Discussing Wraith in Insomniac's Spider-Man II: Maximum Carnage Arc

Winter · Post by **Winter** » Thu Nov 02, 2023 7:54 pm

The discussing with The Punisher post got me thinking about Yuri over in Spider-Man 2 and her possible arcs in future installments.

I've mentioned before that I think Carnage will not be a major antagonist in the third game and one the reasons for that is the Side Quest Subplot in SM2 clearly sets up Carnage as Yuri's arch-nemesis. Not Peter's, not Miles', Not Venom's but Yuri's. Her hunting the Flame down and wanting to kill him is the focus of her side quests and it's made clear he's obsessed with her.

As such Yuri's conflict with Carnage will no doubt be the main focus of that story with Peter and Miles being supporting protagonists and likely turns into a battle of wills as Peter and Carnage fight for Yuri's soul. Hence why I think such a story would not be a full on game but rather a DLC or more likely a Expansion Pack (my guess it will run in at about 10 or 15 hours 17 to 20 hours to finish).

As I talked about in The Punisher thread one of the more interesting elements of Frank Castle is how he embodies the concept that the best solution to dealing with criminals is to kill them so they can no longer pose a threat. This is something many anti-Superheroes have felt with one of the most notable examples being Jason Todd aka Red Hood over on Batman and Yuri aka Wrath being the most recent example.

Spider-Man is a notable example of a Superhero with a strike "No Killing Rule" and while many of the films forget this it has been present in the Insomniac games as even if you knock a villain off a building we get this animation of them being webbed to the side of it (though funny story one time in the first game I hit a guy so hard that he went flying and the animation of him getting webbed didn't happen but still). This is at the center of Peter and Yuri's relationship in the Flame Side Quest Subplot, Yuri wants to kill the Flame while Peter doesn't want her to kill him and just arrest him.

Obviously one of the most well known Carnage focused stories is Maximum Carnage and the whole point of that story was the heroes refusing to stoop to the level of the villain and instead they looked for ways to subdue and arrest them,. The whole point of that... extremely violent game was to show that violence ISN'T the answer that no matter how bad things get you cannot stoop to the villains level because it will not solve anything.

I think it's pretty obvious that MC will be a major inspiration for the upcoming entry as the theme of The Flame is the same just on a smaller scale and in the end there is no definitive answer. Peter is not sure if sparing the Flame was the right call and Yuri clearly cares more about saving her friend then catching the Flame.

I do worry that Yuri will be killed off in such a story or go the whole "Friend Turned Adversary" trope that this series is kind of obsessed with (seriously that's been the story in the 3 games and two of the DLCs and is basically the plot of the whole series via Norman Osborn's arc). I hope I'm wrong and that Yuri will turn from this path and just join the heroes as a full time superhero like Jason has done.