Two distinct narrative threads seem to be what progress the narrative in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. There is the ordeal with Harry Osborn and the symbiote he’s bonded to being released from the green incubation chamber in Norman Osborn’s penthouse, and the ordeal of Kraven arriving in New York City to hunt those he deems worthy of pursuit. Dr. Curtis Connors and his Lizard persona create the intersection of both these threads, and much was revealed about how this tangled intersection looks at some point in the game.
Kraven’s ego as a hunter makes his thirst for a worthy equal unquenchable, and it was explained that Kraven doesn’t need to rely on technology or equipment to defeat his opponents. However, Kraven’s militia of hunters clearly has an abundance of specialized, yellow-hued weapons as well as rotorcrafts and drones, which seems antithetical to that whole premise. The drones in particular could potentially have a lot of baggage attached to them if their appearance is intentionally meant to strike a resemblance with one of Peter Parker’s earliest supervillains.
Kraven Has Seemingly Gotten Hold of Vulture’s Flight Technology
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 revealed what looks unambiguously like the Vulture’s wing technology repurposed into hunter drones. If it did previously belong to Adrian Toomes, it is unclear why Kraven may have taken this technology—let alone why he would need fancy technology and rotorcrafts at all—but it hasn’t proven to be incredibly useful to him or the hunters yet.
Indeed, Miles is able to take out a perched drone without it even acknowledging him, while Ganke is able to hack into another and gain full remote access to it. It’s fully possible that these drones are only connected to Vulture in a similar appearance alone, but it would be odd to make these drones so similar without an actual connection to him anyhow. If Kraven’s supposedly able to take on his opponents without any chemical enhancements or technologically advanced equipment, there needs to be a reasonable excuse for them to use such drones.
It would be neat if Kraven hunted and murdered Vulture before retrieving his technology as a trophy he and his hunters could wield. Unfortunately, Kraven’s datapad confirms that Vulture is still incarcerated in the Raft and would be inaccessible unless Insomniac wants to repeat history and feature another Raft breakout sequence with the same villains getting free again.
Vulture’s Now Had Two Boss Fight Appearances in the Franchise Already
There is always the opportunity for Vulture to return as an antagonist, but the fact that he has already technically been implemented with boss fights in both Marvel’s Spider-Man and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales it would seem like he’s been completely tapped as far as how high the ceiling is on how much development Vulture could have. Vulture appeared as part of Doctor Octopus’ makeshift Sinister Six in Marvel’s Spider-Man and a holographic boss fight simulation of him appeared in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, though the latter was depicting Peter’s encounter with Vulture at ESU as a training module for Miles.
This embeds Vulture as an iconic part of Spider-Man’s lore in Insomniac’s universe. But because Vulture has had such prominence in the franchise already, it might mean that another appearance would make him redundant and oversaturated. The same could be said for Insomniac’s Rhino, who also appeared as an antagonist in both entries so far, but his reprisal in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales was much more interesting than Vulture’s since he appeared literally and received a massive upgrade with red Roxxon armor.
It’s then plausible to imagine the same could happen for Vulture, and giving him a comparable upgrade would likely be the only way to reprise him authentically without fashioning him some sort of emotional resonance in a sequel’s narrative. Otherwise, fans may have seen the last of Insomniac’s Vulture, which would only help to pave the way for less popular or oversaturated antagonists like Kraven to show up instead.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 launches on October 20, exclusively for PlayStation 5.
