‘Marvel’s Spider-Man’ Director Explains Reason For Adding Polarizing Mary Jane Stealth Sections

One of the biggest criticisms lodged against Marvel’s Spider-Man is it’s stealth sections where you play as Mary Jane and Miles Morales.

Juxtaposed against the thrilling action of swinging around Manhattan, kicking demons in the face, and even Spidey’s own, more robust, stealth sections, many complained the parts where you play as Mary Jane, are, in short, boring and uninspired. Luckily, for these people, said sections aren’t very common

That all said, what was Insomniac Games’ reason for adding them in the first place? Well, the reasoning is threefold.

Speaking to Kinda Funny Games, Creative Director Bryan Intihar revealed that the first reason was they simply didn’t want the character to be a “damsel in distress,” as she has been in previous incarnations.

“It was really, really important to us make to make MJ a capable contributor to the story….I did not want to do the damsel in distress,” said Intihar.

Intihar continued, noting that it simply felt natural to portray MJ in this way, in the modern day. Further, by making her playable, players would get a better sense of her arc than if she just popped up in cut-scenes.

The second reason is pacing.

“If we’re constantly playing as Spider-Man, then it’s constantly at a 10, and it can just get exhausting sometimes,” said the director. “So, we thought that would be a nice change of pace.”

Lastly, the third reason was the team thought it would be cool to play as non-superhero in a world full and about superheroes and villains.

“We thought it would be interesting to see what it’s like to be in a superhero world, but not have superpowers,” said Intihar. “And that was kind of just the choice we made.”

Intihar continued, reflecting that he’s aware not everyone liked the decision, but many others did. Personally, I wasn’t a huge fan of these sections, but I agree with Intihar’s three-pronged reasoning for having them. I just wish said sections could have been more compelling, engaging, and varied, rather than repetitive and fueled by trial-and-error.

Marvel’s Spider-Man is available for PlayStation 4. For more on the game and all things Spider-Man, click here.