Peter Parker (Insomniac Games character)

Yuri Lowenthal provides the voice of Peter Parker.

Adi Granov helped design one of the character's original suits, the Velocity Suit.

Several characters from Marvel Comics were considered to have their own game developed by Insomniac Games but the team's final choice was to adapt Spider-Man. This was due to him and his true identity Peter Parker being more relatable to the staff than other Marvel characters such as Thor and Iron Man, a sentiment that Insomniac CEO Ted Price shared.[2][3] Spider-Man was the first licensed property by Insomniac in 22 years.[4]

Creative director Bryan Intihar collaborated with a team of writers under lead writer Jon Paquette to create an original take on a Spider-Man that remained true to the original.[3] Paquette is cited to have commonly subscribed to Spider-Man (The Amazing Spider-Man and Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man) and also Thor comic books at the "boonies" at a younger age before his time attending film school.[5] Alongside Paquette, the story was written by Ben Arfman and Kelsey Beachum. Comic book and screenwriter Christos Gage co-wrote the script, and comic book writer Dan Slott provided additional story contributions.[6][7] Insomniac researched different iterations of the character to understand what made a compelling Spider-Man story, after which Paquette said "okay let's forget all that stuff", aiming to not draw too much from any single version. One lesson the team took from the research was that whenever Spider-Man wins, Peter Parker loses, and vice versa. Intihar said that from conception, the game was designed to be as much Parker's story as Spider-Man's.[3] The team deliberately avoided retelling Spider-Man's origin, reasoning that everyone knows Spider-Man was bitten by a radioactive spider.[6]

Yuri Lowenthal provides the voice of Peter Parker a.k.a. Spider-Man, but there was some initial reluctance to cast him as he had previously voiced a characteristically different lead character in Sunset Overdrive and it was thought that he was not capable of providing a drastically different performance.[8] Paquette trusted his acting ability however, and convinced the studio to cast him.[9] Working with voice director Kris Zimmerman, Lowenthal tried to differentiate his voices for Parker in his civilian life where he is more gentle, and as Spider-Man, where he is more confident. As a result, he spent a large amount of time working on his performance to achieve a balance. Lowenthal worked with two stunt people throughout the game's development.[10][9]

Whilst beginning the game in a costume based on the classic Steve Ditko design, its subsequent damage results in Peter Parker making a new costume with input from Otto Octavius. It is referred to in-game as the Advanced suit.

Insomniac wanted to modernize the design of Spider-Man's costume while paying homage to the original design by Ditko. The new advanced costume design retains the traditional red-and-blue color scheme, a large white spider symbol stretching across the torso, gauntlet-like gloves, and sneaker-style design based on athletic wear instead of knee-high boots.[12] Art director Jacinda Chew said the design goal was to create what a "23-year-old, would-be superhero" would wear in 2018 New York City. Chew compared the outfit to compression wear, and said each color represented different materials. Blue is the most flexible, red is thicker for added protection from minor injury, and white offers the most protection, as it covers his chest, hands, and feet.[12][13]

The Velocity Suit is another original suit and was designed by comic book artist Adi Granov.[14][15] The suit is depicted with a glowing red-and-grey design and features metallic paneling.[16][17]

An official prequel tie-in novel titled Marvel's Spider-Man: Hostile Takeover was released on August 21, 2018, predating the video game.[18] It details Spider-Man's fight with the book's version of Blood Spider and depicts the rivalry between Parker and the Kingpin before the events of the game.[19][20]

The character was developed primarily for the 2018 video game Marvel's Spider-Man, and later appeared in its downloadable content (DLC) expansion pack, Marvel's Spider-Man: The City That Never Sleeps, both for the PlayStation 4.[2][16]

Peter Parker was a bright, intelligent and sincere, yet shy, outcast and withdrawn 15-year-old high school student,[6][21] who gained spider-like superhuman abilities after being bitten by a genetically modified spider during a field trip. Employing a secret identity, Parker initially attempts to uses these abilities for personal gain and fails to aprehend a robber, who later kills his uncle, Ben Parker. Following Ben's murder, Parker decides to use his abilities to protect the citizens of New York City as the superhero Spider-Man.[22] Eight years into his superhero career, the now 23-year-old Parker has become an experienced and masterful crime-fighter who comes into conflict with various supervillains, but struggles to balance both his personal and superhero lives.[23][24][25] He is employed as a research lab assistant under his friend and mentor Dr. Otto Octavius and is aided in his fight by intrepid Daily Bugle reporter Mary Jane Watson, his former high school classmate and ex-girlfriend,[6] and NYPD Captain Yuri Watanabe. In his civilian life, Parker is supported by his Aunt May.[21][6][26] Spider-Man's adventure brings him into contact with other characters, including Afro-Puerto-Rican-American teenager Miles Morales[6] and his parents, NYPD Officer Jefferson Davis and Rio Morales; Oscorp CEO and New York mayor Norman Osborn;[27] and Silver Sablinova, leader of the private military company Sable International.[6]

