Miles Morales is Insomniac’s “Main” Spider-Man Now
I hope you like playing as Miles Morales in the PlayStation Spider-Man games because that’s all you’re going to get from now on. In an interview with Gizmodo, Ben Arfmann and Brittney Morris, Insomniac’s narrative director and advanced writer, confirmed that Miles Morales will be the video game series’ “main” Spider-Man going forward.
*SPOILERS FOR MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN 2*
Gizmodo (io9, specifically) used the term “’main’ Spider-Man” in their question, but the two developers seem fine with that wording. First, Morris answered:
“It always felt very natural, and I think we all collectively thought it would happen. To me, it shows a great deal of evolution from Miles; at the beginning of the game, we see him struggling to figure out what he wants to do with his life. 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.”
Next, Arfmann adds:
“I think pretty early on, we knew that we wanted to have that moment of handing the reins over. And as we developed it, as we started to lay down more track leading up to that moment, it just felt more and more right.”
It appears what io9 was referring to is the very end of the game, where Peter Parker agrees to step back and let Miles Morales be Spider-Man.
They couldn’t even let him pass his torch on his own; he’s such a stammering incompetent that Miles has to do it for him. I’m sure plenty of people (who will swear they’re the biggest Spider-Man fans in the world, guys, you don’t even know) are thrilled, but this just solidifies what I’ve assumed for a while. Marvel would love to kick Peter Parker to the curb and replace him with Miles, but for a long time, they knew they couldn’t go that far. I think this game is them testing the waters even more than the Spider-Verse movies; Miles is no longer an alternate-universe Spider-Man but one who comes from the main 616 universe, and now he’s become that world’s only Spider-Man. Moreover, the end of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is said to set up the Green Goblin, meaning that one of Spider-Man’s classic and most personal villains will now be Miles Morales’ nemesis. They’re giving it all to Miles, and whether this continues in other media will likely depend at least partly on what sales are like for the next game in the series. That’s probably a long way off, but for now, don’t be surprised if Tom Holland eventually gets a new multiversal buddy who’s way better than him at being Spider-Man.
And after all that, io9 had the nerve to ask the developers if they felt they had sidelined Miles too much in what may be Peter Parker’s last game. Is it ever going to be enough?
