Summary
The ending ofMarvel’s Spider-Man 2leaves its inevitable sequel with a ton of loose threads to pick up and a lot of questions to answer. More importantly, Insomniac will need to be careful not to retcon any of the big decisions it’s made with the story and see them through to their natural conclusions. Unfortunately, not much seems up to speculation anymore about what Insomniac’s plans are between now and 2030, though plans can always change and recourse might be chosen in light of such an awful circumstance. Either way,Marvel’s Spider-Man-related games and DLCneed to keep their continuity tight.
Insomniac chose to make it explicit that Peter Parker will be taking a backseat to Miles Morales when it comes to being Spider-Man, for example, as he supposedly concentrates on developing the Emily-May Foundation and reinforcing his relationship with Mary Jane Watson. This can’t be a choice that was made lightly, and though it’s been made plain thatCindy Moon’s Silk will be joining Miles as Insomniac’s newest Spider-Person, Peter can’t possibly hang up his tights for long while Norman Osborn and Otto Octavius are out plotting schemes. However, there is one way Peter should be seen sticking around.
Future Marvel’s Spider-Man Games Need to Keep Random NPC Aid During Crimes
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Finally Lets the Spider-Men Be a Dynamic Duo
One of the most special ways Insomniac spiced up its random active crimes in the open world was having the other Spider-Man already there to help defeat enemies. This sadly doesn’t apply to every random crime in the city, such asMarvel’s Spider-Man 2’s lackluster car chase sequences, but it makes for a ton of immersion when Miles stumbles upon a shootout and sees Peter already there. Afterward, players can interact with the other Spider-Man before they go off on their own.
It would be a huge oversight ifMarvel’s Spider-Man 3doesn’t have this feature, too, let alone any futureMarvel’s Spider-Manentry where an intermittent NPC companion is applicable. That said, it seems as if Peter wouldn’t be available to appear as an NPC any longer if he intends to focus on his personal life, and that would be a shame.
Insomniac Can Have Peter on the Marvel’s Spider-Man Bench as an NPC
Instead, if Peter wasn’t playable in the nextMarvel’s Spider-Manouting but had a role solely as an NPC companion, that could help balance his personal and crime-fighting lives. Based onwhat Insomniac has planned for the futureit doesn’t seem like there’s going to be an entry ofMarvel’s Spider-Manbefore the franchise’s third and tentatively final game, though, so he’ll probably end up taking on a playable role again as one of three protagonists.
Peter is an incredible character—with Insomniac’s take on him arguably being one of the better iterations in the last little while—and yet unless there’s a significant time jump between the second and third game it won’t make sense to have had Peter say he’ll step back for a while only to be playable in the next installment. It also might not make much sense to say he’s taking a break from being Spider-Man and then have him appear frequently as an NPC during random crimes, but it’s possible that the frequency of him appearing could be much smaller and maybe he could only be available to show up if Miles was patrolling through Queens, where Peter and MJ live now since the end ofMarvel’s Spider-Man 2.
There are many possibilities for how Peter could be implemented in a way that seems respectful yet also allows forMiles and Cindy to have their limelight as Spider-People, but pulling back on any choices made in the story thus far should be considered carefully nonetheless.
