Highlights

  • Marvel's Spider-Man 2 highlights the importance of optional side quests for impactful storytelling, as seen in quests like 'Howard' and 'Find Grandpa.'
  • Marvel's Spider-Man and Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales' Gloria represents the struggles and situations of many people at the shelter, showcasing the power of humanity and goodwill.
  • The absence of Gloria in Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is a missed opportunity, as her character development and representation of different communities in New York City added depth to the narrative.

Much of what contributes to the exceptional storytelling in the Marvel’s Spider-Man franchise is found within optional side content, particularly its meatier side quests. Being story-driven, there are obviously a lot of impactful moments in the main narrative as well, but both Peter and Miles get to experience a number of tragic and uplifting moments when players decide to indulge in content that’s off the beaten path. In Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, that’s demonstrated through quests such as ‘Howard’ and ‘Find Grandpa’ to great effect as Insomniac slows the action to a halt and looks at life and death a bit more intimately.

Howard is great to see returning from Marvel’s Spider-Man, for example, where his quest revolved solely around chasing and collecting his pigeons around the city. There isn’t anything in the original Marvel’s Spider-Man or Miles Morales as heartbreaking when it comes to side quests, but one NPC who appeared in both created a surprisingly thorough and enriching throughline when it came to their repeat appearances in the story. This NPC is Gloria, a homeless woman who sticks around to have a meaningful part in the story of FEAST. Unfortunately, unlike Howard, she inexplicably does not make it back for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.

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Marvel’s Spider-Man’s Gloria Doesn’t Get a Throughline in the Sequel

Marvel’s Spider-Man’s Gloria Represented Homelessness with Humanity

Players first meet Gloria when rescuing her from balaclava-clad thugs on the street. Spider-Man suggests that she head to the FEAST center, and she uneasily warms up to that recommendation after hearing they have wheatcakes, a nostalgic treat from her childhood.

Then, players are able to actually see Gloria at FEAST when Peter arrives to see Martin Li and Aunt May. This was a fantastic way to establish world-building and a sense of community within not only FEAST but New York City as a whole, especially since FEAST is already a wonderful way to represent a community of people helping one another when they’re down on their luck or have nowhere and no one else to turn to.

Gloria is only one of many people players can optionally talk to at the shelter, but in a way she is representative of many people’s struggles and situations there. Gloria is characterized to portray how a little humanity and courteous goodwill can go a long way in helping someone, whether Peter is wearing a mask while lending that helping hand or not.

It’s then fantastic to see her return in Miles Morales and see how far she’s come, now a manager of the East Harlem FEAST center whom players can talk to when the center’s inhabitants are put out in the cold due to a burst pipe. Players learn later that this was orchestrated by Wilson Fisk from the Raft in an effort to tank its real estate property value and increase crime percentages without a shelter for would-be criminals to go to—as Miles puts it, Kingpin wants “money, land, control.”

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Moving on from Gloria is Disappointing

The FEAST shelter debacle is salvaged by Miles and Gloria ends up in the small group of citizens who sees Miles unmasked near Roxxon’s Nuform reactor, vowing to keep his secret along with the rest of Harlem. Seeing her develop into such a rich character was engaging and really lent an ear to the streets in terms of Peter and Miles truly being friendly neighborhood Spider-Men.

That’s why not seeing Gloria at all in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is such a missed opportunity—it’s true that FEAST takes a huge backseat to the budding Emily-May Foundation, but of any NPCs in the franchise thus far Gloria deserved to have even a small role in the cast. It’s unclear what her role could have been with an already jam-packed narrative brewing, but while Howard received a quick and emotional quest it would’ve been excellent if Gloria had her own, even if it was just to help her run an easy errand and have players engage in conversation with her again.

It’s possible she could return in a future half-sequel or Marvel’s Spider-Man 3. This would be for the best, and hopefully Insomniac hasn’t written her out of the narrative without reason due to everything she helped illustrate about different communities in New York City.