Like a lot of important lore in Marvel’s Spider-Man, some details are better left to the player’s imagination. It’s easy enough to get an idea of Peter Parker’s present situation based on the interactions he has with each character, but there is an entire eight-year career as Spider-Man that fans may never be fully privy to. This creates a fantastic breadth of rich history that Peter has experienced, culminating in the Spider-Man that fans see in a bachelor’s apartment, which he’s overdue on rent for.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is a sequel that could have trekked ahead with reckless abandon if it chose to, but there are already several details revealed that connect it to Peter’s past in substantial ways. It might initially seem like a random addition for Peter and Miles Morales to suddenly have underarm web wings in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, but that is not the case. Web wings will look to make an already gratifying traversal system more fluid and streamlined for the sequel’s Spider-Men, meaning that the design concept was brought back to the drawing board.
Marvel’s Spider-Man Alluded to Web Wings in a Backpack Collectible
Marvel’s Spider-Man’s backpack collectibles are the only explicit means by which players can gain an insight into Peter’s life before the events of the game, no matter how trivial or fan-service-filled some of their references are. Part of Sandman’s own substance is alluded to literally being held captive in a vial found in a backpack, however, and shows how profound some of these collectibles can be in divulging lore. Meanwhile, the web wing backpack collectible only ever seemed like a fun nod to the underarm webbing that appears in early illustrations of Spider-Man’s costume in the comics.
The collectible’s webbing in particular is torn, and Peter’s narration explains that he never quite got the design right and eventually binned it. Indeed, the ideal design implementation would allow him to glide using these underarm web wings. Now, the design has obviously been revisited and perfected in order for Peter and Miles to have it equipped on their respective suits.
It would be fun to hear if Miles’ collaboration on Spider-Man technology and apparel helped point web wings in the right direction, with two scientifically inclined minds coming together to turn web wings into a reality. It will also be interesting to see how impactful web wings actually are in gameplay, such as when sailing through Central Park or Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s Queens, and if it will largely supplant traversal via web-swinging depending on how speedily it can hurl players through the open world.
Likewise, it appears as if web wings will be available fairly early on in the sequel depending on how early into the game the PlayStation Showcase’s trailer sequence was. It is great to see something from Peter’s past connect to his present like this, and it increases the potential for other backpack collectibles to come full circle in the sequel, too. Marvel’s Spider-Man made good on the dumpling recipe in its own narrative, for example, and it will be interesting to see if the Lizard’s blood or Nelson and Murdock’s business card are referenced.
It seems less and less likely that Eddie Brock Jr. will play any role in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, but he is still established in Insomniac’s original universe as referenced in the ‘Good Luck’ card he received from his days working at The Daily Bugle. In the meantime, perfected web wings are a wonderful way for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 to improve upon its predecessor’s gameplay with an immersive connection to the lore that has already been embedded in the franchise.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 launches this fall, exclusively for PlayStation 5.
