The Big Picture

Marvel’s Spider-Man took the world by storm in 2018, and now the highly anticipated third installment, Spider-Man 2, is set to introduce new threats like Kraven the Hunter and Venom. Players will be able to switch between Peter Parker and Miles Morales, giving them a chance to experience the story from different perspectives. The game aims to keep the portrayal of Peter Parker’s symbiote transformation grounded and believable, avoiding the comical or meme-like route. Relationships and power dynamics will play a significant role in the story’s development.

Marvel’s Spider-Man took the world by storm in 2018. Insomniac Games introduced the world to a brand-new take on the Spider-Man mythos, one where you swung across the New York City skyline saving those in need, and fighting some of the wall crawler’s biggest threats. They then released the highly acclaimed spin-off, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, giving us a more personal story about the young hero from Brooklyn. Five years after the beginning of this universe, the PlayStation Studio is hoping lightning strikes for a third time with the release of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.

Peter and Miles will have to fight the likes of Kraven the Hunter as well as Venom and a slew of new threats. The game introduces the symbiote and the incredible power that the user wields. Players will not be restricted to playing one Spider-Man but can switch between Miles and Peter. We got to speak with Peter Parker actor Yuri Lowenthal about his experience working alongside the legendary talent Tony Todd (Venom), the responsibility of being Spider-Man, and the impending Video Game strike.

MICHAEL THOMAS: First off, everything we’ve seen from it looks absolutely incredible, and that kind of leads off with my first question. Spider-Man PS4 came out in 2018, and Peter went through a lot of traumatic events in that story. What was it like getting back into that mindset and seeing the evolution of Peter Parker?

LOWENTHAL: It was great. When I first got the outline to the game, because when they said they were gonna do it and they sort of thought about the story, I got an outline, and it was super exciting. And yet, I’m like, “Oh yeah, so there’s more trauma for Peter. It’s not gonna get any easier on Peter. Oh no!” And then I realized that nothing ever gets easier for Peter, so it kind of tracked. But one of the things that immediately keyed me in was how all the relationships change, both with relationships that he’s had in the previous games with characters like Miles and MJ, but also getting to see and develop relationships with people like Harry, which is a hugely important relationship in this game. So, that was super exciting.

Then, of course, knowing that I would get the symbiote and would have to play a fundamentally different kind of Peter Parker for a while was also super exciting because actors love to play villains. But I wasn’t aware of how hard it would be to make Peter bad. Peter is your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, and making him sort of act in a way that’s antithetical to who he is, putting people before him to becoming selfish, trying to take care of people to becoming violent, all of those things, and finding a way to make that…You know, in the past, sometimes if you just slap the symbiote on Peter and all of a sudden he’s Bully Maguire, it can be comical at times, and that was something that they really wanted to take a great amount of care with in this game. They didn’t want it to feel like a joke or a parody or a meme. So, while I’m sure this game will spawn a million memes, they wanted to keep it grounded, and that all happened with the relationships and power dynamics and how things change from the last games, both the first game and the DLC and the Miles game that we’ve seen. So, I’m just excited for people to go on that journey with us because I was excited to get into it.

Image via PlayStation

I’m glad you brought up the symbiote and its effect on Peter because you’re right, it can go in vastly different extreme ways. You mentioned kind of bringing that darker side of Peter; you have played darker characters before, villainous characters before, like Sasuke [Uchiha]. Did you have to channel that type of energy when finding Peter’s voice in the symbiote?

LOWENTHAL: Yeah, for sure. While I did not consciously go, “I gotta bring some Sasuke to this,” some of the overlap is inevitable. And Sasuke is interesting because he was sort of the first character where I got to do that or where I had to dig into that area. Pre-Sasuke, I was bright-eyed and young and I played bright-eyed young heroes, you know, naive, happy-go-lucky characters, and Sasuke was sort of like the first. But now I’ve played Sasuke for 18 years, and I’ve got a connection to that dark place in a way that I might not have really had before, and it definitely came in handy. But again, they wanted to make it very grounded and believable, and for Peter to have an arc. He doesn’t just flip a switch and now he’s bad, he gets powers and has the responsibility start to get taken away, the responsibilities eroding, and we all know how important responsibility is to this franchise and to Peter. So watching that and sort of tracking how that gets worse and worse and its effect on Peter was very important to Insomniac.

You mentioned his relationships and how vital of a role those play in this story. This isn’t the first time we’ve met Peter again since that first game, we did have the DLC. He was also in the Miles Morales game. What is his relationship like with Miles, and what was it like working with [Nadji] Jeter, who’s also voicing Miles Morales?