Parker makes a minor appearance in the follow-up/spin-off title Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, wherein he helps his protégé Miles Morales subdue the Rhino at the beginning of the game before departing for Symkaria to join Mary Jane in covering the civil war taking place there as a freelance photographer for the Daily Bugle and entrusts Miles to look after the city, gifting him a new red and blue suit similar to Peter's own original suit, which Miles eventually shifts from after designing a new black and red suit with his best friend Ganke Lee. Throughout the game, Peter is revealed to have set up AI training challenges throughout the city, which Miles can undertake to earn skill points which he can use to uprgade his abilities. He returns at the end of the game where he praises Miles' growth as a hero after the latter stops the war between the Underground and Roxxon, compliments his new suit and heads off to fight crime alongside him. Later in-game dialogue with Miles reveals that he is taking a hiatus from crime-fighting to focus on renovating Aunt May's old house in Queens, which he inherited and where he and Mary Jane have decided to move in together, while also focusing on finding a new job with Miles suggesting he take up a teaching job.[28]

The character will be back in Marvel's Spider-Man 2, releasing in 2023 for the PlayStation 5. He will feature as a main playable protagonist alongside Miles.[29]

Insomniac's Spider-Man as depicted in the comic book cover of Spider-Geddon #0 (September 2018). Art by Clayton Crain.

The character appears in the 2018 Spider-Geddon comic book storyline written by Christos Gage, a sequel to 2014's Spider-Verse, which brings together different variations of Spider-Man themed superheroes from the multiverse within Marvel Comics to battle the Inheritors. It was first released on September 26, 2018. The comic book designated the character's universe as Earth-1048. The story of Spider-Geddon takes place after the events of the game, and also introduces the universe's version of Tarantula. Insomniac artists provided variant comic book covers for the series.[30][31] Gage felt that "it seemed like a perfect time" to bring the character into mainstream comic books.[32]

A six-issue comic book, titled Marvel's Spider-Man: City at War, was released in March 2019. It follows the events of the game while introducing some new events. The series is published by Marvel, written by Dennis Hopeless, with art by Michelle Bandini, and variant cover arts by Clayton Crain, David Nakayama, Gerardo Sandoval and Adi Granov.[33][34][35] A second miniseries, Marvel's Spider-Man: Velocity, was released in August 2019. Also written by Hopeless, with art by Emilio Laiso, the miniseries takes place after the events of the game, detailing Spider-Man's encounter with the supervillain Swarm, and Mary Jane's work with reporter Ben Urich.[36] A third miniseries, Marvel's Spider-Man: The Black Cat Strikes, was released in 2020. Written by Hopeless with art by Luca Maresca, the miniseries adapts the events of the downloadable content The City That Never Sleeps while elaborating upon Spider-Man and Black Cat's relationship.[37]

Alongside the release of its second trailer in December 2022, a Spider-Man reflecting the Insomniac Games' version of Peter Parker's Advanced Suit, and another Spider-Man wearing the Velocity Suit would appear in the upcoming film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023), after the character's Advanced Suit was prominently featured in various background cameos throughout the preceding film, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018).[38] In the film, these Spider-Men will be featured as a member of the Spider-Society alongside other alternate Spider-People, led by Miguel O' Hara / Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac).[39]

Insomniac Games' portrayal of Peter Parker has been well received.[50][51] Jonahan Dornbush of IGN praised the game's focus on Parker and highlighted Yuri Lowenthal for his "emotional honesty" that made it one of Dornbush's favorite portrayals of the character.[22] Dom Nero of Esquire praised the character as one of the best versions of Spider-Man he has seen. He enjoyed the way that Insomniac depicted Spider-Man's morality while still allowing him to "web-kick some ass". He also praised the way that it handled the transition into adulthood.[52] Noel Ransome of Vice found him identifiable for his difficulty in achieving "greatness", praising Insomniac for taking the risk of depicting a more mature Peter as well as the misfortune of the original Spider-Man.[53]

Josh Harmon of Electronic Gaming Monthly found the character's storytelling to be one of the most interesting things about the game. He praised the writers for their understanding of Spider-Man and heroes in general, which he felt was handled better than how other comic adaptations handle their protagonists.[54] Matt Goldberg of Collider felt that Insomniac did well with understanding Spider-Man's "ethos" and challenging it in unique ways.[55]

The character was named the fan-favorite video game character at the Gamers' Choice Awards in 2018.[56] Comic Book Resources regarded the advanced costume as one of Spider-Man's best alternate costumes.[57]

Following the announcement of Marvel's Spider-Man being remastered as a launch title on the PlayStation 5, Insomniac Games revealed that a new face model provided by Ben Jordan would be implemented into the game, to be a better match to the facial capture recorded by Yuri Lowenthal.[58] The new face model reveal was met with major polarizing reactions from fans and critics, and developers received death threats and demands to change it back.[59][60] Many have cited that the new face model looks drastically younger than the original face model provided by John Bubniak, and has been compared to actor Tom Holland who portrays Peter Parker / Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.[61][62][63] On a more positive note, Sammy Barker of Push Square called the design "pretty good" in his rundown announcement of the new design update.[64]