Peter Parker and Miles Morales have a whole host of new villains to face in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, including the ever-intimidating Kraven the Hunter. As even more members of the rogues' gallery entering the fray, the PlayStation Showcase footage seems to be setting the stage for an even bigger showdown. Peter’s new Symbiote powers might lead to a mentor-mentee clash, one that gives Miles the biggest challenge of his life.
Spider-Man 2 certainly isn’t the first time Peter has embraced the Symbiote suit, and those storylines have a tendency to end catastrophically. While Venom has always treaded the line between villain and anti-hero, the Symbiote tends to bring out the worst tendencies in Spider-Man. A previous game, 2008’s Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, dives full-force into this idea. It lets you make moral decisions that can ultimately lead to Spidey infecting all of New York with Symbiotes and ruling over it.
We’re already starting to see hints of the Symbiote altering Peter in Spider-Man 2. Most of his dialogue sounds much more guttural and violent. There’s one particularly interesting scene late in the footage, where Peter saves a civilian from the rampaging Lizard. As they swing to safety, Peter drops the civilian on the ground and sends him sprawling, which seems out of charcter for the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. It shows that Peter’s very nature is being altered by the Symbiote, and Miles himself is starting to notice.
It’s likely that things are going to build up across the first half of the game until Peter hits a breaking point, perhaps pushing him to consider ending a villain’s life. It seems inevitable that Miles is going to have to confront his mentor at some point, and it’s going to come down to him alone to bring Peter back from the brink.
This would also provide an interesting parallel to the first game, as Peter had to face down his own mentor after Doctor Octavius launched his plan to use Devil’s Breath on New York. This was an earth-shattering moment for Peter that completely changed him as a person and hero, making him reckon with his very role as Spider-Man.
A conflict that pits Peter against Miles could prove to be a key moment of development for both. Miles would have to reckon with going against the man that taught him to be a hero, stepping into his own even more. Meanwhile, since the incident with Doc Ock Peter has, once again, started to try and do everything himself, out of the fear of losing another loved one. Having to be stopped by Miles could be the key that finally makes him realize he needs to lean on others. It makes the most sense for this showdown to happen at the midway point, which then leads to the even bigger threat of Venom in the second half.
With the past two Spider-Man games, Insomniac has proven that it has an exceptional eye for crafting these big emotional narrative moments. Even though we’ve only seen ten minutes of footage from Spider-Man 2, it’s beginning to look like the sequel is only going to up the ante in that regard.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 comes to PS5 in fall 2023.
