Gab Hernandez 
Fans of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 have a lot to look forward to as the game is seemingly set to receive free DLC featuring some of the most recognizable characters from Peter Parker’s rogues gallery.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is only one of the many games affected by the major Insomniac Games leaks. Among the leaks were plans for upcoming Insomniac titles such as Spider-Man 3 and an X-Men game. There was also a slew of confidential business details, including sales figures and internal reports.
Although the leaks were unfortunate for Insomniac, they gave fans a rare look at a studio’s long-term release roadmap. While most of the leaks cover details on games that won’t be released for as long as 10 years, Insomniac has some DLC planned for Spider-Man 2 to tide fans over in the meantime.
Carnage likely set to star in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 DLC
According to Insomniac, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will receive DLCs entitled Spider-Verse Anomaly, Extreme Carnage, and Beetle Infestation.
The Insomniac leaks included a slideshow that revealed plans for the future of its latest game. Among those plans are details on Spider-Man 2’s DLC, which is surprisingly planned to be free.
Beetle Infestation and Extreme Carnage will be open-world missions that include a boss fight against each DLC’s respective villain. The Beetle is a longtime minor antagonist of Spider-Man that has yet to appear in the games. On the flip side, Carnage is one of Spider-Man’s deadliest foes who has been at the center of major crossover events. His introduction was teased in the game, though it was unclear when he would appear.
The Spider-Verse Anomaly DLC may hint at what’s coming for the upcoming movie Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse. There will be Spider-Verse NPCs and villains, a special mission, and a unique filter based on the Spider-Verse films. Miles Morales had a skin in his previous game that referenced the movie’s unique visual style. It will be interesting to see how that feels across an entire DLC mission.
Will the Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Carnage, Spider-Verse DLC be free?
Insomniac Games indicated internally that the Carnage, Beetle, and Spider-Verse DLC for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will be free. The DLC hasn’t been confirmed, nor has anything regarding its price.
Spider-Man 2 has sold over 5 million units as of November 2023. The character has proven to be an incredible commercial success for Sony and Insomniac, with first game selling over 30 million units across its different releases.
Free DLC might be turning into a trend for Sony’s titles. Recently, God of War: Ragnarok released a fully-fledged roguelite DLC, Valhalla. Far from just reusing assets, the DLC had several new maps and enemies, as well as a fully voice-acted storyline. The scope of the Spider-Man 2 DLC seems to be similarly broad given the names attached to it.
The first Marvel’s Spider-Man game had paid DLC with The City That Never Sleeps. The decision to move to offering substantial paid DLC is a surprise in some ways, but could be related to a planned multiplayer expansion. Sony has been aggressively looking to create live-service games and the plan could be to subtly turn Spider-Man 2 into one over time, with free expansions keeping the player base engaged.
As for when the DLC will come out, it’s unclear. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has seen delays to its planned free content updates. Internal reporting suggested that the multiplayer component would be added to the game in 2024, and there were conflicting details regarding a Venom spin-off. Fans
