Draft:Peter Parker (video game character)

Peter Benjamin Parker, otherwise known by his vigilante alias Spider-Man, is a fictional character and the central protagonist of the Marvel's Spider-Man video game franchise developed by Insomniac Games, and based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name co-created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. He was adapted by the Insomniac Games writing team of Jon Paquette, Benjamin Arfmann and Kelsey Beachum, with additional contributions from Marvel Comics writers Christos Gage and Dan Slott. He is voiced by Yuri Lowenthal in all of his appearances, while his facial capture was performed by John Bubinak for Marvel's Spider-Man (2018) on PlayStation 4, and presently by Ben Jordan in both the game's remaster (2020), and the character's subsequent video game appearances.

In the game's canon, Parker is a young adult who has possessed superhuman attributes ever since being bitten by a radioactive spider during high school. By the first game's events, he has been operating as a masked vigilante in New York City for nearly eight years and has amassed a menagerie of rogues in that time. Upon finally apprehending businessman Wilson Fisk and the expansion of his criminal empire, Parker confronts the power vacuum left in the underworld, which is soon seized by the emerging "Inner Demons" gang led by Mister Negative, as well as his personal complications as a lab partner to his mentor and friend, Dr. Otto Octavius. Parker is soon faced with Octavius' turn towards villainy motivated by his personal vendetta against campaigning city Mayor Norman Osborn. He subsequently de-escalates the simultaneous grouping of Octavius' "Sinister Six" and the release of a deadly bioweapon manufactured by Oscorp Industries, aided by Daily Bugle journalist and ex-girlfriend Mary Jane Watson, and teenager Miles Morales, whom he later takes in as his protege after he is bitten by a genetically altered spider and develops abilities similar to Parker's.

Following a brief excursion to Symkaria, Peter and Miles later work together to prevent mercenary and big game hunter Sergei Kravinoff from turning New York into a hunting ground for superpowered individuals, during which Peter bonds to an extraterrestrial symbiote that alters his behavior and nearly alienates his personal relationships, including that to his childhood friend Harry Osborn, who returns to his life after undergoing treatment for a terminal illness using the substance, and later persuades him to act as a founder for the Emily-May Foundation dedicated to genetic research and humanitarian initiatives. Ridding himself of the symbiote, Parker and Morales later stave off a symbiote invasion on the city led by Harry, now bonded to the symbiote as Venom. Following these events, Parker temporarily retires from acting as Spider-Man, allowing Miles to fully assume responsibility while he begins to rebuild the Emily-May Foundation in Harry's absence.

Succeeding multiple video game iterations of the character, Insomniac's version of Spider-Man has been received with critical acclaim, with many noting his faithful characterization to the source material, his adult depiction as a refreshing deviation from other contemporary portrayals of the character in media, and Yuri Lowenthal's performance as Peter Parker, which has garnered praise and numerous industry accolades. This iteration of Peter Parker has also appeared in other media both within and outside the games, being the subject of comic book tie-ins and novels. He was officially introduced to the Marvel Comics multiverse through the crossover event "Spider-Geddon" (2018), which acknowledged him as the Spider-Man of "Earth-1048". Parker also appears in the animated film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) as a member of the Spider-Society led by Miguel O' Hara / Spider-Man 2099, with Lowenthal briefly reprising his role.

Conception
Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), primarily known for their video game development and publishing efforts on their PlayStation family of consoles, agreed to a long-term development deal with Marvel Games in 2014 that would see them distributing AAA video games based on Marvel Comics characters as exclusives for their platforms. Sony in turn, approached frequent collaborative third-party studio Insomniac Games about the prospects of developing a Marvel title, with its CEO Ted Price being described as "fairly neutral" towards the opportunity, given that the developer had only worked on their own original franchises up to that point, despite the fact the other staff at the company were excited by the possibility of working with Marvel and their characters. Marvel had given the developer free reign to select any character they wanted to create a game around, with the team unanimously choosing Spider-Man as a result of his relatability and the human qualities his everyman alter-ego Peter Parker provides from a narrative standpoint, as well as the character's alignment with the humor, wit and charm of other stories Insomniac Games had previously developed. Furthermore, selecting Spider-Man presented technical benefits to the developer, namely the existing groundwork for an open-world traversal-based gameplay system that had already been built for their Xbox-exclusive title Sunset Overdrive (2014). As such, Marvel's Spider-Man became their first licensed project in their at-the-time, 22-year history as a company.

