Venom in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is arguably more powerful than some of his versions in the comics, which depicted the character with multiple primary (and largely unknown) weaknesses.
Spider-Man fans have maintained a love-hate relationship with Venom, arguably one of Spidey’s best villains. The character has even transcended the big bad trope, as he has also been depicted as an anti-hero or unwilling ally to protagonists in numerous story arcs. While the same cannot be said about the character’s portrayal in video games, Venom’s appearance is always welcome in any Spider-Man title. However, PS5 players likely noticed that one of Venom’s key weaknesses is missing in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. In an IGN interview, game director Bryan Intihar says they fireproofed the character for purely practical reasons.
“Fire doesn’t hurt the Symbiote and Venom in this game, did you guys notice that?” Intihar admitted. “So originally, there was like five different weaknesses of the Symbiote, and we were like, ‘Oh my god, how are we going to communicate all these different things?'” He considered the weight of a potential exposition dump would interfere with the gameplay, so they decided to simplify the character’s vulnerabilities. “We were like, ‘you know what, for our universe, we’re just going to keep it to high frequency sound.'” This is far removed from versions of the character in the comics, who was defeated many times by arch-enemies or through his own undoing.
Venom’s Ability Boost Explained
Intihar said they still had to explain in-game why Venom is impervious to fire so as not to leave die-hard Spider-Man fans hanging. “Someone was like, ‘Why is Harry not getting hurt by the fire?’ and it’s like, if you noticed, in the rescue Tombstone mission, Pete purposefully says, ‘Is the fire bothering you?’ and he goes, ‘no, I don’t feel anything’, just so I can make sure that we cover our bases,” he clarified. Despite this discrepancy, players and critics overwhelmingly agree that Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is a stellar game, which immediately earned replay value with the discovery of “playable” and novel glitches.
Venom has gone through many iterations since he appeared as the big bad in Amazing Spider-Man, released for the Game Boy in 1990. Players have since debated which of the character’s versions is the most faithful adaptation, which includes 2000’s Marvel vs Capcom 2 and 2005’s Ultimate Spider-Man. Whether he’s a playable character or a level villain, Venom remains a favorite among players, even for those unaware of his deep backstory in the comics.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is exclusively available for the PlayStation 5.
Source: IGN via X (formerly Twitter)
