'Marvel's Spider-Man 2' Escalates Each Character's Personal & Super Hero Struggles

Even though both Spider-Men have their hands full with villains like Venom, Lizard, and Kraven the Hunter in Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Peter Parker and Miles Morales will still have plenty to juggle in their own personal lives. Speaking to Marvel.com, Insomniac Games Senior Creative Director Bryan Intihar and Marvel Games VP and Creative Director Bill Rosemann offered some insight into the challenges each character will face, from college admission essays to rekindled romances to new bosses.

"We all talked about: why do we love Spider-Man?" Intihar recalled. "I think the thing that we said right from the bat was: he's probably the most relatable Super Hero out there. He's not a soldier, like Captain America. He isn't a god, like Thor. He isn't a billionaire, like Tony Stark. He's a kid from Queens and Miles is a kid from Brooklyn. They have good days and bad days and strengths and weaknesses and real problems that we can all identify with and have struggles that we've all had in our lives."

"I think that we try to inject that into every story that we do. So, for example, probably most people in their lives can identify with when I have to apply for college. That's what Miles is going [through], like, 'Okay, I've got to write this essay, this college essay,' and he's struggling with it," he continued.

"Peter, he's trying to figure out, 'Okay, I'm going to start this new teaching gig, and I'm trying to figure out living out and I'm taking over Aunt May's house. How am I going to do it?' And then taking that next step with—you know, now him and Mary Jane are back together, and what's their next step in their relationship? Where's that going?" he added. 

"We probably all have those stories. And then not only that, Peter now has his best friend coming back into his life with Harry, and he has his best friend who he grew up with, but then he has Miles. What's that like?" he mused. "And then with MJ, she's trying to establish herself and she has a boss who has a very different philosophy."

"So it's finding those situations that, 'Oh, I remember when I went through that!' or 'I know somebody close to me that went through that!' I think that's where we kind of start," he explained. "So yeah, we're going to have crazy characters and Kraven and Lizard and Venom, but what's the part when they're not out there? What's that part?"

"I think that's the thing, to me, actually, is the thing I… talk about first. If we can get that down, the other stuff is like—I would say that's like we're baking the cake: that's the cake part, and then the icing is all the Super Hero stuff we got away with on top of it," he concluded.

Rosemann also weighed in, saying, "And you talk about what they're going through, and there's an escalation, right? Because every Spider-Man story, no matter how old the different Spider-Mans are, it's always a coming of age story at its heart."

"What does that mean? Well, there are moments in our lives when we have to leave the nest for whatever reason, and at that moment, we have to make decisions by ourselves," he pointed out. "What we have from here, from the first game to this game, is—as they're all getting a bit older—the choices that they have to make are escalated. What do I do with my life? What kind of person do I want to be? Who do I want to be my partner? So they're all at a moment where they're making some really key choices and decisions, and that's just in their civilian life!"

"So you add on all the Super Hero, and that's the Marvel magic. We say, 'Worlds colliding.' My civilian life, my Super Hero life, they're both at odds and I have to make a choice. As you go through the game and experience it, you'll see all the choices," he teased.

Intihar referred back to the first game to illustrate the point. "Just talking about Marvel's Spider-Man, you know why Peter is 23? Because that was the year I finally kind of was like, 'Okay, I'm on my own now,'" he shared. "I was like, 'I want to tell that story. I want to tell when I was 23 years old, done with college, at my first job: what was that like?' That's why he's 23. Selfishly, I wanted to be Peter Parker at 23 years old."

"So it's finding those relatable situations that we can all [relate to], because it just makes it easier to write and coordinate and talk about. Again, the Super Hero stuff is great, but you have to have the human," he emphasized.

Story lead Jon Paquette added, "When we're writing and creating the characters, we always say that when Spider-Man wins, Peter loses or Miles loses or MJ loses. That push and pull has always got to be there, because it's not just one big sacrifice for every Spider-Man story. Spider-Man is constantly sacrificing; he's constantly got to make choices between, 'Do I do something for Spider-Man or do I do something for myself?' That is, I think, what makes him a really cool character, somewhat relatable, but it's really fun to work with that dynamic."

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 releases October 20th, 2023 only on PlayStation 5. Pre-Order the title now on PlayStation Store, PlayStation Direct or your friendly neighborhood retailer!

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