Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 director explains importance of divisive MJ stealth missions

Insomniac senior creative director Bryan Intihar discussed why, despite being a widely hated part of the first game, MJ stealth missions are part of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, albeit with a huge twist.

One divisive element of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is the handful of missions in which players take control of Mary Jane Watson. After being almost universally despised in the first game, Insomniac has brought back MJ stealth missions, though with some key twists.

In the 2018 title, players had to complete levels as MJ and a pre-spider bite Miles Morales. The two had to avoid being spotted while using the environment and, sometimes, gadgets to distract enemies. Of course, Miles has superpowers this time around, but MJ has some upgrades of her own.

In an interview, Insomniac Games senior creative director Bryan Intihar explained the decision to bring back and rework MJ missions for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 despite the backlash.

Note, spoilers for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 to follow.

Insomniac Games

Insomniac wanted to make MJ capable and didn’t “give a s***” if she was OP

During an appearance on IGN’s podcast Beyond, Intihar discussed how Insomniac considered cutting MJ missions altogether and why they ultimately decided against it.

“We had two choices. We could say, ‘All right, we’ll make it easy and just not do it’ […] Or we could say, ‘Hey, we’ve talked about showing the world from all different angles. We’re going to make her moments better. We’re going to take on the challenge. We’re going to make people like playing as her,” he said.

To accomplish that goal, Insomniac gave players way more to work with as MJ. While she did get a stun gun and some helpful tools last time, gameplay was severely limited by the fact that she had to stay out of sight.

In Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, MJ has the stun gun the whole time and doesn’t really need to stay out of sight the way she did previously, making her missions way more flexible.

While plenty of gamers still hate the new MJ missions, others actually enjoy them this time around. Her abilities have also led to jokes about MJ being stronger than either of the Spider-Men, as she can take out foes in one hit that would take Peter or Miles a dozen or so punches to knock out.

Intihar alluded to that too, saying, “We knew we had to make her more of a proactive, capable person. And if she’s a little OP, I don’t give a s***. She’s fine. I don’t care.”

The director also made it clear that, in addition to letting Insomniac explore another perspective, these sections – and MJ’s presence during the final mission – represent something important: showing MJ as a capable hero even without special powers.

The idea that anyone has the potential to be a hero has been a core facet of Spider-Man since the very beginning. After all, Peter Parker and Miles Morales both started off as average teens who happened to be bit by radioactive spiders.

While the MJ missions may be divisive, they make clear that being a hero is about more than just having superpowers.