Marvel’s Spider-Man 3’s Miles Morales Has a Growing Pain to…

Seeing as how Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 definitively parts ways with Felicia Hardy’s Black Cat and doesn’t even have Peter Parker be the Spider-Man who sees her off through a magical portal to Paris, France, it is clear that Peter is officially off the market and will not be pulled away romantically or lustfully from Mary Jane Watson. It would be strange now to have Peter suddenly be smitten with another character with all of the headway he and MJ have made in becoming closer, both as lovers and crime-fighting partners, and Insomniac has made its bed with Black Cat by suggesting she is loyal to her new girlfriend.

Speaking of new girlfriends, Miles Morales and Hailey Cooper shared a kiss in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and how their relationship develops in a sequel will be exciting to experience. Miles and Hailey arguably don’t have the same chemistry that Peter and MJ do, at least not in the handful of scenes they have together in the series, and yet there is hopefully tons of time in a threequel for that to be explored further. Part of that exploration should be joyous for the couple, of course, but it also wouldn’t be a proper Spider-Man story if Hailey being with Miles didn’t put her in targeted danger.

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By Jared Stewart

A Romantic Partner Being Thrust in Harm’s Way is a Spider-Man Rite of Passage

Miles only recently became Spider-Man in Marvel’s Spider-Man’s canon and thus Hailey is his first girlfriend while he’s a costumed web-slinger. Knowing that, several trepidations and concerns inevitably follow. This could precipitate something bad happening to Hailey while she’s dating Miles as a natural outcome of the age-old reason why superheroes shouldn’t be with ordinary people: if their enemies found out who they were, they could attack their loved ones. Marvel’s Spider-Man doesn’t actually lean into this trope in the three games it has launched, perhaps because MJ already puts herself in danger enough and is the opposite of a damsel in distress.

Moreover, Miles saved Hailey from symbiotes during Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s late-game invasion, though the whole city was attacked with her being an indiscriminate victim.

Miles needs to understand firsthand that relationships are difficult for someone in his position, especially if he’s once again taking over as New York City’s sole Spider-Man while Peter rebuilds the Emily-May Foundation from his garage, and it wouldn’t be at all surprising if a villain in Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 learns about Hailey and uses her to get to Miles. If Harry Osborn knew Peter was Spider-Man and instantly put two and two together that Miles was Spider-Man, there’s absolutely no doubt that someone as brilliant as Otto Octavius or as resourceful as Norman Osborn could, too, and potentially go after her.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 Needs to Tread Carefully with Hailey’s Fate

Miles and Hailey’s relationship deserves to be put under duress somehow—it would be uncharacteristic for a Spider-Man’s dating life to be perfect, anyway, and unfortunately Hailey’s agreed to be put on the chopping block by willingly and naively dating a wall-crawler. Then, how they both come out of that circumstance would discern the state of their relationship—that is, unless Insomniac decides that Hailey is to meet an untimely demise.

It might be safe to assume that, if Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 truly is intended to be the “final chapter,” no deaths will befall any more significant characters. Further loss wouldn’t necessarily serve any purpose since no more character development would be occurring thereafter and risk being labeled as shock value, which Insomniac doesn’t have a penchant for.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 demonstrated that Peter is still reeling from Aunt May’s death as he rightfully should be, and Hailey’s death would mandate at least another entry for Miles to process, grieve, and hopefully learn to live with it. Therefore, if Hailey does die and no fourth game is developed that could grant him that therapy, Miles’ character will be left with a disappointing cliffhanger of emotions that may never be resolved.

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