Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Where is Peter Parker?

So far, fans of PS5’s upcoming feature, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, have learned that it’ll showcase Miles Morales as the main character and not Peter Parker. Other than that, Insomniac has only released breadcrumbs. The trailer implies that Miles will have a few unique abilities in contrast to Peter Parker’s Spider-Man. Namely, Miles has a camouflage ability that will allow him to perform stealthy attacks as well as his trademark “Venom Shock”, which is more electromagnetic than poisonous.

Brian Horton, Creative Director at Insomniac, has also stated that this will be a shorter version than past games. Insomniac has done this before and Brian claims as much, relating Miles’s story to that of Uncharted: Lost Legacy. Originally, it was even thought to be a DLC for PS4’s Marvel’s Spider-Man before it was confirmed to be a standalone game. But that begs the question: what will the main story be?

How Marvel’s Spider-Man Got Us Here

The strongly rated, Marvel’s Spider-Man, was a game of epic proportions. Gameplay was improved, the world map was expansive, and all of the original web-slinging abilities were back in action. And other than seeing how close to the ground you could get before shooting a savior shot of web-juice, the story was constantly engaging. Peter Parker develops his spidey-suit after-hours at the lab of Doctor Octavius, the game’s main villain. In between fighting and flying, Peter brings a newly fatherless Miles Morales into his life, helping him find solace in charity work.

It’s the common, good-guy thread that Peter Parker’s story hinges on and it finds its routes again in Miles. Later in the game, (SPOILER) an escaped, experimental Oscorp spider bites Miles, giving him powers akin to Spider-Man. The game ends with Miles revealing this to his friend, Peter, only to discover that they’re about to share the same affinity for tight suits. Fans who invested in the DLC for the game entitled The City That Never Sleeps got to learn that Miles was beginning his training under Peter, learning first and foremost how to websling. But what they didn’t learn was how Miles is supposed to takeover said city with a supposedly absent Peter Parker.

Where Could Peter Parker Have Gone?

Peter has held the mantle for protector of the Big Apple for quite some time and that didn’t seem to be in jeopardy until Spider-Man: Miles Morales was announced. Miles, only being 13 years old, is going to need a lot of training to keep all of New York’s residents safe and that will require at least some of Peter’s guidance. One could surmise that the beginning of the game will start with Peter’s training tutorials to get gamers used to the controls. Perhaps he’ll be featured at the start before some higher calling takes him away. Or, like the DLC, the game will have Peter call Miles periodically to check in on his disciple.

Either way, what could possible take Peter away from his hometown? One of the theories is presented at the end of Marvel’s Spider-Man when Mary Jane tells Peter that she’ll be traveling to Symkaria to cover a story. Peter could go along as her personal bodyguard, entrusting the city to Miles while he’s gone.

A couple, more interesting theories involve Peter going off to do what he does best – fight for others. One of which involves the upcoming game, Marvel’s Avengers. Spidey could be called into action in San Francisco after TaskMaster destroys the city and kills Captain America in that epic storyline. In fact, it was already revealed that Doctor Strange could be coming to Spider-Man 2. A little crossover, anyone?

Rooted more in comic lore is the theory that Spider-Man could be called off to fight The Inheritors, a group of dimension-crossing supervillains who hunt down Spider-totem avatars, namely Spider-Man. This goes deep into the comics, so pulling off this story would take a lot of explaining and might get lost on the common Marvel fan. However, it does tie nicely into the Spider-Verse narrative and could give more of an opportunity to expand on Miles’s story related to the successful movie adaptation.

Whatever the reason, at least Spider-Man 2’s inevitable release rules out that Peter has to die for Miles to take over the role. In the words of Brian Horton, “we still have much of Peter’s story to tell.”

Spider-Man Miles: Morales releases exclusively for the PlayStation 5 holiday 2020.