Spider-Man has battled The Lizard in video games on multiple occasions, and Dr. Curt Connors will step back into the spotlight in this October's Spider-Man 2.
The first game established that Peter Parker has already crossed paths with the villain so, short of a retcon, we're assuming their history will continue to be fleshed out in this next instalment. However, as the sequel's first gameplay video confirmed, Kraven the Hunter also plans on setting his sights on The Lizard!
A newly released character poster offers perhaps our best look yet at this monstrous take on the character and we're definitely curious to learn what sort of role he'll play in the story beyond being one of Kraven's targets.
Talking recently about Spider-Man 2's villains, creative director Bryan Intihar said, "Whether it's Kraven - which we confirmed in the beginning of the sequence - and obviously, we showed Venom when we first announced the game and now with the Symbiote and Pete being bonded with the Symbiote, there's naturally going to be some darker elements to the story."
"That's just being respectful to those characters," he added, "and what they bring to the overall experience." The Lizard is definitely a character with a dark past, so in that respect, it makes sense for him to be part of this story.
Check out the latest Spider-Man 2 poster below along with those for Kraven and Symbiote Spider-Man. Peter and Miles Morales' posters can be found by clicking here.
The Lizard was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and first appeared in 1963's Amazing Spider-Man #6. Despite remaining an antagonist, he's also been portrayed as a tragic antihero and occasional ally of Spider-Man. Connors is sometimes an ally of Spider-Man just as himself, and not necessarily as his alter ego.
In the comics, geneticist Dr. Curt Connors was studying some reptiles' capacity to develop new limbs. In an effort to restore his lost right arm, he created a lizard DNA-based serum and tested it on himself.
Instead of regaining his arm, he was transformed into The Lizard. Connors' change was reversed by Spider-Man, but the Lizard remained in Connors' memory and would repeatedly reappear, frequently keeping Connors' intelligence and aiming to usurp humanity with a race of reptile animals similar to himself.
Spider-Man 2 is set to be released on October 20.