Who is Wraith in Marvel's Spider-Man 2? Backstory & comic lore explained
Wraith is a new vigilante in the New York of Marvel's Spider-Man 2, let's discuss who this new anti-hero is, how she became Wraith, and her comic origins.
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 has a new vigilante in town and this Wraith character brings a different level of violence with her. Marvel's Spider-Man 2 continues to expand its world, drawing inspiration from all across Spider-Man's history.
Wraith is a relatively new addition to the Spider-canon, and a brand new addition to the game. Here is everything you need to know about Wraith in Marvel's Spider-Man 2.
SPOILER WARNING: While this guide does not go beyond the introduction of the character in Marvel's Spider-Man 2, there are spoilers below for the post-game DLC of Marvel's Spider-Man and the early parts of Spider-Man 2.
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Spider-Man 2's Wraith identity revealed
Yuri Watanabe is the woman beneath the purple mask, the former NYPD Captain and ally from the first game who has gone rogue after the events of the games' DLC episodes.
During the City That Never Sleeps story, Spider-Man and Yuri take on Hammerhead, the vicious head (get it?) of the Maggia crime family. While dealing with Hammerhead, Yuri starts to noticeably lose her composure. This comes to a head when Hammerhead traps Watanabe and several police officers, and forces her to watch as he murders her men.
This sends Yuri down a dark path, which culminates in her attempted killing of Hammerhead after he has been defeated by Spider-Man. It turns out that Yuri's father was also a cop, who was arrested in disgrace for taking bribes from Hammerhead. For this, she has had a vendetta against the crime boss for her entire career.
After being dismissed from the police, Yuri goes on a rampage against the Maggia, killing many of the mafia's members. Leading Spider-Man to the body of a Maggia enforcer, she reveals she has been killing them and that this is her new brand of justice.
This brings us to Marvel's Spider-Man 2. While helping with a rescue operation in a crumbling building, Spider-Man encounters a group of cultists. During the fight, a woman in a purple mask and outfit joins him, dispatching several cultists with ease before revealing her identity to him.
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Wraith's Spider-Man comic origin
Wraith's story in the comics is very similar to the one in the Marvel's Spider-Man games. In the comics, her origin does not include a vendetta against Hammerhead, rather a general disillusionment with the justice system is what leads her to become Wraith.
Watanabe begins working as Wraith while still part of the NYPD. She sports a purple costume and uses weapons and gadgets reclaimed from villains by the NYPD, such as Mysterio's technology, Mr. Fear's fear gas, and the Chameleon's mask. With the mask, she disguises herself as Jean DeWolff, another NYPD detective and an old ally of Spider-Man until her death.
She uses the identity of DeWolff to fool her enemies into believing she is the ghost of the dead detective, hence the name Wraith. She is initially much less vengeful than her video game counterpart, but that does not last.
She loses all faith in the justice system after Tombstone murders one of her friends on the force, only to be quickly released from prison thanks to a corrupt judge. Mister Negative feeds her this information, as well as further info on New York's biggest criminals.
This all comes to a head when she comes to realise that Mister Negative is using her, having her wipe out his competition so he can swoop in and take over. When the judge that Watanabe arrested for taking bribes is killed in prison and she gets the blame, she is dismissed from the police force.
After this, Yuri Watanabe goes down a darker path, deciding that killing criminals is the only way to bring them to justice. This puts her at odds with Spider-Man, causing the two to clash. After Spider-Man subdues Yuri and deals with Mister Negative, Yuri disappears, leaving behind her costume, but holding on to her Wraith mask.
That is it for our rundown of Wraith in Marvel's Spider-Man 2. For more, check out our Marvel's Spider-Man 2 homepage where we have guides like the 10 best suits in Spider-Man 2 and all Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Mysterium map locations.
About The Author
Dave McAdam
Dave is a Senior Guides Writer at GGRecon, after several years of freelancing across the industry. He covers a wide range of games, with particular focus on shooters like Destiny 2, RPGs like Baldur's Gate 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, and fighting games like Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8.
