What are they breaking free from you ask? The monotony of having not really been best represented in videogame landscapes in eras gone by. It's what prompted us to put this together some time ago, and to a degree, much of the sentiment there remains. But after today's teasers for both Spider-Man 2 and Wolverine, both from Insomniac Games, we're in a camp of "finally" (said with a massive sigh of relief).

It should come as a pure warning: These are teasers. There is no gameplay here. At all. Though you could extrapolate more from the Spidey video given it features a bit of combat and two Spider-People, especially when you have both Marvel's Spider-Man and PlayStation Blog on both projects:

Spidey 2

While pushing the capabilities of the console will be very exciting, we’re equally pumped to craft all-new stories for Peter and Miles in this sequel. Just as in our previous Spider-Man games, we not only want to tell a great Super Hero story, but also deliver a compelling human story, one full of heart and humor that dives deep into the people behind the mask.

Much of the development team that brought you Marvel’s Spider-Man is returning to produce Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, including Bryan Intihar (creative director) and Ryan Smith (game director). Today’s game footage trailer is merely just a glimpse at what’s in store in terms of the new abilities our heroes will acquire, suits they will wear (more on that some other time), and the villains that will try to hunt them down. And speaking of villains, did you catch that final line at the end of the trailer? We’re so happy to announce that Tony Todd (of Candyman fame) will be voicing the symbiote-fueled Venom in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. We’re also delighted to welcome back Yuri Lowenthal and Nadji Jeter, who will reprise their roles as Peter and Miles respectively. We’ve been fortunate to work with so many incredibly talented actors in our Spider-Man games, and Tony has been such a wonderful addition to the cast.

First of all, we prefer remembering Todd from his role in Star Trek: The Next Generation as Worf's little brother, Kurn. Second, the other villainous voice is almost definitely Kraven: The Hunter, a self-professed "big-game hunter" whose prey consists of the world's most dangerous and formidable beasts and humans -- super-powered or not -- and Spider-Man is biggest on his list of most-wanted trophies. (There's a great What If...? where Kraven actually captures and kills him, and then consumes him to "become the Spider". It's real fucking dark.) The other big question given both Miles and Peter are in the trailer is, will this feature co-op?

Now, onto Wolverine. Here's more from the PS Blog:

Back when we were working on Marvel’s Spider-Man, there would be times where all of us—Insomniac, Sony Interactive Entertainment, and Marvel—would brainstorm together about the future beyond the web-slinger. And even in those early discussions, Wolverine continually came up as the character we’d be really stoked to work on together. Fast-forward a couple years and we’re suddenly standing in front of Sony Interactive Entertainment and Marvel formally pitching a PlayStation 5 game starring the adamantium-clawed Mutant! (Since you just saw the announce teaser, we can confirm that the pitch seemed to go pretty well.)

Marvel’s Wolverine is a standalone game being directed by Brian Horton (creative director) and Cameron Christian (game director), who recently led the creative efforts on Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, a game we’re extremely proud of at Insomniac. In the vein of our Spider-Man games, our goal here is to not only respect the DNA of what makes the character so popular, but also look for opportunities to make it feel fresh and truly reflect the Insomniac spirit. Even though Marvel’s Wolverine is very early in development, from what I’ve seen of its emotional narrative and cutting-edge gameplay (see what I did there?), the team is already creating something truly special.

I personally have a lot to express about the Wolverine venture, especially where reservations are concerned, as well as non-negotiables, but we'll explore that a bit further down the track.

Check out each teaser embedded below: