This news piece contains spoilers for the end of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. You have been warned.

It has been no secret that since the first Marvel’s Spider-Man in 2018 Insomniac have been building up Miles Morales, with numerous people even then theorising that he would become the leading Spider-Man in future games.

Then, during the end of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 we saw Peter Parker realise that his continued heroics as the webslinger were taking their toll on his girlfriend Mary-Jane and his own life as he struggled to pay the mortgage on Aunt May’s house. In the closing moments, Pete hands over the role of Spider-Man to Miles Morales, stating that he was going to step back for a while and focus on running a new start-up inspired by what Harry Osborne had wanted to do.

It was pretty clear about what was going to be happening from now on. Still, in case some more clarity was needed, Insomniac narrative director Ben Arfmann and advanced writer Brittney Morris addressed the topic in an interview with Gizmodo.

When Gizmodo raised the topic of having Miles wearing the costume moving forward, Morris said: “It always felt very natural, and I think we all collectively thought it would happen. 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.”

Arfmann added: “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.

I think it was Jon who wrote that scene in Aunt May’s garage, and it’s one of my favorite scenes. The way that Miles intuits exactly what Pete is thinking and stops him from stumbling through trying to hand over the mask. Miles going, “You know I got this, bro,” 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.”

With this all said and done, it seems unlikely Peter won’t feature in future games in some capacity. It would be peculiar to see New York under threat and the OG Spider-Man sticking to the sidelines, after all.

It’ll be interesting to see what people think of the change. Miles has been well-received thus far but he has also attracted a fair few critics who find the character annoying.

Personally, this news hits me in the heart a little. I grew up reading Spider-Man, and when Miles Morales was introduced I couldn’t get on board simply because I failed to see the point in killing off Peter just to replace him with another Spider-Man. It didn’t help that Miles felt a lot like Peter anyway, making it even less of a smart move. Eventually, Miles Morales moved into the main Marvel universe and now exists alongside Peter, which to my mind is even dumber: why have two Spider-Men swinging around? I’ve had the same problem with the games. I’d much rather Miles was his own character instead of needing to wear someone else’s identity.

But maybe I’m just blinded by my love of Peter Parker. The real test will be when Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 comes out, which it undoubtedly will considering Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 sold over 2.5 million copies in a single day.