Spider-Man 2 just launched on PlayStation 5 (PS5), and some are wondering if Doctor Strange makes an appearance.
While Insomniac’s Spider-Man franchise is largely a love letter to the iconic web-head, the world the studio has crafted is crawling with tiny Easter eggs referencing other super-powered heroes from across the Marvel canon.
These nuggets of Marvel-tinged gold have left fans searching far and wide for every reference and potential cameo they can find.
Names like Daredevil, the Avengers, Black Panther, and the Fantastic Four, have all been given a tip of the hat among so many others including Marvel’s Good Doctor.
Is Doctor Strange in PS5 Spider-Man 2?
Warning – The rest of this article contains spoilers for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
After the Sanctum Santorum made an appearance in the first Insomniac Spider-Man game, fans are itching to know if Doctor Strange is in the recently released Spider-Man 2 PS5 game.
While not expressly present in the happenings of the PlayStation sequel, there are a few pretty overt references to the super-powered sorcerer.
During an early mission titled “Make Your Own Choices” Miles Morales is forced to track Felicia Hardy (a.k.a. the cat burglar known as Black Cat), as she reemerges in New York City.
Miles traces clues left behind by Black Cat to the Sanctum Santorum where she has stolen the Wand of Watoomb, a mystical artifact that can open portals just like Benedict Cumberbatch’s Master of the Mystic Arts does in the MCU.
A chase then ensues, as Miles races after Felicia who is popping in and out of portals across the Big Apple and beyond.
This mission ends with Felicia revealing she is trying to get out of town to be safe with her girlfriend who has settled down in Paris and Miles letting her go.
As she closes the portal to Paris behind her, she gifts Miles the Wand of Watoomb which quickly disappears, and in its place is a note from Sorceror Supreme Wong thanking Miles, saying, “Sorry, just got back from Nepal. The Doctor and I owe you. – Wong.”
Why Did Wong and Doctor Strange Not Show Up in Spider-Man 2?
While this whole Doctor Strange-adjacent mission is a much more flashy and less subtle reference to the greater Marvel universe than anything that has come before it in Incomniac’s Spider-Man games, it does come as a shock that Wong and Doctor Strange do not (physically) show up in the PS5 title.
Given the Marvel Easter eggs in past Spider-Man PlayStation games had only ever been abstruse, easy-to-miss elements of set dressing, it certainly felt like this whole portal sequence was leading to a physical Stange appearance.
However, Insomniac instead chose to keep the curtain closed on Marvel characters outside of the Spider-Man canon showing up in the franchise.
The studio has been very careful on this front. It keeps things locked in on the wall-crawler while also making it clear its Spider-Man story takes place in a greater Marvel world, with these subtle references or its version of Spidey showing up in other media like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
The Spider-Man 2 developer has seemingly confirmed its upcoming Wolverine will take place in the same “new, original universe” as its Spider-Man games (via The PlayStation Blog), meaning that perhaps somewhere down the line the web-slinger may crossover with some of the other heroes from the Marvel Comics roster.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is now available for PlayStation 5.
