Marvel’s Spider-Man had the interesting narrative hook of being able to inform fans about which villains were already established in-universe and which villains were being introduced initially in the present day. The Halloween campus party at Empire State University was a succinct way to do this for a handful of Spider-Man’s storied foes, for instance. This approach lobs up potential villain additions in subsequent installments, such as how the Lizard will feature as at least a temporary villain in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.
Indeed, the Lizard doesn’t seem like a dedicated villain as much as an unfortunate repercussion of Kraven’s Great Hunt, and his transformation into something monstrous may not have even been voluntary. Doctor Curtis Connors’ public status is currently undetermined anyhow, but it is expected that Connors’ Lizard transformation will now be a product of circumstance rather than a murderous choice. Based on this assumption, two pertinent questions can be asked concerning the Lizard’s mutation evolution.
How Sentient or in Control is Doctor Curtis Connors While Transformed?
It is unknown how sentient Connors is while he is the Lizard, at least based on the few times he is referred to or seen in Marvel’s Spider-Man and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales. It is established that Connors has been the Lizard before in the classical sense, where he appears as a humanoid reptile wearing Connors’ clothes and a laboratory coat, thanks to the Halloween campus party and ESU students’ tone-deaf taste in costume choices.
Connors doesn’t literally appear in-universe himself until a post-credits sequence for Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, though, and it is here where fans get to see that he is a seemingly ordinary scientist who is helping Norman Osborn research a cure for Harry. Either way, fans are no closer to knowing certainly whether Connors is normally in control while he is the Lizard.
It seems evident that he won’t be sentient during his mutation into a colossal creature in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. Rather, this mutation seems purely animalistic. Interestingly, the Lizard heads straight for the Harlem Seafood Market and feasts on a ton of fish before molting. This either suggests that Connors is consciously consuming fish rather than chowing down on people, or that his enormous transformation only has an appetite for fish.
Why is Doctor Curtis Connors Only Now Mutating into a Giant Lizard?
Connors’ transformation into the Lizard is traditionally a purposeful and conscious action on the doctor’s part, and this new evolution could be a case of him taking his dosage too far. Of course, there is a possibility that the Lizard’s mutation is caused by heightened stress, but that would suggest that Connors has never endured anything as strenuous as being pursued by Kraven’s hunters before.
In Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s lengthy gameplay trailer shown at the end of the PlayStation Showcase, it is obvious that Connors hastily fled from his home in Queens, hence why the basement entrance already has a protruded hole in it. But it is also obvious due to how small the hole is and how surprised Peter and Miles are by the Lizard’s mutation that he was not a gargantuan reptile moments before this particular gameplay sequence began.
In this regard, it can be presumed that the Lizard has never mutated this much before nor this rapidly. It would be easier to believe that Connors has taken a greater dose of his serum than he ever has, or he was given a greater dose in someone’s effort to turn him into a rampaging monster. Kraven’s datapad already acknowledges the Lizard as a potential candidate for the Great Hunt, and therefore it can be discerned that Connors will have become the Lizard in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 before Kraven and his henchpeople even rear their head in New York City.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 launches this fall, exclusively for PlayStation 5.