Adapting the character and creating their own interpretation of the mythos proved to initially be difficult for Insomniac Games. At that point in time, the studio was following up on multiple video games that either featured Spider-Man as the sole playable protagonist or as a supporting character when the character license was held by publisher Activision. The game was expected to lead Marvel's renewed commitment to big-budget console titles, and they did not desire for this iteration of Spider-Man to be tied to an existing film or other comic book stories, as that had limited previous developers' ability to create impressive products that stood as well received games on their own. Art director Jacinda Chew noted that the team welcomed the challenge to create something fresh with the character, stating that they leveraged the character's existing history by consulting various online references, reading the comic books, and talking with staff from Marvel who had extensive knowledge of the character's canon.

Writing
Marvel's Spider-Man was co-written by Jon Paquette, Kelsey Beachum and Benjamin Arfmann from Insomniac Games, who collaborated with creative director Bryan Intihar to develop an original iteration of Spider-Man's mythos that drew from both the character's near six-decade long comic book lore at the time, and his various appearances in other media. In addition to Insomniac's writing team, long-time Marvel Comics and Spider-Man writers Christos Gage and Dan Slott provided additional contributions to the narrative. At the beginning of development, the team outlined commonalities between the Spider-Man character and the types of narratives that Insomniac Games had previously created for their titles, observing the alignment in the heart and humor present in their Ratchet & Clank games, the emphasis on traversal and gadgetry in Sunset Overdrive (2014) that lent itself to Peter Parker's scientific aptitude, and the underdog nature of Parker himself resonating deeply with Insomniac when considering their status as an independent developer during the game's conception. Insomniac Games approached the material with the initiative of wanting to provide a wholly new take on Spider-Man's world and supporting characters, while taking caution with letting down fan expectations, seeing as how at this time, the game was following over fifty years of the character's comic book mythology, six theatrically released live-action films starring the character, nine animated television series, and the prior twelve console games published by Activision since 2000. Furthermore, the studio was comprised of developers who grew up with different perceptions of Spider-Man based on the media related to the character that they were exposed to, thus leading to frequent disagreements regarding the game's creative direction. Spending time with Marvel Games vice president and creative director Bill Rosemann, the development team outlined the character's DNA by leveraging the staff's individual histories with the franchise.

An internal exercise involved the creative team breaking down the duality between Peter Parker and Spider-Man, where they concluded that each side of the character had four distinctive elements, being Spider-Man's costume, powers, ability to craft gadgets and technology, and his quip-centered humor, as well as Peter's mantra of power and responsibility, love of science, his personal relationships, and his introverted "loser" demeanor from his earlier appearances. Insomniac felt it best to deliver a narrative that emphasized the collision of these disparate tones and worlds in crafting this interpretation of the character. However, in attempting to iterate and design an original version of Spider-Man unique to their story, Insomniac seeked to deviate or subvert from numerous established tropes that were either popularized by other adaptations or agreed upon in general consensus. Namely, the developers intentionally chose to depict Parker as a 23-year old young adult, in order to contrast the numerous iterations of the character that emphasized either his signature origin story or his early years as a vigilante in high school, which were major story elements of the initial run on The Amazing Spider-Man by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, the contemporary Ultimate Spider-Man comics by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley, various television shows and feature films, and would subsequently be further adapted by the version of Peter Parker featured in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Insomniac also felt that Peter having an occupation as a scientist and lab partner would help update the character while playing to his established intellect, and reinforcing the collision of his world with his vigilante persona.

Origin and early years
Peter Parker was born around 1995 in Forest Hills, Queens to Richard and Mary Parker. His time with them however, was limited due to their occupations as secret service agents and he would eventually come under the care of his uncle Ben Parker and aunt May Parker following their untimely demise. From a young age, Parker had developed a passion for the sciences and would gain early recognition for his devotion to academics, such as when scientist Hank Pym presented him with an accolade at the Pym Science Summer Camp. In middle school, Parker befriended classmates Mary Jane Watson and Harry Osborn, forming an unbreakable bond that would endure in his adolescence and adulthood.

