aftermath, Mary Jane quits the Daily Bugle to run her own podcast and moves in with Peter, who opts to take a break from being Spider-Man to focus on rebuilding the EMF, trusting Miles to protect the city on his own. Meanwhile, Norman blames the Spider-Men for ruining Harry's recovery; he visits an imprisoned Otto Octavius at the Raft to demand their secret identities, but Octavius refuses, taking glee in Norman's suffering. Miles completes his college essay and meets Rio's new boyfriend, Albert Moon, who introduces them to his daughter Cindy. ==Development==

Both the first game and its spin-off title ''Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales'' (2020) included implicit teases toward future titles, including post-credits scenes alluding to Insomniac Games' intentions to introduce Venom into their narrative, as well as feature Norman Osborn and his son Harry in more prominent roles. Intihar stated that Insomniac Games had discussed including the Black Suit as an unlockable costume during the development of the first game, but a meeting with Insomniac art director Gavin Goulden, Marvel Games vice president Bill Rosemann and senior director Eric Monacelli, convinced them that the symbiote would have to play a more significant role in their Spider-Man story to justify its inclusion. When unveiling Miles Morales at Sony's PlayStation 5 reveal event in June 2020, Insomniac stated that a standalone title featuring Miles as the protagonist would not detract from the fact they had "much of Peter's story left to tell" in future games. ''Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and sister title Marvel's Wolverine'' were jointly announced by Insomniac Games at the PlayStation Showcase event in September 2021. Bryan Intihar and Ryan Smith serve as the game's creative and game directors, respectively reprising their roles from ''Marvel's Spider-Man, Speaking on the This Week in Marvel'' podcast, Bill Rosemann described the game's narrative as "a little darker", as well as "the next big chapter". He likened the story's tone to The Empire Strikes Back (1980), contrasted with how ''Marvel's Spider-Man narrative felt tonally similar to the original Star Wars'' (1977). In January 2022, Brittney Morris, who previously wrote the Miles Morales tie-in novel Wings of Fury, joined the writing team on the game; and in June freelance artist Davison Carvalho was hired to serve as the game's art director. Carvalho had also served as a concept artist for various Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films. That November, actor Scott Porter, who voiced Harry Osborn throughout the Research Station activities in the first game, revealed that he was recast in ''Marvel's Spider-Man 2'' to accommodate the character's more prominent role in the story, addressing potential issues such as the age gap between himself and the character as "they decided to go photorealistic". Actor Graham Phillips was later announced to take over the role of Osborn from Porter during San Diego Comic-Con in July 2023. The game would not depict Eddie Brock as the symbiote's host, a deviation from the majority of Spider-Man media featuring the character. Intihar cited a desire to tell an original story that stood apart from both the comics and various films featuring Venom while respecting the roots of the character. Intihar asserted that they never intend to interpret a character so differently from other appearances at the risk of alienating fans, but they did want to provide a unique take on the material that felt tied to their franchise, citing the creative liberties taken with Peter Parker's Advanced Suit in the first game as an example, and how despite the adherence to classic elements like the red and blue color scheme, the enlarged, white spider emblem on the suit's chest distinguished the character as Insomniac's version of Spider-Man among other adaptations. ==Marketing==

The game's gameplay reveal debuted during Sony Interactive Entertainment's PlayStation Showcase event in May 2023, highlighting a mission within the game's main story campaign that showed Peter Parker adorning the symbiote suit, and Miles Morales / Spider-Man, as the pair intercepted an attempt by Kraven's Hunters to capture Dr. Curt Connors as his transformation into the Lizard resulted in him breaking into a fish market near the New York City docks. As part of the game's promotion, a separate splice of gameplay was featured in a scene from the film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023), which depicted Miles Morales' roommate Ganke Lee playing the game on his PlayStation 5 console at their dorm. The sequence showed Peter Parker / Spider-Man initiating a takedown on a common thug using the spider-leg appendages equipped at the back of his new Advanced Suit. Concept art of the Spider-Men combatting both Kraven the Hunter and Venom was presented at Summer Game Fest 2023, where creative director Bryan Intihar appeared as a guest to discuss the game's story and unveil the game's launch date and box art. The game's main theme, "Greater Together" composed by John Paesano, was previewed at The Game Awards 10-Year Concert in June 2023, and was released on music streaming services shortly thereafter. Intihar, along with producer Bill Rosemann from Marvel Games, Lowenthal, Jeter, Bailey and Todd, presented a Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2023, titled "Symbiotic Relationships". The panel divulged further story and character details and was accompanied by the debut of a story trailer, and the unveiling of commemorative PlayStation 5 console bundles and accessories to coincide with the game's launch. A gameplay overview narrated by creative director Bryan Intihar was featured as part of the PlayStation State of Play presentation in September 2023, in conjunction with preview events being held for media journalists in Los Angeles, where more extensive demos and playable builds of the game were showcased. The game's launch trailer was released online on October 15, 2023, during New York Comic Con. == Release ==

