WARNING: Spoilers for Spider-Man 2 follow!
Spider-Man 2 wraps up with Peter Parker deciding to just be Peter for a while, prompting the wall-crawler to entrust Miles Morales with protecting New York City in his absence.
Throughout both Spider-Man: Miles Morales and this sequel, it's established that Miles is a hero in his own right and by no means in need of a mentor or babysitter. With that in mind, it makes sense for the franchise to shift its focus to the younger superhero and all signs now point to him being the lead moving forward.
Spider-Man 2's creative team recently chimed in on the ending and explained why Miles being put front and centre felt like a "natural" next step for the series.
"It always felt very natural, and I think we all collectively thought it would happen," writer Brittney Morris tells Gizmodo (via GameFragger.com). "To me, it shows a great deal of evolution from Miles; at the beginning of the game, we see him struggling to figure out what he wants to do with his life. By the end, we had Miles carrying the burden of saving the city, and also carrying Pete when Pete wasn’t strong enough to carry himself at various points."
"That’s what’s been so cool about writing a story about two Spider-Men: they’re both strong, and one of them can be strong when the other is not," she adds. "By the end, Miles is more confident and he’s like, 'Yeah, I got this. How much worse can things get after what we just went through?'"
Narrative director Ben Arfmann added to that by saying, "To echo what Brittney said: the idea of a two Spider-Man story was always really essential to this game. I think pretty early on, we knew that we wanted to have that moment of handing the reins over. And as we developed it, as we started to lay down more track leading up to that moment, it just felt more and more right."
"It’s such a great moment between the two of them. And it felt like such a natural conclusion; I’m not sure when specifically we decided to do that, but it always felt like the only way the game could end."
Some fans on social media are disgruntled over the notion that Miles could be the video game franchise's sole or main Spider-Man. However, while it's obvious the spotlight will be put on Miles in any upcoming DLC or spin-offs, Peter is bound to make his grand return when Spider-Man 3 rolls around.
After all, with Doctor Octopus plotting something, the Green Goblin's debut inevitable, and Carnage somewhere out there, that should be more than enough to force Peter out of "retirement." However, looking beyond that, the series permanently shifting to Miles and Cindy Moon/Silk may be where future games are heading.
Spider-Man 2 is now available.