At age fifteen as he was pursuing education at Midtown High School, Peter attended a science demonstration where he was bitten by a radioactive spider, mutating his physiology and granting him various traits and powers associated with arachnids such as superhuman agility, proportionate strength, and the ability to cling and crawl onto any surface as a means of traversal. As a means of mastering his newfound powers, Peter designed a makeshift costume and constructed web shooters with chemically engineered fluid. Using said equipment, he would create an alternate persona known as "the Spider" and would begin anonymously partaking in local wrestling tournaments for financial gain. An initial display of ambivalence towards crime would result in his uncle Ben being fatally shot by a burglar, devastating Peter and May as they were left to deal with a burdening financial situation. The former would soon be recruited by philanthropist Martin Li as a volunteer at his newly established F.E.A.S.T. homeless shelter in Chinatown, while Peter, humbled by his inaction towards preventing Ben's passing, would configure his spider-inspired identity and rechristen himself as "Spider-Man", becoming a vigilante who would protect New York City's community as a means of preventing further harm to the innocent. At this time, Mary Jane and Peter additionally pursued an intimate romantic relationship, with the former eventually discovering his secret identity and becoming an accomplice in his escapades. Harry Osborn meanwhile, would become closer to Peter at this time to the approval of his father Norman Osborn, the CEO of Oscorp Industries. The pair would attempt to steal back a drive containing important data Peter needed for his duties as Spider-Man, only for them to confront the news that Harry's mother Emily Osborn had succumbed to a hereditary illness that he himself would soon contract.

Spider-Man's appearance in the city garnered intense publicity, often spearheaded by a relentless smear campaign carried out by J. Jonah Jameson, the editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle news agency. Parker, needing to assist May in paying for the residence's mortgage, would apply as a freelance photographer before becoming a full-time staff member alongside Mary Jane, who took up work as an investigative journalist for the firm. Across eight years of his activity, Spider-Man would draw the ire of several rogues who would often come into conflict with him. His first encounter with a supervillain occurred when he battled emerging criminal Herman Schultz, otherwise publicly nicknamed "the Shocker", who presented a challenge to Peter as someone who was used to stopping petty crimes involving conventional weapons. Another foe, Adrian Toomes / Vulture, would disrupt Peter's orientation day at Empire State University until he was defeated by Spider-Man and incarcerated at the maximum-security prison, the Raft. Max Dillon, having gained notoriety in the public for his electrical manipulation abilities, would become the first superhuman nemesis Spider-Man wound up fighting. Dillon soon embarked on a killing spree that Jameson would use to frame Spider-Man, disillusioning Parker and resulting in his decision to leave the Bugle entirely. MJ and Peter would later break up their relationship due to the former feeling alienated by Peter's increasing concern for her safety as an associate.

Among his rogues, Parker would immediately develop an intense rivalry with upstanding businessman Wilson Fisk, who unbeknownst to the public, discretely operated as the "Kingpin" of New York's criminal underworld. While attempting to bring his influence on the city to light, he would form an alliance with the New York City Police Department through an accomplice in Yuriko Watanabe, a detective in the department's Chinatown precinct who remained oblivious to his dual identity, but assisted him as an aide to his vigilantism despite his divisive reactions within the police ranks. Upon graduating from ESU, Peter would also be recommended by May as a research assistant and lab partner to former Oscorp co-founder Otto Octavius and his newly established science and tech firm Octavius Industries, which Parker accepted, having idolized Octavius as a child and wanting to use his love of science to better the world outside his heroics.

Inner Demons emergence and Devil's Breath crisis
In 2018, after the New York City Police Department compile enough evidence to incriminate Wilson Fisk for his illegal operations, Spider-Man participates in a police raid on the primary Fisk Tower in Hell's Kitchen, successfully having him arrested and incarcerated at the maximum security prison, The Raft just off the coast of Manhattan. Concurrently, Peter Parker works with Otto Octavius, furthering their shared research into advanced prosthetics despite various technical setbacks and distress among city officials concerning the project's sustainability and safe conduct. Spider-Man also proceeds to infiltrate and shut down the remaining Fisk Construction sites around Manhattan that allowed the crime lord to continue his activites beyond imprisonment, permanently loosening his direct influence over the city's criminal underworld. As a result, a new organization known as the "Inner Demons" emerges and begins to seize various assets formerly affiliated with FIsk's businesses. Mary Jane Watson returns to Peter's life, offering to help him investigate the Demons' intentions as she is independently writing a puff piece on the group for the Daily Bugle. Both Parker and Watson discover that the Demons are attempting to steal a bioweapon codenamed "Devil's Breath", and that they had targeted numerous OsCorp research stations around the city to accomplish this goal.

