Who is Venom in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2?

Who is Venom? Even if you’re not a comics aficionado, you likely know of or at least recognize Venom, one of Spider-Man’s most popular adversaries, second only to the likes of Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus. Venom may even be more recognizable than both of them if you grew up in the late 1980s to mid 1990s when his popularity peaked. With big teeth, a hulking frame, and a wicked tongue, Venom channeled a lot of angst seen in comics during that era as an evil alternative to everyone’s favorite web-slinging hero.

Marvel’s Spider-Man, released back in 2018, gave us a tantalizing glimpse of the villain in a post-credits scene, but Venom skipped the sequel, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales. However, Insomniac Games confirmed Venom’s inclusion with the very first reveal of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, though quite a lot of questions remain surrounding who exactly assumes the role as Venom in the game.

Who Is Venom in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2?

Truthfully, we do not know who Venom is in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 at the moment. As the black alien symbiote has bonded with many different heroes and villains over the years,  it could be any number of people. Pretty much every Marvel character has been “venomized” at some point. Peter Parker does have the black symbiote suit during at least some of the game, but whoever uses it before or after remains to be seen. That said, one candidate stands out above all others: Harry Osborn.

Yes, that’s right — it’s not Eddie Brock, the man who traditionally hosts the black symbiote after Peter gets rid of it. While Eddie did have a small cameo in the first game in the form of his signature on a good luck card, Insomniac confirmed Eddie isn’t Venom during Summer Games Fest 2023.

The most likely candidate for Venom given what we know is Peter’s childhood friend, Harry Osborn, which is a departure from comic book lore. In the post-credits scene of Marvel’s Spider-Man, Norman Osborn approaches his son suspended in a tank of green fluid, promising to keep trying to find a way to cure a mysterious illness that plagues him. Harry is covered in a black, symbiote-like substance that reacts when Norman touches the tank.

We do know that Peter bonds with the symbiote at some point, and have seen a scene with him speaking to Norman in front of the green tank with the symbiote inside. It’s likely that Peter uses the black symbiote suit for much of the game until he realizes it’s changing him, thus getting rid of it before it bonds with another – back to Harry Osborn, maybe, or someone else such as Kraven. Kraven, after all, is another big-bad in the game, and he has bonded with the Venom symbiote before in the comics.

Related: Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Should Be Scarier, Not Just Darker

Venom’s History in the Marvel Comics Universe

In terms of Venom’s history, character debuted as a new costume for Peter in The Amazing Spider-Man #252. While on an alien planet called Battleworld, Spider-Man unknowingly bonded with the black symbiote, thinking it was a new suit.

Venom is a symbiote, which is a dangerous race of beings created by the evil god Knull that reside on the planet Klyntar. They bond with hosts and share their personalities. In the case of Peter, this made him more moody and violent toward his enemies.

Worried that he couldn’t remove the suit, Peter sought the help of Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four, who successfully ended their bond. As the symbiote is weak to sonic energy and loud noises, Peter has also used church bells to remove the symbiote in the past.

After leaving Peter, the symbiote bonded to Eddie Brock, a man with a vehement hatred of Peter for costing him his job as a journalist. Eddie fully embraces the symbiote and becomes the monstrous Venom, with a hulking body, a wicked row of vicious teeth, and his trademark, disturbingly-long prehensile tongue. As the Venom symbiote also hates Spider-Man after the latter rejected it, their hatred combines to create one of the web-head’s most iconic villains, though he has over the last few decades been decidedly more of an anti-hero.

Since the initial run with Eddie Brock, many different Marvel characters have bonded with the Venom symbiote, including Scorpion and Peter’s high school bully Flash Thompson. However, Harry Osborn hasn’t been one of them. The Venom symbiote’s powers mirror that of Spider-Man as it originally bonded with him, including a version of web-slinging. It also increases the host strength to absurd proportions. Most importantly, however, Venom doesn’t trigger Spider-Man’s Spider-sense, making him one of his most dangerous foes.

With that all said, we’re no closer to knowing how exactly Insomniac will introduce Venom to the Insomniac’s Spider-Man universe, but we don’t have long to wait to find out when Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 releases on October 20.

If you’re looking for more on the villains of the upcoming game, check out what you need to know about Kraven the Hunter in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.