How Spider-Man 2 Builds a Greater Spider-Verse

Spider-Man 2099 and Delilah

One of the many quest lines in Spider-Man 2 involves Spidey tracking down a number of out-of-control Spider-Bots. This culminates in a bizarre encounter in which Spidey meets a futuristic bartender named Delilah. Delilah immediately summons all of the Spider-Bots through a portal and into a convenient carrying case. She leaves Spidey with the parting words: “If Miguel is looking for this, tell him: Finder and Keeper.”

The Miguel in question is undoubtedly Miguel O’Hara, better known as Spider-Man 2099. Miguel is the designated Spider-Man of Nueva York in 2099. Miguel, a former employee of the sinister corporation Alchemax, turns against the company and has it done His DNA was partially overwritten with that of a spider. He possesses similar abilities to Peter Parker, in addition to other powers such as night vision, finger claws, and venomous fangs.

Spider-Man 2099 was of course introduced to a wider audience this year when he appeared in the animated film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (voiced by Oscar Isaac).

But who is Delilah? This question is harder to answer because it doesn’t appear to directly correspond to an existing Marvel character. In the comics, there is a Spider-Man villain named Delilah, but she has no connection to Miguel or the world of 2099. We’re not even sure Delilah is human, considering her strangely polygonal body shape. Is she even a physical person or a VR-based avatar?

It could be the latter, which could mean Delilah is connected to the character Lyla. Lyla is Miguel’s smart, holographic AI companion. Delilah the bartender might just be Insomniac’s version of Lyla.

Miles Morales meets Cindy Moon

Spider-Man 2 teases another important Spider-Verse character at the very end. The post-credits scene shows Miles, Rio and Hailey preparing dinner for Albert. Albert introduces his daughter Cindy to the group. Cindy Moon is better known as the spider-powered heroine Silk.

In the comics, Cindy was revealed to be a classmate of Peter Parker who was bitten by the same radioactive spider that gave Peter his powers. She gained many of Spider-Man’s abilities and also had organic tissue.

However, it wasn’t until years later that Peter discovered that there was another Spider-Man in New York. This is because Cindy’s parents were approached by Peter’s former benefactor Ezekiel to mentor and protect her from the vampiric villain known as Morlun. Cindy ended up spending years in a vault before she was finally released and met Spider-Man. Cindy has now built a new life for herself and fights against evil as Silk, both alone and in teams like the Agents of Atlas.

We see very little of Cindy in the post-credits scene (we never actually see her face), but this scene suggests that Insomniac will be going in its own direction with the character. The background story with Ezekiel and the locked safe no longer seems to be known. Cindy isn’t even a colleague of Peter Parker in this universe, but seems destined to strike up a friendship with Miles instead. There’s reason to believe that Insomniac will be developing a direct sequel to 2020’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and we could imagine Cindy as a supporting character in that game.

Insomniac explores the Spider-Verse

These Spider-Man 2099 and Silk cameos in Spider-Man 2 both point to one thing: Insomniac is beginning to explore the broader Spider-Verse. There are now numerous Spider-Man spin-offs in the Marvel Universe. There are several spider women and spider girls. There are the various Spider-Man clones and the Superior Spider-Man (a version of Spidey with Doctor Octopus’ mind superimposed on Peter’s). And that doesn’t even count the dozens upon dozens of versions of Spider-Man from various alternate universes. Spider-Man 2 makes it clear that nothing is off the table.

To be clear, this doesn’t necessarily mean Insomniac is diving into the Marvel multiverse. While the multiverse has been a popular storytelling material for the Spider-Man films of late, the Insomniac games haven’t really acknowledged the multiverse yet (although Insomniac’s Spidey does reference its alternate universes in the 2018 comic book crossover Spider-Geddon meets). The games have even avoided the multiverse when it comes to the Peter/Miles dynamic. Unlike the comics and the Spider-Verse films, Peter and Miles have always existed in the same universe.

Even these new Spider-Verse cameos suggest that Insomniac will stick with a version of the Marvel Universe going forward. Miguel comes from the future of this world. Cindy is part of this universe. In other words, we wouldn’t necessarily expect Spider-Gwen, Spider-Man Noir, and Spider-Ham to come around.

However, these cameos suggest that the series will be bigger than one or even two Spider-Mans. In the next game, we could see Cindy’s superhero origin story and give Miles the chance to play the experienced mentor to a young hero. Miguel may be traveling from the future, creating the possibility of a fourth Spider-Man in the same city. Spider-Man 3 could be the spiritual successor to 2010’s Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, which allowed players to take control of four incarnations of Spider-Man.

How deep into the Spider-Verse could Insomniac go? Will we see Spider-Woman or Spider-Girl? Could we finally meet the Insomniac version of Gwen Stacy and see her become Spider-Gwen/Ghost Spider? The series could have real legs beyond Peter Parker and Miles Morales. Even without the multiverse in the game, the Spider-Man franchise has many great heroes to offer.

For more on Spider-Man 2, check out our full breakdown of the game’s ending and the many Spider-Man costumes in the game.

Jesse is a friendly contributor to IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket Follow @jschedeen on Twitter.