Marvel Spider-Man 2’s Missing DLC Story May Explain Why Fans Still Feel Divided

The sequel is undoubtedly one of the most controversial PlayStation releases lately, simply because no matter what people say about its quality, there's always a debate over whether it deserves its high ratings. While some gamers claim the sequel is an improvement in almost every way compared to its predecessors, others say it was underwhelming because it failed to meet the expectations set by the first game.

Despite its popularity and positive reviews, some players believe something was definitely missing in the sequel. When playing Marvel Spider-Man 2, it's immediately obvious why there are so many controversies surrounding the game. It should be admitted that, when looking at Marvel Spider-Man 2’s Missing DLC Story may explain why fans still feel divided, the technical side, the sequel is indeed better in absolutely every way possible.

Starting from better graphics, smoother movement system, faster fighting, and ending with excellent swinging through the city, everything in the game felt better. The performances, soundtrack, and general presentation of the game deserve praise, too; that is why the sequel turned out to be a big step forward compared to its predecessors.

The game's plot became the biggest point of criticism. 

Most players claimed that the narrative becomes very fast-paced in the later parts of the game and fails to develop some of its core themes properly. Instead of being seen as an ambitious sequel, the game appears to need further development to tie up loose ends. There were several storylines left unresolved, with no payoff at all, which made players even more eager for possible DLC expansions.

Despite the absence of any announcements about the story expansions by Insomniac Games, the expectation of such DLC arose quite quickly once the game became available. It happened because, after launching its predecessor, the company released three DLC chapters, known as The City That Never Sleeps, right after.

Apart from that, Marvel Spider-Man 2 itself appeared to be built for future content updates. Some side quests presented some information that looked like incomplete concepts that would eventually make sense after additional expansions. Some storylines that would usually be wrapped up by the end of the game's main plot remained open-ended, prompting gamers to speculate about future content.

The idea of future expansions got stronger when an unusual event occurred with the developer’s menu of the game.

Not long after the release of Marvel Spider-Man 2, Insomniac Games made an update that inadvertently exposed the developer’s menu on the PS5 version of the game. For a while, users had access to some extra materials that were not supposed to appear at all in such a form.

Gamers swiftly managed to find out about cut missions, secret locations, debugging features, and other mechanics that had been cut from the final game release. Some even managed to play as non-playable characters, including walking around the city as Peter Parker without his Spider-Man suit.

However, the most significant find for gamers was the existence of a menu item named “Beetle Villain Arc.” This one revelation was enough to make many gamers believe that at least one DLC expansion had already been in development at Insomniac. Later, rumors began circulating that Insomniac initially intended to develop three DLC expansions for Marvel's Spider-Man 2.

The first one is believed to have involved Beetle, an obscure Spider-Man foe from the Marvel Comics universe. According to the leak, this particular incarnation of Beetle had ties to Tombstone and fought with advanced armor and robotically controlled flying foes. Details discovered through the developer console pointed to hostage-taking scenarios, ambush missions, introductory scenes, and boss battles.

All things considered, the expansion pack seemed to be a short story involving a minor villain rather than a full-fledged plot point that would expand upon the game’s storyline. While some players liked the premise, others were less enthusiastic about the prospect of battling more robotic foes, given how repetitive that might be in the wake of the original campaign storyline.

The second leak received considerably more attention since it involved Carnage. In Marvel Spider-Man 2, one side storyline follows a cult tied to Cletus Kasady, known in Marvel lore as the host of Carnage. The missions heavily tease Carnage’s future appearance, but the storyline never fully pays off before the game ends.

This is what led to an overwhelming majority of gamers being confident of a Carnage DLC. Even more interestingly, fans were sure that such DLC could solve one of the biggest problems in the sequel: a story issue.

The symbiotes already play a prominent role in the game, and towards the end, there was concern that they were taking up too much space. This meant that Carnage DLC would be able to solve this problem and provide a conclusion for the symbiote story in one game. Additionally, a Carnage DLC could delve deeper into the villains' nature.

Namely, Carnage is known to be much more violent compared to Venom, and a DLC could reflect that fact. According to reports, the third leaked expansion was related to the Spider-Verse concept. This expansion appeared to be considerably more limited than the previously mentioned DLCs and seemed to focus on short missions, suits, and crossover material related to the spider-bot missions already available in-game.

Although all the information had been obtained through leaks, no official announcement concerning the development of these expansions was made.

Eventually, around the time of the release of Marvel Spider-Man 2 for PC, Insomniac Games officially declared that no further story-related material would be added to this game. Immediately, this raised questions about why all those plans were canceled.

Another very important point is the ransomware attack that affected Insomniac right after the launch of Marvel Spider-Man 2. In total, over a terabyte of internal data was exfiltrated, including information about Marvel's Wolverine, schedules, sales data, and unannounced projects. It is often believed that this incident significantly affected many of Insomniac's development decisions and priorities.

The issue with costs could also have been a significant factor in the developers' decision-making process for Marvel Spider-Man 2. According to reports, the game turned out to be one of the most expensive on the PlayStation platform, possibly exceeding God of War Ragnarök or The Last of Us Part II in terms of costs.

However, it is also known that Insomniac focuses heavily on Marvel's Wolverine. Under such circumstances, following the incident, the developers could decide that it is necessary to focus on Wolverine and forget about Spider-Man 2's DLCs. In some cases, rejected concepts may still be implemented in subsequent game iterations.

In particular, Carnage appears to be a villain that Insomniac is keeping under wraps for some other future title, such as an independent Venom project or even Marvel Spider-Man 3. Marvel Spider-Man 3 will face immense pressure due to the controversy surrounding the story that followed the release of the sequel. Despite the fact that the majority of fans liked the game, criticism of its pace, omitted parts, and unfinished plotlines raises serious concerns about the development direction.

The following game will most likely place more emphasis on Peter Parker. If Doctor Octopus and Green Goblin are featured as antagonists, they will be excellent candidates for introducing additional narrative elements related to the hero's life, since both are associated with Peter's backstory.

However, for the time being, the primary priority of Insomniac Games is still going to be the upcoming Wolverine game, which means there might not be any significant information about the upcoming Venom spin-off or Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 before the release of Wolverine. Meanwhile, the previously canceled expansions for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 are still affecting how most gamers view the title, especially since the expansions seemed to contain many of the missing storyline elements from the game.