Highlights

  • The Marvel's Spider-Man franchise hints at upcoming villains like Green Goblin and Carnage for future entries.
  • Villains like Tombstone and Mysterio have reformed, making rematches unlikely in Marvel's Spider-Man 2.
  • Insomniac's portrayal of Lizard in Marvel's Spider-Man 2 suggests potential for a dynamic rematch in the future.

Marvel’s Spider-Man’s narrative transparency has always been a blessing and a curse. Players have been teased since Marvel’s Spider-Man about a Green Goblin debut at some point, for instance, while the antagonist roster for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 seems fairly obvious considering how the sequel’s main campaign and side quests ended in dramatic cliffhangers. Most of these cliffhangers pertain to villains who’ll be around in a future entry, such as Carnage, Chameleon, Green Goblin, and Doctor Octopus.

Some villains have reformed in the Marvel’s Spider-Man franchise and therefore them being revisited is unlikely. Lonnie Lincoln’s Tombstone and Quentin Beck’s Mysterio in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 had turned over new leaves, for example, and villains such as Flint Marko’s Sandman or Dr. Curtis Connors’ Lizard were merely desperate individuals backed into a corner by Kraven the Hunter. The Lizard in particular was one of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s most memorable boss fights but, with the Lizard’s rare hulking mutation depicted, Insomniac still has room left for a rematch with a pinch of nostalgia.

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Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Gave an Abridged Look at Lizard

Dr. Connors was revealed in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales’ post-credits scene. But while really only a brief glimpse at a one-armed man in a lab coat was given, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 paid that tease off immensely—both literally and figuratively.

In what was probably the more unprecedented approach Insomniac could’ve taken, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s Lizard is a massive, nakedly reptilian creature like so few Spider-Man sources depict him as besides Treyarch’s Spider-Man 3, ironically. This was incredibly refreshing and if Insomniac has chosen to shut the door on Lizard from this point onward it will have been an excellent and textured portrayal of the villain.

That said, this wasn’t all the Lizard has to offer as an antagonist. Even if reverting Connors to a baser iteration of the scaly villain could be perceived as reductive, it could be the catalyst for an incomparable boss fight runback between him and Spider-Man and come full circle with Dr. Isaac Delaney’s exceptional Lizard Halloween costume.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 Deserves a Lizard Fight in His Natural Habitat

Regardless of whether it’s in a flashback or the present day, Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 needs a Lizard rematch and Insomniac could make it far more dynamic than Connors’ monstrous form was in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. The lab coat look for Lizard is tremendously iconic when Connors evolves and doesn’t immediately abandon his elegant turtleneck sweaters and khakis, especially because this bipedal take on Lizard also allows Connors to preserve his intelligence.

It would be exciting to see a brilliant Lizard go up against Spider-Man rather than one who is a mindless, ravenous monster, even if Peter Parker and Connors have duked it out hundreds of times before. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 offers glances at Lizard with the lab coat on as he first transforms and begins to mutate rapidly. Still, as the player it would be great to not only witness what those encounters were like but also participate in one, whether that’s deep in a sewer network or elsewhere.

Lizard Should Be Retired if a Reptile Enemy Faction is Even Considered

Of course, one egregious downside to another Lizard fight could be realized if Insomniac decided to create a reptilian enemy faction.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 evaded this trope successfully and rightfully by simply having Lizard be a set-piece boss fight alone, but perhaps to give him more layers in a sequel Insomniac would feel obligated to give him his own enemy faction. That would be disastrous, not to mention how distracting that could be with everything else Marvel’s Spider-Man 3’s narrative needs to wrap up.