[Editor's note: The following contains spoilers for Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Like ... MAJOR spoilers.]
Back in 2018, Marvel and Insomniac Games delivered an all-time great in the web-swinging, supervillain-battling, quick-quipping Spider-Man. That fantastic action-packed superhero adventure came with tons of Marvel Comics tie-ins from decades of Stan Lee's spider-lore, but perhaps the biggest lore drop came from a post-credits scene that introduced an infamous villainous duo in an unexpected fashion. Spoilers ahead from here on out.
In Spider-Man, Norman Osborn was more of a side-lined businessman who didn't necessarily interact with Spider-Man directly but rather was the target of hatred and vengeance from Spidey's villains, Dr. Otto Octavius, a.k.a. Doc Ock, and franchise newcomer Martin Li, a.k.a. Mr. Negative. Doc felt that his share of Osc0rp -- derived from Octavius and Osborn being known as "The O's" instead of the usual "oz" from Osborn's name alone -- was unfairly denied to him by Norman, while Li rightly wanted to take revenge against Osborn for using him as a test subject for Devil's Breath, ultimately turning him into Mr. Negative and killing his parents. Folks who know their spider-lore might have expected Osborn to go all Green Goblin -- the breadcrumbs are all there -- but what happens is something else entirely.
The main story confirms that Osborn was researching Devil's Breath as a cure for his son Harry's neurodegenerative disease. It's not until the post-credits scene, however, that we learn that Harry is in a sort of medicinal tank under a coma-like stasis. It seems that Osborn has taken to other forms of research to save his son. Black, gooey tendrils of some unknown -- perhaps extraterrestrial -- origin entwine around Harry, even as they reach out towards Norman's hand when he places it on the tank. Creepy. But it's also a left turn of a lore drop, introducing what's likely the Venom symbiote into the story when everyone was expecting a Green Goblin origin tale. But wait, there's more!
Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales delivers an excellent follow-up to the main title that succeeds in a variety of ways. One of them is in connecting to both Marvel Comics stories and Spider-Man itself. Obviously Miles' origin story is rooted in both, but seeds of the Green Goblin / Venom's beginnings are in both as well. We've already covered Spider-Man, so here's what Miles Morales brings to the table:
When Miles and Phin are exploring the Oscorp Science Fair at the convention center during a flashback sequence, quite a bit of attention is paid to Oscorp's research into space travel and exploration. It'd be a throwaway bit of sci-fi fan service if it wasn't for the fact that it's laying the groundwork for the company's likely use of whatever it was they found in space, ie, the alien symbiote. That's not confirmed yet, but the mid-credits scene of Miles Morales certainly make it seem so.
You can watch the full mid-credits sequences in its entirety here:
Oh spider-babies, let me connect the dots for you if you're not immediately excited. First and foremost, Harry Osborn is probably coming out of that bacta venom tank ASAP. That's probably going to set up the emotional reunion for Peter Parker and Mary Jane with Harry while also raising some difficult questions. You can also see that Harry is not only super-naked, he's super-covered in what has to be the Venom symbiote; yikes again. What remains to be seen is if Harry's going to take on the Green Goblin moniker, or if that will fall to his father (or perhaps both?), or if Harry's going to combine with the symbiote to become a new Venom, or if he'll wittingly or otherwise give it up to combine with Peter Parker's Spider-Man. Who knows; there's a lot of ways this could go. But there's more!
Lurking in the background, with just one arm, is Dr. Curt Connors, perhaps better known as The Lizard. Dr. Connors was thought to appear in the first game as well, what with Dr. Octavius waxing on and on about not only replacing missing limbs with prosthetics but improving them. Connors is known to be working on similar research, using recombinant DNA from self-healing lizards to develop a treatment for people to regrow missing limbs, himself included. The namedrop and appearance of Connors here sets up not only another sympathetic scientist gone wrong, but hopefully a partnership with Peter Parker, and a number of fights with Connor-turned-Lizard.
This is a great reveal and connection back to the 2018 title, and now we just have to wait to see the Spider-Man 2 reveal. It can't come soon enough!