Highlights
- Insomniac's Marvel's Spider-Man 2 has high expectations to meet or exceed, with some criticisms already directed toward perceived changes in character designs.
- The symbiote in the sequel is noticeably affecting Peter's tone and emotions, providing an exciting acting challenge for Yuri Lowenthal.
- The possibility of adapting the Superior Spider-Man arc in future games presents an even greater acting challenge and opens up intriguing narrative possibilities for the franchise.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, as a sequel, has many expectations to meet or exceed. Insomniac has already drawn criticisms for swapping Peter’s face model in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, for example, with that same criticism being pointed toward Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s Mary Jane despite her face model not having changed. The actual story and gameplay of the sequel is not drawing criticism, though, and instead fans are excited to see how narrative events will affect its core characters, such as how the symbiote is clearly affecting Peter’s tone in dialogue.
Indeed, Peter is markedly different from his jovial, lighthearted tone in the past two Marvel’s Spider-Man entries. The symbiote seems to be enriching Peter's angrier emotions and expressing them forthrightly, likely as a result of him having it on his person for an extended period. This is remarkable because it gives Yuri Lowenthal an acting challenge he didn’t have in Marvel’s Spider-Man. Moreover, a third Marvel’s Spider-Man could present Lowenthal with an even greater acting challenge if it was to adapt one of Spider-Man’s most memorable comic book runs.
The Superior Spider-Man Arc Could Test Yuri Lowenthal’s Acting Chops in Marvel’s Spider-Man 3
Lowenthal now gets the opportunity to portray Peter from a much different perspective, having him shout angrily at enemies and maintain a low, sinister tone that is distinct while he’s wearing the symbiote suit. Seeing Peter go from his cheerful tone to a hateful tone will be exciting in-game, especially if events occur that make that newfound hatred much more pronounced and empathetic for the wall-crawler.
But because Doctor Octopus has been established so strongly in Marvel’s Spider-Man, another influential comic book run could offer Lowenthal a challenge that would eclipse the symbiote’s effect on Peter. In Dan Slott’s The Superior Spider-Man, Otto swapped minds with Peter while his body was failing him and left Peter to die in his old body.
Otto then becomes Spider-Man and consequently parades around as Peter, too. This has multiple effects on Peter’s loved ones, and it is interesting to see what Otto achieves while impersonating Peter, and the Marvel’s Spider-Man franchise would have a wonderful opportunity to do the same. Especially because Otto’s body was failing him also in Marvel’s Spider-Man, the brickwork is in place if Insomniac wanted to pursue the Superior run.
Lowenthal gets to be menacing in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, but having him essentially play Otto in Peter’s body would be another feat entirely. It would be intriguing to see how that could affect Peter’s tone, how he talks when he’s alone compared to when he’s talking to others, who he might confide in, and how that internal battle could be depicted in-game since Peter’s consciousness is still swimming between synapses.
Seeing Otto challenged by an obligation to be a do-gooder would be fascinating knowing that he was recently a murderous criminal, and Otto empathizing with Peter in this way could be a terrific narrative thread for Insomniac to pull on, particularly if he got to bear witness to the fact that he was responsible for the death of Aunt May and reconcile with that in her nephew’s body. There is even more to this arc that Insomniac could draw from if it wanted to; however, Marvel's Spider-Man’s original continuity still presents a tremendous amount of potential for its own Superior Spider-Man storyline.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 launches on October 20, exclusively for PlayStation 5.