Spider-Man 2
I really did love the narrative of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, particularly as the game progressed from Kraven into Venom, and specifically the moment of that transition.
There was, however, one decision made that was pretty massive and pretty strange to shove entirely offscreen. You may not really have even understood it was happening. There is really no way to talk about this without getting into spoilers. These are not at the end of the game, but happen along the way in the Kraven storyline.
We know that Kraven heads to New York City in the first place because he discovers it’s full of heroes and villains he can hunt and who hopefully provide him with a challenge. He catches them, duels them, kills them, and is sad when he kills them because they weren’t strong enough.
However, we only see this actually play out once, where Kraven snaps off Scorpion’s stinger and kills him with it. I was pretty stunned to see him actually kill a major villain like that but it wasn’t until later I realized that he also killed…three more major villains that way?
While a main part of the story is Miles freeing a future victim, Martin Li, as we inspect Kraven’s hideouts we can see tech and trophies from other villains. Specifically, in addition to Scorpion, Kraven has also killed Vulture, Electro and Shocker, albeit all of that happened offscreen.
Spider-Man 1
There are also recordings about Kraven taking on these villains. For instance, he was disappointed with Electro who was “weak and idiotic” and Shocker was a tougher challenge but lacked a “killer instinct.” Vulture’s wings and suit are seen (as you may recall, he was already dying of cancer in the last game).
The game makes it a big deal when we save villains like Tombstone or Mr. Negative from Kraven, but it gives us some set dressing and an audio log when one of Spider-Man’s most famous villains are killed? Three times?
It’s just a little strange. I think they either could have shown one or two more battles in cutscenes like Scorpion’s as interludes, or they could have just made it so Kraven didn’t kill as many villains before getting to the larger fights/rescues. It’s just a bit odd. I’m trying to picture an Arkham game where we learned in an audio log Joker has killed Riddler, Poison Ivy and Mr. Freeze while we were off doing something else.
I suppose it’s not a huge deal, but it could dictate what happens next game. Fans are already musing that these characters could return, either surviving death (Electro has said he wants to become “pure energy”), being replaced by comic successors or even being clones. My guess, however, is that they’re just gone, and Insomniac’s third game will focus on returning enemies that aren’t dead or big Spidey villains that have not shown up yet. You should know of at least one or two uh…flying, pumpkin-loving miscreants.
Still, odd decision. Wonder why they did it this way.
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