Highlights
- Marvel's Spider-Man 2 must be cautious in how it portrays Harry Osborn to avoid comparisons to The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
- Harry is ailed in both interpretations, and it will be interesting to see how alike they are in that regard.
- While the game's trailer shows a shot of Harry in a bout of distress, it remains to be seen if the portrayal will be similar to the unhinged iteration from the movie.
Marvel’s Spider-Man has been a joy to experience thus far due to its creative take on the character. Not much has been taken wildly in any one direction, but enough has been changed from key character developments that it puts a fresh spin on familiar comic book arcs. Inspired by all the Spider-Man media that has come before it, there are several stories Insomniac could draw influence from for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. However, the sequel already looks uncomfortably similar to a Spider-Man movie that was ill-received.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 wasn’t wholly egregious, with some fans enjoying its action and effects most out of any Spider-Man movies to date. That said, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is definitely divisive in its portrayal of villains, particularly Harry Osborn. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has its own Harry Osborn, and while the game’s Venom emphasis might earn it more of a Spider-Man 3 comparison, Insomniac needs to be careful not to run its Harry parallel to The Amazing Spider-Man 2’s.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Must Tread Carefully with Harry Osborn
Marvel’s Spider-Man already introduced Harry fairly well despite never getting to meet or talk with him in person. Harry has ailed from some undisclosed illness since before the events of the original game, and his condition had been subtly hidden from Peter and others by saying he has been out of the country.
Players learn in a post-credit sequence that Norman has kept Harry suspended in a green stasis chamber with the alien symbiote. Interestingly, Harry is also afflicted with an illness in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Harry is released from the stasis chamber in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 but still looks to be affected by whatever it is that ails him, and he even uses a cane as he walks around.
Bonding with the symbiote seems to have already occurred while in the chamber, but it seems as if Peter will wear the symbiote before it eventually bonds with Harry or another individual thereafter. Harry believes that Spider-Man’s blood will cure him in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and when Spider-Man declines to help him, Harry throws a tantrum in his penthouse, shouting, “You’re a fraud, Spider-Man!” There might not have been enough shown in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s story trailer to truly make a comparison between these two Harrys otherwise, but the trailer does even have its own Harry tantrum shot where he throws a glass at the window.
It is unclear what is causing his distress in this sequence, and it could easily be taken out of context with how hastily it passes, but regardless it creates an obvious parallel between both interpretations of a diseased Harry for the time being. Harry and Peter are childhood friends and Harry seems to depend on Peter as he does in the movie, but hopefully that is where the similarities between both takes on Harry cease. The Amazing Spider-Man 2’s Electro was a socially inept Spider-Man super-fan, but the movie’s Harry became more and more whiny until he donned the conveniently designed Green Goblin armor and became psychotically enraged with a look that was equally unhinged.
Harry appearing out of nowhere was also handled strangely, but Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will hopefully have made an effort to steer clear of any similarly negative comparisons. In fact, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has an opportunity to take the foundations of that Harry’s subplot in the movie and make it phenomenal, but only time will tell and it would likely be more interesting if Insomniac created a unique story for Harry altogether.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 launches on October 20, exclusively for PlayStation 5.
