Spider-Man 2 - 10 Essential Fan Demands It Must Include
2. Peter's Continuing Development
Insomniac
Insomniac's Spider-Man was amazing for a whole host of reasons, but maybe the biggest was how its story pushed Peter forward.
Flawlessly portrayed by actor Yuri Lowenthal, Insomniac's Peter was a young adult who found himself in a different place to other Spider-Men. He'd broken up with Mary Jane, was working in a lab full-time and had already lived a life as Spider-Man for eight or so years. While older Spider-Men aren't uncommon, they've become something of a rarity over the last decade or so, with Marvel typically favouring depictions of the character as a young high schooler.
It's proven occasionally frustrating in truth, but that's why Insomniac's interpretation was such a breath of fresh air. He was growing up and leaving behind his younger days, a transition represented best by the passing of Aunt May.
It sort of goes without saying - and again, it's probably even inevitable in some respects - but Insomniac should continue this approach going forward, by pushing the story in the same direction.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
