Yesterday, a new issue of Marvel’s Spider-Man‘s “The Daily Bugle” was released online, revealing some gorgeous new photos, and possibly teasing the return of a classic villain. You can read our summary here, but the gist is this: Someone is spreading a dangerous new drug around the city streets, and it’s transforming New York citizens into zombie-like monsters. The drug is known as Grave Dust, which has led many to speculate that Tombstone will be featured in the game, but I think it’s pointing to the inclusion of Carrion.
Let’s break everything down and observe what little we know. I’m going to give you the facts, and then we’re going to learn a little bit about both villains. This way, you can make a somewhat educated guess, which is exactly what we’re doing. I think arguments can be made for both villains, but in the end, I think the evidence argues more convincingly in favor of Carrion.
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Here’s what we know:
Take a good, long look at that thing. That was once an average Joe. Now it’s a Joe-my-God-wtf-happened. The Daily Bugle states that a dangerous new street drug known as “Grave Dust” is responsible for this transformation. According to the report, ingesting the drug results in immediate, violent changes. The drug is currently (narratively speaking) being investigated by biochemists who hope to crack the formula.
The argument for Tombstone:
I get it. Tombstone is the easy assumption to make for many reasons. The drug is called “Grave Dust” and, hey, “gravestone” and “tombstone” are synonymous. Additionally, those who ingest the drug are said to turn pale, stone-hard, and violent. This is what Tombstone is known for. He’s known being really strong, boasting a rock-solid bod, and for being a ferocious fighter. He’s also ghostly pale and spooky. You could also argue that Tombstone’s alter ego, Lonnie Lincoln, was known for being a gang member. This would corroborate a theory which suggests that he is responsible for the rampant rise of a new street drug.
I would submit to you, dear reader, that these various clues and visual cues have been presented as a kind of red herring in order to mask the identity of the real villain at work here.
The argument for Carrion:
While Tombstone is known for being pale, hard, and violent, he is not known for using any kind of chemically engineered, weaponized dust on the innocent or against his enemies. If I put on my detective’s hat on and start tracing some causes for these effects, I have to conclude that someone, somewhere is creating a dangerous dust and using it to destroy the lives of citizens and turn them into violent zombies.
This, I believe, is more in line with Carrion’s behavior. Think about everything Carrion is known for. He can turn people into dust just by touching them; he developed a dangerous chemical dust which could totally disable people or corrode through anything; the carrion virus itself can possess the bodies of others and come back from the dead. In Spider-Man: Requiem, Sin-Eater is brought back from the dead thanks to Carrion. We’re talking literal zombies, now, and that mutated citizen above looks like a zombie to me.
Even if we want to keep things on a surface level and base our estimates off of appearance, Carrion still fits the “grave” and “dead man” theme. Just look at this guy:
When it comes down to it, there’s a good chance that neither Tombstone nor Carrion appear in the game. This Daily Bugle excerpt could have been drummed up to add some flavor to this game world. It may serve only as a grim “slice of life” for fans wanting to know more about the city that they’ll be saving when Marvel’s Spider-Man swings onto PS4 on September 7.
Until then, leave us a comment and let us know who you think the “grave dust” is teasing. Is it Tombstone, or Carrion? How did you come to your conclusion?