Norman Osborn uses his authoritative jurisdiction to pull funding and cease Parker and Octavius' work as a ploy to persuade his former colleague to return to OsCorp, disgruntling the latter. Spider-Man later collaborates with NYPD officer Jefferson Davis in thwarting a discrete Demons operation, leading to the latter being slated as a Medal of Honor recipient at a rally the following day, as part of Osborn's re-election campaign. With Parker and Watson in attendance, the former witnesses Martin Li transform into his alternate superhuman form and trigger a suicide bombing of the venue, injuring numerous bystanders, knocking Peter unconscious and killing Davis. In the aftermath, Parker befriends Davis' son Miles Morales, optioning him as a volunteer for F.E.A.S.T. to his mother Rio and aunt May. Simultaneously, Osborn hires the Symkarian private mercenary group Sable International headed by Silver Sablinova, who are distrusting of Spider-Man and present an obstacle to his vigilantism compared to the police as he pursues Li and the Demons. With Mary Jane's intel, Parker uncovers that Li harbors a personal grudge against Osborn and his company. Spider-Man locates and works with Osborn family doctor and scientist Morgan Michaels in tracking Devil's Breath, which was successfully stolen from him as he was taken captive by the Demons. He and MJ locate Li and prevent him from unleashing it in front of people they took hostage at Grand Central Terminal, finally allowing him to be arrested and similarly imprisoned at the Raft.

Octavius mentally deteriorates as a result of a neurological condition that motivated him to pursue his research into mentally manipulated prosthetics. His present animosity towards Norman Osborn for shutting his project down is amplified further when he inserts an untested neural implant into his cranium to control robotic arms that assist physical labor, increasingly worrying Peter when he discovers that he later developed four tentacle-like appendages with reinforced plating. He also begins to empathize with the imprisoned Li, who similarly shares his vendetta against OsCorp and how they were both disadvantaged by its influence over the city. Seemingly as a result of his debilitating mental state, Octavius is influenced towards villainy, teaming with Li and plotting a mass prison riot at Ryker's Island while also orchestrating the release of Vulture, Electro, Scorpion and Rhino, who together with Li and Octavius as leader, form the "Sinister Six" and confront Spider-Man at the Raft as he arrives with Yuri Watanabe to de-escalate the situation. The six of them physically overwhelm Spider-Man, leaving him unconscious and stunned by Octavius' downfall. As Spider-Man recuperates from his injuries, Osborn puts New York City under martial law in response to Octavius' release of Devil's Breath, thereby increasing the jurisdiction of Sable International agents patrolling the city, and allowing them to directly intercept Spider-Man's operations due to Osborn's increased distaste for the vigilante, despite Parker gaining the trust of Sablinova as an ally.

After saving MJ, Miles and May from a fire at the Veteran's Center F.E.A.S.T. shelter, Parker and MJ reconcile and team with Miles Morales to coordinate a plan to draw out and apprehend the Sinister Six and the Ryker's Island convicts. Spider-Man procedurally dismantles various bases set up by the convicts around the city in addition to apprehending four of the six supervillains. MJ's infiltration and investigation in the Osborn family penthouse revealed that Li held a personal vendetta against OsCorp for involving him in early tests of "Devil's Breath", intended by the company to be mass produced as a cure for genetic disease, and being responsible for altering his body to give him powers while killing his parents when he was a child. Spider-Man himself apprehends Li again, only for Octavius himself to intercept the fight, defeating him and reclaiming the antiserum for Devil's Breath produced by Morgan Michaels. Left with no other choice, Peter constructs a new mechanical Spider-Man suit reinforced with the material of Otto's appendages, initiating a final encounter with him atop the OsCorp Tower. During the fight, Octavius reveals his awareness of Peter's secret identity, motivating Spider-Man to immobilize him by removing the neural implant controlling his arms, and regretfully leaving Octavius for the authorities.

