Spider-Man 2 saw Laura Bailey’s Mary Jane character take a villainous twist and become the symbiote known as Scream.
Insomniac Games’ latest super-powered adventure took a stab at one of the most iconic Spider-Man stories of all time, bringing the notorious Symbiote known as Venom into the fray along with Peter Parker’s iconic black spidey suit.
While this PlayStation 5 (PS5) epic took plenty of inspiration from the classic comics storyline, there were plenty of twists and turns to enjoy.
Whether it was a massive reference to a certain Sorceror Supreme or a post-credits scene that will leave gamers speechless, even the most seasoned Marvel fanatic has a plethora of surprises to look forward to in the wall-crawling adventure.
Mary Jane’s Symbiote Twist Explained
Warning – This article contains spoilers for Insomniac Games’ Spider-Man 2.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 on PS5 featured a Venom twist for Mary Jane no one saw coming.
Late into the game’s story (during the mission “This Isn’t You”), Peter has to take on Mary Jane Watson in a super-powered boss fight after she becomes the Venom-adjacent Symbiote Scream.
The mission sees Spider-Man hunting down his best friend Harry Osborn after Harry once again becomes the host for the game’s central symbiote, Venom.
Peter ends up at Aunt May’s former home in Queens, where Harry has taken MJ prisoner and is trying to level with his friend about the dangers of his alien miracle cure.
From there, Harry loses his temper, infecting Mary Jane with a little bit of the Symbiote and transforming her into the villainous Scream.
Harry/Venom flees as Peter and Scream go at it in the streets with a few brutal truths being said by the infected Mary Jane.
Pete eventually scares the Symbiote off MJ, ending her brief time as the Marvel villain.
Who Is Spider-Man 2’s Scream?
While Scream may be new to the world of Insomniac’s Spider-Man, she has been a Spidey-adjacent mainstay in Marvel Comics for years.
The Symbtioic villainess first appeared in May 1993’s Venom: Lethal Protector #4, joining the comics universe as one of five Symbiote spawns derived from the original Venom Symbiote.
The character was born following research by the mysterious Life Foundation in the comics world. In the wake of the Cold War, the Life Foundation sought to develop miracle cures for wealthy clients that could help in the event of a nuclear-scale event.
This led the organization to eventually capture Venom and forcibly extract his Symbiote seed to develop different versions of the character.
Over the years, Scream has inhabited several characters, but never has Mary Jane been the alter-ego of the character.
The most prominent Scream host was its first host, Donna Diego. Donna was a member of the Life Foundation who was a part of the mission of capturing Venom that led to the creation of Scream in the first place. Donna would go on to don the Symbiote, taking on the Scream alter-ego for years to come.
She was eventually killed during the Hunted storyline, with Scream abandoning her body as a host during the Absolute Carnage arc and leading the Symbiote to set up shop in military woman Patricia Robertson.
Patricia was not long for the Symbiote lifestyle though, dying at the hands of the sinister Carnage shortly after as she tried to use her Venom-esque powers for good to save a young girl named Andi Benton.
Andi would go on to be the next host of the Symbiotic villain. During her time with Scream, she would take on the Venom hive-mind, the dastardly Symbiote known as Hybrid, and the return of the Knulkl to Earth.
However, she was eventually separated from Scream with the Symbiote now contained at the research firm Alchemax.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is available now for PlayStation 5.
