During Insomniac Games’ presentation for the upcoming PlayStation exclusive Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, creative director Bryan Intihar unveiled new concept art of Peter Parker and Miles Morales battling the iconic villain, Venom. Intihar revealed that Venom’s host won’t be Eddie Brock, the most well-known symbiote host, but a new character entirely, which led fans to speculate online who the unlucky person might be.
“Our goal was to tell an original story: something you haven’t seen in the comics and the movies yet, ” Intihar said. “Obviously, we love Venom for a reason [and] all those things you love about him are gonna be there but how the story plays out; who is Venom? You’ll have to play the game to see.”
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It’s been 24 hours since Insomniac Games let players mull over who Venom’s host could be, and many have landed on the theory that it’s Peter Parker’s bestie, Harry Osborn. This idea certainly has some weight, considering the specific plot thread its predecessor, Marvel’s Spider-Man, left dangling in its after-credits scene.
Spider-Man’s after-credits scene may offer a clue
During the first Spider-Man’s research station side-quests, Peter is tasked with quelling numerous air pollution sites that Harry left unfinished. Peter and Mary Jane Watson discover that Harry is terminally ill toward the end of the game. However, in an after-credit scene, Harry’s father, Norman, enters a hidden room inside his estate where it is revealed that Harry has been floating in a green vat, like a pickled cucumber. Before the scene ends, we see a sinewy strand of the Venom symbiote inside the tank with Harry.
Despite the theory making sense, fans think Insomniac will go in a less obvious direction with the identity of Venom.
“Harry is too easy of a choice so I’m hoping it’s a misdirect honestly,” hday108 wrote on the r/SpidermanPS4 subreddit. “Cause if Harry dies as Venom then Goblin will just have revenge as his motive which is kinda lame and generic imo.”
“I have a slight issue with Venom being Harry, largely due to his lack of buildup for the role of Venom himself,” MrBojanglesIV wrote in a separate thread. “My issue with Harry is that we’ve seen no prior evidence of any kind of drive to pursue Peter as Venom as a person. As far as we know him and Peter have been best friends up until his coma and even then we have Peter wondering about his current state.”
One eagle-eyed Reddit user named Walo-888 pointed out that Harry being Venom would make sense thematically considering the new concept art of Venom battling Miles and Peter features a billboard in the background for the “Emily-May Foundation,” which just so happens to combine the names of Harry’s and Peter’s deceased mother and aunt, respectively.
Whether or not fans’ Venom identity theories pan out when Spider-Man 2 comes out on October 20 for the PlayStation 5, Intihar assured players that the game will have even more villains for Peter and Miles to tussle with that aren’t named Kraven or Venom. For her safety, I pray Screwball doesn’t cross paths with Peter while he’s wearing that symbiote suit.