LOWENTHAL: I mean, me and Nadji now have known each other since that first game. Much like Peter does in this game with Miles, I’ve gotten to watch Nadji grow up and come into his own and really tune into his power and who he is. So, while that doesn’t happen with every game, you don’t get to enjoy that mirroring of a relationship in real life and in a game, it just so happened that it worked out that way for this. I love seeing that relationship play out in the game because the first game was more Pete’s game, and the second game was obviously more Miles’ game, and this one is very evenhanded. Both of them get powerful, powerful journeys, and you really get to see Miles come into his own and really stand in his power. At certain points throughout the game, the relationship tips where Miles is guiding Pete, where Pete loses his way, and Miles has to become very heavy-handed—without giving too much away—he steps beyond the mentorship and into tough love.

It’s one of those things where the symbiote, Venom, all of those are elements that we are very familiar with, but we don’t really see Miles interact in this side of the story, right? By the time Miles is introduced, this part of Peter’s life has already been told with his relationship with Venom and the symbiote, so I’m really fascinated to see where he fits into that story and the relationship between the two kind of build from there.

LOWENTHAL: Again, one of the things that I think Insomniac does well, and they do it again with this, is they take characters and scenarios that we know very well—we know Venom, we know how that plays out, we know Miles, we know Pete—and they give us those things that we love about those characters that we’re looking forward to seeing in that kind of story, but it’s turned a little bit so that you have to stay on your toes. There’s different stuff in there, and they’ve always been really good at creating that.

Image via Insomniac Games

So, Miles, in the last game, had Spider-Cat. If you were to have any furry companion, what would Peter’s Spider-Pal be?

LOWENTHAL: Oh my god, that’s a good question, and you can tell your friend I said that. If Pete had a furry companion…It’s funny because I do liken Pete and myself to a certain extent, and I feel I have a lot of Parker characteristics. I mean, he’s kind of like a golden retriever, like he’s sort of lovable and loyal, to a fault almost. Although, he might not be as dumb as a golden retriever because Pete’s like a scientist. I’m more of a golden retriever because I’m not as smart as Peter Parker is. But other than giving you a really weird answer, a sloth would be really cool to see Pete swinging around the city with a sloth on his back.

Spider-Sloth is kind of cool.

LOWENTHAL: Spider-Sloth. Then, he’s probably more in line with the golden retriever or maybe I’m just projecting what Peter would be if he were an animal. So, he would probably want a companion that contrasts him. I’m already putting way too much thought into this than we probably should.

[Laughs] No, I love it. I love it. I mean, if Batman can have Bat-Hound, we have to figure out what Spider-Man’s would be.

LOWENTHAL: Right, that’s true. Ace the Bat-Hound. So Pete would want something that complements him as opposed to being exactly the same as him. Oh, like a jaguar or something like that, that is much more, you know, kind of blood– A shark! Pete and a shark.

Spider-Shark.

LOWENTHAL: I don’t know how that would work. [Laughs] We’d have to figure out the logistics of that.

I mean, you could probably pull it off because of the islands, the mini islands and the boroughs of New York. The shark could probably get around.

LOWENTHAL: That’s true! Pete swings the skies, he patrols the skies, and Spider-Shark is in the Hudson River, very much like the Circle Line tour goes around, you get to go all the way around Manhattan. That’s the part that Spider-Shark patrols.

That’s genius.

LOWENTHAL: I’ll tell you, Mike, I’m gonna start lobbying for Spider-Shark if we get to another game, in the next game. That’s it.

That would be amazing. Even if it’s just like a Playstation trophy, like, “Hey, you found Spider-Shark in the water.”

LOWENTHAL: You found Spider-Shark, exactly. Anyone can wear the mask and we’ve cracked open the Spider-Verse. Why couldn’t we have a Spider-Shark? You’ve got Spider-Rex…

We already have Spider-Ham.

LOWENTHAL: Spider-Ham, it’s not that much of a stretch. Come on.

Image via PlayStation

Not much of a stretch at all. Keeping with the animal theme, though, we have Kraven the Hunter in this game. We had a lot of villains in the first game. Are there any villains that you would like to see? I know we’ve gone through the big rogues gallery. Are there any villains you’d like to see in a potential third game that didn’t make it in these first two?

LOWENTHAL: It’s tough, and I certainly don’t wanna spoil things for people who are just getting started playing this game or who haven’t played it yet. I will just comment by saying that, second to maybe Batman or maybe on par with Batman, Spider-Man has the greatest rogues gallery villains.

Yeah, there’s a lot to choose from.

LOWENTHAL: By putting Venom in this game, which is certainly no spoiler at this point, but all 19 inches of Venom, it’s sort of taken out the villain that has dominated the spotlight for the last 25 years or something like that. So where do you go next? I mean, do you go to smaller, not as well-known villains and turn them into something else? Do you go way back to, like, Tarantula and be like, “Okay, he’s not as goofy as you think if we told this story about him,” or, you know, Big Wheel? [Laughs]

The reimagining of Big Wheel.

LOWENTHAL: Right? Exactly. What if Big Wheel was the big bad for Spider-Man 3? That would be awesome is what it would be.

It would be.

