Here Is Why Insomniac Changed Peter Parker Face

When it comes to superheroes in gaming history, we had the pleasure of playing some really cool video games. Rocksteady Studios created ‘Batman: Arkham’ franchise brought us one of the best adaptations of the superhero in the video game genre. However, one Marvel superhero consistently had some really cool video games in the last two decades: Spider-Man. Since the 1990s, various Spider-Man games have been released, but in 2018, Insomniac Games released the ‘Marvel’s Spider-Man’ game, a PlayStation 4 exclusive that got massive success, which then prompted Insomniac to release the remastered version of the game for PC and the new console at the time, PlayStation 5. This article will discuss why Insomniac changed Peter Parker in their newer game version.

After the original game’s success in 2018, Insomniac decided to change Peter Parker’s face because the developers thought that Peter Parker should look more like the voice actor Yuri Lowenthal. The actor who did the motion picture, John Bubniak, was replaced with the new actor, Ben Jordan, and some fans didn’t like that decision. It was also speculated that Insomniac developers wanted Spider-Man to look more like Tom Holland, the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of Peter Parker. In the original game’s sequel ‘Spider-Man 2’, we will see Ben Jordan again doing a motion picture for the titular character.

‘Marvel’s Spider-Man’ from 2018 was probably the best Spider-Man game since ‘Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions’ and the success of the game and the consequent popularity of ‘Spider-Verse’ movies that kickstarted huge crossovers pushed developers to change something for sequels of the game.

Why Insomniac changed the motion picture actor for Peter Parker?

Marvel’s superheroes didn’t fare that well in the video game industry, especially after the release of ‘Iron Man 2’ and ‘X-Men: Destiny’ games that were released during the hype for the movies that were released earlier.

The popularity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe truly kickstarted the trend of the Marvel video games, which were mostly underwhelming. Only Rocksteady Studios produced a great ‘Batman: Arkham’ franchise that blew the gaming world out of the water.

Insomniac Games released ‘Marvel’s Spider-Man’ in 2018 as a PlayStation exclusive, and it was an instant success. Many fans liked the gameplay, storytelling, voice acting, and graphics which were absolutely a game-changer for the superhero video game genre.

According to the studio itself, the game was developed for four years and was inspired by the history of the Web-Slinger himself, but the Insomniac and Marvel Comics wanted to tell the original Spider-Man story and create a new universe that could be adapted to other media.

Recently, we saw Earth-1048 Spider-Man featured in the successful ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ animated movie, including over 250 versions of Spider-Men across multiple media.

Of course, after the success of their game, Insomniac announced a remastered version of the game that will be released for new consoles, like PlayStation 5 and Windows, in November 2020. However, the trailers and announcements showed that the game would feature Peter Parker with a different look, and fans disliked it.

Well, at least one portion of them. Insomniac decided to change the motion picture actor for Peter Parker, and the reactions were mixed. The former actor, John Bubniak, was replaced by Ben Jordan, who featured in the remastered version of the game released in 2020.

Now, Peter Parker in the game is supposed to be between 23 to 25 years old, and many fans thought that the “younger” face of the character doesn’t necessarily upgrade anything about the game.

Bryan Intihar, the senior creative director of Insomniac Games, released a statement in which he understands the surprise among some fans for the change, but the studio felt that the change of the actor and design of Peter Parker would suit the technology of new consoles and good PCs, but also match the looks of Peter Parker’s voice actor, Yuri Lowenthal.

To be fair, when the original game was released in 2018, some fans argued that John Bubniak’s look for Peter Parker was strange and didn’t necessarily fit the character, but people got used to it over time.

The character’s new design looks really similar to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man from Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it seems that Marvel Studios and Insomniac consciously decided to change the actor, partially because of the popularity of Spider-Man movies and characters.

Also, if the player played the first game and bought the remastered version on either PS5 or PC, they most likely found this change offputting. John Bubniak’s character design of Peter Parker looks much older than Ben Jordan one, which some fans blamed for breaking immersion.

Moreover, they add that the game’s timeline doesn’t make sense in the context of younger-looking Peter Parker and that Bubniak’s look for Peter was unique for Insomniac’s game, compared to Peter Parker’s from other adaptations.

Of course, the final reason behind the change is that Insomniac realized that Bubniak’s face wasn’t portraying Yuri Lowenthal’s performance in the ‘Spider-Man 2’ game – new technology for PS5 really made that difficult for the overall performance of Peter Parker so the studio had to make a hard decision.

It all makes sense in the end, which leads us to the next section of the article.

Will the “new” Peter Parker appear in the ‘Spider-Man 2’ game?

Ben Jordan will do the motion picture for Peter Parker in the upcoming sequel, ‘Marvel’s Spider-Man 2,’ and we already have the trailer released. Besides Peter Parker’s new-old look, another character has also been changed, or at least the studio attempted to age her a bit – Mary Jane Watson.

‘Marvel’s Spider-Man’ version of Mary Jane Watson was criticized for the strange mission in the middle of the game, but her redesign in the sequel sparked another argument among the fans – one side felt M.J.’s face was overdone, while others thought that she looks okay.

Nevertheless, if you think debating over TV shows, movies, and comics is neverending, try the gaming community – gamers always need everything to be perfect.

The “Bubniak vs. Jordan” character design argument died out in 2020, but the trailer for the new game briefly kickstarted the argument once again. Thankfully, it didn’t last long, and many fans are extremely excited about the new Spider-Man game, which seems like it will break records once again.

What are your thoughts on the topic? Let us know in the comments below!

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