Key Highlights:
- The Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 prequel comic shows Peter Parker living at Aunt May’s house in Forest Hills, Queens.
- Peter’s move gives Insomniac a narrative reason to take players beyond Manhattan in the upcoming sequel.
- Queens has not been confirmed as a playable location, so its inclusion remains speculation for now.
A new Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 prequel comic has provided the strongest indication yet that the sequel could expand beyond Manhattan and into Queens.
The comic, released for Free Comic Book Day on May 6, shows Peter Parker living at Aunt May’s house in Forest Hills following the events of the previous games. Peter is dealing with the mortgage on the property while considering his future with Mary Jane, placing his Queens home firmly within the story leading into the sequel.
That does not confirm Queens as part of the playable map, but it gives the speculation considerably more weight.
Insomniac Games announced the official prequel comic as a bridge between Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. Narrative Director Jon Paquette said the story is designed to show what Peter, Miles Morales and Mary Jane have been doing since the previous game.
Peter’s new circumstances make Forest Hills particularly interesting.
Marvel’s Spider-Man and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales both centre their open worlds on Manhattan. If Peter now lives across the East River in Queens, Insomniac has a natural story reason for him to travel between his home and the areas explored in the previous games.
That still leaves an important distinction between a story location and a playable location. Aunt May’s house appearing in the comic does not establish that players will be able to freely explore Forest Hills or Queens in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.
The possibility is nevertheless more substantial than a location being selected at random by fans. The prequel is directly connected to Insomniac’s game continuity and deliberately establishes Peter’s current home before the sequel begins.
In the meantime, Queens remains an informed possibility rather than a confirmed expansion to Marvel’s New York. Insomniac has yet to reveal the sequel’s full map, leaving the extent of its playable world unknown ahead of its planned fall 2023 release on PS5.
Later update: Insomniac confirmed Queens as a playable area on May 24, 2023, just over two weeks after this article was published.
The first Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 gameplay reveal begins at Dr. Curt Connors’ home in Queens, which Insomniac described as one of the new playable and explorable boroughs being introduced in the sequel.
The expansion ultimately went further than the prequel comic suggested. Insomniac later confirmed that both Queens and Brooklyn would join Manhattan, with Marvel’s New York growing to nearly twice the size of the previous playable map.
