Summary
The beauty of Insomniac’sSpider-Manfranchise is all the luxury of a creative universe it could offer. It’s difficult to tell how many story restrictions Insomniac is given or how far out it would like to branch anyhow, but realistically Insomniac might be able to tell as wild of a story as it would prefer. So far, Insomniac hasn’t taken theMarvel’s Spider-Mancontinuity down any unfathomable paths, withMarvel’s Spider-Man 2coming the closest to truly turning New York City on its head in a symbiote invasion.Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s symbiotes, however, have undergone a huge change.
Kraven killing almost all of Insomniac’s Sinister Sixwas an impressive decision, as was the choice to flip Mysterio and Tombstone into reformed citizens, regardless of how absurd it would be for Quentin Beck to be allowed to construct Mysterium illusions given his past. Either way, because the symbiote was introduced in the original game and only now explained in the sequel, there were a lot of presumptions put on it in terms of what its role would be. Insomniac oddly chose to omit an iconic weakness from the symbiote, and the reason why seems incredibly obvious whenMarvel’s Spider-Man 2’s Carnage was teased.
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Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s Carnage Wouldn’t Make Sense if the Symbiote was Lore-Accurate to the Comics
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s Symbiotes are Only Weak to Sonic Frequencies
The classic weakness of symbiotes is high-frequency sound, with the most traditional means of representing that weakness being shown through the ringing of a massive church bell. Of course, these sounds don’t need to come from bells exclusively and there have been many ways that sound has been weaponized to harm or disrupt symbiotes effectively.Marvel’s Spider-Man 2represents this in a number of ways, including its own church bell.
Mary Jane’s taser also gets modified with a sonic device for her to defend herself against a horde of symbiote enemies. However, another classic symbiote weakness inSpider-Mansource material is fire, but that weakness wouldn’t have made any sense considering howInsomniac’s Carnagehost unironically has a particular inclination toward fire.
The Flame Being Weak to Fire Would’ve Been Too on the Nose
If Cletus Kasady—known asThe Flame inMarvel’s Spider-Man 2—was eventually weak to fire when he inevitably dons his own symbiote sample in the future, it would be absurd for him to lead radicals in branding people and setting fire to everything if he himself couldn’t go near fire. It is made plain that Insomniac made Cletus’ cult backstory a priority in the sequel and that’s a boon because his character is now much more intriguing than if he was a basic serial killer like he was inThe Amazing Spider-Man 2, but now Insomniac needed to make exceptions in its symbiote lore to accommodate for how neat its cult aesthetic is.
Having Carnage relish a sea of flames will look much scarier, giving the cult a bigger presence as aMarvel’s Spider-Manenemy factionin their next appearance as well as allowing Carnage to wade around in the fires they create and not be affected. If Cletus’ cult didn’t revolve around fire then it would’ve been more likely that such a change was arbitrary or unnecessary to the lore, but knowing who Cletus is and will become makes this lore discrepancy much more logical.
It’s still unclear whether Carnage is going to be immediately dumped intoa DLC or half-sequel, too. But with howMarvel’s Spider-Man 2ends it would make for a tremendously captivating third chapter if Spider-Man’s main antagonists were Green Goblin and Carnage.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
WHERE TO PLAY
Spider-Men Peter Parker and Miles Morales face the ultimate test of strength inside and outside the mask as they fight to save the city, each other and the ones they love, from the monstrous Venom and the dangerous new symbiote threat.Explore an expansive Marvel’s New York with faster web-swinging and the all-new Web Wings, quickly switching between Peter and Miles to experience different stories, epic new abilities and high-tech gear.Wield Peter’s symbiote abilities and Miles’ explosive bio-electric powers in battle against new and iconic Marvel Super Villains – including an original take on a symbiote-infused Venom, the ruthless Kraven the Hunter, the volatile Lizard, and more from the Marvel Rogues’ Gallery.
