Spider-Man 2: Is Scorpion really dead?

During the fifth Main Story mission of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Scorpion is revealed as one of the supervillains in the game. But just three missions later, Kraven appears to kill him.

Scorpion (a.k.a. Mac Gargan) has been around almost as long as Spider-Man himself, first appearing in The Amazing Spider-Man #19 in 1964, and he’s frequently ranked among the best villains in the Marvel universe(s). So, his death a pretty big deal—if he really is dead, that is.

Warning: Spoilers for the main story of Spider-Man 2 ahead.

Did Kraven kill Scorpion in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2?

The simplest and most obvious answer is that yes, Scorpion is dead. And also, no, since Scorpion will probably not stay that way.

Let’s look at the evidence. After Spider-Man sneaks and fights his way through the Hunter base during the Bad Guys On The Block Main Story mission, he discovers a database of supervillains on one of the Hunters’ computer terminals.

Then we cut to a different location in the same base. Kraven approaches a cage, looking slightly surprised to find it open. There’s a splodge of green goo on the broken lock, and dead Hunters lie half buried in the sand (which really does get everywhere).

Suddenly, Scorpion launches himself out of the sand and stings Kraven in the chest. Kraven, seemingly unfazed, holds firm and catches scorpion by the throat. Scorpion utters the typical cheesy taunt, “Have a nice trip!” before Kraven grabs him by the stinger and snaps it clean off. Then he grabs Scorpion by the throat again and plunges the stinger into his side. Scorpion says, “Ggnn… urgh…” then drops to the ground and stops moving which, in my experience, is exactly what people do when they die.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man has figured out that Kraven is not teaming up with supervillains, but is hunting them, and he contacts Miles to let him know. He tells Miles, “He killed Scorpion,” although it’s not explained how he knows this. The Bad Guys On The Block mission completes and its summary now reads (in Miles’ voice), “This Kraven guy killed Scorpion!?” So, even Miles isn’t sure it really happened. Maybe he’s Googling it. Maybe he’s reading this article. Miles, is that you?

So, is Scorpion really dead? Well, all I can tell you is that he doesn’t make any kind of comeback in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, at least not in the base game. So, he might well be dead for this run of Spider-Man games. But if he’s dead in the Marvel’s Spider-Man game universe, that definitely doesn’t mean he’s dead in all the other Marvel universes. And it’s pretty standard practice to kill Marvel characters off then bring them back in some convoluted way anyway. Remember how Groot died at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy, but then they just grew a new Groot for the next movie? And Loki has died at least three times in the Marvel movies, and it didn’t stop him getting his own TV series. Then there’s Tony Stark, who is either dead or invincible, depending on which universe you ask.

I reckon Scorpion is about as “dead” as those three and countless other trademarked characters belonging to the $50 billion Marvel brand. I wouldn’t even be surprised if he pops up in the Marvel’s Spider Man 2 DLC.