WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Marvel's Spider-Man, available now for PS4, and Spider-Geddon #0.


When Miles Morales was unveiled at the end of last year's E3 trailer for Marvel's Spider-Man, expectations for the game's interpretation of the character were pretty high. Beyond the LEGO games, Miles had never been in a AAA game before, and combined with the upcoming Spider-Verse film (in which he is the lead), it felt like 2018 would be a good year for the character. It was known he would be playable in some respects, and it was a given that his future as a hero would be hinted at.

Marvel's Spider-Man does indeed hint at his future, but in a much more tangible way than expected. During the game's third act, Mary Jane winds up rooting through Norman Osborn's lab in his home, at which point a genetically engineered spider hitches a ride with her through the city and later bites Miles. After a three month time skip at the end of the game, Miles displays his recent powers to Peter, who responds by unveiling his own powers.

The obvious next step is that Insomniac's Spider-Man 2 has Miles in his costume, which has surprisingly had groundwork laid out already. The first issue of Spider-Geddon features a brief scene where Peter prepares to go on his trip to save the multiverse and tells Miles to go to MJ for help while he's gone, which already indicates Miles at the very least has been training and figuring out what he can do -- that's a perfect opening for a sequel starring Miles.

Here's the thing that's made the newest Spider-Man game so fun: It showed us Peter Parker at his prime. Instead of giving us the story where he's trying to figure things out, he's a relatively well-adjusted adult who knows how to parkour and swing around Manhattan like it was something he has been doing since the day he was born. Spider-Man's biggest problem is that his origin story and rise to heroism has been repeated so often that each attempt loses its impact, and Insomniac filled a need by getting us past the growing pains.

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Certainly one thing that will help with the sequel is to make it clear that Miles is the star of that game. By all means, keep Peter around and allow for the ability to swap between the two Spider-Men whenever possible, like in Assassin's Creed Syndicate. Or do what Assassin’s Creed Odyssey did by taking a “more or less the same game no matter who you play” route. But also, just let Miles have more of the spotlight than Peter when it comes to marketing. The fact of the matter is that there will always be a Spider-Man game with Peter Parker behind the wheel, but there won't always be one where that opportunity is afforded to Miles.

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In video games, swapping out a more established character for a "newer" one doesn't always work -- see the Dead Rising franchise and Metal Gear Solid 2, for instance -- but Miles' life is on an upswing and would be much more welcome as opposed to the sudden changes fans of the aforementioned franchises were forced to deal with. Putting him firmly in the spotlight allows for extra time to highlight what sets the younger Spider-Man apart from his more experienced partner. The few moments wherein Miles is playable shows he's a technological savant himself, with a phone capable of remote hacking and a need to tinker with electronics, which will certainly factor into how he plays in the sequel.

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Because it has only been a decade or so since he debuted, Miles doesn't have the luxury of being able to wholly skip his origin story, as is the case with Peter, but that doesn't mean the whole game has to be about him getting into the swing of things. Go back to Dishonored 2 and you'll find that game kicked off with a brief tutorial to show what Emily Kaldwin learned from her father Corvo before kicking off into the actual plot of the game. Beyond that, Miles should be experienced in Spider-Man 2 -- not able to take down enemies with the precision that Peter has accrued, but certainly experienced enough to have gone up against a few of the heroes' shared rogues' gallery, and even acquired an enemy or two of his own. Certainly not someone on the same level as Rhino or Electro, but perhaps a Shocker or someone of less life-threatening caliber.

It's extremely doubtful that Spider-Man games will get rid of Peter Parker completely, but at the very least Spider-Man 2 should spend some more time on Miles. The first game works so well because of the way the two connect when Peter is either himself or his heroic alter ego, and that brief scene of them discovering their shared secret was a great moment for the game to end on. It all comes down to what Insomniac's able to do with Marvel's toys, but given that their first effort has been pretty great, Miles will hopefully get the chance to shine he deserves.