Spider-Man 2 has been on sale for a week now and, as we first shared on GameFragger.com, the sequel's creative team is beginning to talk spoilers. If you've completed the game, you'll know that it ends with two post-credits scenes, both of which promise to have huge consequences for the franchise moving forward.
In the first, Norman Osborn meets with Doctor Octopus in The Raft and demands that he reveal the secret identities of both Spider-Men so he can avenge his comatose son, Harry. Otto laughs at his old foe and teases his "final chapter," a hint he intends to return and take revenge on Peter Parker in Spider-Man 3.
Talking to Entertainment Weekly, senior creative director Bryan Intihar hinted at the extent of Doc Ock's apparent threat.
"People like to ask us how much the franchise is planned out," he says. "I can tell you that scene, in some way, has always been the plan since day one. We knew that the second game would end with that kind of scene."
As for whether this is leading to the Green Goblin's debut - Norman mentions the G-Serum earlier in the game while attempting to save his son - it does indeed sound like that's where the franchise is heading. "We've literally discussed Green Goblin at every game. The fact that you're even bringing up the question shows you how popular that character is."
"If you bring him in, it's kind of like Venom. There are very, very big expectations. So, you want to make sure if you're going to do it, you're going to deliver on it. At the end of this game, his son is now ostensibly taken away from him. So, we felt like we had a really good setup there to potentially kick off another story, if we ever decide to do something else with that character."
The second stinger sees Miles Morales finally meet his mom's boyfriend, Albert, and his daughter Cindy. Yes, Cindy Moon, a character from the comic books better known as the web-slinging superhero, Silk.
Spider-Man 2 narrative director Ben Arfmann tells Gizmodo, "Cindy’s always been a really compelling character in the comics who, similar to [SM1's] Martin Li, hasn’t really gotten a ton of exposure outside of the immediate fanbase. There’s something really exciting about taking a character who we love, who not everybody’s had a chance to meet, and exposing her to a wider audience."
"That was the real drive with her, and figuring out who Insomniac’s Cindy Moon is a really exciting challenge," he adds. "And we also have this interesting complication that [Cindy’s dad] Albert is dating [Miles’ mom] Rio, and we’re thrilled to explore how that creates a new iteration of this character that folks already love."
So, with the Green Goblin and Silk likely set to take centre stage in the threequel, we're guessing Carnage will be the next challenge for Peter Parker and Miles in DLC. That hasn't been announced by Insomniac yet but we're betting it arrives sometime in 2024.
Where do you think the Spider-Man franchise will go from here? Let us know in the comments section.