San Diego Comic-Con's Marvel's Spider-Man 2 panel confirmed a returning character and a major dynamic shift with one of the game's main characters, Mary Jane Watson. The panel gave players the best look at the game's story and characters to date through a whole new trailer and a wealth of concept art, screenshots, and anecdotes from the game's cast and creative team.
Insomniac's take on Spider-Man has received high praise since Marvel's Spider-Man's 2018 release and has been able to tell its own story about Peter Parker in his 20s while taking inspiration from a variety of Spider-Man media, and its sequel looks to continue this with its unique take on the Venom saga. Part of Insomniac's unique spin was its portrayal of the Daily Bugle within Insomniac's universe, as Peter Parker was no longer working there as a photographer - instead following a career in science with Otto Octavius - however, Mary Jane has far closer ties having pursued a journalism career.
J. Jonah Jameson Will Be Back At The Daily Bugle In Spider-Man 2
The character most synonymous with the newspaper, J. Jonah Jameson, was not attached to the Daily Bugle in the previous Marvel's Spider-Man titles. Sometime before the first game, Jameson left the Daily Bugle and started a podcast at his new FACT channel called "Just the Facts" to continue his Spider-bashing crusade, which both Peter and Miles can hear at various points when exploring their games' open-world maps. Jameson will be returning to his role within the Daily Bugle in Marvel's Spider-Man 2, as was set up in the game's prequel comic, and confirmed at the San Diego Comic-Con panel.
Jameson's Return May Be Bad News For Mary Jane
Jameson's return to the Daily Bugle may put Mary Jane's journalistic career at the newspaper in jeopardy. J Jonah Jameson's role will essentially be Mary Jane's boss, which is not an ideal position after the two publicly clashed over Jameson's criticism of her book "Perilous: A Journey Into War-Torn Symkaria" during an interview on his "Just the Facts" podcast in the Marvel's Spider-Man 2 prequel comic. Jameson said the book wasn't "fun" or "sexy" enough - an odd critique on such a topic, but one very in keeping with Insomniac's version of the character - and ridiculed its poor sales. He also went on to make sexist comments implying that MJ was not focused on the job because she had her boyfriend Peter with her as her photographer.
Of course, Mary Jane did not take these comments lightly and stood up to Jameson live on air, calling his "advice" outdated and condescending, and telling him he used to be great but has become a "self-promoting jerk" who can't handle modern journalism, and her comments likely would have hit even harder, had Peter and Miles not crashed through the office fighting The Tarantula. The comments did, however, light a fire under Jameson, which led to him selling FACT and buying back the Daily Bugle to give the younger generation of journalists the "benefit and wisdom" of his experience.
Jameson's role in Marvel's Spider-Man 2 might mean that players finally get to meet and interact with the brash journalist in person - especially if they can assume control of Mary Jane like in the first game - rather than just listening to the character's voice. If so, one thing's for certain, these interactions will likely result in the two journalists butting heads a lot more throughout the game's story.