Insomniac Games’ Ben Arfmann and Brittney Morris confirmed in a recent interview that Miles Morales will be the “main” Spider-Man after Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 for the PS5.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has been an undeniable success for the Sony Playstation 5. Despite complaints about its rather short gameplay compared to the first game, Spider-Man 2 is a worthy successor. Teaming up the OG Peter Parker with fresh-faced Miles Morales was a winning combination. But the future of the game series may see one of them getting sidelined.
In a recent Gizmodo interview with Justin Carter, Insomniac Games’ narrative director Ben Arfmann and Spider-Man 2 writer Brittney Morris discussed about the story and resolution of the hit superhero game. Plus, they also addressed questions about the series direction and who might be the main protagonist, moving forward.
For @io9, I had a long, spoiler-heavy discussion about #SpiderMan2PS5 with @BenArfmann and @BrittneyMMorris about how (and why) certain plot and character events were made https://t.co/D2h7TBic0x
— Justin Carter (@GigawattConduit) October 27, 2023
When asked about how the ending of Spider-Man 2 implied that Miles is the main Spider-Man of the Insomniac Games universe, Morris responded that this was “very natural” and “shows a great deal of evolution. She also added:
“By the end, we had Miles carrying the burden of saving the city, and also carrying Pete when Pete wasn’t strong enough to carry himself at various points.”
Arfmann followed this up by saying “the idea of a two Spider-Man story was always really essential to this game. He also emphasized that they knew early on that they wanted a moment of “handing the reins over”, which is essentially what happens at the conclusion of Spider-Man 2.
But does this mean Peter is going to be the “secondary” Spider-Man? According to the Insomniac Games writing team, the whole idea of the story in Spider-Man 2 is to establish that this was not a “mentor-mentee” situation. Rather, that this was about two Spider-Men who are “incredibly good at what they do”.
Despite this, however, some fans have reacted negatively to the news that Peter would be sidelined in the future Spider-Man games in favor of Miles Morales. Over on Reddit, there are fans who hate the idea, believing Peter Parker should always be the main Spider-Man, while others say this is a deliberate attempt of Sony to replace Peter.
And there are others on X (formerly Twitter) who say that Peter Parker IS Spider-Man, while “Miles Morales is Miles Morales“. Still others point out that this is more evidence of Sony going the Panderverse route (a jab at a recent South Park joke directed at Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy), where decisions are being made to cater to certain demographics.
It should be noted that the animated films, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) were both critical and fan favorites. And both had Miles Morales as the main Spider-Man of the story, with versions of Peter Parker taking more of a supporting role. Plus, let’s not forget that another Spider-Man, Miguel O’Hara, received more spotlight than Peter in the sequel.
Perhaps Insomniac Games is simply following the trend established by the animated Sony Spider-Man movies? Still, with Daredevil rumored to be the next game being developed by Insomniac, a solo Miles Morales Spider-Man entry might be some years away, so anything could still happen.
But what do you think of having Miles Morales be the main Spider-Man in future installments of the Sony Playstation video games? Will you be interested if Peter Parker, the original Spider-Man, portrays a background role in the next Spider-Man game while Miles Morales takes center stage?
