Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man franchise is refreshing due to how unique its narrative and characters are. Insomniac has taken certain liberties with character origins, such as Peter Parker and Otto Octavius having a professional, scientific relationship before Octavius becomes the raging Doctor Octopus. This makes characters incredibly interesting for seasoned readers of the comic book source material, since Insomniac’s interpretations will create unsuspecting surprises, including in Marvel's Spider-Man 2 next year. Likewise, any comic book beats players are familiar with may be upended in Marvel’s Spider-Man.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 seems to be heavily oriented around the alien Venom symbiote and its attachment to Harry Osborn, at least from the post-credits teases that have followed both Marvel’s Spider-Man and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Otherwise, little can be surmised about its plot. Insomniac’s Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart introduces interdimensional rifts with instant load-times, and it would be unsurprising if the developer carried that mechanic into Marvel’s Spider-Man to expand the IP's world. However, despite the potential of the rifts, Insomniac may not want to rush headlong into the idea of its own Spider-Verse.

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Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart Truly Feels Current-Gen with Rift Portals

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Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart’s interdimensional portals thrive on the PS5, ushering in instantaneous load-times while supporting incredible resolutions and frame rates. Few games have come close to achieving what Ratchet and Clank’s latest installment has, and because Insomniac is also developing the Marvel’s Spider-Man franchise, it is more than possible that interdimensional travel could appear at some point using the same structure.

This means that a future Marvel’s Spider-Man game could potentially have other Spider-Men traveling to the game’s universe, and especially players traveling to other dimensions where other Spider-Men are. Plus, it would be a shame for Insomniac to abandon such an excellent feature. The instantaneous load times of Ratchet and Clank’s rifts would be phenomenal in a Marvel’s Spider-Man game, particularly if perspectives were swapped as often as they are in a game such as Spider-Man: Edge of Time or Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions.

Insomniac could easily craft the most immersive Spider-Verse saga in gaming on PS5, which would be a great reason to do so if not for how ubiquitous the multiverse storyline is now. Unfortunately, Marvel’s Spider-Man would be accused of simply hopping on the bandwagon as far as the Spider-Verse is concerned, even if Insomniac’s iteration of it is unique.

Marvel’s Spider-Man Shouldn’t Bandwagon the Spider-Verse Trend

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Insomniac would demonstrate a tremendous amount of positive restraint if it decided not to dip its toes into the Spider-Verse for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. Spider-Man: No Way Home and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse have already laid claim to that storyline. The idea's current popularity means that anything Insomniac could do with it in the future would seem like it was trying to take advantage of a trend.

If Insomniac chose to introduce interdimensional travel or multiple other Spider-Men from other dimensions, it would see unending comparison to movies and games that have done it before. Marvel’s Spider-Man’s interdimensional travel may be much more immersive and cinematic than that from previous Spider-Man games, thanks to Ratchet and Clank, but Insomniac should continue pushing original narratives in its games with only iterative takes on source material.

Because Kraven appears to be in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 alongside Venom, for example, fans have already begun speculating that Insomniac may have a new take on Kraven’s Last Hunt in mind. To be fair, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales clearly had inspirations from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse with its own take on the Prowler, a wintertime setting, and a skin explicitly drawn from the animated movie. If Insomniac does attempt its own Spider-Verse, it will need to strive to be wholly original.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is scheduled to release in 2023 on PS5.

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