Following Octavius' arrest, Peter returns to the hospital to see May, now critically ill from her exposure to Devil's Breath. Michaels explains to Spider-Man that they lack the necessary dosage to mass produce a cure at present, leaving him with the option of either using the remainder of it to save May, or allow him to synthesize and administer more of the antiserum for the infected population. Parker withholds from using the serum immediately, tearfully spending a last moment with May in private. May reveals she knew of Peter's secret identity, and that his uncle Ben would be proud of what he had achieved, before passing on peacefully. Unemployed and evicted from his apartment, Peter resolves to move in with Miles while searching for a new place and job after Octavius Industries is shut down for investigation into Otto's crimes. Mary Jane and Peter successfully rekindle their romance, while Morales demonstrates that he acquired similar powers to Parker himself after being bitten by a genetically enhanced OsCorp spider, prompting Peter to reveal his dual-identity.

Helping Felicia Hardy
Three months following the Devil's Breath crisis, Mary Jane is anonymously tipped that one of the crime families affiliated with the Maggia intends to steal a painting known as "The Maria", previously seized by police during a raid on the organization. Spider-Man follows the tip and finds numerous Maggia thugs occupying the museum, promptly taking them out before encountering expert burglar Felicia Hardy, who takes the painting and breaks it to reveal a hidden data drive. Hardy explains to Parker that she had been blackmailed by the crime lord Joesph "Hammerhead" Martello into stealing the other four data drives belonging to the various dons of the Maggia in exchange for the safety of a son she had out of wedlock, shocking Parker given his prior romantic involvement with Hardy. Spider-Man is also informed by Mary Jane that the drives contain pieces of information required to gain access to the assets belonging to the Maggia crime families, and that whoever seizes control over them can use the drives to deprive the other families of their assets and successfully bankrupt them.

After chasing Hardy across the city, she reluctantly agrees to co-operate with Peter on infilitrating a storage harbor near the Hudson River, where Hammerhead had recently purchased a secure vault for various high-value items, of which she suspects her son is one of them. Spider-Man separately learns that Hammerhead stole and supplied his men with Sable International equipment and weapons that were impounded by the New York Police Department three months earlier. After defeating a horde of Sable-equipped Maggia operatives, Spider-Man accesses the vault, only to discover a briefcase containing another data drive. Hardy betrays Peter, shutting the vault behind him and revealing that she fabricated the existence of her "son" in order to coerce him into assisting her steal the remaining data drives, having just procured the USB belonging to Hammerhead's family after providing him with four fake duplicates. Having already realized her scheme, Hammerhead dispatches his men to rig Felicia's personal penthouse to explode as she returns home, with Spider-Man seemingly failing to save her as Martello himself watches from afar. Later at dinner with MJ, Parker muses on Felicia's lie, with Watson reassuring him of his prospects in parenthood if he did start a family.

Hammerhead's gang war
Days later, Yuri Watanabe and Spider-Man lead a cohort of NYPD officers to one of Hammerhead's bases, anticipating Martello himself to also be present. Spider-Man provides a diversion for Hammerhead's enforcers, now reinforced by Sable International tech and vehicles, but fails to apprehend Hammerhead himself from killing the entire S.W.A.T. team led by Watanabe, leaving her as the only survivor of the massacre. A traumatized Watanabe vows revenge on Hammerhead as Spider-Man uncovers a plan to kidnap the four other Maggia dons and kill them in a livestreamed event broadcast across New York. He additionally discovers that Hammerhead is after a secret black project codenamed "Olympus". Despite Spider-attempts to coordinate more closely with the police in order to ease Watanabe's stresses regarding Hammerhead, Martello succeeds in abducting each of the dons, taking them all to a construction site. Watanabe breaks her leave of absence to pursue Hammerhead herself, threatening to arrest Spider-Man should he interfere.

With Mary Jane's assistance, Peter tracks a group of Hammerhead's men to The Bar with No Name, eventually witnessing Watanabe murder them in cold blood. Spider-Man discovers that Watanabe was a third-generation NYPD officer whose father took bribes from Hammerhead and that she had spent the majority of her career moving precincts in order to dismantle his empire. Spider-Man successfully foils Hammerhead's livestreamed killings of the Maggia dons and defeats the crime lord himself, outfitted in the exosuit developed under Project Olympus. Before he could be taken into custody, Watanabe arrives to the scene and attempts to shoot Hammerhead dead, with Spider-Man redirecting the bullet towards the metal plate in his head and knocking him unconscious. Hammerhead is later resuscitated by undercover thugs en route to the hospital.