Sony is gearing up to reveal the PS5 and rumors have been consistently suggesting pointing to February as the month of its reveal, just like what happened with the PS4 when it was revealed back in February of 2013. If recent rumors are to be believed though, then Sony is also gearing up to reveal Spider-Man 2 for the PS5 at the same reveal event in February. A supposedly new insider leak was posted on Reddit claiming that new enemies like Carnage and Mysterio would be appearing this time around along with several other new developments on the sequel.
Developed by Insomniac Games, the studio behind Ratchet and Clank to name just one franchise, 2018’s Spider-Man for PS4 was an enormous success at launch and beyond, selling through more than 13 million units as of August, 2019. These sales alone practically beg for a sequel, but several of the cutscenes that play at the end of the game tease various plotlines that all but confirmed at this point. The most significant of these ending cutscenes is the one featuring Norman Osborn returning to the same secret lab that Mary Jane was skulking about earlier in the game, leading to her inadvertently transporting the radioactive spider that gives Miles Morales his powers.
Once Norman goes into his lab, he opens the tank that was inaccessible to the player during Mary Jane’s aforementioned section. Inside of it is the suspended body of his terminally ill son Harry, who also appears to be connected to the same symbiotes that create the monster Venom in all of the other interpretations of Spider-Man. This of course has led fans to presume that a sequel would probably feature Harry Osborn as the big and scary Venom which would be a slight departure from some of the films.
However, Insomniac has never been shy about its stance on taking liberties with the characters here and there, and Marvel’s newest games division, headed up by VP and Head of Creative Bill Rosemann, is there at the studio’s side much like how he is currently involved with Square Enix’s Marvel’s Avengers.
The Reddit leak lines up with the idea that Venom will be featured as a villain (but that prediction was never a difficult one to make in the first place). In addition to Venom, other enemies included in the leak are Carnage, Mysterio, Cardiac, and the Lizard. The Green Goblin is also rumored to be featured and Norman Osborn is the likeliest candidate, given the character’s history and the fact that some of his Green Goblin schematics can be found in his secret lab.
Unless Spider-Man 2 does something wild and makes Venom and the Green Goblin the same character, then fans can expect the father-son duo to take on Peter Parker on a PS5 near them sometime in the future.
As for when that future will come, the same leak suggests that Spider-Man 2 will be released holiday 2021 - a full calendar year after the launch of the PS5. With that in mind, it stands to reason that Spider-Man 2 will be revealed alongside the console, as Sony wants to build up as much hype as possible even if the timeframe isn't ideal. Previous rumors have backed up this idea, even ones by credible journalist and former Game Informer writer Imran Khan, who strongly suggested that the title will come sooner than expected.
Other reasons that Spider-Man 2 will probably be shown alongside the potential PS5 reveal next month include the way the PS4 was revealed and the way Sony demonstrated instant load-times on tentative PS5 hardware in 2019. Sucker Punch initially revealed Infamous Second Son during the PS4’s reveal event, among a handful of other developers (such as Bungie with Destiny). This precedent indicates that Sony will bring the highest caliber of titles to the PS5’s reveal event which, again, is heavily rumored to happen in February.
Additionally, Sony used Spider-Man to show off how quickly games can load when optimized for a solid state drive (which will come with every PS5). Its enthusiasm in showing off this title in board meetings is also a good indicator that the sequel will be heavily marketed alongside the PS5.
Ultimately, fans should take these hints, rumors, and teases at face value until something more official is confirmed, but these rumors paint a pretty picture for Spider-Man 2 and the PS5. If all lines up well, everything will be known in the coming weeks.
Spider-Man 2 is rumored to be in development.