On Oct. 20, Insomniac Games released Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, starring Yuri Lowenthal as Peter Parker and Nadji Jeter as Miles Morales. The game, exclusive to Playstation 5, picks up two years after the events of Marvel’s Spider-Man. It revolves around the wall-crawlers’ journey to protect New York from Kraven the Hunter and an alien symbiote.
Following its release, Spider-Man 2 was praised for its outstanding soundtrack, level design, story, and characters, and it was widely considered one of the best Spider-Man games ever made. 2023 is an excellent year to be a Spider-Fan, as another critically acclaimed Spider-Man project, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse debuted. However, there may be a downside to the release of so much Spider-Man content.
About the Issues
Spider-Man has starred in 39 games, 11 movies (with four live-action actors), and over 1,000 comic books. This shows that Spider-Man is one of the most popular superheroes of all time. But it also means writers must find a new aspect of the character to focus on with every new piece.
The original stories, friends, and foes created during Spider-Man’s early days have matured over time, and modern writers tap into these sources to create reimagined versions of Peter Parker’s world. Writers are stuck using the same villains and plot points from years past. This most evident in the Venom Symbiote, as depicted in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.
The Venom Symbiote, an alien sludge that corrupts its host, has been portrayed in multiple movies, notably in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 (2008). Despite the harsh criticism Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 received, it still bears striking similarities with the newly released Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.
The plots for both movies center around Peter Parker’s growing aggression and anger while infected by the Symbiote. While this is one of Spider-Man’s most important character arcs, it also shows a level of unoriginality. Become a general and common piece in future Spider-Man media.
Conclusion
Spider-Man as a franchise is not doomed. Across the Spider-Verse showed that there are ways to introduce new characters and plotlines that don’t lean as heavily on the same time-worn Spider-Man stories. While there are still many fans of the original Peter Parker, exploring these new stories could breathe some fresh air into the age-old saga of Spider-Man.
