How much should Peter Parker be in Insomniac’s Spider-Man 3?
(WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR INSOMNIAC’S SPIDER-MAN 2)
Spider-Man 2 has come and gone, but it was a great game that was critically received and sold very well, leaving little doubt there would be a third chapter in Insomniac’s franchise. The ending of Spider-Man 2 left a lot of hints about possible future villains, additional Spider-people that might be popping up, but also a very important passing of the torch…
At the end of Spider-Man 2, Peter Parker retires. He’s not moving to another country or anything, but Miles steps up to be THE Spider-Man. Peter has plans to save the world in other ways. No doubt he’ll be donning the red and blue tights again for the third outing, but just how much of a presence should he be in the inevitable Spider-Man 3?
Miles was certainly a significant part of Spider-Man 2, but arguably, his story suffered at the cost of Peter’s. He had his own arc that was at times ignored in favor of Peter’s story for long stretches of the game and never as felt fully fleshed out as it could have been. This might be even a bigger struggle as the next game is hopefully truly centering on Miles, but Peter will obviously play a big role. There will be possible others joining the fight in addition to new villains and keeping threads from the previous game. It’s a lot to keep track of, frankly….
The reason I’m even thinking of this now, years before the next Spider-Man game is even going to come out, is actor Yuri Lowenthal, who voices Peter Parker in the games, confirmed that his Spider-Man won’t just be sitting on the sidelines in the next entry.
That’s to be expected, but if the ending scene is to mean anything in the next and any possible future entries in this franchise, Peter Parker should have a much smaller role in Spider-Man 3. It should most definitely mostly be Miles story and Miles journey, with a little help from Peter who may have his own story, but one that doesn’t come anywhere close to overshadowing Miles. And if there is a fourth entry and so on, he should likely be relegated to the sidelines or gone altogether.
You cannot move forward while keeping one foot in the past. It was a bold move after two games and one spin-off to have a scene where the main character retires and passes the torch, even if there isn’t a full commitment to that as of yet. But at some point there has to be that commitment or what was even the point? So sure have Peter don the tights again in Spider-Man 3, but just as long as he’s not the story’s main hero and it’s made clear that he isn’t both in scope and screen time….
That’s all for today, I will certainly have another post up in early March, just not sure exactly when but see ya real soon!
