When Spider-Man was remastered for the PlayStation 5, Ben Jordan joined the franchise as the new face model for Peter Parker. It was a controversial, largely unpopular change, which carried over into Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Spider-Man 2.
While the official explanation was that the change was a result of improved technology in the shift from PS4 to PS5, many felt it came as a result of Sony wanting a Peter who looked more like Tom Holland.
Either way, Yuri Lowenthal has continued voicing the web-spinner, and unhappy fans have simply grown used to Jordan's likeness.
As we first reported on GameFragger.com earlier today, the actor recently took to Instagram to share a photo that showed him "suited up," ready for some facial capture work. As well as performing a classic Spider-Man pose, the actor included a spider emoji alongside his cryptic caption, "IYKYK" (meaning, "if you know, you know").
Speculation is now running rampant that Jordan is either teasing his return to the Marvel Universe or already hard at work on an upcoming project. Spider-Man 3 is reportedly somewhere on the horizon, while rumours continue to swirl about Venom being released as a full-blown spin-off.
When Insomniac was hacked a few years ago, we saw Insomniac's roadmap for the Spider-Man franchise, including Carnage-centric DLC for the second game, a scrapped online MMO, and a third instalment. As of now, none of that has become a reality. Hopefully, work on at least some of them is underway, even with the studio busy with Wolverine.
When we spoke with Lowenthal in 2021, we asked for his thoughts on the changes made to Peter's appearance:
"I did know it was coming, and I did agree with all the reasons [Insomniac] were going ahead with it. I know that people, once they fall in love with something, for you to change that thing is very hard... and understandably so! There are a lot of people who will always love that original thing best, but I think the reasons they did it were sound, and going forward, the game will benefit."
"I understand it’s also especially hard when you form an emotional attachment. Playing a game is playing a game, and you get used to things, but the story and characters from that game, we all grew to love them. When you’ve formed that emotional attachment and that thing changes, it’s hard. I’m hoping people in the end will understand it was done for the good of the game and will understand it’s for the good of the franchise. We’ll all get used to it!"
Check out Jordan's now-deleted post below (the fact he removed it seems pretty telling, but we'll see).