Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was revealed earlier this week by Insomniac Games and PlayStation Studios, and while the announcement on its own wasn’t all that surprising, the trailer that was shown off did contain some surprises. Based on the footage that we have seen so far, Venom seems poised to be the main villain of the PlayStation 5 sequel, although the supposed involvement of another major Spider-Man character is all the more interesting. This is especially true because it seems to tell us that Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will feature an adaptation of one of the most iconic Spider-Man stories from the character’s history.
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While he is never outright shown in the trailer, it is assumed that the initial trailer for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 features the voice of Kraven the Hunter. Kraven, who is a Russian man named Sergei Kravinoff, is one of the oldest villains of Spider-Man and essentially considers himself the world’s greatest hunter. After having hunted down some of the most powerful animals in the world, Kraven decides to make Spider-Man his next “prey” in an attempt to prove his prowess as the greatest hunter that Earth has ever seen.
Both Spider-Man and Kraven have had numerous encounters in comic book history, but the most famous bout between the two came about in 1987’s Kraven’s Last Hunt. The storyline comes about at a time where Spider-Man is in the midst of donning his black suit, which would later lead to the creation of Venom. Without giving too much away, the storyline is one of the darkest that has ever featured Spider-Man and also contained the last prominent appearance of Kraven for decades.
Basically, the reason this is important in the first place is because it absolutely seems like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is going to be adapting the storyline of Kraven’s Last Hunt in some fashion. Not only has Kraven already been confirmed to appear in the game, but the presence of Venom and the symbiote (which will likely attach to Spider-Man at some point in the story) also adds credence to things playing out in a similar fashion compared to what was seen in the comic book saga.
Not to mention, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 creative director Bryan Intihar has pointed to Kraven’s Last Hunt in the past as being one of his favorite Spider-Man stories. While there’s a very good chance that Insomniac will differ from the comic books in some major ways, it seems likely that this PS5 sequel is pulling a lot of ideas from Kraven’s Last Hunt.
At this point in time, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 isn’t slated to come to PlayStation 5 until 2023. If you’re looking for a good way to tide yourself over until then, you should definitely put Kraven’s Last Hunt on your reading list if you haven’t done so already. If nothing else, it might just give you a better idea of where Insomniac will be taking this series in the future.
