Summary
- Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is set in a larger and more detailed version of New York City, with hidden secrets for players to discover.
- Certain hidden things in Spider-Man 2 are interactions or easy-to-miss activities with New York citizens.
- The game also includes a number of references and Easter eggs to both Insomniac Games’ previous Spider-Man titles, and the larger Marvel canon.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 delivers a New York City that’s larger and more detailed than its predecessors, with new gameplay additions to accompany it. This means there are plenty of nooks and crannies for developer Insomniac Games to sequester hidden secrets. From gameplay quirks to easily missed encounters and Easter eggs, there are plenty of things players may never notice in Spider-Man 2.
While Insomniac’s three Spider-Man games take place in a self-contained universe (well, except for the Spider-Verse reference), it still frequently touts the trappings of Marvel’s comics and films. Many Insomniac iterations of beloved characters are familiar to fans, and even references to the wider Marvel canon can be found in places they might be expected. Still, the streets of New York are numerous, and a Spider-Man zipping by on a web is liable to miss some details.
10 Waving To New Yorkers
Embodying The Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
With the joys of swinging through New York at high speeds – made even better by Spider-Man 2‘s introduction of the Web Wings – many players may not have taken the time to stroll through the crowds of the city’s busy sidewalks. The DualSense’s Square button is normally reserved for attacking baddies, but pressing it around bystanders will cause Spider-Man to greet his fellow New Yorkers. Every once in a while, a pedestrian will have a unique interaction too, seen by pressing the Triangle button when a prompt appears.
9 Group Yoga
In A Brooklyn Park
Insomniac’s digital New York is surprisingly alive, and citizens can be seen going about their day in a number of ways. Spider-Man may stumble across a group yoga session, like the one pictured above in a Downtown Brooklyn park. The instructor will “sense a lot of chaos within” Spider-Man, suggesting some yoga may help. Pressing Triangle when the prompt appears will see Spider-Man and two others follow the instructor through a handful of poses.
8 Getting Hit By The Coney Island Roller Coaster
Before It’s Wrecked By Kraven’s Hunters
A fairly significant story mission, where Harry’s symbiote powers first manifest, takes place at Coney Island. The dramatic conclusion sees Peter and Harry saving roller coaster riders from almost certain death as its tracks collapse, but visiting the amusement park before Kraven’s hunters attack will let players see the attraction in motion. Standing on the tracks will even cause the roller coaster to hit Spider-Man as it comes around and knock him out of the way; a fairly insignificant detail, but one many aren’t likely to see before the early-game mission destroys the coaster.
7 Rick & Phin Mason’s Graves
In A Cemetery In Harlem
During the main story of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Miles visits the grave of his father, Jefferson Davis, and there’s a trophy for finding and visiting Aunt May’s burial site while controlling Peter, but there are two other headstones of significance to find – those of Rick and Phin Mason. Phin was Miles’ childhood friend, and turned out to be the Tinkerer in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, the game’s main villain. She took up the mantle after the death of her brother Rick, who was the original Tinkerer.
6 Miles’ Camouflage Against Symbiote Enemies
Turning Invisible Mid-Combat Doesn’t Work
Miles’ special ability to turn invisible is especially helpful in Spider-Man 2‘s many stealth sequences, but it can be useful in open combat as well. Human enemies can be befuddled mid-brawl if Miles turns invisible, giving players a chance to reposition or execute a finishing move. However, the game’s symbiote enemies, which appear all over New York controlling innocent civilians after Venom fully manifests, appear to be immune. Whether it’s through echolocation, infrared sight, or some other fine-tuned sense, the symbiotes will keep battling Miles when he tries to pull a fast one.
5 Suit-Specific Finishers
Certain Spider-Man Suits Have Special Moves
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has a number of suits to unlock for both Peter and Miles, but some of them come with secret benefits. Finishers, executed by pressing Triangle and Circle when enough Focus is banked, are some of the flashiest moves to be used in combat, and certain suits allow for unique ones. A couple examples include Miles’ Programmable Matter suit, which has a set of Spider Arms usually reserved for Peter in Spider-Man 2, and his Bodega Cat Suit, where Spider-Man (the cat) will emerge from the backpack to help Spider-Man (the superhero) deliver a final blow to a baddie.
4 Rhino’s Head
A Glitch Hints At Rhino’s Fate
Kraven’s Great Hunt results in the death of multiple supervillains, including Scorpion and Shocker. One prey Kraven never interracts with, though, is Rhino. One of the big bads in Miles Morales, Rhino was seemingly cut from Spider-Man 2. Only a glitch will reveal an unused room, where Rhino’s sad fate can be seen, his head mounted on Kraven’s wall as a trophy. The low texture quality of the objects in the unused room suggest it was cut from the game relatively early in production, perhaps when it became clear Rhino wouldn’t play a significant role in the story.
3 The Hand’s New York Base
Yet Another Daredevil Easter Egg
Spider-Man 2 has a number of links to Daredevil, known to the public as attorney Matthew Murdock, but one especially sneaky reference hints at one of the blind superhero’s notable antagonist organizations, the Hand. With origins in feudal Japan, the comics’ version of the Hand still thrives in the 21st century, and has had conflicts with many notable heroes, including Wolverine, who is a part of Insomniac’s universe. The Spider-Man 2 Easter egg is nothing more than a room filled with books, weapons, and occult objects, but its placement in Hell’s Kitchen, a red flag hanging outside, and the Hand’s proclivity for dark magic all make a rather convincing argument.
2 The Fantastic Four’s Baxter Building
An Unfinished Logo In Hell’s Kitchen
Another hidden reference courtesy of Spider-Man 2‘s Hell’s Kitchen district is a partially painted Fantastic Four logo. This would imply that the skyscraper it adorns is the Baxter Buidling, which notably houses the Fantastic Four’s headquarters in its five highest stories. Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, The Thing, and Human Torch don’t otherwise appear in Spider-Man 2, and the unfinished logo implies the superhero team is just getting started. It’s possible they get a mention in a future Marvel’s Spider-Man game, since the Fantastic Four generally make their identities known to the public.
1 Reference To Knull On The Symbiote Meteorite
Creator Of The Symbiotes
A fairly significant nod to the wider Marvel universe is hidden in plain sight. The meteorite which brought the Venom symbiote to Earth bears a red spiral, a symbol associated with Knull, the eldritch god that created the symbiotes. Red spirals tend to appear on symbiote thralls under Knull’s command, much like the spirals on the faces of the lesser symbiote enemies in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. With the game clearly hinting at DLC involving another symbiote, Carnage, it’s possible more will be explained about Knull and how he fits into Insomniac’s universe.
Source: Kevin Wong/X (formerly Twitter)
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
- Franchise:
- Spider-Man, Insomniac’s Marvel Universe
- Platform(s):
- PlayStation 5
- Released:
- 2023-10-20
- Developer(s):
- Insomniac Games
- Publisher(s):
- Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Genre(s):
- Adventure, Action
- Engine:
- Insomniac Engine v. 4.0
- ESRB:
- T
- Prequel(s):
- Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Marvel’s Spider-Man
