Highlights

  • Insomniac needs to be careful not to retcon any of the decisions made in Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and maintain continuity in future games.
  • Peter Parker will supposedly be taking a backseat to Miles Morales as Spider-Man, but he could still have a role as an NPC companion in future games.
  • The presence of NPC companions in random crimes adds immersion to the game.

The ending of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 leaves 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 DLC need 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 that Cindy 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.

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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 as Marvel’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 if Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 doesn’t have this feature, too, let alone any future Marvel’s Spider-Man entry 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 next Marvel’s Spider-Man outing but had a role solely as an NPC companion, that could help balance his personal and crime-fighting lives. Based on what Insomniac has planned for the future it doesn’t seem like there’s going to be an entry of Marvel’s Spider-Man before 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 of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.

There are many possibilities for how Peter could be implemented in a way that seems respectful yet also allows for Miles 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.