Because Insomniac is developing both its establishedMarvel’s Spider-Manfranchise and the upcomingMarvel’s Wolverinegame, fans have been quick to assume that one will lead into the other and connect as a shared universe. This has not yet been confirmed, but it might be safe to assume that is the case since other developers such as EA Motive or Skydance have taken their own characters to work on. However,Insomniac’s interpretation of Wolverinebeing introduced or teased inMarvel’s Spider-Man 2has huge shoes to fill if it wants to beat out how another game introduced him.
Indeed, it could be almost irresistible for Insomniac to tease Wolverine inMarvel’s Spider-Man 2if they are connected at all.Marvel’s Spider-Manhas been fairly good at focusing on its protagonist characters exclusively; even though the Avengers Tower is a notable landmark in Insomniac’s open-world Manhattan, it has not alluded to where the Avengers could be. Teasing or revealing Wolverine would be an unenviable task, though, with how exceptional the character’s reveal was inActivision’sUltimate Spider-Mangamefrom 18 years ago.
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Ultimate Spider-Man Introduces Its Wolverine as a Boss
Wolverine appears as a boss inUltimate Spider-Manwhom players fight as Venom. This introduction occurs as players are prompted to interact with a motorcycle and hurl it into Chairman Steve’s. That motorcycle happens to belong to Wolverine, who then draws his adamantium claws in a cutscene before the boss fight ensues inside the bar. Wolverine can perform command grabs and also regenerate his health if players leave enough distance between themselves and him, making it a brawl that exchanges heavy attacks back-and-forth. Once Wolverine’s health is down to about 10 percent, one of the button-mashing meters appears.
Succeeding this button-mash prompt will have Venom grab Wolverine by the head and throw him through the wall into the next room, where there is a brief and similar second phase to the boss fight. This would bean incredible way forMarvel’s Spider-Man 2to introduce Wolverineas well, but it would be too imitative. Insomniac shouldn’t risk imitatingUltimate Spider-Maninstead of paying proper homage to it.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Might Be Better Off Not Introducing Its Wolverine
In this case,Marvel’s Spider-Man 2might be better off leavingMarvel’s Wolverinealone. Other references and teases would pale in comparison to an entire boss fight, and simply name-dropping the character or something related to him would be underwhelming. Of course, Venom may not be playable anyway and therefore a Wolverine boss fight would be difficult to pull off, but perhaps he could antagonize one ofMarvel’s Spider-Man 2’s Spider-Menand a boss fight ensues anyway.
Either way,Marvel’s Wolverinedoes not needMarvel’s Spider-Man 2to spend any of its time teasing it.Marvel’s Wolverinewill have an ample amount of excitement regardless of whether it is directly tethered to the events ofMarvel’s Spider-Man 2or not. It would be a shame to see a tease wasted on something small like a throwaway line of dialogue, especially if it is retconned later.
However, ifMarvel’s Wolverinecan connect to something substantial, then that will hopefully be enough to warrant the character appearing inMarvel’s Spider-Man’s sequel.Marvel’s Wolverinehas a lot of questions to answer if it is indeed part of Insomniac’s established Marvel universe, and it could be difficult to suddenly need to explain where the X-Men all are or why fans are only hearing about Wolverine now.
Marvel’s Wolverineis in development for PS5.
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