Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Trailer Ends Debate Over Who Venom Really Is

This article features spoilers for Marvel’s Spider-Man and speculation for Spider-Man 2 based on information revealed in the Comic-Con 2023 trailer.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will introduce Venom to Insomniac Games’ world and fans have, until now, been locked in hot debate over the villain’s true identity.

Thanks to a new trailer released during Comic-Con 2023, the man behind the mask (or goo) is all but confirmed to be Harry Osborn, which is who Insomniac set up as Venom at the end of the first game by literally showing the symbiote attach itself to him.

Some fans didn’t love that theory though so tricked themselves into thinking it was a red herring. “Harry is too easy of a choice so I’m hoping it’s a misdirect,” said one Reddit user earlier this year. “If Harry dies as Venom then Goblin will just have revenge as his motive, which is kinda lame and generic.”

Unless the trailer is a second red herring, however, it’s fairly obvious Harry is in fact Venom. The trailer opens with Spidey’s bestie promising, “I’m gonna heal the world,” and closes with the gruff voice of Venom saying: “We’re gonna heal the world.”

HearTheEkko on Reddit was relieved the matter is now settled. “This should finally clear the confusion whenever Harry is Venom or not,” they said. “As if it wasn’t clear enough already.”

Another post, headlined by “Harry is Venom confirmed”, saw similar comments. “This was all but confirmed for the past two games, yet people on this sub wanted to die on the ‘it’s not Harry’ hill,” said Shujinky.

“I honestly don’t get how people thought it was a mystery,” added ItsYaBoy-Moe. “We saw him in the tank with black goo around him twice.”

Official final confirmation will likely only come when Spider-Man 2 launches on October 20, of course, though Insomniac is revealing more and more about the game after saying virtually nothing for a year after its reveal.

Insomniac announced a limited edition PlayStation 5 alongside the new trailer, revealed a chunky collector’s edition back in June, and even released new gameplay, bizarrely, in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.