LOWENTHAL: So I don’t know. Again, Insomniac is really good about taking something we’ve seen before and spinning it so that you get something new, and so you could almost go with anyone. But I can’t wait for people to see some of the the villains that we’ve snuck into this game without you knowing. I can’t wait to see some surprised looks on many faces.

Speaking of Venom, though, the legend, Tony Todd, brings his menacing, menacing voice and presence to this role. I was actually at San Diego Comic-Con when you guys were on stage for that panel. It was great.

LOWENTHAL: So you saw the dance!

The dance: iconic.

LOWENTHAL: [Laughs] I had to do it. I had to do it. We didn’t put it in the game, so I had to make sure that you guys had it.

It was very much appreciated. I got it on video and everything. It was a great time. But Tony Todd is incredible. He did the voice for like five seconds at that panel…chills. What was it like seeing that in person?

LOWENTHAL: You know, I had the exact same experience as you did because before I knew Tony was cast, we were at a Pcap session, and Bryan Intihar comes up to me, and he’s like, “Hey, I wanna play something for you,” and he was all like secretive about it. I’m like, “Whoa, what’s going on?” We went to a corner, he pulled out his phone, and he pressed play, and I heard Tony’s voice. It was just a couple of lines, and one of them was definitely the iconic, “We are Venom.” My jaw dropped open, and he looked at me, and he’s like, “I know, right? I think we’re getting Tony Todd for Venom.” And I said, “Well, now you have to because this is all I want.”

You can’t really top it once you hear it for the first time like that, right?

Image via PlayStation

LOWENTHAL: Exactly. He was so excited. I was so excited. Anybody who heard it immediately got excited, and having just worked with Tony on something else right before then, I also got excited because I would get to hang with Tony again. You know, contrary to the characters that he plays, generally, he is one of the kindest, most open, the coolest guys out there. So, I got to look forward to that, as well. When you first meet Tony, you have to sort of get over what you know of all the characters he’s played and his whole career to sort of step past that, you know, just being intimidated stage when you first meet Tony.

For sure. So you’ve voiced so many characters throughout your career, so many iconic characters. If you were to pick two to team up in a buddy cop movie, which would they be and what would you like to see?

LOWENTHAL: Actually, the aforementioned Spider-Man and Sasuke would be hilarious because Sasuke is so dour and serious, and Spidey is so funny. Or, by the same token, Ben 10 and Sasuke.

That would be amazing.

LOWENTHAL: Or Yosuke from Persona 4 and Sasuke because Yosuke is just goofy and awkward and hilarious, and Sasuke is the opposite of that. I think in a good buddy cop film, you need to play against, you know, you need a contrast.

Good cop/bad cop.

LOWENTHAL: Exactly. And Sasuke is definitely bad cop. [Laughs] Yosuke is probably a good cop in this in this scenario.

That’d actually be a really fun one to see. My last main question for you – at the time of this recording, SAG-AFTRA just announced a video game strike authorization. I just wanted to give you time to share your thoughts on that and how that would affect your industry.

Image by Jefferson Chacon

LOWENTHAL: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you, Mike, for bringing that up. Much like we’ve seen with the writers’ strike and the strike for the on-camera contracts, the film and TV contracts for SAG-AFTRA, there’s stuff we’ve just gotta handle now. It’s time to take a stand right now, early on. We have a history of sometimes letting things slip by, thinking they’re not gonna be a big deal, and it’s always too late to go back and sort that stuff out. Right now, one of the things that we all—that the writers and actors, and honestly, it’ll affect all industries—have to sort of get some guard rails in place is with AI. There’s nothing wrong with AI, there’s nothing wrong with technology, and we’re certainly not anti-technology or thinking we can stop any of that stuff, but we’ve already seen how it can be used, how the technology can be used to undermine and to exploit the people whose work helped create it in the first place. So, we need to get a conversation going between AI companies and media companies, and the actors, writers, the creatives so that that doesn’t happen. Because it could so easily happen in today’s climate, you know, where greed has really taken the driver’s seat.

We need to come to a place that we can establish rules, guidelines, and open communication so that the exploitation doesn’t happen because it’s very easy as a performer to have your consent removed. It’s very easy for me if I’m offered a role, and I read the script, and I’m like, “You know what? I don’t believe in this. This story runs contrary to my morals, or I don’t wanna play this character.” You can step away, but if somebody has taken your performance and can create anything they want out of it, it removes the consent from that, and that’s a very scary thing as a performer. We’ve also seen how it affects human beings, everyday human beings who aren’t performers. We’re just in the spotlight right now because of what we do. So I think if we can establish open communication and some guidelines, some guard rails, and just some rules to play by now, it’ll help everyone. So that’s what we’re all fighting for right now, and that’s why it feels like it’s time to take a stand. We can’t let that one go.

Right. That’s very well said, and we’re hoping for the best.

LOWENTHAL: None of us want to strike. Look, everybody loses in a strike, but sometimes you just gotta stand up for what’s important.

You do what’s necessary, and at that point, it is necessary.

Play Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 exclusively on PlayStation 5 on October 20.