Why Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 is Going to Be All About Cryptic…

Summary

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 introduced new visually spectacular villains like Sandman, Lizard, Kraven, and, of course, Venom.
Symbiotes like Venom impact clothing colors, and the alien parasites still looming opens the door to interesting character transformations in Marvel's Spider-Man 3.
Chameleon's cryptic appearances in Marvel's Spider-Man 2 also hint at potential impersonations within the next game, which could see Insomniac emphasizing skepticism and scrutiny.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 treats Insomniac’s Spider-Man series to a much larger open world and with it came a handful of villains who were far more visually spectacular and fantastical than in previous games. Barring a few exceptions with Electro, Rhino, and Mr. Negative, Marvel’s Spider-Man has Peter Parker go toe-to-toe with a lot of classic antagonists who are all more or less ordinary men in suits of armor. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales then doubled down on this with Phin Mason’s Tinkerer and the Underground, but Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 proved that Insomniac would no longer be so one-dimensional when it came to villains as it debuted Sandman, Lizard, Kraven, and Venom.

Insomniac not only introduced Venom but a whole roster of potential symbiotes and how that could impact Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 or a highly rumored Venom half-sequel is impossible to say. Scream had a unique adaptation with Mary Jane Watson’s boss fight in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and thus it wouldn’t be surprising if later on players encounter Agony, Lasher, Phage, Toxin, or Knull. This catapults Marvel’s Spider-Man into a completely alien stratosphere than where it began with the web-slinger battling Wilson Fisk’s Kingpin, but Chameleon’s tease for a threequel is equally exciting and demonstrates that keeping up appearances will undoubtedly be a key theme in Marvel’s Spider-Man 3.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 3: Why Peter Parker Still Possessing a Symbiote is Problematic

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 leaves Peter with an overpowered article of clothing and he'll no longer be the same friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

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By Jared Stewart

Symbiotes are Clearly Still a Huge Threat Going into Marvel’s Spider-Man 3

The symbiote affects the color of clothing, which is clear when the symbiote turns into a black and white tuxedo for Peter to disguise himself as a waiter at Kraven’s manor. It’s also true of when Peter is wearing a black button-down shirt over a white t-shirt (he had earlier been wearing a grey button-down over a blue t-shirt and thus the distinction), and Peter later wears a dark, knitted sweater that appears black.

However, in the final cutscene before credits roll he is seen wearing the same sweater, only now it is a distinct green color since he was able to rid himself of the black symbiote. Likewise, Harry Osborn is seen wearing a black sweater over a white button-down after he regains the symbiote and becomes Venom.

In Mary Jane Watson’s case, though, the symbiote was instead affected by the color of her hair and sweater to create its red and yellow monstrosity, making for a fun bit of foreshadowing that players could’ve predicted if they had already clued into the incredibly specific palette choice Insomniac made with her design.

Even the Flame—also known as Cletus Kasady—wore a shirt with a design meant to mimic the writhing red symbiote he’ll eventually don as Carnage. If more symbiote hosts are out there in Marvel’s Spider-Man 3, keeping a close eye on characters’ clothing colorways could be a key to discovering who they may be or become.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 3’s Chameleon Will Be Hiding in Plain Sight

Of course, cryptic appearances are chiefly going to be rampant because Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has introduced Chameleon and there’s no telling who he could be impersonating in a sequel. Oddly enough, Insomniac picked a character model for Chameleon at the end of his questline instead of having his lavish suite of disguise materials speak for itself.

Whether this is supposed to be how Dmitri Smerdyakov actually looks or not is unimportant because he’s more than likely to be wearing a different face the next time players see him. Players shouldn’t be able to see a single character and not be skeptical that they are secretly Chameleon, especially bigger fish like J. Jonah Jameson or Norman Osborn whose reputation is important and could cause an uproar if their status as a public figure is meddled with or exploited.

Any character whose behavior is slightly awry should be put under a microscope because, unlike with characters who are potentially symbiote hosts, clothing choices probably won’t matter much for an antagonist who can seamlessly wear anyone’s skin and take over their life with expert acting talent. Chameleon isn’t slated to be a main antagonist like Green Goblin is in Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 and yet he’ll hopefully play a huge role throughout the story. If not, the threequel otherwise runs the risk of not having his possible impersonations mean much if they only occur briefly in a single string of side quest missions.

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