Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is the highly anticipated sequel to the ultimate Spider-Man video game from Insomniac Games. The game is being released on October 20th for PlayStation 5 and follows Peter Parker and Miles Morales as they deal with new threats including Kraven the Hunter and Venom. Villains from the first game will be back including Martin Li, aka Mister Negative.

Stephen Oyoung portrayed Li, a philanthropist who ran F.E.A.S.T., a homeless shelter in New York City. The actor is reprising his role in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and he can be seen in the recent story trailer, sporting a new look due to his time at Raft prison.

“I mean, people are speculating,” Oyoung tells Nerd Reactor. “Oh, you know, ‘What is he in this?’ He’s the same old, good old Martin Li, Mister Negative. You will see Mister Negative come in, as you saw in the trailer. It was like blink and you miss it. Okay, talking about face stuff with Spider-Man, I love the chatter because Jacinda Chew and Bryan Intihar and the whole team at Insomniac made that choice to give Martin Li a kind of a new look. Which I thought was pretty cool. I think it’s so funny that people are like, ‘Oh, this guy looks like either Keanu Reeves or Adam Driver.”

A tragic moment in the first game involved Li and his Inner Demons gang being responsible for the death of Jefferson Davis, Miles Morales’ father. This will be explored further in the sequel where we will see Miles confront Martin about what he had done.

“Miles sees Martin,” Oyoung said. “Okay, and after that, I can’t really say anything, but there is definitely some stuff going down with those two, for sure.”

Li runs a shelter to help the homeless, but something has happened to him, causing him to go down a darker path. There is light and dark with these villains, and that’s what makes them compelling as Peter Parker’s antagonist.

“You got your normal lives and then you have your superhero lives and all the things that that entails, right?” Oyoung describes Spider-Man and Peter Parker. “So that translates the same with your villains, right? We’re not just your two-dimensional evil bad guys. Even the bad guys have their motivations. And especially when it comes to Mister Negative. Obviously, we saw in the first game, he was running the F.E.A.S.T. Center. He was a good dude, and he even had reasons. You could sympathize for his plight and kind of why he did the things he did, which just makes him such a rich character, right? Then, as an actor, again, really fun to play.”

Oyoung has been very busy in the video game voice-acting world, and he can be heard in Starfield, Mortal Kombat 1, Gotham Knights, and more.

“If you didn’t meet Daisuke, you can still meet Headlock and then also there’s Emerson,” Oyoung said of the characters he voiced in Starfield. “He’s around there too. He’s another. He’s actually the level that they patched where they have the mud that you could get infinite supplies. If you pass them and go to Emerson’s shop, you can talk to me.”

For the full video interview, you can check it out below.

About Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

Synopsis: The Spider-Men, Peter Parker and Miles Morales, enter new chapters in their lives as they balance their responsibilities as protectors of Marvel’s New York. As Harry Osborn, Peter’s best friend, returns into his life, and Miles looks to build his future beyond high school, the relationship between our heroes is tested and strained as the Symbiote appears to threaten them, the city, and the ones they love.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will be released on October 20, 2023, exclusively for PlayStation 5.