Marvel's Spider-Man 2 sleuths have realized that one of its villains is mysteriously absent

gamesradar.com:

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 fans have realized that the game is missing a villain they expected to return from the first game.

This article contains story spoilers for Marvel's Spider-Man 2.

If you're a fan of Marvel's Spider-Man (or the MCU's better-late-than-never Black Widow movie), you'll probably be familiar with Taskmaster. A returning villain across the Marvel pantheon since 1980, Taskmaster is generally depicted as a solder-for-hire whose photographic reflexes allow them to mimic different fighting styles. They show up in Marvel's Spider-Man with a series of challenges, before you're tasked with seeing them off in a fight.

It's long been understood that Taskmaster would be making a return in Marvel's Spider-Man 2. Back in May, they appeared in a trailer for the game alongside several other villains from the first game, and that same footage - depicting Kraven's kill list - showed up in a cutscene at the start of the game. The clip has been edited slightly since its first appearance - in May, Miles and Peter were used to obscure Sandman and Electro, to keep their existence in the game secret.

Kraven's kill list is pretty literal - several of the faces on it meet their unfortunate end during the Hunter's time in New York. As for Taskmaster, however, so far there is literally no sign of them whatsoever - no evidence of their existence in New York, nor of their demise at Kraven's hands. It's a peculiar omission and one that players have started to pick up on.

Wait...where tf was Taskmaster in Spider-Man 2?! He was on the tablet that Kraven was looking at in the beginning of the game- pic.twitter.com/vX5x0UutlmOctober 24, 2023

One explanation for Taskmaster's current absence is that an appearance is planned for an