Up until Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Insomniac was good at keeping its extracurricular Easter eggs to a minimum. References to other Marvel characters are rampant in the Marvel’s Spider-Man franchise, to be plain, but they’re largely reserved for environmental set dressings in New York City to ensure that Peter Parker and Miles Morales are part of a larger mythology, even if there was never a promise that this shared universe would show more of itself. This was ideal because it meant Insomniac could still focus its storytelling on its Spider-Men in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and not resort to baseless cameos.

The New York City Sanctum Sanctorum has been around since Marvel’s Spider-Man, for instance. Rather, the sequel elaborates on it by having Black Cat rob the Sanctorum’s Wand of Watoomb to create portals through which she and Miles can teleport. Even if this had been the entire reference it would’ve been the most explicit one Marvel’s Spider-Man has devised and it takes it one massive leap further by delivering Miles a hand-written note from Wong. This is how such Easter eggs should be executed because they at least made for an exhilarating gameplay sequence, and Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 has a high bar to clear now if it wants to feature its own.

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Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s Doctor Strange/Wong Easter Egg Thankfully wasn’t Superficial

There’s a case to be made that it should’ve been Peter Parker who embarked on the quest to pursue Felicia Hardy since he and her share an intimate history together in Marvel’s Spider-Man, but that’s neither here nor there. It’s a miracle at all that while Insomniac finally couldn’t resist a desire to reach into its extended Marvel mythology it refused to have Doctor Strange or Wong appear, assuming it could have. Instead, Insomniac takes players on a thrilling set-piece pursuit by weaving through Black Cat’s portals.

This made use of the impressive load tech from Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart that essentially allowed for the same function as players instantaneously translocate to the area they foresee through a portal ahead of them, and in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Miles flings himself into them the same way that he hurls himself between and through narrow environmental interactions. A combat sequence then follows where Miles and Black Cat battle Kraven’s hunters together and active finisher animations frequently have the two tag-team the enemy with Black Cat emerging from and entering into a series of her portals as if she had become the next Sorcerer Supreme in under a few minutes.

The cherry on top of this quest is a literal note from Wong, addressing that there truly are other Marvel icons in Insomniac’s Spider-Man universe with tangible evidence—not that Miles could prove it, though, as the magical note quickly disintegrates thereafter.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 Can’t Have a Big Marvel Easter Egg without Its Own Gameplay Relevance

It could be neat to see another established Marvel landmark such as the Avengers Tower or the Baxter Building now play a larger role in Marvel’s Spider-Man 3, but it would need to come with its own substantial gameplay sequence on par with this Doctor Strange and Wong Easter egg. If an Avenger such as Iron Man or Captain America was to appear, Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 would need to get creative with how it interjects them; for example, Peter or Miles wielding Captain America’s vibranium shield in combat would be phenomenal.

A simple walking-sim tour of a landmark’s interior wouldn’t do, either, since a glorified museum sequence wouldn’t contribute anything significant to ordinary gameplay as Black Cat’s quest does. If Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 can’t meet the standard it created with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, it might be best to leave such Easter eggs as they were in the franchise’s previous games and focus more on satisfyingly tying loose threads the sequel has left untethered.