Summary
- Kraven the Hunter is the primary villain in Marvel's Spider-Man 2, targeting super-powered heroes and villains in New York City.
- The presence of Kraven sets up the possibility of following classic storylines from his comics, allowing the character to grow as a powerful threat.
- The inclusion of various targets, including Peter Parker and Miles Morales, suggests that the heroes could need to form alliances with villains to stop a bigger threat.
Spider-Man's iconic foe Kraven the Hunter is set to take to the streets of New York in Marvel's Spider-Man 2 on a hunt against the city's most dangerous game: its super-powered heroes and villains. Kraven's reveal cinematic for Marvel's Spider-Man 2 shows the villain targeting many of these characters with their locations being shown on a map of New York City. There are a lot of targets for Kraven to tackle after the events of the previous games, with the possibility of even more characters set within his sights that are yet to be revealed.
While most of the details of Marvel's Spider-Man 2's story are still being kept under wraps, the presence of Kraven as one of the primary villains sets it up to follow one of several classic storylines from his comic appearances. Arcs like "Kraven's First Hunt" and "Hunted" could serve as inspiration for the villain's story in Marvel's Spider-Man 2, giving Kraven a lot of room to grow into a powerful threat. With several targets already on his list and the emergence of Venom at some point in the game, Kraven is going to have his hands full hunting his prey in Marvel's Spider-Man 2.
Targets Confirmed for Kraven in Marvel's Spider-Man 2 So Far
- Black Cat
- Prowler
- Wraith
- Tombstone
- Lizard
- Taskmaster
- Shocker
- Kingpin
- Doctor Octopus
- Vulture
- Scorpion
- Rhino
- Peter Parker
- Miles Morales
Although most of his targets are villains, Kraven's pursuit of Peter and Miles will draw them into the conflict against the hunter. From the gameplay demonstration shown during the PlayStation Showcase 2023 in May, Peter and Miles need to prevent Kraven from hunting the Lizard as Dr. Connors is apparently needed to cure Harry Osborn. This implies that the heroes may need to form a temporary truce and work with the villains to some degree in order to stop a bigger threat.
Among the villains shown on Kraven's map of New York, the Sinister Six are briefly shown flashing through all of their pictures, minus Martin Li's Mr. Negative. This is likely because they are all in the same location within the Raft prison after the end of the first game. It's also interesting to note that characters who only appear in person in The City That Never Sleeps DLC like Black Cat are present in the base game's story for Marvel's Spider-Man 2. Yuri Watanabe, who also plays a major role in the DLC, seems to have become the anti-heroine Wraith in the time between the DLC and Marvel's Spider-Man 2 as she appears on his list of targets as well.
One surprising character on this list of targets is Taskmaster, who appeared in Marvel's Spider-Man to issue challenges for Peter to complete. What makes his targeting by Kraven surprising is the role Taskmaster plays in the "Hunted" comic storyline where he is hired by Kraven to kidnap various supervillains along with Spider-Man in order to trap them in Central Park for his own hunting purposes. Perhaps Taskmaster will eventually come to work with Kraven in the sequel once Venom is added to the mix of targets as a reference to this comic storyline.
Even with the addition of Venom in Marvel's Spider-Man 2, it seems likely there are even more targets for Kraven to hunt including villains that were not present in the previous games. The confirmation of these villains along with Peter and Miles shows just how ambitious Kraven is and how Insomniac plans to show that he is the world's greatest hunter.
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 releases October 20, exclusively for PS5.