Struggling to get to grips with the marathon Mister Negative boss fight? You've come to the right place, as we've gathered all the information you need to beat this menacing Spider-Man 2 boss. Plus, we'll also be dropping in our own tips and tricks along the way, to help you succeed in your fight.
If you've played the previous Spider-Man game, you'll have encountered Mister Negative before, as he joins the Sinister Six in the previous title. This makes his appearance in this game something of a surprise. Join us as we dissect his boss fight in Spider-Man 2, so you can exact your revenge on this super-villain.
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How do you beat Mister Negative in Spider-Man 2?
You'll encounter Mister Negative as part of the mission "No Escape". The context for this fight is somewhat peculiar: you're being forced to fight Mister Negative by Kraven the Hunter in a fighting pit, in a fight to the death.
The fight with Mister Negative consists of four phases and a chase sequence, arguably making it one of the longest boss fights in the game. All in all, it will probably take you around 20 minutes to complete the fight against Mister Negative.
As a general rule, you'll want to focus on using your symbiote abilities whenever you can in this fight, in order to deal as much damage as you can, as quickly as you can. In some cases, you'll need to use a specific symbiote ability in order to progress the fight further.
Phase one
At the start of the fight, you'll have a brief tutorial on how to dodge Mister Negative's energy blade attacks. In some cases, the only way you can dodge his attack is by jumping over his slice, by pressing X.
For the first time you encounter this, the game will slow down and prompt you for the input. However, going forward through the fight, you'll have to get used to avoiding his slash combos with some quick thinking and rapid inputs.
Another attack in Mister Negative's arsenal is his one-directional slice, where he'll wind up a vertical swing towards Miles, that can hit him at long ranges. These you can easily dodge to the side of, but if you get caught they'll deal huge damage. He also has a basic lunge attack, which you can either dodge or parry to turn on the offensive.
One of Mister Negative's more challenging attacks is a series of swings, that see him zip back and forth across the whole arena. What's challenging about these attacks is the delayed swings Mister Negative uses: you're well aware an attack is incoming, but nailing the timing can be a challenge.
When in combat, you should prioritise using your web shooters to stagger Mister Negative, making him vulnerable to your attacks. When Mister Negative is staggered, he's unable to block your attacks or deal any damage himself.
Additionally, Mister Negative has a lot of downtime between attacks in this phase. As soon as he uses an attack, you should be looking to strike as quickly as possible. You should prioritise using your symbiote powers throughout the fight in order to speed things up, as these deal the most damage to Mister Negative.
Phase two
As you enter phase two, you'll get a glimpse of Mister Negative's demon form, which you'll encounter later in this fight. For now though, Mister Negative has a shield that negates all damage, shaped as a grey orb around his body.
From within his shield, he'll use his energy attacks, summoning tornados and blades that move in a straight line from where he casts them. These will be much faster than in phase one, so you'll have to move quickly to stay alive. Make sure to use your heal if you get caught by one.
To break past Mister Negative's shield, you'll need to use your new symbiote power, Chain Lightning. To use Chain Lightning, you'll need to press L1+◻. This attack will stagger Mister Negative, allowing you to begin an attack combo against him.
Once you've done this, the fight will open back up as it was in phase one. However, Mister Negative will now mix up the moves from phase one in his attack combos, varying the order in which they are used.
Also new to this phase is Mister Negative's heavy attack, which he will perform after the lunge attack seen in phase one. This attack also has a long delay, making the timing somewhat tricky, and you're also not able to dodge the attack if he's about to hit you. Instead, jump away from the attack, or use L1 to parry back.
Phase three
Unusually, there's no cutscene for the transition between phases two and three. Instead, Mister Negative regains his energy shield from the previous phase and begins attacking using his special attacks in rapid succession. You'll have to break his barrier with Chain Lightning as soon as you experience a break in his attacks.
While there are no new moves added to Mister Negative's moveset here, all of his attacks and movements happen a lot faster. You may have a lot of difficulty with his rapid combo attacks; it's better and more consistent if you time your dodges accurately rather than spam them randomly. This may take some practice and multiple attempts, but it will also make more challenging bosses easy later in the game
When Mister Negative is almost defeated, he'll regain his shield. You'll once again have to use your Chain Lightning attack to break his guard. As he has such little health when you use it this time, it will spell the end of phase three of the fight.
Chase sequence
After you defeat Mister Negative in the Hunter's arena, you'll be transported into a realm of Mister Negative's creation, where he takes the form of a giant demon.
Here, you'll have to chase Mister Negative's demon by dodging collapsing skyscrapers and huge blades of Mister Negative's energy that the demon will fire at you. As you do this, the demon will taunt Miles, attempting to exploit his fears and insecurities.
To chase the demon, you can swing to keep up with him or use your web glider to easily keep pace. As long as you focus on dodging the blades of energy fired at you by Mister Negative, you'll have no trouble with this section.
Also, if you collide with one of the buildings you will not take damage; instead, you'll merely land on the side of it and be able to continue your chase. Once you arrive at the end of the chase, you'll have to press △ when prompted to re-engage Mister Negative.
Phase four
Of all the phases in this fight, phase four is the easiest to complete mechanically. You won't be fighting Mister Negative directly in this phase; instead, you'll be fighting against shadow minions summoned by Mister Negative in waves.
In total, there are X waves. You're able to dispatch the shadows in the same way as most regular enemies, using basic attack combos and finishers to make short work of them. Use your symbiote abilities to clear big groups of shadows quickly.
As you clear the waves of shadows sent by Mister Negative, Miles will be tormented by the voices of his loved ones, and ultimately his father. During this period of the fight, grey orbs that deal damage will appear on the battlefield as fight more and more shadows. Eventually, you'll become overwhelmed.
It's from this point that you can use your Reverse Flux symbiote ability. You can perform this by pressing L1 + O. Reverse Flux causes the enemies surrounding you to be drawn towards you, before dealing huge electrical damage that can potentially instantly kill the shadows.
After clearing a few more waves of shadows, you'll trigger the ending cutscene, where you'll best Mister Negative and bring the fight to a close.
That's all there is to know in order to beat the Mister Negative boss fight in Spider-Man 2! For more Spider-Man 2 content, why not check out our guides on how to get on all the Coney Island rides or how to find the Spider-Bots? We've also got boss guides to help you beat the Scream boss fight and the symbiote boss fight, in case you still find yourself struggling with bosses later in the game.