''Marvel's Spider-Man 2'' was released for the PlayStation 5 on October 20, 2023. A New Game Plus mode was released on March 7, 2024. A Windows port of the game, developed by Nixxes Software, was released on January 30, 2025. Alongside the standard edition, a Digital Deluxe Edition was made available for the game. This edition features two sets of five unique suits for Peter Parker and Miles Morales, designed by guest artists from PlayStation Studios and the wider entertainment industry. It includes additional frames, stickers for the in-game Photo Mode, and two extra skill points for ability unlocks. A Collector's Edition will be distributed through participating retailers and PlayStation Direct. It contains a download voucher for the Digital Deluxe Edition, a steel bookcase, and a 19-inch display statue depicting the Spider-Men fighting Venom. All pre-orders, regardless of edition, come with early unlock bonuses: the "Arachknight Suit" for Peter Parker and "Shadow-Spider Suit" for Miles Morales, the Web Grabber gadget, and three additional skill points. To commemorate the game's launch, Sony Interactive Entertainment distributed a special edition PlayStation 5 console bundle themed after the game on September 1, 2023. It is a variant of the standard PlayStation 5 sporting custom face plates and a unique DualSense controller design based on the imagery of the Venom symbiote wrapping itself around a red gradient adorning Peter Parker's Spider-Man emblem. Insomniac Games art director Jacinda Chew remarked on this design being evocative of the various ways players experience the symbiote taking over Peter in the game's story, describing it as a "constant push and pull for dominance whether it's internal or external and the outcome is not certain." The console comes with a digital voucher for the game's Standard Edition for pre-load ahead of launch. The face plates and special DualSense controller are sold as separate accessories for existing owners of both the disc-based and Digital Edition PS5 consoles. ==Reception==

Critical reception ''Marvel's Spider-Man 2 received "universal acclaim" from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic, Matt Miller from Game Informer'' highlighted the story's effectiveness at deriving from philosophical concepts associated with heroism against villainy, recognizing the game's ability to pull from "questions about returning from a dark place and having another chance, no matter past mistakes." Miller also praised the game's effectiveness as an installment in a larger trilogy of games, able to standalone but is "made better by experiencing its entirety." Sales ''Marvel's Spider-Man 2'' sold over 2.5 million units in the first 24 hours of release, making it the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game using the first 24 hours as the metric, and over five million units within 11 days. In the United Kingdom, it was the best-selling retail game during its week of release, becoming the fourth-biggest physical launch of the year. It was also the fourth best-selling video game in the US in 2023. As of February 4, 2024, the game has sold ten million units. As of April 20, 2024, the game sold over 11 million units. As of November 29, 2025, the game then sold 16 million for the PS5. Accolades ''Marvel's Spider-Man 2 was featured in many lists of the best games of 2023. Both Push Square and Eurogamer picked it as their 2023 Game of the Year. Time, Game Informer and The Guardian placed the game third on their lists of the best games of 2023. Both GamesRadar+ and Empire placed the game fourth on their lists of the best games of 2023. Both The Ringer and Forbes placed it fifth on their lists. The Escapist also put it among the best PS5 games and the best Action-Adventure games of 2023. The game won as IGN'''s Game of the Year (by readers' choice) and as PS5 Game of the Year (including other accolades) at the PlayStation Blog Awards. The game received multiple nominations (including Game of the Year) at the Golden Joystick Awards, The Game Awards 2023 and the 24th Game Developers Choice Awards, ultimately winning six major awards (including Action Game of the Year) at the 27th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards. At the 20th British Academy Games Awards the game was nominated in several categories (including Best Game) and won in the category "Perfomer in a Leading Role" (Nadji Jeter). At the NAVGTR Awards the game won in seven categories, including "Best Game, Franchise Action" and "Best Performance in a Drama, Lead" (Yuri Lowenthal). Across the years following its release, the game was included in many lists of the best PS5 games ever made. == Future ==

In September 2023, shortly before ''Marvel's Spider-Man 2s release, narrative director Ben Arfmann addressed the possibility of future games. In October 2023, senior narrative director Jon Paquette and Insomniac discussed the possibility of a spin-off game involving Venom. The same month, senior creative director Bryan Intihar said that a potential third installment would be "pretty epic", comparing the stories of Spider-Man and Spider-Man: Miles Morales to the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Iron Man (2008) and the story of Spider-Man 2 to Captain America: Civil War'' (2016). Intihar was questioned in the same interview regarding the potential to closely connect the studio's Spider-Man titles with the upcoming game ''Marvel's Wolverine, which he confirmed was set in the same shared universe. Intihar stated he preferred that the Wolverine'' team remained committed to making the game stand on its own, but did not rule out crossing over the characters in the future as they had discussed earlier in development. Intihar was also asked about various easter eggs referencing Daredevil, namely the appearance of Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson's law offices having been debranded and vacated after the events of the prior games, answering, "That's a good question. Stay tuned. Good find though." In November, Arfmann and Morris confirmed that Morales would be considered the main Spider-Man in further entries of the franchise. A multiplayer game entitled Spider-Man: The Great Web was planned and canceled as well. In December 2023, Insomniac Games was targeted in a ransomware attack by the cybercrime group Rhysida, who published 1.6 terabytes (TB) of sensitive information concerning employee data, development assets and pre-production slates internally used at the studio. While the hack primarily concerned production materials related to the upcoming game ''Marvel's Wolverine, various documents and studio roadmaps published online through the hack, alluded to the existence of multiple Marvel video games in development at the studio, including a standalone Venom game and Marvel's Spider-Man 3, which was expected to be narratively set up by the Venom'' game. On 24 February 2025, Lowenthal confirmed that Peter will appear in an upcoming sequel to ''Marvel's Spider-Man 2''. ==Notes==