Canceled Ultimate Spider-Man 2 Game Would Have Featured Green Goblin as Playable Character

Nearly two decades after it was quietly canceled, Ultimate Spider-Man 2—a planned sequel to the beloved 2005 video game—has re-emerged as one of gaming’s most fascinating “what-if” stories. Thanks to newly surfaced details from former developers, fans now have a clearer picture of what could have been a groundbreaking superhero game.

A Bigger, Bolder Sequel

According to a deep-dive by YouTuber Spidey Santa, who spoke with several anonymous Treyarch developers, the canceled sequel was set to dramatically expand on the first game in both scope and gameplay. One of the standout features: Green Goblin was planned as a fully playable character.

Players would have controlled Norman Osborn in a parallel storyline to Spider-Man's, with the villain attempting to rescue his son Harry from S.H.I.E.L.D. custody—using his own brutal tactics. Developers like Chris Salazar, the project’s lead texture artist, revealed that enemies were designed specifically for aerial combat, including mini S.H.I.E.L.D. helicopters with dual-agent crews.

Expanded Map: Brooklyn, Queens, and Coney Island

The sequel would have expanded the open-world map to include Brooklyn and a larger, more detailed version of Queens. New locations were set to include:

• Norman Osborn’s industrial shipyards

• Residential areas and wealthier neighborhoods

• The Brooklyn Bridge as a major new traversal point

• A fully explorable Coney Island amusement park

This expansion would have significantly deepened the world’s verticality and exploration options—an ambitious technical feat for its time.

Winter Weather and Snowy Mechanics

A snow-covered New York City was another planned innovation. This feature, which was reportedly cut from the first game, would have finally debuted in the sequel. Concept art and leftover files show snowball animations and frosty urban environments that would have introduced both visual flair and new gameplay mechanics.

Marvel Cameos and Team-Ups

Ian Hosfield concept art

The game was also set to include a cast of Marvel guest characters, expanding the comic book universe:

• Wolverine was expected to return

• Doctor Doom would have a central role

• Daredevil and his nemeses, The Hand, were planned

• Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat) was to be a key supporting character

Team-up mechanics were in development, allowing Spider-Man to perform combo attacks with allies during major battles.

A Darker Story: “Death of a Goblin”

The core storyline would have drawn from the Death of a Goblin comic arc. After a prison break orchestrated by Doctor Doom, Norman Osborn would have escaped and formed a "Sinister Five": Vulture, Electro, Kraven, Rhino, and himself.

The plot would center on Norman’s tragic pursuit of Harry Osborn, now transformed into the Hobgoblin, culminating in a fatal showdown between father and son. This emotional climax would have laid the groundwork for Doctor Doom as the main villain in a potential third installment.

Why It Was Canceled

Despite the ambitious scope, Ultimate Spider-Man 2 never made it to release. Speaking to Spidey Santa, Chris Salazar pointed to a lack of marketing support from Activision. “I would guess that Activision never wanted to invest in promotion to the extent it would need,” he said. He described a “chicken-and-egg” problem: without sufficient marketing, sales of the first game underperformed, which made the publisher hesitant to greenlight a sequel.

Compounding the issue, Treyarch was stretched thin at the time, simultaneously developing Spider-Man 3 and Call of Duty 3, leading to internal resource strain.

Now, as the original Ultimate Spider-Man approaches its 20th anniversary in 2025, fans continue to reflect on what might have been. In an era where Marvel’s Spider-Man from Insomniac Games has set a new gold standard, the canceled sequel serves as a poignant reminder of a bold, creative vision that never saw the light of day.