Summary
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 may be setting up a doomed future for the original Spider-Man, Peter Parker. Throughout Insomniac Games’ acclaimed superhero sequel, Peter is put through many trials and tribulations in both his personal life and as Spider-Man, and despite the game’s ending having some hopeful moments regarding his immediate future, it did also establish many more threats that could target the man behind the mask.
[Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2]Marvel’s Spider-Man 2‘s main campaign was already an extremely personal story for Peter Parker. At the start of the story, Peter is already dealing with the death of his Aunt May and is trying to find a steady income to pay the mortgage on the home he’s inherited in Queens. He is then reunited with his childhood friend Harry Osborn, who he and Mary Jane previously discovered was dying of a terminal illness before the introduction of the symbiote that was used as part of Harry’s experimental treatment further complicates matters and becomes the Spider-Man villain, Venom.
Peter Needs Saving A Lot In Spider-Man 2
One of the criticisms that has been forming around Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is that Peter is regularly getting saved by Miles throughout the game. While Miles comes to Peter for help taking on Sandman, it’s Peter who seems to need help from Miles a few times during this opening fight, even though Peter is the hero who has likely had more experience with the villain and has defeated him single-handedly in the past. Miles’ bioelectrical powers are ultimately the key to defeating the skyscraper-sized criminal, which lessens the need for Peter further.
A vial in Marvel’s Spider-Man‘s collectible backpacks hinted at Peter’s former fight against Sandman.
This sequence comes before Peter acquires the symbiote, which itself saves his life after he gets stabbed by Kraven the Hunter. The symbiote then enhances his abilities and makes him far more powerful, all while corrupting him and making him more aggressive. Although in other media, Peter is often the one who makes the decision to remove the symbiote after realizing how much he has changed, in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Miles is the one who needs to snap him out of this, and while Peter does ultimately rip the symbiote off himself, this is only after a fight in which Miles weakens it significantly. Peter even goes so far as to say that in that moment “Spider-Man didn’t save him, Miles did.“
Later, Peter gets overrun by Venom’s symbiote minions and needs to be saved by Miles and Martin Li, and basically loses to Venom and is knocked unconscious for a large portion of the final boss battle so that Miles can take over before Peter has to step in with Anti-Venom at the last minute to finally put an end to the symbiote threat. Although there is a sequence in which Peter has to save Miles from Kraven, with Peter being largely off his game and Miles being presented as the more adept of the two Spider-Men throughout Marvel’s Spider-Man 2‘s campaign, the future may look bleak for the original web-head.
Could Spider-Man 3 Kill Peter Parker?
The Ultimate Spider-Man comics had Peter Parker die – albeit only for a while – at the hands of the Green Goblin, and the mainline Amazing Spider-Man comics saw a dying Otto Octavius “kill” Peter and place his own consciousness into the hero’s body during its Superior Spider-Man run. Norman Osborn seeks revenge on the Spider-Men for “ruining” his son, Harry at the end of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and Otto can be seen plotting what he calls “the final chapter” in the game’s post-credits scene. With both of these characters set up to be the primary antagonists in Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 it’s possible that Insomniac Games could adapt one of these comic storylines and kill its version of Peter Parker as well.
Harry’s complete bond with the symbiote meant Venom could only be stopped by killing its host. While Miles resuscitated Harry with his bioelectric powers, Harry was rendered brain-dead.
Insomniac hasn’t shied away from killing classic Spider-Man characters, so while killing who many consider to be the main version of Spider-Man may be a shock, it wouldn’t be too out of character for the studio. The first Marvel’s Spider-Man saw the deaths of Peter’s aunt, May Parker, and Miles’ father, Jefferson Davis, and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 featured the death of many Spider-Man villains, both on-screen and off. While the symbiote was able to save Peter from dying in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, with it gone by the end of the game, it’s possible he may not be so lucky in a future title.
Related: Marvel’s Spider-Man 2: Every Villain Confirmed & Teased So Far
Other Spider-People Are Set Up To Take Peter’s Place
The ending of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has set up a future for the series in which it may not need Peter Parker. After going through so much personally in his personal relationships, and after acting recklessly under the influence of the symbiote as Spider-Man, Peter goes on hiatus from being a superhero to focus on rebuilding the Emily May Foundation and building a home with Mary Jane. This leaves Miles to step up and take on the responsibility of protecting New York as a solo Spider-Man, but he tells Peter he is ready and encourages his former mentor to “go be Peter Parker for a while“.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2‘s post-credits also introduces another potential spider-person who could help assist Miles going forward, further negating the need for Peter Parker. After many prior attempts throughout the game’s story, Rio finally introduces Miles to the man she’s been dating. Although he is only referred to as “Albert” in the dialogue, the subtitles reveal his full name is Albert Moon. Albert also brings his daughter Cindy to meet the Morales family, and while this seems fairly pedestrian on the surface, Cindy Moon is better known to comic fans as Silk, a character who was bitten by the same radioactive spider as Peter Parker.
It is highly unlikely that Peter’s hiatus won’t last long with the threat of Cletus Kasady’s transformation into Carnage potentially being set up for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2‘s story DLC, and him already promising Wraith that he will assist her in bringing down Kasady and his cult once she locates them. If this is the case, Peter will probably be fully back in the field alongside Miles – and maybe Cindy – by the opening moments of Marvel’s Spider-Man 3. With personal threats like the vengeful father of his best friend and his former mentor looking to attack the man behind the mask, Insomniac Games could be setting Peter Parker’s final chapter up to be one of his most personal fights yet.
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