Miles Morales fans are having a truly fantastic year. First came Across the Spider-Verse, a smash hit movie where Miles took center stage. Then Insomniac’s Spider-Man 2 game dropped, where Miles was a co-main character with Peter Parker and fully playable. And now …
Insomniac has big plans for our younger Spider-Man, it turns out. That became clear in an interview with the game dev team over at Gizmodo’s io9.
***Spoilers for Spider-Man 2 ahead***
io9 asked about aspects of the game that had been planned ahead of time, and questioned, “Does that also apply to ending this game with Miles as the “main” Spider-Man from now on?” Insomniac’s advanced writer Brittney 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.
Insomniac’s narrative director Ben Arfmann added:
To echo what Brittney said: the idea of a two Spider-Man story was always really essential to this game. 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.
Unfortunately, this statement has led to a rush of Spider-Man fans (and “fans”) misinterpreting or even outright twisting what they said. For a start, Miles taking over as the “main” Spider-Man is indeed a natural conclusion to the Spider-Man 2 story because Peter has been through a lot of terrible things and needs to make the healthy choice of taking a break from superheroics. Miles supports Peter in that choice, indicating the strong bond between them, and goes forward more confident in himself and his abilities. Both of the Spider-Men get to be happy for the time being, with Peter restarting the Emily-May Foundation with MJ and Miles completing his college essay. (Oh, and he’s also got a potential new friend in Cindy Moon!)
But also, none of what Morris says indicates that Peter Parker won’t still be a main character in a future third game, just that he won’t be the main Spider-Man. And that’s fine, because Peter Parker is fascinating outside of the mask too. Spider-Man 2 leaves him on an inevitable collision course with Norman Osborn and Doc Ock, but these are likely to be largely emotional conflicts where no amount of web-slinging or gadgets will really tip the scales. I can’t wait to see this happen, and I’m happy for Miles to be the one in a suit and Peter to be the one in civilian clothes when it does.
Miles Morales is Spider-Man
This update on the Insomniac Spider-verse has depressingly brought out the same old racist dogwhistles about Miles not being “the real” Spider-Man. People have been ranting in dingy corners of the internet about how clearly Insomniac hates Peter and wants to replace him with the new, “woke” Spider-Man. But that’s not how Spider-Man works. Stan Lee himself said that he always liked how Spidey “could be anybody under that costume” and how “any kid could imagine he’s Spider-Man.” Miles is that idea made flesh, as it were.
I can’t wait to see what Insomniac’s future Spider-Man games have in store for him.
(featured image: Sony)
