Insomniac reportedly once had an idea for Venom-centric DLC for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 as well as a spin-off game starring the aggressive symbiote, but it’s claimed these plans changed following the death of actor Tony Todd.
Speaking on the Love It Film podcast recently, Spider-Man 2’s Miles Morales actor Nadji Jeter claimed developer Insomaniac once had more content planned for Venom. “We were going to have a Venom game. We were going to drop a Venom game and a Venom DLC, but we lost Tony Todd,” Jeter said. Todd, of course, lent his ominous vocal stylings to Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s aggressive symbiote before his passing in 2024, aged 69.
“They showed me how everything was going to be,” Jeter continued. “It was gonna be a Venom video game. Y’all played the Venom playthrough? It was just gonna be a Venom video game.”
Notably, when Insomniac released its Spider-Man 2 New Game Plus update in March 2024, the studio accidentally gave players access to a development menu. While this hiccup was soon fixed, players still managed to unearth content which was not in the base game, suggesting it was either cut ahead of release or was set aside for DLC. Among other things, there was mention of being able to free roam as MJ, young Peter, and – aha! – Venom.
Following Jeter’s claims, however, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier has weighed in on the conversation. Writing in a ResetEra thread titled “Leaked Venom game by Insomniac cancelled due to the passing of Tony Todd”, Schreier simply posted: “This isn’t true.” Does that mean there was never any Venom game in development at Insomniac or that there is a Venom game in the works but it hasn’t been cancelled? It’s currently unclear. Meanwhile, in this same thread, another user said: “This runs contradictory to what was being discussed at GDC.” As a reminder, the month before Todd’s death, Insomniac confirmed it had “no additional story content planned” for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.
Eurogamer has asked Sony for clarification on any Venom plans Insomniac may have.
Insomniac is currently working on Marvel’s Wolverine, which was first teased back in 2021 during a PlayStation Showcase. We still don’t have a release date, though Insomniac has promised it will share more details this spring.
