Key Highlights:
- Insomniac Games has released a new character poster providing its clearest look yet at Curt Connors as the Lizard.
- The May gameplay reveal showed Kraven’s Hunters pursuing Connors while Peter Parker and Miles Morales attempt to reach him first.
- Earlier games had already established that Peter previously encountered the Lizard and that Connors later became involved in Harry Osborn’s treatment.
Insomniac Games has revealed a clearer look at Curt Connors in his Lizard form ahead of the October 20 launch of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 on PlayStation 5.
The new Lizard character poster was shared on September 7 and shows Insomniac’s version of the villain in considerably more detail than the footage released earlier in the year. Connors has transformed into a large reptilian creature with a long tail, pronounced spikes and very little of his human appearance remaining.
Players had already seen the Lizard during the first Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 gameplay reveal in May.
That sequence established that Kraven’s Hunters are pursuing Dr. Curt Connors as part of the Great Hunt. Peter Parker and Miles Morales are also tracking him, placing the two Spider-Men between Connors and a heavily armed faction determined to capture him.
The gameplay begins at Connors’ home in Queens before the pursuit moves through the city and onto the East River. Miles eventually tracks the Lizard to the Harlem Fish Market while Peter, wearing the symbiote suit, joins the wider chase.
Connors is not a completely new character within Insomniac’s Spider-Man universe.
Marvel’s Spider-Man had already established that Peter encountered the Lizard before the events of the 2018 game. One of Peter’s old backpacks contains a vial labelled “Lizard’s Blood”, with Peter recalling that he previously developed a cure for Connors that did not last.
That detail means the enormous creature shown in Spider-Man 2 is not Peter’s first encounter with Connors as the Lizard. What remains unexplained before release is why the doctor has transformed again and why this version appears considerably larger and more animalistic.
Connors himself made his first on-screen appearance in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
The game’s mid-credits scene shows him working with Norman Osborn while Harry Osborn remains inside the experimental containment chamber first revealed in Marvel’s Spider-Man. Connors warns Norman against releasing Harry, but Norman orders him to begin the process.
That scene established Connors as someone directly involved in Harry’s treatment before Spider-Man 2, while the sequel’s gameplay places him at the centre of another major problem.
Insomniac has not yet explained whether Connors willingly transformed again, whether another character caused the change or whether his previous condition simply returned. The May footage and September character poster confirm the result, but not the cause.
The new design is also noticeably different from the more human-looking Lizard associated with many versions of the character. Insomniac’s interpretation is much larger, with an animalistic posture, heavy scales and prominent spikes running along his body.
I see that scale as the most important change in the design. Insomniac is presenting the Lizard less like a scientist trapped inside a humanoid reptile and more like an uncontrolled creature powerful enough to become a genuine physical threat to both Spider-Men.
The sequel therefore brings together two sides of Curt Connors that Insomniac has been building separately. His human form is connected to Norman and Harry Osborn, while his history as the Lizard gives Peter a personal reason to try to save him rather than simply defeat him.
Exactly what caused Connors to become the Lizard again remains unanswered ahead of release.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 launches exclusively for PlayStation 5 on October 20, 2023.
Later update: The finished game reveals that Connors did not voluntarily become the Lizard again. Kraven’s Hunters capture him and Kraven forces his transformation as part of the Great Hunt.
The game also confirms that Peter first encountered the Lizard years earlier while he was at college, and Peter eventually succeeds in curing Connors again after defeating his larger transformed form.
